4 Years Ago

Bill & I just celebrated our 4 year anniversary! (Actually since he was out of town we're going out tonight to celebrate.) Here are a few highlights of the first 4 years for us:
*Bill graduated from BYU, I completed my 3rd year of teaching school
*We lived in California for 11 months while he worked with Enterprise
*Madisen was born in California
*We transferred with Enterprise & moved to Henderson, NV
*We bought our first home in Las Vegas where we've lived for about 1 3/4 years
(That's a total of 4 'homes' in 4 years)
*Caitlyn was born in Las Vegas
I love my husband & my family dearly! I feel grateful to be married to such a wonderful, thoughtful, genuine & loving husband!!

These are the gorgeous flowers that he sent on our anniversary, November 1. They arrived just a few hours before we left for Utah so I took them with us. They still look BEAUTIFUL!

Happy Halloween

We feel so lucky! We haven't had our daddy around to celebrate Halloween this year (to our disappointment), but we've been able so celebrate with BOTH of our grandma's! Bill's mom left on Monday morning & my mom flew in last night. Then we're driving to Utah for Tiff's baby blessing.

Today we went to a Halloween puppet show at the library. They did some cute stories & sang some cute songs. Madisen's favorite was the bat song, because they gave everyone a bat to put on their fingers and fly it through the air. Caitlyn had a CRAZY day- it started at 5 am, she had a total of 1 1/2 hours of naps & went to bed around 7. We sure hope that tomorrow's better! I think she's teething & just a bit uncomfortable.

Tonight we went trick-or-treating around our neighborhood with our friends Mara & Wyatt. People are too generous! I couldn't believe that they were giving 2-4 pieces. When I was young we got one piece at each house. My, how times has changed.

My flower & ghost

Wyatt- Bob the Builder, Mara- the Fairy Princess
Trying to get 4 children to cooperate for the camera is comical!

How sweet is this! I couldn't resist a picture!

The first door of the evening. Caitlyn did make it to a few doors,
but she spent most of the time eating a Tootsie Roll in her stroller.

Caitlyn is DONE!

Trunk or Treat

Tonight was our ward Trunk-or-Treat. We were so lucky to have our grandma here, it was extremely helpful for me to have an extra pair of hands! (Plus she brought matching costumes for us.) I did think ahead a little & feed them dinner before we went. Past experience tells me that my children don't eat very well when they're distracted by other people and events. The weather was perfect! My girls had a layer of clothes on under their costumes and it was the right amount of warmth.

The crew right as we arrived. I'm sad that I didn't get a
picture of our decorated trunk. Laura did a great job
hanging the ghosts that we made & some streamers.

Madisen with 2 of her best buddies, Rebecca & Makayla.I bought Caitlyn's costume first because I thought it was just darling!
Madisen wanted to be something white, to match Caitlyn.

Here we are waiting for the train ride.
We buddied up for the train ride to expedite the process.
Madisen & Makayla LOVED it & Caitlyn just seemed content.
Off we go!

I didn't quite get them in the act of them

jumping up and down yelling "Trick or Treat".
(Note: the hat didn't make it too far)

Happy Birthday Madisen!

Yesterday was Madisen's 3rd birthday! Since daddy is out of town, we celebrated her birthday on Friday. After we went to the Dairy, we had a little princess party with her friends. Enjoy the pictures from our birthday celebration.

{Our version of a cake walk: They earned a candy corn if they were on the princess that I called out when the music stopped. This game was one of their favorite & we played it at the beginning & end of the party. I got creative with what I called out: color of hair, dress, ribbon, shoes, etc.}

{Pretty, pretty princess (AKA Duck, Duck, Goose)
This was another favorite that we played at the beginning & end}


{We played a game with balloon boppers, but it wasn't a hit.
Dad had more fun than the girls with this one.}
{We decorated princess crowns.
They all turned out so cute & unique!}

{Opening gifts is a little like 'bunch ball'.}

{Madisen got this set of shoes from Makayla.
Immediately ALL of the girls NEEDED
to wear a pair of the new shoes.}{Of course, the cake & the ice cream were pink}
*When I figure out how to post a video
of singing 'Happy Birthday', I will.*At the very end daddy was having races with
the girls to keep them busy until their moms showed up.

Anderson Dairy

On Friday we were invited to attend a tour of the Anderson Dairy with a bunch of other moms & their children. We were lucky to have our daddy join us since he had the day off. He actually offered to take the girls by himself, until he realized that he'd be the only dad there. :) It was a great tour of their facility; complete with talking barnyard animals & a movie of their history. I was hoping to see the real animals, but I guess they graze at pastures outside of the city somewhere.

{Feasting on the generous sample of cookies & cream ice cream that they gave
EACH tour participant at the end.}

FHE at the library

Last Monday we went to the Pajama story time that is offered once a month at our library. The librarian does such a great job engaging the children in books, songs, & fingerplays! (It made me miss teaching just a little.) After the story time she hands out a little craft for them followed by a bed time snack. Last week the craft was a paper bag pumpkin- a great activity to keep the toddlers busy for anyone looking for an afternoon craft. Madisen's has become one of our favorite Halloween decorations this year. The other day she walked by it and said, "Oh look there's my pumpkin. It's so cute!". She was obviously pleased with her work.

Milestones & Funny Moments

This week Caitlyn learned to wave. When we say 'bye-bye' she'll wave her arm- it's so darn cute!

Madisen's phrase of the week is "Silly I." When she does something wrong she responds with "Silly I" . We're still working on the proper use of the pronouns 'I' and 'me'. All in good time.