All Hallows' Eve

Or Halloween. Whatever floats your boat. We had a fun time carving pumpkins the Monday before and proudly displayed them outside.


Emma designed her own pumpkin and Mady's. She also did the majority of the carving herself. Way to go Emma!

This one was a team effort by dad and Cooper. If you can't tell it, has all different kinds of eyes carved out. A very interesting pumpkin indeed! Cooper loved drawing on it and as you can see was very intent on his masterpiece.

Mady loves kitties so she was all for this pumpkin designed by her sister. I helped with the whiskers......and the eyes........and the nose. She really did try but when you are four the knife doesn't always go where you want it to. I was so excited to get a real smile from her. Lately they have been a little awkward looking.

I was designated pumpkin seed extractor. Drew tried his hand at it but didn't have the desire to get every seed and stringy thing out like I did.

This is what Lillie did the whole time we were carving. She is such a good baby!

Does anyone else stress out about costumes every year? I do.I tried to go simple this year. Although I had planned on making Emma some scrubs, that was a DISASTER. Luckily Target had just what we needed. I did make Cooper's vest and rescue pack which turned out pretty good. It was getting him to put it on that was tough. Mady wore an old dress up that I think Brenda gave to Emma a few years back. I spruced up ballet slippers with some gold stretchy material and she was good to go.




For your viewing pleasure we have Princess Jasmine, Diego, and A Veterinarian. They were quite the trick-or-treaters. Emma and Cooper were out there from 6 to 8:30 pm. Mady gave up a little early and helped me pass out candy. We ran out so she kindly offered her own candy to the kids! It was very cute. And, ladies, the man in the attractive 70's clothes is taken! Sorry!

And last but not least is our little green M&M. I made this for Emma's first Halloween and all 3 girls have used it since. We had a Halloween party with the youth on Tuesday so I made a costume that would compliment Lillie's since we go everywhere together these days!

We do have a picture of me wearing the costume holding Lillie but I did not feel like posting it seeing as I had just finished running and I look like...Well I just don't look good! And the picture of me carving is oh, so beautiful. Once again no makeup or hair done. At least I had taken a shower, right? Anyway, on to Thanksgiving where we can glut ourselves on REAL food.

Fall Fun

We headed off to Gardner Village for a fun FHE while Drew's parents were in town. There were quite a few people there enjoying the Halloween decorations and fun shops. We really enjoyed our cookies from the bakery!

I love these pumpkins.The petting zoo was closed so we had to climb the fence to look at the animals.

Can you spot the witch in this picture?
I had Lillie all wrapped up in the Moby and I definitely got some strange looks, people asking if I had a baby in there, and where I got such a contraption. I used to sell them but I am no longer in that line of work, but if you are dying to get one I spotted them at Target the other day. So much for the little guy! But I still unabashedly promote the product. It is awesome!

I am a Mother

I just finished reading Jane Clayson Johnson's book and if you haven't read it yet you should. It was refreshing and insightful. And just the reminder I needed as we celebrated bringing another child into our home last weekend.

We had a lot of family and friends to support us as we blessed Lillie last weekend. The group picture includes most of the people who were there. Some had to leave quickly so they aren't pictured. We enjoyed yummy soup and salad at our house afterward. And now we know that our little home holds at least 50+ people!

The Group

The Mothers

Lillie was blessed in the dress that my mom made for my little sister and the person for whom she is named, Angeliica Lillian. Angeliica died when she was just a baby and I was 2, so I didn't get to meet her. But I know that she has been with me and helped me throughout my life. So, when I got pregnant this time I only had one name in mind if our baby was a girl. It was a beautiful day for a blessing and a beautiful day to remember why we are here on the earth. This baby girl chose to come to earth just like the rest of us and I am so blessed to be her mother.

The cute blanket was made by Grandma McDaniel

Oh, Happy Day!

This is what Lillie thought of being one month old-just imagine the sound coming out of that sweet, adorable, LITTLE baby!



My good friend Jana took these pictures for us. She was so patient and got somevery cute non-crying pictures. I actually love all of them. They will help me remember, if I ever feel the need to get pregnant again, that new babies aren't all smiles and laughs! But they are so sweet!

1st Day of School

My girls did make it to their respective 1st days of school, although it was a close call for me. For those who don't know, I am NOT a morning person. I know, I know, the bus doesn't even come until 9am, but the new baby thing just set me back that much more. Emma is in 2nd grade this year. Luckily Emma is a total morning person, so she was up, dressed, had breakfast, backpack packed, lunch ready, and woke me up at 7:45! I told her to set the timer for half an hour and come wake me up again so I could do her hair. I had to drive her once and I had her get a ride with a neighbor once that first week because we missed the bus! What a way to start the year. We have done much better these last few weeks.


Here she is with her friend Naomi. They walk together to the bus every morning.

On the other hand Mady is not a morning person either. I usually have to drag her out of bed, dress her and practically spoon feed her her breakfast. But give her a few minutes and she is bouncing off the wall. Mady is going to preschool Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings for 2 hours. She did half a year last year in the 3 year old class and is now in the 4 year old class with a lot of the kids that were with her last year. She really loves her teachers and loves school.


Here she is with her new bike. We finally got one to replace the one the plumber ran over!


I am really enjoying having a few hours with just the two little ones in the mornings. We have even ventured to the store and it wasn't the slightest bit traumatic for me. Oh, and they survived too!

Emma turns...

Once again a little late on the post. Emma's birthday was in June.
This year was going to be family only, low key birthday celebrations. Emma woke up to birthday balloons in her room!

She wanted cinnamon rolls for breakfast and since I have only attempted to make them once we headed for the bakery. But we got there and the donuts looked too good.



Emma got a birthday lunch at McDonalds from my friend Lisa and her kids. Cooper, Mady and I tagged along. It was a rainy day so playing inside was perfect. For dinner Emma requested steak. She is our red meat eater and can out eat both Drew and me. We went to Tepanyaki so that we could not only eat steak, but be entertained at the same time. It was yummy!

We came home for cake and presents.



I figure if you are getting a DS for your birthday there is no room in the budget for a big friend party. But somehow Mady and I ended up taking Emma and 3 friends to see KUNG FU PANDA that Saturday. Go figure.

The most important thing is that we love Emma and are so glad she is in our family. After all, she is the one who made me a "mom" for the first time. It took a mere 14 hours of labor,2 trips to the hospital, a shot of something in my hip, throwing up, sleeping in the tub (with Drew sleeping on the floor next to me), throwing up again,an epidural, and a few stitches. She finally arrived in all her 8lb 8oz ,20.5 inch glory at 2:02 pm and as Dr.Johnson put it, that is one big fish!

Emma is my sweet and sensitive girl. I love her toothless smile; she has a great smile! She is always willing to be my helper. Her favorite thing to do is to play with friends. Thank you Emma for being willing to be my first baby and letting me practice on you. Hopefully I can make it up to you in the coming years!

Trip to the Beach

Our kids love, love, LOVE the beach. It almost beat out Disneyland for best vacation spot ever! Almost.

Here they are jumping in the waves. Look at them Hops!


So, this actually happened right after we went to Disneyland, back in MAY! But pictures of the beach still work for my summer in review posts. Enjoy.

We stayed with our good friends the Miles family for a couple of days. It is so good to catch up in person every once in a while. I owe Brenda a bunch of beach pictures and she is probably cursing me as she reads this and soon there will be a post about her good friend Ashly who promised to send her the beach pictures and has failed miserably. I am NOT looking forward to the scolding.

Here is Brenda with her sweet baby girl Abby.

And this is why I love my Andrew. He doesn't get to act like this very often in his line of work. This was all done because I wanted ONE picture of the boys.
I believe Trevor said something witty.


The laughter.

A few pretend punches in the gut.

And off into the sunset!!! Yeah, they are holding hands. Who would guess these 2 have wives and kids?

We met up with some other friends also. James and Cyndi were both in my freshman ward at BYU.

Brenda, Ally, Cyndi and I all worked at the plasma center in Provo. Why don't I have sunglasses on you ask? Probably because I don't live in Cali, and thus am not as cool. Drew getting buried in the sand.

Our girls with Brenda's boys. Emma and Preston are 13 days apart and Carson and Mady are exactly 2 months apart.