All Aboard the Polar Express!

Last year around Christmas time Ryan and I heard about the Polar Express train ride near Flagstaff. We both wanted to do it, but it didn't work out last year. This year we planned ahead and made it up there. We decided to keep it a secret from the kids until we went to put pjs on to board the train. We thought we would get a great reaction that way and we weren't disappointed. We maybe kept it a secret a little too well, though. The kids weren't as familiar with the story as they could have been, but luckily Marissa's and quick learner and Devon loves trains! We all had a great time and it was definitely worth the trip!



Devon looks pretty excited!!




We all got hot chocolate and cookies on the ride, had a visit from Santa after we picked him up at the "North Pole", and each received a bell to remind us to believe.


After the train ride, we went to a cute little cafe/diner for some pie.


It took us about 3 hours to drive to the train so we decided to stay the night afterwards in Flagstaff. The kids always love a night in a hotel complete with a continental breakfast and swimming pool! We thought we would try to drive up to the snow while we were there. Unfortunately (or fortunately, whichever way you want to look at it) there wasn't a ton of snow as you can see, but the kids still enjoyed putting on their rarely used winter coats and tromping around in it!

Happy Halloween!

I was pretty bummed that this was the only picture we were able to get on Halloween that turned out, but at least we got something. Marissa was a sailor, Devon a magician, and Sawyer looked adorable in his alien (from Toy Story) costume. We went trick or treating with some friends and the kids had a blast!

Our little soccer player!

This fall was Marissa's first year in soccer and she turned out to be quite a little player when she wanted to. The league we were in didn't have any practices during the week so "Coach Ryan" took her out and drilled her between her Saturday games. She had some great games with her high scoring game at 4 goals! We were all sad to see the soccer season end and can't wait until next year!

My baby is 1!

We call Sawyer the king of the "half smile". For his 6 month pictures Ryan, Marissa, Devon, and I tried until we were blue in the face to get a big smile out of him and he was just Mr. Cool. He had this look on his face the whole time he was eating his cake. This smile right here says "Yes, this is how I should always be treated!"


The cake just wasn't enough for this kid. We left him unstrapped and after awhile he climbed onto the table to get at the frosting can and lick it right off the spoon!


This is one of the biggest smiles we can get out of Sawyer. He liked it when he bumped his scooter into things and we all made goofy sound effects.


I can't believe Sawyer is one. Although he was not walking on his birthday, by three weeks after he was cruising around thinking he owned the place. Grandma and Grandpa gave him the Little Tikes scooter that he loves to walk behind but loves even more to get pushed around on!