Pumpkin Walk and Some Really Funny Pictures

Every year in Cache Valley they have the Pumpkin Walk. It is in a park and groups get together and decorate pumpkins to look like other things like animals or people. It might sound a little weird but it is fun and the kids love it.

This was our favorite little booth, it was Noah's Ark. I don't know if you can see them or not but the animals in the picture are all made out of pumpkins and other kinds of squash. It was so cute and really quite amazing.

Also at the Pumpkin Walk were these cut outs. The girls loved them and I think the pictures are hilarious.

Doesn't it look like she is looking at Clifford like, 'easy there boy, your sitting right on me!'

Football, Cookies, and Olive Garden, what more could you ask for?

My parents and Steven and Yu Ling and Daniel and Bertha came up and spent a Saturday with us. I made (well mixed a package) of sugar cookies then we decorated them. Mostly we just ate them. The cookies were really good, but the frosting not so much. I tried to make my own frosting. I followed the recipe and everything but I think I prefer the store bought. Let me know if anyone has a good recipe for frosting maybe I'll attempt it again. Oh well, Lillian still had fun decorating and we had fun eating!

It was a really cold day in Cache Valley and so we bundled up and played some football. It was Steven's idea; I personally hate the cold, but it turned out to be lots of fun. Lillian loved carrying the football and having us all chase her around the yard.

Steven was trying to carry the two girls but they were a little squirmy. After football we went to the Olive Garden for dinner. It was delicious and also a little crazy, as are all restaurant dinners with two little kids. We had a great time; thanks for coming up everyone!

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Our Girls

I just have all these random pictures of the girls around the house that I snap here and there. It seems like they do something cute everyday and I just have to take a picture of it.
I love this picture of them together; I am so happy my girls have a sister. I wish I had a sister, but I do have great sisters-in-law. Lillian and Isabelle have so much fun together, I love it. Isabelle was eating a fruit snack when I took this picture, hence the drool. It doesn't get much cuter than this.

Lillian was showing off some dance moves in the kitchen. She just started dance class and she loves it. It is adorable to see her show off her dances. Mostly she just makes them up; I like those ones the best.

Isabelle is our little firecracker. She has so much spunk she doesn't know what to do with herself! Sometimes I don't know what to do with her either. Good thing she is so dang cute.

Isabelle is quite the little mother. She learned it from Lillian, oh, and from me of course. She is always carrying around some baby. She makes sure they have a blanket and that they are dressed in something. She also tries to feed them bottles but she usually hits the bottle all over their face until she finds the mouth. It is amazing how young she is and how she is already so much of a girl.

Didn't I mention she was my firecracker? This is her throwing a tantrum. She does this about 8 times a day. It starts out with this and then she puts her head on the ground and her bum in the air. She cries like this for a little while and then eventually she gets up and plays. She is so dramatic and hilarious all at the same time.

I think Lillian was doing another dance pose, it kind of looks like the Egyptian?

It's a fight to get Lillian to let me do her hair. I think that is because she didn't really have any hair to do until she was like 2 years old. So all of this hair curling and ponytails is relatively new to her. This day she let me curl it so I had to take a picture. Her hair is really straight so the curl is gone in 2 hours or so, but it sure is cute while it lasts!

Island Park and Yellowstone

Kevin's parents live in Island Park, ID. so we took a weekend to go and visit. We went one year with some friends at the end of September and it was so beautiful and so we decided to go again. When we went to Yellowstone on the trip before we saw so many huge elk bugling and so we were hoping to see some more this year.

We left on a Friday after work and got to his parents that night. On Saturday Kevin's dad, Jim took us fishing on the Henry's Fork of the Snake River from Warm River to Ashton. Jim is a fly fishing guide but he had the day off and was kind enough to take us. I haven't done a lot of fly fishing since I had the girls, but Mary was nice enough to watch them for us.

Here is a picture of one of the many fishes I caught. I landed 18 fish! I caught more but a few got away. I was so impressed with myself! Of course Jim was an excellent guide so he helped me a lot. We had a great time. There were two men who were fishing by us for a lot of the day and whenever we would come upon them I would catch a fish. The girl on the river was showing them up. The river was beautiful with all the fall colors. It was really fun to go with Kevin.

We went to Yellowstone on Sunday. We wanted to see Bears and Wolves and so we left Jim and Mary's house a little before 7:00 AM. It was 27 degrees when we left, we were freezing! We got to Yellowstone and we saw a few elk and a few bull elk but no bugling. Here was one bull elk that we saw but it was all alone, except for some buffalo that were hanging around it. We searched and searched for bears and wolves but we didn't have any luck!


We stopped for a potty break in Lamar Valley. Apparently there are a lot of wolves that like to hang out in around here but they must have heard we were coming and hid. When we went with our friends we actually did see some wolves a long ways off. We were hoping to be as lucky on Sunday but we weren't. Lillian was showing us how to do jumping jacks while we were stretching our legs. She actually does them very well and she is adorable when we does them. We all got a good laugh.

Here is our family in Lamar Valley. We were in the car all day and then we drove home that night. The girls were so good in the car. Thank goodness we had Jim and Mary with us in Yellowstone. They were such a big help with the girls.

Lillian kept saying that the bears must be sleeping and that was why we didn't see any. I think she was right.

We had a good time in Yellowstone. I always love going there, it is one of my favorite places. There is so much to see and do. We had a nice picnic lunch by the river and it was warm and sunny. It was so nice!

Lillian Goes to Preschool

Lillian started Preschool this past September. She has been so anxious to go for so long she could hardly contain herself when the blessed day arrived. She picked out the outfit my Grandma Killen gave to her days before so she knew exactly what she was going to wear. Her preschool is just up the street so we can walk everyday, it is so nice.

Her teacher gave them each a stuffed mouse that they could name and that they could hold and hug if they missed their moms and dads. Lillian named hers Olivia. I don't thinks she has ever had to use her because she loves preschool so much. If it has been a few days since she has gone she will say very sadly, "I miss my teacher so much!" I hope she always loves school this much. The best part is when we pick her up she runs to us and is so excited to tell us all about her day; I love it. Do you think she will always be that happy to see me? Even when she is 14? I hope so it is one of my favorite things.

Here she is ready to go in with her good friend Avery. Don't they look so cute? It was a little sad for me to take her to preschool because her school days have begun. But it is really nice to her to go and learn and for me and Isabelle to have some time. Although Isabelle misses Lillian so much when she is at preschool.

Daniel and Bertha's Wedding - August 2008

On August 1 Daniel, my youngest brother, got married to Bertha Garcia in the Salt Lake Temple. We were able to be at the Bountiful Temple when they both took out their endowments. It was very special to have so much of my family in the temple together. Their day was beautiful and we are very happy for them!

Here is Daniel and Bertha with our family. Kevin and I along with our family were able to attend the ceremony in the Salt Lake Temple. It was very beautiful. It brought back a lot of memories of our own wedding there 6 years before. The girls waited in the waiting room along with my cousins Laurie and Jen. They were pretty tired by the time this picture was taken.

Lillian and Isabelle along with Bertha's nieces wore matching dresses. Her colors were bright pink and green and they were so pretty.

Kevin and I have a picture from our own wedding in front of the doors at the temple. It was kind of neat to also have a picture now with our 2 girls.

Daniel and Bertha's reception was one of the funnest receptions we have ever been to. All the guests arrived at the same time. They had a short line for people to say hi and then there was a huge buffet for dinner. They had really good food. The reception was also decorated beautifully. Then they had dancing and they placed American and Latin music. Bertha's family are super good dancers. They put the rest of us to shame. The dancing was so much fun and the girls loved it.
Here is a picture of Daniel and Bertha after a night of dancing.

Here are my parents, don't they look nice all dressed up. Lillian spent part of her time in the line with my Dad. We had a hard time getting her to leave his side.

My favorite part of the reception, besides seeing so many family and friends was the dancing. Lillian kept us on the dance floor for most of the night!

Smithfield Canyon

On Saturday morning Kevin usually has his MBA class, so we like to do something fun on Saturday afternoons. This Saturday we decided to take a picnic up Smithfield Canyon. The canyon isn't far from our house. How lucky are we to have this beauty so close to home?
We had a great time eating our lunch and then we looked for rocks in the river. Kevin also found sticks to throw for Tess the dog. By the way, we no longer have Tess. Some of us are happier than others about her move to another family. I happen to be ecstatic!

Lillian got really into finding neat rocks. She even enlisted me and Isabelle to help her. Isabelle kept walking into the frigid water. When I say the water was frigid, I mean I was surprised I didn't see ice chunks floating down the river it was so cold. What can I say? She is my water girl.

Here is Lillian showing off her rocks to us. As you can kind of see, she found a lot of rocks. We had a great time in the canyon. It was nice to escape the heat of July up the canyon by the river. I love living in Cache Valley where there are so many places like this to get away and enjoy nature.