Holiday Festivities!

We have been keeping busy with all of our "Holiday Traditions". We walked through Temple Square and enjoyed the lights before these last few snow storms. We have made graham cracker houses--quite the feat! The royal frosting did not go so well and then we had to wait days for the other frosting to dry. Talk about torture for kids! The girls were so excited to finally get to decorate them. Next year we will find another project, or just buy a gingerbread house kit! The tree is up and the house decorated. We have gone to see Santa and put in our wish list. I think we are ready for the real thing now. We will make cookies and frost them Christmas Eve day. We love the holidays because we all stay home together (as much as possible) and enjoy each other's company. I love to have the Christmas lights on with all the other lights off. I will miss my traditional glass of wine & relaxation on Christmas Eve this year, but we are all really excited to meet our new little son/brother this coming year.
We wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We hope that everyone has a wonderful & healthy 2009!

Holiday Preparation!

We are busily preparing for the holidays. I had to work through Thanksgiving so I am now playing catch-up. Trying to clean (& deep clean/purge) everything to make way for Christmas decorations. I am hoping to at least get the tree up this week. The girls are very excited. They have both been handfuls lately so they are on the "naughty list" right now. Hopefully they can get it together before too long so we can visit Santa and put in our wish list. I love Christmastime. It is my favorite holiday because Tally is off-track so we can do lots of fun things. We have a ton of fun traditions to perform. I can't wait for the coming weeks. Hopefully work picks up so I can work a little extra and finish my shopping. If not, we will still have each other to celebrate with. I am over-ambitious this year trying to make some gifts for people. We will see how that goes!
We tried to have a photo of the cousins taken, but the kids weren't that into it. The outfits my mother-in-law bought are cute though. We will have to try again another time.

Halloween!

Halloween was tons of fun this year! The girls looked adorable and really loved dressing up, especially Ashlyn. She has been wearing these red "ruby slippers" as much as possible this month. Tally picked her own costume this year. She made a great little angel. The girls had fun trick-or-treating--so glad the weather was decent! My sister Tiff & her husband Jeremy stayed at our house and passed out candy. I didn't even recognize them when they came up to us! The girls have too much candy to eat, but had fun collecting it!

Fall Photos!

Our Fall 2008

Its been a crazy couple of weeks for us! We have done so much fun stuff. We went to Schmidt's to pick pumpkins then over to Gardner Village to hang out with the withches. We went to the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point-the girls loved the blow-up toys & face painting. We had our annual Halloween party (gown-ups only). Rob & I took the girls to Boo at the Zoo--it was mayhem! We spent 3 hours standing in lines for candy with hundred of other people. I don't think we saw any animals the whole time. I take that back, there was an owl being shown off near one of the lines. The girls had fun and that is all that matters. Who knew they would have record attendance this year? Ashlyn had her cute Halloween preschool program, complete with parade & lots of songs! She was shy, but so cute! So much fall fun! It is our favorite time of year. This is my first attempt at a slide show. Hope you like it!

Enjoy Fall Treats!

We had so much fun going up Millcreek Canyon a couple of weeks ago. The girls thought it was awesome to hike in and find our own "camping' spot. I don't really camp so we just went for a delicious(??) dinner of hot dogs & s'mores. It was tons of fun. The girls kept running around (entirely too close to the river) & jumping off rocks, trees, whatever they could climb. It was fun & a bit nerve-wracking to watch them be crazy kids. Rob & I had to keep them safe from the fire, river, flying objects i.e. rocks & sticks (launched by one adorable daughter or the other:). The leaves were beautiful & the weather was nice. All in all, a great evening for our family.

We're Back!

Well, we are home! It has been a long 2 weeks, but so well-worth it. Maui was amazing-so pretty & relaxed. Oahu was fun, but a bit busy for the end of our trip. The photos are out of order, but you get the idea--so much fun & so much to do(too many photos to post)! Rob & I had fun snorkeling--saw turtles & manta rays. We saw amazing waterfalls & beaches on the Hana Highway (even if we had to "camp" in our cottage w/ bugs & geckos). Lots of swimming. I got my "anniversary tattoo" at the end of our trip. I love it!! Rob never figured out what he wanted so he didn't get one. I think he was a little too scared to get one, especially now that he saw me get mine! This tat did not feel good, but we have a clean slate now. I told him that I got rid of all my anger & angst toward him for the last 10 years--Yes it hurt THAT BAD! This trip was made better by having our friends there! We had a blast w/ the Kristensens & Ostmarks--2 weeks together and no real fights(inter-couple anyway:)--pretty amazing considering our close quarters

We all did well w/out our kids, but definitely won't be leaving them again any time soon. It feels great to be home. The girls are doing great and enjoyed their "vacation" as well. It is back to the grind for all of us-Tally is back on-track, Ash is back to preschool, Rob is back to work, and I go back this week as well. The fun has to end sometime I suppose!