I totally love fall! I'm a little sad that it's already going into winter, so here are a few images from this past fall.
A bouquet I made with cuttings from the 2 mum plants in my front yard.
Brian took the kids to the park one fall day. Notice the interesting outfit he let Makayla wear.
This year for Halloween, we decided to go with an Alice in Wonderland theme. I actually wanted to do it last year, but when my mom found an Alice costume for Makayla this year, I knew the time had come. Kylee was the Queen of Hearts, Makayla was Alice, and Ella was the White Rabbit. I tried to find a Mad Hatter hat for Brian, but something tells me he wouldn't have worn it even if I had found one. The girls were sure a hit in the neighborhood!
Our little Makayla turned the big 5 on October 6th this year! She got a lot of fun presents, including the fairy wings shown in the picture below, but her big surprise was getting a trip to the Build-A-Bear to pick out her own stuffed animal. She chose a pink bunny with a dancing outfit for it to wear (big surprise!). We had a fun evening with just our family. I can't believe she's going to be leaving me to go to Kindergarten next year!
My baby girl is 1 years old now (sniff)! She turned 1 while we were in Utah, so we got to spend her birthday with Grandma and Grandpa Olsen, and aunts and uncles and cousins. It was a great time. She got a ton of toys and had a fabulous birthday cake, made by a friend of my sister-in-law.
My birthday girl!
Opening presents
Ella's individual cake, which she only took a few bites of.
The big cake. It was sooo adorable - love it!
Ella with daddy
Little monkey cousins, Andrew and Kylee
Ella pulled the ladybug right off and started going to town on it, but she wasn't so sure about the rest of the cake. She mainly just poked at it. Oh well, the rest of us enjoyed it!
Cutest little 1-year-old face I ever saw
Just had to throw in this picture of Ella at the zoo - we sure love this little girl!
Ok, I don't know why it's been so difficult to get this post done, but here it finally is! (What, you all haven't been waiting on the edge of your seats for me to post this??) Anyway, we had the opportunity to go to Utah in June, where we saw cousins we've never met, and had a fabulous time with Brian's side of the family (we missed you, Wendy!) Here's the rundown into some of the things we did while we were there:
One of the first things we did was go down to Mt. Pleasant and visit Brian's sister Karen and her family. Brian's dad brought down his boat, so we headed to the (snow-filled) mountains, found a lake that wasn't covered with ice and spent a fun afternoon hanging out while the kids took turns going for rides in the boat with Grandpa. Above: Benson, Kylee, Ila, Tanner, and Makayla scouring the ground for treasures,
Ella hanging out with Mom on the shore.
The 1st group of kids and adults getting ready to take off in the boat.
And they're off! That's Brian crunched in the front of the boat there.
The next day, Brian and his dad went fishing alone while us ladies kept 8 kids happy and busy all day. The weather was totally beautiful and it was great to just sit outside in the afternoon. Ella was happy just to sit and play with her toys on the grass.
Here's the kiddos having a great time on the "waterslide"
Brielle, Ila, Makayla, and Kylee
Brian out on the lake catching our dinner. Too bad they had to throw back most of the fish they caught!
Brian and I took advantage of having some babysitters around, so we went on an overnight date. We ended up going to Temple Square and had a great time walking around and enjoying the scenery (it's amazing how much you miss it when you don't have it around!). We even busted out our cheesiness and re-enacted some poses from our wedding day. :)
What a cute guy! Too bad he's out of focus...
One day we took the kids on a ride on the Trax (the light-rail train that runs through the Salt Lake Valley). When we got to the end of the line and were getting ready to return, some of the kids said they needed to use the bathroom. We spotted a park right near the trax station so we headed over there for a bathroom and playground break. They had tons of fun. Here they are at the park.
Ila, Kylee, Benson, and Makayla
Heading back to get on the Trax. We made it just in time, it started to rain soon after that.
On the Trax headed home.
Brian's dad took all of us out to dinner at Olive Garden one night. No small feat, considering there were about 16 of us! Here's Ella and her look-alike cousin, Brielle.
The whole group. Well, almost.
The kids at the aquarium. L to R: Makayla, Brielle, Tanner, Ila, Benson, Andrew holding Ella, and Kylee. You wouldn't know that Andrew is only 3 months older than Kylee!
Posing in a canoe at the aquarium
Aaaaaaaand.........this is what we hauled home behind our van. That's a piano under there. Crazy, huh? I'm amazing it survived.
Unfortunately, the 2 weeks went way too fast and we eventually had to leave. It was pretty hard to come home, but we hope that we'll end up living around family in the future, after all this school stuff is over. Thanks Mom, Karen, and Sara for showing us the best time we've had in a long time, and letting us trash your houses and eat your food!
So, when's the next vacation?
had concerts,
had our backyard flooded a few times,
made a few crafts, like this Valentine's Day wreath,
learned how to change a baby sister's diaper,
played Just Dance on the Wii,
posed in new clothes,
went to the Alamo in San Antonio (ok, that was just Brian),
worked out our abs,
and read lots of book.
And then Spring came - YAY! I love my alliums, they're so cute and interesting.
Even though Easter was late this year, it kinda snuck up on me. I feel like we didn't really do anything, and I can't say I really even wanted to color eggs. But here we are, doing it anyway!
It was pretty funny watching Ella try to get to the eggs. She was finally content holding a spoon.
This is the smile she's been doing when she sees the camera lately. Scrunchie little face!
Easter morning! Too bad most of our pics turned out awful. And we never even got a picture with all the girls together.
Ella got a hold of a chocolate egg a few days after Easter and she was very pleased with herself!
On Mother's Day with my little women.
Brian made me these pancakes. How sweet. For my present this year, I went out and bought myself a fun little crafty gadget that I've wanted for a looooong time. One of the first things I made with it is........
this sign for my front door! Ugly, plain front door no more.
Ella's been busy in Physical Therapy trying to get caught up with her motor skills. She's doing really well, and just mastered crawling, which has resulted in my life becoming much harder! Here she is at P.T.
And here's my little crawler on the move
She thinks she's pretty smart when she gets under the desk.
These last few pics are from when my parents were here a few weeks ago and we went to the zoo. This is the kids feeding the lorakeets. Ella tried to feed them her finger.
