Santa

We went to our ward's Christmas party last weekend. The boys were totally looking forward to Santa visiting. Well, except for Sadee. She got very sad sitting on his lap. And she was only there for like two seconds, just long enough to take a picture. But we all had a great time and enjoyed the company and the super yummy cranberry salad.

Beach trip!

We went camping at the beach in November for a family party. Other family was camping there with us too. And it was actually warm enough for the kids to play in the water! (You never know how the weather is going to be at the beach.) Sadee wasn't crawling last time we camped at the beach so it was a whole new experience for her! Needless to say, she is not scared of the water!!

Daddy saved her from the wave! If you look closely, you'll see she's sticking her tongue out!

It was so cute watching Tanner play with Sadee in the water.

Pretty soon Sadee was tired of having her hand held and crawled straight for the waves on her own!

Drying off on mom's lap and making sure that belly button didn't wash away in the waves.

We didn't think it was going to be very warm at the beach, so I didn't bring Sadee's swimsuit. (I knew the boys wouldn't care how cold it was and would still want to swim.) So she got to sunbathe on the beach. She's only one, so it's okay, right?

The boys had fun playing too, but I didn't get as many pictures of them because I was too busy laughing at Sadee.

Of course I had to take my usual sunset pictures. This one was my favorite.

Fall in our backyard

Usually by Thanksgiving we have a ton of leaves all over the backyard, and the kids and I love it! (But not Ryan, he likes to mow them up!) Sadee had fun crawling thru the leaves one afternoon. But she didn't like it when the leaves would stick to her hands.

1st Haircut

It's kinda hard to tell, and the picture is a little fuzzy, but I had to trim some of Sadee's bangs. There were some hairs that were totally hanging in her eyes. This is the after picture. It was hard to get her to sit still!

Nana came!

The kids LOVE when Nana comes to visit! They have fun doing activities and just playing together.

Sadee got a bedtime story from Nana.

Nana took me and the boys out to a movie. I guess the boys had some wiggles to get out afterwards because they started playfighting. Their moves crack me up!

We went out to dinner one night. All the waiters in the restaurant clapped and sang happy b-day to the table next to us and Sadee just went crazy! She started clapping her hands and smiling and bouncing. When they were done, she signed "more" over and over and then pointed to a waiter across the room and signed "more" again.

why I love where I live

because we can go to the park in the middle of November with shorts, t-shirts, and flip-flops!

3 for the price of 1!

Colby and Sadee love going on these kinds of rides. And when Tanner saw the fun they were having, he had to join in too!

better late than never I guess

Okay, so I'm doing this for family who want to see pictures from Halloween. I know these are REALLY late, but oh well, I'm gonna do it anyways. ;)

These pics are from our ward's Trunk or Treat. Tanner's best friend from school came with us. He and Tanner both dressed as Indiana Jones.

Sadee was sick with Croup, but I was dying to get out of the house (I'd been sick with the same stuff) so I bundled her up and out we went. She was actually happier getting out of the house too. (She was a dalmatian.)

Colby was way excited to go. He wanted to go as Liz the lizard from The Magic School Bus.

We attended the annual school Halloween parade. Here's Ryan walking with his class.

Tanner with his teacher. She had him stop to pose for the camera!

Halloween night we went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.

Sadee was a little fairy.

Colby liked handing out candy on the front porch.

Loving the Journey

Okay, so I'm a little behind and have some catching up to do from the last month or so. So I thought it would be fun to highlight some of the things I loved about October.

I loved watching Colby dance on the little stage at Barnes and Noble. We went back to the kids section, he saw it, then he looked at me all excited and said, "Wow Mom! I can dance here!" So I watched him dance for a good 10 or 15 minutes while he dodged Sadee crawling around. I love watching him dance. He loves to do it and you can tell he's really thinking about his moves when he dances.

I loved painting Tanner's face for his bobcat badge at cub scouts. He looked awesome!

I love watching my kids play together.

I love kissing these soft, squishy cheeks every morning.

I loved eating lots of yummy, good food at my parents' house. I miss my sister's and my mom's cooking and all their tasty recipes.

I loved seeing one of my very best friends and her little girl. This was the first time I got to meet her sweet baby because the last time I was up here visiting she was pregnant!

I loved being with my sisters. And I loved the grounds at this cemetary. It was so pretty and the view of the mountains was amazing. A lot of my family recently bought plots there and I can see why. (Morbid, I know, but really, it is beautiful! Ryan even said to me that he wouldn't mind being buried here. Good thing we don't have loads of money laying around, who knows where that would have led!)

I love that sometimes when I'm going through the pictures on my camera, I'll find some that Ryan took. Like this one of Sadee with spaghetti hanging out of her mouth.

I loved seeing Sadee with her new sunglasses on and then watching her try to put them on herself. She tried so hard, but just wasn't quite there.

I love pj's in the morning in a chilly kitchen.

I loved watching Colby learn how to ride a bike for the first time and seeing the amazement in his face that he was actually doing it!

I love decorating my front porch for Autumn. I start as soon as September 1st hits and keep it up until Thanksgiving. I love this season.

Sadee had a birthday!!

Hooray! I can't believe my little baby girl turned one! But, I'm refusing to call her a toddler now, and am still going to call her my baby. ;) We were in Salt Lake the week before her birthday so we had a party at my parents' house with a lot of family. It was a birthday/pre-funeral/Dave's getting treatment this week family dinner. Tanner and Colby each made her a cute little cake and decorated them. They turned out so cute. Sadee didn't mind touching the messy frosting, but she wasn't quite sure about eating it.

Here's Colby with the cake he made. Colby drew x's on the cake. When I asked him about them, he told me that they mean hugs.

Tanner with his cake he made. He even squeezed the words Happy Birthday Sadee on there!

Singing Happy Birthday!

Jada showed Sadee what to do with her hands. What else are cousins for!

Messy and not quite so happy.

Dax took his piece of cake and shoved it in his own face. Colby seeing how fun that looked and being the adventurous boy he is, decided to do the same. He put his whole plate on his head! Then he laughed and laughed and everyone laughed with him!

Then it was time to open presents! Sadee got a cute monkey doll and a zoo train from my sisters and their families. She loved both presents! I think monkeys are so cute and I was so glad that she liked it.
I think this is such a cute picture of her cousin Jessica showing her the monkey. Sadee loves it!

Round 2

We couldn't NOT do a party on her actual first birthday. So, a week later we had another party at our house! Tanner and Colby made her two more cakes and she had fun eating them. (She was a little more experienced this time!)

The boys helped Sadee open her presents.
So Ryan took this picture of me and Sadee the night of her birthday and I thought it would be fun to post it along with a picture of us on the night Sadee was born. I can't believe it's been a year. She's just as sweet as the day she was born.