David is 28!

On the Monday I returned from my college reunion, we celebrated David's 28th birthday with the girls. I made his favorite kind of cake in the shape of a "D," which fell apart as soon as I tried to remove it from the pan. David helped me arrange the cupcakes I made to accompany the cake in the shape of a "D" and all was well, although I was still a bit on edge about the cake, I remember.
  

Hazel wrapped some of her favorite toys from the toy box for her Dad. And her Halloween costume arrived in the mail that day, so she's fashioning leopard attire!

 I love this picture! David is making his wish...

The girls are always more than willing to help blow out those candles.


The Bourne Trilogy--awesome gift from the wifey.

He also got his first pair of TOM'S shoes from my mom. She bought a pair for each of the girls as well--we're so spoiled!And we won't mention the gift that our good friend Ben Garrison brought over...
Happy 28th Birthday my handsome hunk of a husband!

BYU Girls' Reunion

I just spent four days with ten of my best friends from BYU as we celebrated our TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY of our freshman year together. It was amazing to get together and still have so much in common and SO MUCH to talk about (ahem, staying up til 4am the first night...what were we thinking? Oh yeah, we didn't have to wake up with kids the next morning!). It was so nice to have a little vacation from motherhood and revisit the good ole days with these amazing women.

On the first full day together we went to the Salt Lake Temple and attended a session. What a joy to be in the temple with my best friends.

Pizza Factory after the temple.

Four of us are pregnant (and due about a month apart from one another in succession!) right now so Jenae and Alissa prepared a LOVELY baby shower for us with a "Wild Things" theme.

They had all of us preggos' favorite treats and wild thing cupcakes and a cake. Amazing.

Can you tell I like to take pictures of Liz?

As if there weren't enough treats for us sitting around, we also had a pinata full of more candy for us to engorge ourselves with...

The Christensen's were kind enough to offer their lovely home that comfortably accommodated all ten of us. I even got to share a bed with Janelle (Kisby) Willis, my old bed buddy from freshman year who I used to have sleepovers with in the dorms!

Alissa taught a workout class for us in the morning to work off those peanut butter cups and taught us a fun dance to do together, for good times sake (we've still got moves).

On Saturday we visited campus and our old dorms...

This was the pole where Janelle was tied up and held hostage during an intense prank war with the floor above us...don't worry, we got her back safely but not without a fight.

Home sweet home.

We were able to meet up with a few of our freshman year boys! It's amazing how they still seem the exact same...maybe a little bit more like their dads now that they've gained ten years. Love them.

And what would a freshman year reunion be without Kent Nixon's VELOCIRAPTOR impression?

My sweet husband was allowing me to go away on this girls' retreat on his birthday weekend! His parents babysat on Saturday night so that he could meet up with me and my friends for a BYU game on the evening of his 28th birthday. Not the best seats, but REALLY great company.

All in all, it was a weekend that I'll remember for a long time.

I'm so grateful to have such amazing friends in my life, even if we do live far away from one another.

September

Here are some snapshots of our September this year. 

It's been a lot of fun preparing for the fall season and festivities. 

I LOVE this time of year. 

There's so much excitement in the air as we enter the latter part of the year with Halloween, Thanksgiving, and then Christmas. I love the cool air, changing colors, and endless activity ideas to do with the girls (and nice weather to do it in!)

First of all, this little nugget is such a joy to our family. She is such a happy baby; mild-tempered and easily entertained by her sisters. She is a mama's girl, which I appreciate and continues to say "mama" like it aint no thing and we still have yet to hear "dada." Both Hazel and Charlotte said "dada" lots of times before even attempting my name, so I've fallen for this one.

She crawls all over the house and follows me up the stairs. When I head back down, she cries at the top for me to come get her.

We call her Ello-weese, Elloweezer, or Ms. Weese.

These are frozen raspberries by the way.

This month, we were having a bit of difficulty with speaking kindly and softly to one another, so I instituted the Happiness Jar.

We keep in on our mantle or on our piano and whenever we catch the girls playing well together or saying their magic words, doing things the first time we ask or without being asked at all, they get to add a marble to the jar. Whenever they yell or hit or speak unkindly to one another, they lose a marble. Mom and Dad are included in this family project. It has been a great success so far since the girls LOVE to add a marble. It also helps me to watch for GOOD behavior and give attention to that instead of just the negative.

I think this picture was taken after church one Sunday and I just love it. Aren't they cute?

I've been having "Activity Time" with just Charlotte on Mondays and Wednesdays while Hazel is at Joy School (except the weeks that I teach Joy School, of course!). It's been REALLY fun to pull out my activities for TWO year olds and to sometimes just throw it all out the window and follow her lead. This particular day, we started out with a craft, made our way outside to "ride ponies" and ended up going for a walk. Welcome to the mind of a two year old. Love this wee one.

We took a trip down to my mom's house in Cedar City, just the girls and I. We had a great time playing with the cousins down there and visiting my mom's cows, especially the mentally-handicapped calf named "Wheelchair." The girls really love going to my moms and we all get spoiled to death.

We visited a neighbor and friend who was canning some flour and sugar in their garage and invited my mom to come can some for herself and my family (yeah food storage!). The girls played in the back yard and then got to go on a PONY RIDE. Does it get any better than that?

(I LOVE Ellie's face in this photo. I love that my girls are close in age.)
 

 Love them.

 
They had a tiny carriage and all!

'Tis the season to be baking! I love making fall treats and finding simple treats that I can invite my kids to make with me without losing my temper. These chocolate dipped Oreos sounded DIVINE one day...

David found Charlotte asleep in her bed like this...cute little fairy.

Oh my goodness, let me explain. This little chick-a-dee found a piece of chalk and held it in her mouth like this FOREVER. I was almost peeing my pants (which is easy to do after my third) as I grabbed the camera and took pics. Then she had a grape in her hand which looked just like a lighter. 

I wanted to add a caption to this one that said something like, 

"SO A GUY WALKED INTO A BAR..."

 

 Here's little Lou and I talking about our shadows outside. We traced them with chalk and talked about the sun. Isn't she irresistible in that little sun dress and boots?

We made lots of nature books and collected treasures on our walks.

 I love to see what they pick up and find interesting. I later upgraded this activity into books made out of ziplock bags stapled together since taping each treasure became a long and tedious process on a walk...

And pumpkin whoopies of course! Hello fall season.

I wanted to do a fun mantle for the season so I found this idea on Pinterest. David hung each of those pinecones for me. He did a good job huh?

Oh boy, I almost get goosebumps when I see my house so clean and tidy. A rare treat, but a good one when it comes along.

Happy September!