Let it Snow

Kaitlyn absolutely LOVES the snow. Whenever it snows she begs and begs to go out and play in it. Whenever she gets the chances she will run and jump in even the smallest pile of snow. So I decided it was about time let her go outside and get soak up all the snow time she wanted. And boy did she have fun. She was singing, dancing, twirling, throwing snow in the air, and making snow angels.
Then she got cold.

Christmas Festivities

This was the first Christmas since Dan and I have been married that we did not travel to be with either of our families. And to be honest it was really nice to just stay home and enjoy the holiday with just us and our kids. (Don't worry we still love our families, but traveling at Christmas time with kids, presents, and such is just no fun)

On Christmas Eve we made and decorated sugar cookies for Santa.

Then we ate donuts and watched Rudolph


Followed by opening a Christmas Eve present. (I think they were pretty tired by this point)

After a good nights rest the girls were ready to see what Santa had brought.


Well Makenzie needed a little convincing to get down the stairs.


But as soon as she saw her very own stroller she was so excited. She of course didn't want to stop pushing it to open any other presents, but she decided that opening the other presents then loading them up in the stroller was pretty fun too.


Kaitlyn was just in Heaven with all of the new things. It was also so fun to see how exited she got when someone was opening the present that she picked out for them.

Although we always enjoys receiving gifts, we know that the best gift we received was long long before we were even born. It's easy to get caught up in the commercialism of Christmas but we're trying to teach our kids the true meaning of Christmas (the Little People Nativity set helps alot -Thanks mom) Here's to hoping that they remember that it's not about the presents but celebrating the birth and life of our Savior.

Thanksgiving

We spent a few days in Mesa for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving morning we had our own Turkey Trot at the elementary school in Dawn's neighborhood.

Makenzie helped pass out water as the runners passed by. And by helped I mean she drank/spilled the water until she noticed the playground, then she went and played.

Kaitlyn was such a cute little turkey trotter. She is very competetive (gets that from her dad) and ran the whole time, I believe she even 'beat' Grandpa on a few of the laps.

We had a huge Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt Steph's house. It was so fun to get together with all of our extended family. Then the following day we all got together again for my Aunt Shauna' s wedding! Isn't she gorgeous?


It was so fun to be with family.

Halloween

For Halloween this year we thought it would be fun to take the girls to Cornbelly's

We had a lot of fun strolling through the corn maze

...riding the tractor train

and preactically scaring the girls to death by making them go through the dragon. They were clinging to us for dear life.

After a whole afternoon of fun they were pretty tuckered out.

We took our Lil Bo Peep and her sheep trick-or-treating.

Once around the block and we called it a night.

Hiking the 'Y'

When we got back to UT we decided it would be fun to go and hike the Y.

It was a pretty steep hike and Kaitlyn got pretty tired, and Dan carried Makenzie up practically the entire way.

But we made it to the top! (well to the bottom part of the Y)

Kaitlyn informed me that this mountain is stupid. When I asked her why she responded with " because it has no pink on it" I think it also has to do with the fact that she got pretty worn out by the hike.

Maybe we'll try again next year???

BYU vs OU

The day Dan was looking forward to all summer... The first BYU football game of the season. We stayed out in Texas an extra week so we could watch it live in Jerry Jones' new stadium.

The stadium is quite amazing! Dan's brother's and Dad all came to the game with us.

Let's just say that that was the most exciting game I think either of us has ever been to. Go Cougs!

Owen & Alyssa's Wedding

At the end of August we all headed to AZ for Owen and Alyssa's wedding! We had such a blast hanging out with all of our family. We spent the days hanging out at the pool and late nights playing games. The day before the wedding we had a nice family temple trip. It was so nice to go and be there with my family.

I never manage to get any pictures of Dan and I with the girls, so while we were at the wedding we attempted.

We had a blast at the wedding.

And we were glad when the newly wed couple decided to join in on the fun. ;) Welcome to the family Alyssa, we love you!