Happy Thanksgiving

We started off our Thanksgiving with the annual Turkey Trot. Everyone was at our house for the feast and we ended the night playing very intense games of twister. Such Fun!

Happy Halloween

Halloween has come again! This year it has brought us 1 spooky witch, one lone ranger, one plundering pirate, and one costume wearer. A great thanks to Jenn for getting this all put together! We had a great time! If course now we are all sick to our stomachs and will be for the next 10 years, but it was a blast and we cannot wait for next year! We filled our buckets in the company of the Phllips' and the Davidson's. What fun!

Halloween here we come!

Bah, teenagers...
Hands up where I can see them!

Did I scare you?

Beware of my fearsome hook you scurvy dogs!

No more toddlers!

It has finally happened... we are free of toddlers! It is a sad and happy day! Ellie turned four and had her birthday party at ASI. She loved it! We invited all of her friends from school and had a great turnout. We are still struggling to find room for all of those new toys!

Two very happy and smiley girls...
Happy birthday four year old!

Beware of the barbie diva!

Swing on that rope... they swing on this rope into a foam block pit! FUN!

For her birthday ASI gave her her very own mummy costume! handmade from athletic wrap!

We love our Ellie Lula!

Ellie has gone to preschool!

Ellie's preschool has the cutest new student ever! She looks so old and is turning four! I can't believe it!

Birthday Mania!

Now that fall has come Birthdays are everywhere! Gordy turned 40, Anna turned 11, and Ellie is turning 4 on Monday! For Gordon's birthday we had a full blown party of 30 people, complete with brisket and IBC. For Anna's we went to lazer tag and had a blast!

Ana and all her friends... so cute!

She got two birthday cakes?! One at lazer tag and one at home!

The one at home was a little overdone. Who knew timers could be so quiet? But the cookie cake was still delish!

Gord had the most elaborate cake I have ever seen at our house before. Vanilla with raspberry filling. YUM!

Don't you just love blue frosting?

Fish Lake Trail

Gord and Maddie and Gord's friends and their daughters recently went on a hike in Utah by SLC. They got back the day before school started and had tons of fun! After the hike they went and saw Linsey get married and toured Temple Square.

South Padre '09

The Bravest of them all...

Anna got her ears pierced this July and was the bravest child in our family to get their ears pierced. The whole thing was over in less than 30 seconds. She wanted blue earrings and after two years of uncertainty  it happened. She loves them and looks great!

South Padre Island, Tx

We got back from South Padre today after an amazing week long trip. We went with our friends the Fennegans to their most awesome beach house.  We had a blast and can't wait to go again. We went surfing, fishing, Schlitterbahning (water park), photographing, swimming, bbqing, and having tons of fun at the beach!! 

We woke up really early one morning and went to go take pictures on the beach for our Christmas card. Everyone looked super cute, thanks to the humidity. 
We went to a different beach and had a barbeque on the beach (hotdogs and s'mores) and played in the amazing wonders of the sand dunes! left to right (Reaves, Cade, Anna, Tanner)
Drizzle towers were everyone's favorite and here are all of the kids except for Reaves. We are at the beach closest to the beach house. It is only a 20 sec walk to the beach! 
Nothing to see here . . . move along . . . 

South Padre sunrise the same morning we took the first picture.  The sunsets and sunrises are amazing!

Claws said to be so sharp you can cut yourself just by looking! ahhhh! Feisty little creatures that show no mercy... 

TOAD!

A warning to all... do not be scared by the ferocity in this toad. 

Now that summer's here the toads have decided to set themselves loose. When we were cleaning up the backyard we found this monster underneath the tent bag! The toad is certainly not going hungry.  There has been some speculation as to whether it's expecting or not!  Anna tried to hold it, but it started climbing up Maddie's arms.  There was a moment of freak out and the toad hopped away.  

A region finals

Anna made it to A region finals. We are so proud! She is as fast as a lightning bolt in the water (and out). We love her SO much! She didn't make it to state but she did amazing!

Three beautiful girls.

A little showing off after the meet. The other girls are (left to right) Morgan and  Ashlyn
Anna was giving us a pose before it was her turn.
Go Anna GO!
On your mark, get set, fly!

Girls Camp!

Ahhh... the wonderful wonders of girls camp... In these future pictures please do not judge by appearance, with four hours of sleep and no mirrors not everyone can look as good as we do. Jenn was not having her picture taken this week, no matter what the circumstances. Girls camp is in Broken Bow, OK. Which happens to be ten minutes away from the cabin! 

This is a pic of Maddie and Mackenzie on skit night doing their wonderful "popcorn popping" skit. Neither thought it was a brilliant idea, but they couldn't stop laughing as they sang popcorn popping on the apricot tree at the top of their lungs. Joy... 
We do a flag ceremony every morning and night where they raise and lower the U.S. flag. We all stand in  big circle and sing a song and have a prayer for whatever meal is coming up. This is of Maddie, Mackenzie, and Leeannah (she's on the far right).
"Sexy Lady come along..." We are practicing our cheers at role call.

Ellie Preschool Show

Ellie had her preschool show a while back and we just got the pics! She loves to sing along and really strut her stuff.

A little half-time secret

Such a pretty little princess

Show them what you got!

Sunshine is Over!

Ellie and Tanner had their last sunshine generation performance of the year (and their last one with their teacher forever). They had a ton of fun and had a great year. They had one at an art convention so there were other performers. Maddie, her friend, and Anna went up on the stage to dance with a different group of people when they invited people up. Ellie and Tanner cannot wait for next year, even if it is without Mrs. Ella.


They even danced when they was not they're turn to perform

Ellie, as always, took over the show with her rap version of "You are my Sunshine" and her wiggle dance.

Tanner was a little shy at first... but then he couldn't stop the dancing!