Zoe's Talents!

Zoe had a dance and a piano recital recently and we got a chance to see her talents.  She has been working so hard and we are so proud of the progress she has made.  She is growing up way too fast!

Sorry this one is a little blurry when it starts out.

Can you believe how old she looks?

Thanksgiving...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

We have been so blessed this year.  There are so many things to be grateful for here are some of the many:

1.  Zoe, Tate, Grey, and baby yet to be met.  Our kids are so sweet and special.  I love spending every second of my spare time with them.  They are so much fun.  They are so smart.  I cannot believe how blessed we have been.

2.  Ben...I could talk all day about this guy.  He is so patient and loving.  He is an amazing father.  He works so hard to make life great for our kids.

3.  The Gospel.  I would not be the person I am without it.  I can see the difference it makes in the lives of my children.  I feel so comforted knowing that I still have the room to learn and grow.

4.  Friends.  We have been so blessed in the friends we have made as we have made our moves and rebuilt our lives.  We have always felt so loved and supported.

5.  Education and learning opportunities.  We have all been able to learn from some great individuals.

There is so much more but I won't bore you further.

Let's get to the pictures...

Tate made a pioneer hat at school and he was so excited that he insisted I take a picture, so he put it on and this is what we got... 

Then he looked at the picture and said "Wait that's not right, let me fix it."

After the adjustment... "Wait not quite"

Perfect!  Love that chocolaty grin!

Now without further ado...The food!

The pies:  2 Chocolate, Apple, Cherry, and Lemon Meringue

(2 Cohcolates because I am pregnant and I am not very good at sharing!)

We had our good friends the Bastians over for dinner so for lunch we had appetizers so it was easier to eat while we played games. 

We made the turkey and I think it was the best one we have ever made!

Tina came up with the most adorable place setting ideas.

Look at that cute place setting turkey!

Here are the kids places.

Here we are getting ready to enjoy our meal.

Cute boys sat at the counter.

Oat's first Thanksgiving.  He likes turkey.

Tina and Grey played cars.

Tina is Grey's best friend!

Tina brought some crafts for the kids to do.  One of them was a turkey hat.  Grey made one and I tried to get a picture of it...

Clearly he ate too much sugar.

Still going...

This is as close as we got to a still shot.

Cute hat eh!

Family Pictures

So last year was so crazy around this time that we skipped family pictures.  This year I looked for a photographer for 6 moths.  Either they were unreasonable expensive or they couldn't come to Wenatchee.  It was so frustrating.  Finally I found a reasonable priced photographer that I liked who came to Wenatchee but I still had to wait 4 months for her to come out.  It was totally worth it!  Our session went by so fast and was so easy.  Greysen didn't even have time to get squirly.

Tate Lost his First Tooth and other Random Cuteness

This post is kind of a random collection of pictures that just did't fit into any other post.

This is Oat at a recent trip to the temple.

Grey discovering the joy of licking beaters.

Yummy!

The more on the face the better!

Tate lost his first tooth.

Can you see the gap?

Tate playing dress up.

Look at the cute bunny!

Halloween

If you know me you know that Halloween is my favorite holiday.  This may be hard for some of you to understand but that doesn't really matter.  I still love it!

Every good Halloween celebration starts with a trip to the pumpkin patch.

We were lucky this year to have our good friends the Sampsons with us.

Greysen knew right away what to do. 

Too bad he couldn't lift it.

Neither could Zoe.

Here we all are looking for the perfect squash.

Zoe, Jack

Tate, Grey and Kenzie

Cute face!

Spooky!  And cute!

Me and Zoe.

I wasn't feeling great that day due to our new little addition.

Grey caught a ride!

Next we have to carve the pumpkins

Greysen can't believe what we are asking him to do.

Tate dug right in.

Grey is still not sure.

There he goes!

Zoe too!

Even Oat got into it.

He doesn't like to get dirty.

Carving is very serious business.

Here are the masterpieces!

Tate's is the spooky tree and Oat free handed the face next to it.  Pretty amazing for a first time pumpkin carver!

Ben made the Darth Vader of course, and the one next to it was Zoe's first attempt at carving free hand.  Not bad eh!

Here we are all dressed up for trick-or treating

Can you guess what we are?

Those of you with small children probably had an easier time,

Ben and I are Phineas and Ferb.  Zoe is Candace.  Tate is Heinz Doofenshmirtz and Greysen is Agent P, or Perry the Platapus.

Halloween cake pops made a delicious Halloween craft.  To bad they make me sick to even look at now.

One last fun fall activity.

Raking leaves...

and...

then...

Jumping...

in...

them!

We have always loved the fall but here in Wenatchee it is so much easier to love.  The fall here is amazing!  It is warm and sunny and colorful.  Plus lots of crunchy leaves instead of soggy ones.  We love it!