on the drive up to utah, we decided to spend the night in moab so we could explore arches the next day. we only got to spend a few hours there so we stopped by again on the way home. the girls had a blast hiking on the trails, especially avery. after hiking to the top of an arch, avery yelled out excitedly "i climb mountain!!"
{click to see larger}
delicate arch
when avery got tired towards the end. click to see larger :)
this cool rock structure was outside of moab. taken at sunset.
we finally made it home. the drive home was rough because both dan and kyla were sick with a nasty stomach bug. but we had a wonderful thanksgiving in utah! i have lots to post, but first i need to do about 5 loads of laundry and get some rest!
this morning the girls and i made these cute little pinecone turkeys with pom-poms and pipe cleaners. elayna got home from school and wanted to make one too. i can't believe thanksgiving is next week! we are super busy getting ready for our trip to utah! any good ideas on how to keep 3 kids happy during long trip cross country?
check out my new yellow rain boots i got on clearance at target! these will come in handy with all the yucky rainy weather
we spent the afternoon reading lots of books and playing outside in our boots :)
from halloween.
kyla loved wearing her princess dress.
and this little bumble bee was so into trick or treating this year. she totally understood it and had so much fun. we were out for a whole hour and she never got tired until the very end when her pumpkin was too heavy to carry.
she is just so adorable! so glad we could come see her this past weekend.
and this sweet girl turned 2!
cousins
i downloaded a data recovery program and was able to recover almost all my files and photos! what a relief. so it wasn't as big of a loss as i thought. thanks for all the comments and suggestions!
we have a tradition where we carve pumpkins the monday before halloween. we have donuts and hot chocolate and listen to all of our favorite halloween music.
the girls cleaned out the pumpkin. kyla chose to use a spoon and not get her hands messy.
the final product
our computer crashed over the weekend and we lost everything. what hurts the most is the over 300 photos that weren't backed up yet. i'm just so sick about it. i've learned my lesson the hard and painful way. from now on i'm going to back up all files and photos once a week, if not more!! i will be back to blogging when we get our computer back up and running.
the happy news is that i have a new niece! sister emily's baby girl was born today. can't wait to see her this weekend :)
enoying the beautiful fall weather. the last few days have been gorgeous. it's nice to spend lots of time outdoors and have the windows open to let in the cooler air.
we had our annual ward halloween party on saturday. the girls had tons of fun. i didn't want to bring my camera along so i took a few quick pics of the girls before we left the house. elayna dressed up as a cute cowgirl...
avery was a sweet little honeybee..
and kyla was a pretty princess...
dan was a crazy hunchback laboratory assistant/mad scientist. he was scaring all the little kids all night long. he put this costume together about an hour before the party started. i'm not quite as creative as him and didn't have a costume.
i hope to get a photo of all the girls together in their costumes on halloween. :)
i had another ultrasound today and everything looks good with baby boy. i love this picture of his little profile. so cute.
...my pumpkin chocolate chip muffin recipe from my 10/1 post.
i got this recipe off the internet a few years back. can't remember where, or i would give credit to the source.
1 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
1 c. ground pumpkin (canned)
1/2 c. cooking oil (i use a little less than this)
1/3 c. chocolate chips
mix together. fill muffin cups and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. so easy and yummy too!
lately every time avery sees me with my camera she says "take picture me!" she always makes the funniest little faces for the camera. i just had to post a few.
on saturday we had a fun little princess party for Kyla. we were going to have her party in september but we had to postpone it because of the hurricane.
the girls came dressed as princesses. they looked so beautiful! for one of the activities they decorated foam princess crowns.
we played lots of fun princess games. ring pops were the prize. (that's what kyla has in her mouth)
she loved her princess party!
even though it doesn't feel much like fall around here, i am so ready for it. i can't wait for the cooler weather of fall. i picked up some little pumpkins at target to decorate with. i love pumpkins! lately i have been craving anything pumpkin: pumpkin bread, pumpkin cake, pumpkin muffins... so today i made some pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. yum. kyla was my little kitchen helper. here she is waiting for the muffins to finish baking
a peek of the chocolate chips inside
