Little Reminders

Our house has been full of the Christmas Spirit this morning

with the making of our families' favorite Christmas Slush!

It's one of our best-loved traditions.

So the trick to this recipe is remembering to stir while freezing.

While we cleaned up, I gave the girls their charge:

REMIND MOMMY TO STIR THE SLUSH

and here we have it.

Learning from previous experiences

I took the kids to the playground yesterday and they insisted on playing in the sand volleyball court, to which I conceded. They had a fun time; Abbie especially enjoyed making sand smoke...well "enjoyed" may be up for debate. See for yourself - watch for her in the top left corner of the screen.

The incredible thing was how she could be seen rubbing her eyes immediately before making the second cloud of sand smoke. Dallin had a different kind of repetition going on. Apparently he was conducting an experiment to see if the flavor of the sand differed from one part of the court to another. I managed to catch one of his trials on video.

Sand and all, the trip to the playground was a success. Unfortunately, we won't have a lot of opportunities to repeat the experience in the coming months. (Of course we will eventually have sledding - woohoo!)

Easy to be Grateful

Some moments just lend themselves to a feeling of gratitude.

We got our family pictures and seeing everyone

clean, quiet and smiling made my heart swell.

Seeing these sweet faces in such a state of perfection

just makes us all the more excited for...

THE ONE ON THE WAY!!!
we are so blessed.

Trick or Treat

Mr. Clean, Wiggly Giraffe, Vampire & Wicked Witch

So we had a great time trick or treating last night.
Both the girls would exclaim while running along the sidewalk -
"This is the best night ever"!
Large quantities of free candy will do that to a girl.

What are we supposed to do with all this?

Mmmm...

Jack-o-Lanterns

Michelle & Jean joined us last night as we sought to satisfy some pumpkin-carving cravings.

Their Jack-o-Lantern was the happiest, Emma's was the creepiest, Abbie's developed a Raccoon infestation, and Amy's was holier than most.

Happy Halloween!

We wore out our teeth from eating too many roasted pumpkin seeds and had to find replacements mid-way through the evening.

After the kids went to bed, I had time to work on my Jack-o-Lantern. The girls had seen me draw up my pirate ship design before bedtime and it seems it must have disturbed them a little bit. Abbie snuck out of bed quite a while after we put her down to seek some reassurance from me: "There aren't any pirates in Utah, right?"

The Simple Truth

Emma was coloring a picture of Cookie Monster yesterday and I asked her a series of questions about the picture, one of which was whether Cookie Monster was a boy or a girl. "Of course he's a boy!" was her reply; and I followed up with "How can you tell?"; "Because he sweats, and girls almost never sweat." There's just no arguing with the truth.

Coons, Catfish, & Uncle Spencer

It seems that you always forget your camera when you need it most. Amy & I took the kids fishing this morning on the Jordan River and had to make way for this little Raccoon who was determined to cross the bridge even after I had done my best to intimidate him. Fortunately I snapped this picture with my cell phone so that we have evidence of the encounter.

Angling Amy was the one to teach us how it's done this morning; she roped in a Jordan River Catfish with ease. And I got the award for whimpiest fisherman after that catfish left me bleeding. Its fin cut my hand as I removed the hook. (sorry, no picture)

*****

Last week Uncle Spencer came up to visit and he showed the kids how to cast further than their Dad. In the end he pulled in more fish than me too.

Abbie showing the proper way to keep your hands warm while fishing.

Emma keeps it cool.

I keep Dallin close so I can pass on all my fishing secrets.

Dallin's just happy to be along for the ride.

And the catch of the day: Spencer broke the tie by catching one more fish than me. Kind of like a Where's Waldo picture, see if you can find the fish.

*****

In her comment, Michelle suggested that maybe I hadn't caught any fish. Spencer & I did catch fish the day before in the High Uintas. Here's one of the beauties that I pulled in from a lake on the Notch Trail.

And here is the view of Notch Mountain from atop the cliffs on the far side of Wall lake. We saw 9 mountain goats up on Notch mountain when we hiked it that afternoon.

Happy Birthday Little Man

I can't believe this little guy is 1.
It's been a great year!

Dallin, we love having you in our family.

Your big smiles and squeals make us happy everyday.

We love you one year old!!!

Pre-School & Paint

Abbie Started Pre-School this week. Her teacher is Ms. Lacy, the same teacher that Emma had. So far Abbie loves it.

We're also schoolin' our kids here at home.

We're teaching them to change the world one wall at a time.

Thanks for the help, girls.

He Toddles

It looks like Dallin will walk into his upcoming 1st birthday.

Our little boy toddled at 11 months and 11 days.

Way to go Dallin!!

Vacation at Grandpa & Grandma's

WE MISS YOU ALREADY!!

We had such a great time at Grandma & Grandpa Davidson's.

It was great to swim & play with our favorite Texans.

Learning to sew with Grandma - How fun!

Picnic in the park.

A Little Canyon Fun

We spent a perfect evening in the canyon last week with our family.

We went to our favorite site and roasted up some hot dogs and smores.
MMMM...

Finger lickin' good!

A little "hiking" with Auntie Cherilyn

A little car entertainment