Snow time!

While out in California, we drove up to the snow with Angie, Clark, Kayla, Kaden, and Sue. While I still think it would be more fun if we actually had snow in our backyard instead of having to drive to it, I have to admit that the kids had a blast for a couple of hours and then we left the snow up in the mountains, which was nice. The kids especially liked the sled rides Ryan took them on and the hot chocolate Clark made them on his coleman stove! All in all, not a bad way to do snow!

Soccer Moms someday!

When we went to California in December, we took a little mini-trip up to Grant's Pass, OR. Emily drove down from Roseburg so we could meet up and see each other's cute babies. We had big plans to be soccer moms together one day...who knows, maybe it will still happen!



Sawyer and Ella

Family Fun!

Ryan's parents came out our way just before Thanksgiving. Aside from staying at the Starr Pass Resort and eating Mexican hotdogs, one of the highlights of their trip was checking out Tombstone. The kids watched a gun show, got cowboy hats, and ate in a saloon (kind of:)...what more could you ask for!


Here's Ryan and the kids with Wyatt Earp...and other cast members of the gun show!






The next week Jim and Sue went up to Sedona with Matt and Amy. The kids and I (and eventually Ryan) crashed the party and had a fun Thanksgiving weekend with them!


Here's Sawyer and Grandpa checking each other out!


Sawyer taking a nap in his favorite place...in someone's arms! Sawyer got some good Grandma time this fall and loved every minute!



Marissa and Taylor never cease to amaze us with how well they get along. Whenever we can get together with Matt and Amy it's so nice because our kids entertain each other!



The day after Thanksgiving Matt and Amy found a place to go bowling. Not only did we get a great deal, but the kids had a blast and I got to feel like my family tradition of bowling on Thanksgiving was kept alive!


Three weeks later, we followed Jim and Sue to California for a 10-day trip that went by way too fast. Among the highlights were a mini trip to Oregon where I got to see my best friend from college, a quick trip to San Francisco where we stayed in a luxurious Marriot (thanks to Dan),and we crossed paths with Dan and Elizabeth!



Here's Kaden, Marissa, Kayla, and Devon just hanging out at the end of Pier 39. Angie and Clark met us in San Fran and the kids had a blast at the hotel swimming pool that night!



Sawyer and me with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.


The kids with Grandma and Grandpa in front of the Exploritorium. Just minutes before this Marissa and Ryan decided to ride a mud slide on the hills just in front of here. You can't see it but Marissa was covered in mud from the waist down and Ryan's whole backside was caked in mud! Luckily, we had all our luggage with us so neither of them had to tough it out for too long!



Grandpa and the kids taking a stroll along the pier!



Devon and Uncle Dan - Devon was good at putting on his "happy face" for pictures...especially if we bribed him!

Cute pics of Sawyer!

This is one of my favorite pics of him so far!



Both Marissa and Devon have a towel shot - we couldn't leave Sawyer out!



It's been difficult for me to really capture his cute smile on camera, but he first started showing his little smile around 6-7 weeks.




Here is my sweet baby! I have been reminded once again how much I like babies and Sawyer is a good baby! He has his fussy times and I've conditioned him to want to take his naps in my arms (just like my other babies), but he pretty much started sleeping through the night on his own! By seven weeks he was giving me some good stretches at night so that by 9 weeks he was only waking up for an early morning feed!

Happy Halloween!

Here's our cute little Tigger!



Since Halloween was on a Sunday, our ward had a trunk or treat on Saturday and the kids got plenty if candy.



Marissa was a fairy princess so I let her wear mascara and face glitter, both of which she was super excited about! Look at those lashes!



Here's our little fireman! Fuzzy, this piggy snout is for you!

Grandma's in town!

A couple of weeks after Sawyer was born, Ryan's mom came out to help me with the kids. The kids loved playing with Grandma all day and here are some of the fun things we did with her.

We drove up Mt. Lemmon with her and stopped at the Cookie Cabin at the top to get a huge cookie and some hot chocolate!



We also took her to trail dust town. Here are Marissa and Grandma in jail!



They put on a free show there that we went to - Sawyer and I passed. We saw the same show last year and thought it was pretty fun, but apparently Devon got a little scared. The bad guy's name in it was Blackjack and we were hearing about "blackjack" for several days after that!



There was also a little train they could ride on there. Ryan and I sat at the very back with Sawyer because the train whistle was too loud for him, but Marissa and Devon were at the front with Grandma!



One of our first unofficial family pics with Sawyer!

The Ostrich Farm!

Just up the road from us is an ostrich farm that we finally decided to check out. For a small fee you get two large cups of food for the deer, goats, ostrich, and donkeys as well as two small cups of bird food. The kids had a blast - probably almost as much fun as Ryan and I did!


We started with the deer. Marissa was pretty timid - not that I can blame her because I started out that way, too!



Devon was pretty much fearless when it came to feeding the animals and would practically stick his whole hand in their mouths!



This is what the goats were stationed behind and they would stick their heads through the various holes to get the food.



When the owner gave us the food, he said this was the thing to do with the goats and it would make a great Christmas card picture!



I didn't think there was any way Ryan could convince me to do this, but somehow there I was staring down a goat!



Devon thought this looked like a good idea...but he ended up chickening out in the end!



The ostrich were ornery things and the least entertaining to feed. You couldn't get your hand anywhere near their mouths unless you wanted some painful welts!



These are the lorikeet birds that came right up on your arm to get the food...



...as well as on our heads! I thought this was way more amusing watching the birds pick through Ryan's hair...



...than when this bird started walking up my arm to jump on my head! Ryan was also considerably calmer than I was!