Alex loves...

Being naked, pulling herself up,


and hanging out with Daddy!

We love Uncle Tanner!

But we hate posing for pictures!

Noah's Birthday

Noah was really excited about his presents this year...Uncle Tanner helped him open them.

Thanksgiving Day Hike

It was pretty dang cold but we bundled up the kids Thanksgiving morning and had a lot of fun on our hike. It was really pretty. Noah talked nonstop! I think we've started a new family tradition.

Washing Dishes with Daddy

We always know when Noah has recently gone to the bathroom...he runs around with no pants or undies on

Noah...

Noah and I went on a preschool tour the other day and he loved it...he was really excited about the play-doh and paints and the other fun stuff in the classrooms. He wanted to go back the next day. When I told him we couldn't he put his arms up in the air and said, "Maybe next year"

I got Noah some new bath toys so now he wants to take a bath ALL the time. He was in there last night and Paul came into the bathroom. Noah said, "Do you want to take a bath with me daddy? Of course you do! Take your clothes off!"

I asked Noah what he wanted to do for his birthday but he just keeps telling me he wants a book. So I said, "Should we go to Chuck E. Cheese for your birthday?" Noah said, "Okay! What a great idea mommy!"

The other night we had a big snowstorm. I told Noah I was going to take him out to the porch to see the blizzard. We looked at the snow for a few minutes and then when I said it was time to go back inside he said, "I want to see the lizard!"

The 4 Little Hellions

Rebecca brought the kids costumes over so I could take their pictures (Alex and Lauren have the same costume). What a great idea...NOT!!!

Alex crawling

She's all over the place now! Alex is a very determined and stubborn baby girl!

Landon at Bouldering Competition

I placed 50th out of 61 at a bouldering competition in Berkeley.

Landon in Berkeley

This is me finishing a route.

Landon at climbing competion

I hope I can go to the next competition in San Jose. So - Tanner bring your shoes when you come - it's Friday the 17th.

Halloween Trunk-or-Treat

For Halloween, the school PTO put on a trunk-or-treat for our students. Chris and I both dressed up and decorated our trunks. It was lots of fun to see our kids all dressed up and they LOVED seeing us dressed up! The kids really got a kick out of Chris' costume...it's all my kids have been talking about ever since! : )

New York

Here's a few pictures of Chris and I in New York. There's one of us at Battery Park with the Statue of Liberty in the background, one of us at the wedding, and one of us at this really pretty park right by his house that overlooks the Hudson River. The weather was gorgeous the entire time we were there! I loved it!

Being a Granparent is the best!

Noah was hilarious

Noah really was hilarious - it's notw an inside joke with me and Summer - but would take too long to explain on the blog - Ask me about it and I'll tell you a funny story.

Alex is so cute the way she sucks her thumb

Beautiful Blue Eyes

Halloween Fun in Cleveland

Summer with her baby chicken and duck - they were so cute!

Noah in his duck costume

Noah at the Ward Halloween party - he was pretty shy when people would ask him what he was but he loved getting the candy and decorating halloween cookies.

Our baby chick

Aren't they cute!

Summer struggling for some cooperation

I tried to get a cute shot with the kids and mom and as you can see this picture shows more the reality of the situation. Funny huh!

Johns 27th Birthday

John wanted to celebrate his birthday by napping with our dogs. (His old age must be catching up with him...) Later I surprised him with a dinner with our friends.

Noah having fun at Kalahari

The Kalahari Water Park we went to with the kids was really fun. Besides the water slides there was this gigantic tree house - play area that Noah had fun in.

Alex riding on a little lion.

Together at the Tree House

The Tree House

Having fun at the tree house play center

Noah loved the water slides

Alex loves the water!

Most of my pictures of Alex were blurry because she would kick her legs and wave her arms and splash so much she was a little blur in all my photos.

Alex's fan club

Every where we went people were all commenting on how cute Alex was. When we were in the kiddie pool she had a literal fan club of kids around her that wanted to watch her and play with her.

Kalahari Water Park

This is the Kalahari Water Park that Summer, and I and the kids went to last week. It was so much fun and we were practically the only ones there. Summer and I did some really fun slides that you can't even see from this side of the park.

Room Makeover

Michelle will recognize some of the decorating stuff she helped me find -my personal shopping assistant. I'm happy with how it turned out.

Now this project is done - and just about 17 more to go!

Room makeover

That's the old white dresser that I bouhgt at a garage sale when I was pregnant with Summer - I'd say we certainly have made it go the distance.

I went with a missionary theme for Tanner

You can't see it from the photo but the picture on the wall was a cool old world map with a missionary scripture on it - the little satchel underneath the old bin table was my great grandfather's missionary satchel he took out with him in 1807.

Room Makeover

Do you recognize the old white bed? Painting all those spindles on that old bed may have been one of the dumbest ideas I've ever come up with. It took me forever! but this is the new little guest room/Tanner's room.

Good news and bad news...

My good news is Alex has outgrown her dairy allergy and I am enjoying milk, chocolate, and ice cream once again!

My bad news is Paul left this morning at 4:30am (as usual) and he wont be home until sometime friday night...Noah is driving me crazy (as usual) and Alex, who is usually so good, has become a little nutcase because she wants to crawl but she's not quite there yet. She scoots, rolls, slides, and pulls herself around but she is constantly frustrated that she can't get where she wants to go. I think we might just stop at 2 kids :) Just kidding

P.S. Paul is loving surgery - looks like we'll have a urologist in the family

More quotes from Noah

I asked Noah when his birthday is and he said, "November 28th until I be 3."

Noah really likes to scare people by yelling in their faces (I'm sure crazy Uncle John remembers well). He was doing that to me today and I told him he needed to be more quiet because mommy didn't feel good (I have a cold). Noah said, "If you drink coke, it will help you feel better!" I have no idea where he got a crazy idea like that : )

Happy Halloween!

We carved this pumpkin with Noah last night - his way of helping was making piles of pumpkin guts and moving them from one end of the newspaper to the other. He kept sticking his face right in front of Paul's face and saying, "Oh, are you carving the pumpkin?" Noah was really excited when he saw the finished product (and we were pretty proud ourselves) but when I tried to get him to sit next to the pumpkin for a picture he was scared! We put the pumpkin in the window on the upstairs porch and last night before bed Noah said, "Where's my big pumpkin?" and we had to go show him and re-light it.

Alex is a good little girl everywhere we go!