Letters to Santa

This is the first year that we've told our girls that they can write a letter to Santa. :) I put it off as long as I could...

The girls told Dallin what to write... he's a great scribe.

Christmas decorating party

The Monday after Thanksgiving we had our Christmas Decorating party!

We've been counting down the days until we could decorate and turn on Christmas music, and we are all thoroughly enjoying it!

I love watching the kids as they take in all the lights and play with our various nativities. What a magical time of year.

Jayce LOVES throwing things right now, and thinks it is so convenient that our entire Christmas Tree is full of things to grab and toss around. It's a constant battle to keep all the ornaments on the tree. Good thing all the fragile ones are on the top half of the tree... lol!

Thanksgiving

Dallin ended up having an unused day of vacation, so Dallin took the day off on Wedsnesday, we took Kylie out of school, and headed to Washington for the Holiday! Even with leaving in the morning, we hit quite a bit of traffic, and they are doing some major construction in the Gorge(from all the fires) that slowed us down, but we made it to Kennewick eventually.

We got to spend a lot of time with both of our families which was wonderful! Puzzles, movies and food with the Hague/Moody's and Temple, frozen yogurt, installing fans and a tv for Grandma  and more food with the Heath/Miskhos.

Such a fun weekend. Our kids didn't want to come back to Oregon... I didn't either. ;)

Our little stud all ready for church. :)

We love our family and have SO much to be grateful for!!

McKenna is THREE!!

Our sweet McKenna is now THREE!!!

She is sassy and sweet, and everything in between. She adores Kylie and Jayce, and is my little snuggle bug.

We went out for dinner the night before her birthday to The Old Spaghetti Factory and got to eat in the trolley. The girls thought it was the coolest!! And Dallin and I thought it was fabulous because they were contained in the booth, but had the trolley car windows that they could look through and see all the other guests at the restaurant so they were completely entertained. We had them sing to McKenna and afterwards she would tell everyone we saw "you can sing to me."

We definitely make them work for a tip... ha!

On her actual birthday, we opened presents, sang "Happy Birthday" countless times, had eggs, bacon and a smoothie for dinner,

She got a new trike for her birthday. She's pretty stoked.

Her favorite gift was getting her OWN lipgloss (aka "lips")

McKenna couldn't blow out her candles.. and this picture shows why. She blows all her air straight up into her face... ha!

 McKenna has THE BEST expressions. And her eyes tell everything. We love it.

We finished off her special day by going to Zoo Lights. (we were a little hesitant after last year, but we decided to skip the MAX ride, and everything turned out great!) It poured buckets the entire time we were there, but I had the jogging stroller with a rain cover, and we all had umbrellas so everyone was nice and warm and dry.

We sure do love you, Kenna Jane. Thanks for making our lives so fun!

No school November

It seems like Kylie was home more than she was in school over the last month.

She started to get bored, so we had to find ways to entertain everyone. We did a lot of playing out in the rain, went to the zoo, the girls helped me make penguin masks for a friend, we played with friends, Kylie started piano lessons,

Jayce thinks he's pretty big climbing up on the couch and watching shows with his sisters

lots of messes

and we traveled to Kennewick to visit family November 8-12th.

she splattered paint on her face... she wasn't happy. I thought it looked awesome. lol

We mostly hung out around my parents house, and went to visit my Grandma every day. It was a very low-key visit. I loved every minute!

But it was definitely great to get back home and be with Dallin again!! It's hard to travel and enjoy myself without my best friend/other half being there!

Bowden's Party

Every year I look forward to Halloween, and it's all thanks to the Bowden's! They throw the most awesome Halloween party! No kids(probably my favorite part of the night), everyone is required to dress-up(close tie for favorite), and tons of delicious food, fabulous friends and very fun games!

Can you find Dallin creepin' in the back?

Life-Size operation

This year I decided to make costumes for Dallin and I. We went as wacky inflatable dancers. Some people were confused as to what we were, until we showed them our sweet moves.

We even won The Funniest Costume Award. SCORE! Dallin got a gigantic carmel apple from the cake walk, and we tied for first in the Candy Morgue game(every year they have 20ish candy bars that have been destroyed in some way and you have to identify them. This year they pulsed them in a blender and then put the pieces in a vial. We got 18/22 correct!) I'd say it was a pretty good year for us!!

Thanks for the wonderful time guys!!