Christmas 09 begins!

Mr. and Mrs. Claus came to visit the Children at our Ward Christmas party!

Riley was Sooooooo Happy to see Santa! I wish we would have used this for our Christmas pictures this year! What a classic.

She JUMPED at the chance to sit on Santa's lap! Isn't that sweet!

I was in charge of the Primary end of the Ward Christmas party, in which I put together a still Nativity story and after dinner the children did crafts in "Santa's Workshop". Besides the fact that all the kids showed up and hour late, which held up dinner, which caused the activities co-ordianter to go into a panic, it went great!

See Maddie? She was a sheep! She did a great job sitting so still.

Maddie and I got to go see the Nutcracker performance with her Pre-school. It was such a treat for her and I to go and spend the afternoon together! I have a feeling Maddie will be in the Nutcracker in the future! She LOVES ballet.

More WInter pics

She had freezing cold sand on her hands

It was actually really cold out Maddie kept skating on the ice!

I love this one!

Maddie was "Walking her dogs"
You're probably wondering why she's walking two sticks and not our real dogs, right? Well, it's hard to manage Ginger and Jasper while both are on a leash, I'm carrying one child, and then Runners are running on the lake trail and Ginger wants to chase after them, then Jasper wants to follow Ginger, and then I nearly drop Riley, Maddie gets knocked over by one of the dogs, and I'm sweating like crazy! Get the picture, yeah, not fun! So, walking the sticks are much more relaxing and way easier to manage! When I don't want them anymore I just throw them off the path!

Winter 09

The first snow!

Just a couple Halloween pictures

The goal at the Pumpkin Patch was to get a nice fall picture of the grand kids to give to my mom. It didn't go as planned!!! Of course...what was I expecting??!!! The kids were just running around and didn't want to sit still for us to get a good picture with all of them. Riley didn't even have shoes on because I couldn't find one of them when we were leaving so she had hay all over her tights!!! Gosh, life is crazy and I only have 2 kids! I don't know how others do it with multiples!!

Crazy but cute, huh!?

Hunter and Alexus are wondering what they got themselves into!

The pretty witch and the "Little Stinker"

I made her tutu and cape. The pictures don't really do it justice. The fabric for the cape was sooo neat! It had spiderwebs and sequins all over it (That was a find by Glen).

Riley was a skunk, so fitting, not because she stinks.... but because she really is a little stinker!

Glen turned 30!!

Glen turned 30 in OCTOBER!!!! I can't believe I'm just now getting around to posting about his party but....life gets busy! We celebrated with a few of our close friends and our families. It was very fun!

The Birds (Well, half of the Bird family, 4 of their children aren't in the picture)

Phil and Ashley Cahoon (Glen's friend since childhood. They have a little boy named Porter...I just really liked this picture of them!)

Glen's dad, my parents, and our girls

You better watch out....I have a knife

Glen's lovely parents

Denise made and iced the cake and then we decorated it together. I was going for a "Hill" cake, you know, like "Over the Hill". Anyway, I thought we did a pretty good job! Thanks Denise!

Firsts for Riley

First Pigtails

Riley's hair has been growing so much faster than Maddie's did at this age and I've been able to get in in 1 little pigtail on the top of her head for a while but the other day I experimented and got two! I think she looks just like "Lil" from the Rugrats!

First Pudding

She kept saying, "mmmmm, mmmmm!" until every last bit of it was gone. :D

First Dirt Eating Experience

Yes, she kept saying "mmmmmm, mmmmm" with the dirt too!

First Yogurt

She was so happy that I actually gave her the whole carton instead of spooning it on her high chair. She felt like such a big girl!

If you're wondering if this girl ever stops smiling the answer is NO! She has meltdowns of course when tired or hungry, like I've said before, but she is pretty much ALWAYS happy. It helps so much to have her in our lives, we are usually smiling right along with her! What a joyful life we have!

My Birthday Party

Glen's family hosted a lovely little party at their place for me and we ate all my favs: Fettuccine Alfredo, garlic bread, and a yummy variety of cheesecakes! I felt very special this year and enjoyed being with all the people I love the most!

My Special Birthday- Day!

Jess and I had been planning a little weekend getaway since last year!! So we finally got to get away for the day for my Birthday. My wonderful mom paid for both of us to get into Glen Ivy Hot Springs, which is a lovely day spa with Mineral pools, A Mud pool, Saunas, lounge pools, etc. We got there as soon as it opened spent the morning there and then decided to make our way to the beach to have dinner. We had such a relaxing day. We were able to have uninterrupted conversations and no stress! It was wonderful. But the most wonderful part was that our husbands were kind enough to allow us to go for a whole 12 hours without any complaints! Thank you Glen and Dave!

Maddie's 1st Day of Pre-School

Doesn't she look like such a big girl? I can't believe how much she's grown! She's LOVING her school, making new friends and learning lots!

Silly faces before she made her big entrance!

Grandma Denise stopped by to see her before her big day...Very special!

Our New Addition!

JASPER

Oh my goodness! This little guy is the best, most cutest dog EVER!!! He is so well behaved (for the most part...he likes to jump on the couch, and last night he "marked his territory" on my stinkin' couch pillow!!) but other than that he is great! Him and Ginger, our Golden Retreiver LOVE each other! They are an odd looking pair, seems how Ginger is quadruple his size, but they play all day together, they cuddle up together for naps, and they even KISS, yes, it's just the cutest! They actually fight for attention the same way Maddie and Riley do, in fact they are the exact version of Maddie and Riley but in dog form. Their personalities are mirrors of the girls! Maddie and Ginger, more timid and motherly and Jasper and Riley are just a bucket of fun 24/7! We couldn't be happier with him!

A couple more shots

I haven't edited these or anything. I wish I would have gotten one looking down at her while she was in the water, but I'm sure I'll have more opportunities!

I can't beleive I didn't put this picture up yet!!!

This was the picture we took of Riley for her Thank you cards

Some test shots

I was so bummed when I went to Kiddie Kandids to get a free Birthday picture of Riley and found out that they "no longer do that". So.... I got out the camera and tried to make my own little photo shoot set. It wasn't very good and I'm not very good with the camara yet, but I've set out to learn a new talent and am having fun doing it. These were the shots that I actually thought didn't turn out too bad.

This one is only cute to me, because she's sticking her buns out. I was still in set up mode but Riley went right to it so I just pointed and shot to see how the lighting was, etc.

A little fuzzy but cute non the less

Bright eyes, even in black and white!

I LOVE this one!

Please don't judge me, I know they're not that good, the back drop is wrinkled, etc. Anyway, so that's that. I'll keep you updated with any new portraits I take. Maybe you'll notice a gradual change in my abilities as time goes on! ;D