Extravagant Date Night

One of the vendors that works with Geoff's company invited employees and spouses to a nice dinner and magic show.  Geoff signed us up to go, we got a sitter for the girls, and we had a wonderful time!

Can you tell we were pretty excited to be out of the house and kid-free?  Ha ha! I sure enjoy having adventures with this amazing  man.

Hylie's School Pictures

This post was supposed to happen way back in October, but somebody put Hylie's Class Picture in a safe spot and finally found where that oh-so-safe spot was!

I love that they provide the names of all the classmates.  I remember sitting down with my Mom when I was in First Grade or so, trying to remember what everyone's first and last names were--I kept telling Mom the same last name for a bunch of different kids and she kept questioning the repeated name as I tried to convince her I knew what I was talking about.  Ha ha!

Hylie continues to thrive in school and we are so grateful she loves learning.

Eliana's 3rd Birthday

We enjoyed celebrating this beautiful girl at the beginning of the month.  It was so fun putting together Eliana's birthday because she was so into planning everything!  She knew what she wanted for dinner, dessert, and what toys she was hopeful for.  She sure didn't mind all of the extra attention, either!

We had a fun little breakfast together and then had Eliana open presents.  We had a Dora the Explorer theme going and Eliana was super excited to get her very own Dora the Explorer Backpack with the Map and I was able to fix up two little baby dolls to look like her beloved Super Babies.

I had a lot of fun dressing up her birthday brownies and it was worth every second when Eliana saw the finished product.  Plus, when Eliana noticed that Swiper the Fox had taken one of her candles, she was so worried all day long about it--she wouldn't stop talking about Swiper having her third candle and it was cracking us up!  So needless to say before we sung to her, she was extremely relieved to finally get that candle back!

Can you find Corny the Elf?

Her candle is finally safe!

Eliana brings so much joy to our family and we love to giggle over her quirky tendencies.  She is super comfortable in her own skin, knows what she likes, and has a gentle heart.  We are looking forward to what year three will bring for this sweet little girl.

"Balloon Park"

In hopes to encourage more polite behavior and for our children to remember to say "please" and "thank you" without being prompted, Geoff and I decided to institute an incentive program.  Every time we caught our children being kind or polite we would ask them to put a "polite puff" in a mason jar and if they did things that were complete opposite of polite behavior, we would have them take one out.  Once the jar was filled, we would visit "Pump It Up" (an indoor venue of huge, inflatable bounce houses).  Hylie refers to this place as the "Balloon Park".  Well, I can't even remember when we started this whole thing, but it has been MONTHS and MONTHS of trying to get our kids to just say please or thank you on their own...they still don't seem to remember to say these magic words, but somehow the 'Polite Puff Jar' was filled.  I admit, I was reluctant to take the kids because my dreams of hearing kind and thankful words automatically roll off our children's tongues still has not happened...but a bargain is a bargain.  We went and the kids had a blast...and yes, we had to remind them to say thank you at the end of the event. *sigh*

Thanksgiving 2017

This Thanksgiving we were blessed to join some friends in our ward for a wonderful feast.  Then the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I decided I wanted to make the entire meal so we could bask in leftover goodness!  We definitely enjoyed both dinners, so much so that no time was taken to snap any pictures...but I couldn't pass up an opportunity to reflect upon all the tender mercies and blessings we have in our lives.

Too often I take for granted that I never worry about where our next meal will come from, if we will be warm enough through the night, or if we are safe to live where we are.  I know that Geoff and I have worked hard in our lives and we are grateful for the education and employment opportunities we have had, but we also understand that we are not experiencing joy, love, and peace in our lives solely because of our efforts.  As we take a step back and look at our lives, I am humbled at how the Lord's hand can be seen in all things.  We most certainly do not have a hard life--we have our health, our beautiful family, and all the comforts we could ever hope for.  Yet, when we are faced with things like sickness, or a dead car battery, or an overwhelming schedule, it always amazes me at the timing of things, the thoughts that come to mind to solve a problem, or the strength and energy Geoff and I are blessed with to support one another and our children.  Truly, I don't believe in coincidences.  I know with all my heart that God is in the details of our lives.  It doesn't mean everything is easy, but what it does mean is we have the opportunity to be blessed in whatever capacity when we are striving to do His will.  I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ, for the understanding of the Plan of Salvation, and for the love of our Father in Heaven and His Son to provide all the means necessary to improve, repent, and return with Them.  How I pray to never take these blessings for granted and to teach my dear children the true source of their blessings and happiness.

Happy Halloween 2017!

Having little ones to celebrate Halloween with is just so much fun!

Some friends of ours hosted a pumpkin carving party and we had so much fun!

Hylie's pumpkin

Eliana's pumpkin...she wanted her pumpkin to have glasses...my attempt was not even close to resembling any type of glasses, but she was content with it!

Hylie wanted to be Snow White this year, so I called up Mom and sure enough, she still had the Snow White dress she made for Janna!  Hylie was beside herself when she saw how amazing this costume is.  I had to hem it quite a bit...Janna and I were a little older when we wore it!

Eliana was so excited to be a "Super Baby".  Don't know what a super baby is?  Don't worry, most people don't.  Out of 172 "Dora the Explorer" shows, there are 2 episodes that have the super babies and Eliana just can't get enough of them!  I'm surprised we haven't worn out the DVDs from the library yet, because that's all she wants to check out when she gets to pick a show!  When I took Eliana to the fabric store with me to pick out her super baby cape, she fell in love with a fleece giraffe print (which has NOTHING to do with super babies).  But she knew what she wanted and I wasn't going to stop her!  I decided to iron a picture of Dora and the Super Babies on a shirt for Eliana's costume.  Eliana was pretty excited when she saw the finished shirt, but then she looked around and asked, "Where are my Super Baby pants?"  Ha ha!

Lillian wasn't super thrilled about keeping her Cabbage Patch doll wig on, but she humored us enough to get a few pictures!

We had a fun time at our ward's "Trunk or Treat" activity and went to a few houses on Halloween night for some goodies.

Eliana was cracking us up during the costume parade at the church, she kept drifting away from the line and was in her own personal parade, ha ha!

Yep, Lillian is kind of done with the costume part of Halloween, but she hasn't been complaining about all the extra treats!

 Getting ready to go out Halloween night!

Hylie was practically in tears when I told her it was too cold to not where something under or over her costume...and I'm not going to lie, I remember feeling the same way when I was little--it's no fun to wear a costume and then cover it with a coat!  So we put four layers of clothes on her...but she ended up sporting her coat towards the end anyway!

Dad getting ready to take these two cuties out to "Trick-or-Treat"!

And in case you wanted to learn more about Super Babies, here's a little clip of how the girls respond to the theme song!

12 Months of Lillian

Lillian is definitely NOT slowing down!  She has her army crawl down pat, will repeat many sounds and syllables, on a good day you can get her to point to her nose, ears, and mouth, loves loves loves peek-a-boo, when she's getting her diaper changed on the changing table, she thinks she is so cute when she takes her clothes, drops them on the floor and then says, "uh-oh!", when an upbeat tune comes on you can usually find her dancing along, she's definitely in the phase of "when mommy is cleaning up that mess, I'll make this mess", she has an incredible appetite--but she also knows what she wants--if she sees some food that you're not offering her, she'll 'stiff-arm' you until you figure it out, she can pull herself up (but doesn't know how to get back down...this presents some problems every once in a while!), loves to hide things in people's shoes, she can chatter your ear off still, has cut 5 teeth, and is 100% a mama's girl!  Sometimes I feel like I can't even leave the room without her going into melt-down mode...but I know this won't last, so I'll take the snuggles anytime I can!

Here's a little video of Lillian while waiting for her eye appointment:

We got some wonderful news that her eyes are perfectly fine!  Here's hoping it stays that way!

Happy 1st Birthday, Lillian!

On October 14, this cutie turned the big O-N-E!  Lillian seemed to enjoy celebrating the day away!

 We started off with a pancake breakfast

and shortly after Lillian opened gifts.

 She sure enjoyed being spoiled!

She's officially on the family growth chart!  Lillian's official measurements from her annual check-up were: 23 lbs. and 32 1/2" tall (99%)

Before we let Lillian dive into her little 'smash' cake, we wanted to steal a few pics.  Take a good look at her right hand, how did I not see what was coming?

Yep.  The smash cake ended up smashed on the floor when Lillian pulled off the table cloth, ha!  We just scooped it back up, stuck a candle in it, and sang our little hearts out to her as if nothing happened.

 Lillian didn't seem to mind one bit!

Gotta love photo shoots with little ones...you just keep clicking and hope for the best!