November

We went to Evanston to watch Dylan receive his Eagle Scout Award.  We were all very proud of him.

 I have no idea why or where this picture was taken but there are so few of myself I decided when I find one I should include it.

 This Grace is such a little ripper.  She has become so busy.  She adores Bryan and any time I say, "Where's Daddy?"  She looks around until she finds him.  She turns nine months in November.

Lily had her big birthday.  She is finally four!  She is such a sweetheart.  We always say that when we are old and gray the one that will take care of us is Lily.  She has such a tender heart and always wants to do what is right.  She gets very upset if she ever thinks anyone is mad at her.  We call her our "rough lover" because when you get a big hug from Lily, you know it.  She gives the biggest squeezes whether you're ready for them or not.  Poor Grace is on the unwilling receiving end of these squeezes on occasion.  Lily loves being outside and just learned how to ride a bike without training wheels.  She loves her scooter and finding all the roly polies she can outside.  She loves her friend Clara and going to preschool.  Her favorite lunch is jelly and sandwhich (peanut butter and jelly) and she requests it almost every day.  She also loves cheese.  Lily is a super independent player and loves Barbies and princesses.  She is always trying to keep up with her sisters and is such a joy to our family.  I always thought she looked more like me but as she is getting older she is so much her daddy.  She has a sprinkling of freckles across her nose that remind me so much of him.  She also gets terrible leg aches at night just like her dad which isn't so great.  We love you so much Lily and are so thankful for your calming an sweet influence in our home.  Happy Birthday!

 Bryan made her special pancakes for breakfast.

 And she got to wear a new outfit for preschool.

 We brought treats to her preschool to share and I brought some of her favorite toys and shared all of the special things about Lily.  I love that her teacher spotlights them like this on their birthday.  She loves preschool just about more than anything right now.

 There I am again!  It's like a unicorn!

 Her teacher also made her a cute hat.  This is Lily's "fancy" face.  Her and Audrey do it and then talk how they perceive "fancy."  It makes me laugh so hard.  It always includes a peace sign because that's what you do when you are "fancy."  They pattern this behavior after their Aunt Carli so I'm not sure if that's a compliment to her or not.

 All she wanted for her birthday was to go to McDonalds.  I wanted to keep it low key so we just had her BFF Clara come.  It's hard when you are four because you hype up the birthday for so long that it's almost overwhelming when it comes.  She was a little emotional through the party but they had a good time.  These to are two peas in a pod.

 This Grace just loves her minky blanket.  There is nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby.  Every once in a while I have to take a picture just so I remember how sweet they look when they sleep.

 We celebrated Lily as a family at Javiers.  She was so excited when they sang and brought her a treat.

 The girls got their school pictures back and they turned out pretty cute.

 The scab on Audrey's nose makes me laugh.  I swear every one has a school picture with a scab on their nose, or jam on their shirt or hair sticking up.  It's like a rite of passage.

 This was Grace's other sleeping trick.  Her little thighs are so fat sometimes they get stuck in the slats of the crib which leads to much distress.  Apparently this was just right for deep sleeping.

 She is such a doll.  I love her curl more than anything.

 Audrey is always decorating our window with art.  She helped plan a Family Home Evening where we wrote all the things we are thankful for and put them on the turkey.

 This wild woman is all over the place.  You almost forget with each one how much your life changes when they are mobile but it all comes back to you pretty quick when you once again realize how many stairs, sharp corners, tiny toys and bits of paper are strewn about the house.  This busy baby will find them all.

 Juila had a Mountain Man Rondevous at school.  She had to dress up and they did all sorts of activities like leather stamping and listened to a real Mountain Man tell tall tales.

 Lily had a field trip to Krispy Kreme donuts.  It was a big deal.

 They watched the donuts getting made, got to hold and feel a real piece of dough and best of all got to have a fresh, hot donut at the end.

 Bryan cut all the hair out of the vacuum, which in our home is a literal TON, and decided to put it to good use.  Gross.

 My poor dad was also abused with this nastiness.  It would make a pretty glorious toupee.

 We went to Bryan's cousin's wedding and the girls were little servers.  They had the cutest little flower crowns and did a great job clearing the tables.

 The snow was beginning to fall.  These were the fattest snowflakes we had ever seen.

 For Thanksgiving we decided to bag the traditional get together and went up to Snowbird and did a Thanksgiving buffet at their restaurant.

 The food was delicious.  I think Bryan had three pieces of the chocolate cheesecake.  It was to die for.

 It was fun to have the cousins there to celebrate with us.

 A rare family picture.

 The scenery was absolutely beautiful.

 It was a perfect way to spend Thanksgiving.

 The next day Bryan worked but Adam and his boys came to Ogden and we went to the Treehouse Museum while they went to the temple.  It was exhausting and tons of fun.

 My girls adore adam's boys.

 We also went swimming after our Thanksgiving dinner at a hotel everyone was staying at.  We then watched movies and had a great time all together.