C & K's Wedding

I finally put the pics from our new camera on the computer! Ok, Benj did. But he showed me how, so hopefully I can keep up with the blog better. Here are some pictures from Chad and Kristen's wedding, way back in January. It's amazing, the quality of pictures when you have a decent camera!It was a gorgeous day in Vegas. And the temple grounds are always lovely.

Before:

Reese- trying not to touch the grass at all :)

Ava collected a few pinecones while we waited for the happy couple to come out.

After:

I love this one: Abby always squints her eyes when getting a picture taken (because of the flash... even when there is no flash), and Reesey, hmmm... must have been naptime.

Cute neices of Chad and Kristen's... they all got along really well.

My "little" brothers... always beating me up, j/k. It was great having all our family here for this special event. I'm so glad to know what I know and that families are forever!

My proud parents with their baby. I still can't believe Ging-Ging is married (it makes me feel kind of old). But he picked a good one! Congrats Chad and Kristen!

Disneyland

Last weekend we took a "vacation" to Disneyland. Benj has been wanting to take the girls somewhere and he also needed a break, so this was all his idea. 3 kids @ Disney for 3 days was quite the adventure! But we had a great time and the girls were really good, even Reese. The weather was perfect, around 78* every day. We caught some of the World of Color show @ California Adventure... soooooooo awesome. Next time I will get my fastpass and wait forever to sit toward the front! We took our little cheapo camera, so I could actually upload these pics (which I'm wishing I took more of). I still need a lesson on how to work our new camera.

Ava really wanted to see Cruella, but Lexi did not. Ava said, "Lexi, Cruella is naughty in the Dalmation movie, but she's nice at Disneyland." Yeah, she's pretty proud of that autograph and picture in her book. :)

Valentine's Day! I love my 3 sweetheart girls. And of course my incredible husband, I love you Benj! He brought me home a Nothing Bundt Cake... oooohhhh, I finished it off yesterday and then proceeded to do Jillian Michael's 30 day Shred DVD.

Christmas Pics (finally)

We had a great Christmas with our own little family. On Christmas Eve, Reese turned 7 months old. Traditional Christmas Eve: a feast of snacks for dinner (Benj's fav is my cheeseball) , Christmas movies {Elf}, stories read by Daddy, including Jesus' birth from the Bible and opening jammies

LEXI- Santa gifts (she asked for a purple guitar {her old one got smashed} and a camera)

AVA- asked Santa for a Tangled doll and a pet dog

REESE- Santa gifts

She had fun mostly playing with all the wrapping paper. :)

I love getting shots of the mess afterwards. Benj spoiled me {LOVING my Kindle}. He got us an awesome new camera... can't wait to figure out how to use it so I can actually post better pics! I'm so grateful for this past holiday season and memories made. I love that my girls ask for such simple things, it's so sweet... we know it will get more costly with age. :) We are also grateful that Benj's parents, sister and niece were able to come down the day after Christmas and spend time with us! {Those pics are on our NEW camera :) } We spend NYE with friends, eating, playing games and drinking sparkling cider. NY Day was too COLD for our annual hike, so we went bowling. :) Hope you all had a wonderful holiday and Happy New Year to you all!

Traditions

Christmas Cards

Visiting Santa

Christmas dresses

(the dresses were bought specifically for my brother's wedding next month, but they work for Christmas dresses too!)





Gingerbread house... a train this year




And Christmas sugar cookies for Santa... which the kids and I will make tomorrow.



I'm loving this time of year and all the festivities. We got to go to the Live Nativity (incredible, minus Mary falling off the donkey); attend our ward Christmas party and Benj's work party;
and Connie and I took our older girls to see the Nutcraker Ballet. It was so cool, Lexi especially loved it and is going to inform her dance teacher she wants pointe shoes NOW. :) And most importantly, we are remembering the Reason for the Season.

Madison, Lexi and Ava

Benj and I also celebrated 10 years of marriage! I honestly can't believe it's been ten years... I am so lucky to have married an amazing man. We've been through so much with getting our educations, career moves, buying our first house, having our 3 beautiful daughters and I'm loving this ride we are on! Love you babe and I'm so glad I get to spend eternity with you.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Thankful

I'm so grateful I was able to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with my family. My parents drove from Montana (through snow, ice and road closures) to be with their kids. We had an awesome time: Dinner hosted by Bret and Natalia, Black Friday shopping, another shopping trip to St. George, and making memories. Thanks Mom and Dad, for making the trek! We loved having you here. (Kicking myself for not getting one single picture of the girls with their grandparents!!... hope you got some Mom)

Our family Thankful Tree... it was fun to hear what the girls were thankful for. I'm thankful for these 3...

Ava's fun projects she made @ preschool

Benj, Bret and my dad... Turtlehead Peak

Grandma made turkey-shaped sugar cookies and the grandgirls got to frost them. Ava, Lexi and Abby in their cute little aprons

Baby girl turned 6 months the day before Turkey Day. She is showing much more personality and is so fun! Still sticking with the inchworm crawl, although she's getting faster. She loves all the veggie babyfood we've given her, but her favorite food is those star puff snacks (sweet potato flavor). Will drink water from a sippy cup, but refuses to hold it herself. Loves all her musical toys and when the girls sing "R-E-E-S-E, R-E-E-S-E, R-E-E-S-E and Reesey was her name-o!" Stop growing Reesey... it's going too fast.

We are enjoying December and all the Christmas festivities. Christmas cards are coming soon!

Halloween Fun

So it's only 2 weeks after Halloween, and I'm just now getting to posting pics on the blog. We had several days of Halloween festivities including Benj's work trunk-or-treat, school parties, friend pumpkin carving party, and our ward trunk-or-treat. Then there was the actual day of Halloween, where we just chilled at home, had a fun holiday dinner (ghost pizza, scary salad, and pumpkin cheesecake bars), passed out candy and watched the Saints win! Hope you all had a great Halloween!

Oh! And Reesey Piecey turned 5 months. Here she was rolling across the living room and was getting mad when the couch got in the way. She is now getting up on her knees and rocking and doing the inch-worm crawl. So cute... and shocking too considering neither Lexi or Ava even attempted to move til they were 10 months. :)