Gingerbread House

FHE & Gingerbread Houses with the Sorensen's.

Abby gave a great lesson on Christmas symbols,

and we talked about the kind of house we want our house to be.

 One of our favorite Christmas traditions.

 Our masterpiece.

 (Doesn't Kate look adorable with her 1 missing tooth!)

Happy Thanksgiving

 Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year.

We had the Smedley Family at our house.

This was our first time eating on my Grandma Howard's

China at our house.  

Thank you Mom and Dad for 

the beautiful China. 

 Cute cousins.

 Abby and John....so cute! 

 I am so grateful for my wonderful family.

I feel blessed to have such wonderful parents and sisters, and 

an amazing brother in law.

 I am so grateful for the BEST husband.

Love you babe!

 Giant sleepover, games, watching Home Alone, walk to the waterfall,

staying up late talking with my sister, made this year extra fun!

We love Mrs. Jacobsen

Our girls have wonderful school teachers.

Kate's teacher Mrs. Jacobsen had a Birthday,

so Kate and I planned a party.  Hat, chair cover,

cinnamon rolls, huge birthday card, and a Gingerbread house

to decorate.  I feel so grateful for the wonderful teachers

who teach my kids.  I am so glad that Kate loves school and that
she gets to learn from Mrs. Jacobsen this year!

We love Fall

  We have had a beautiful Fall.

All of the snow melted leaving us a chance to rake up Fall leaves.

The kids loved playing in the leaves.

Love all of the warm sunshine!

 I love this picture of Lucy that Abby took.

Great photo Abby!

Reflections

 Abby and Kate both entered Reflections this year.

Abby did a sledding hill and Kate did a surfing picture.

Kate is going on to State Reflections.

Great job Abby and Kate! Great artists!

The Nutcracker

 The Nutrcracker

Abby, Kate, Amy and I went to see 

Kaylee in the Nutcracker.  

She was such a cute ornament and we had a great time.

36 Inches of Snow

36 Inches of Snow

 

Friday it snowed 9 inches.

 Saturday it snowed 22 more inches.

Sunday it snowed 5 more inches.

Grand total of 36 inches in 3 days!!!

Early Out all week long = 2 hours of sledding every day

Abby and Jacob.

The Stevenson's have the perfect sledding mountain
along the side of their house.

Kaylee & Abby

Brave Ella Vanilla

Lucy LOVES sledding.

What a fun wintry week!

 

Abby's Fall Piano Recital

 

 Abby had a piano recital scheduled for

November 10.  We got all ready, and decided it wasn't

wise to go out in the blizzard.  The night before we got 9 inches of snow,

the day of the recital we got 22 inches!  It must be a record.

Abby actually cried about missing it.

She has worked so hard.
We had our own private recital at home.

She played The Ash Grove, which is one of my very favorites!

Baby Alex

  We had a lot of fun watching baby Alex.  

Our girls love babies, especially their little

cousin Alex. Kate wanted to hold him nonstop.

Lucy wanted to feed the baby, burb the baby,

and stay right by Alex the whole time.

What great little moms we have.

 Baby Alex you are loved!

Art Show

 Kate and Rachel had their first Art Show.

It was a snowy night and fun to celebrate 

their hard work.   Good job Katers!

Four Sesons Scottsdale Resort

 

Four Seasons Scottsdale Resort

We stayed for a couple of nights right next to Pinnacle Peak.

  Saguaro Cactus Heaven

We enjoyed swimming and,
even had our own private cabana

by the pool.  We swam, ordered lunch, swam

and didn't go in until the sun was down!

 The Huffman's joined us after school,

and all 9 cousins swam.

 Out of all the pools,

Lucy loved the kiddie pool best.

Afterwards we headed to Ling and Louie's.
Relaxing Day!

Train Park & Golden Spoon

 This was our second time to the Scottsdale Train Park.

The kids remembered it from 2 years ago.

 I can't believe that Golden Spoon still exists.

Our 10th grade hangout spot is still going strong

in Arizona, just not in Utah.  It was fun to see it

hasn't changed.  Mirrors and all.

Huffman Oasis

The best part about Arizona....Cousins!!

 The Huffman Oasis

This Spring the Huffman's moved from North Scottsdale to

Paradise Valley, near Camel back golf course.

  Their house is beautiful, and has tons of palm trees.

They were kind enough to let us stay in their guest house,

and to treat us like royalty!

 Abby and Emme the cutest 9 year olds.
They both look so cute in their glasses.

 Ella loves the twins,

Haldey and Chloe.

She wishes they were triplets!

 RJ turned 2 while we were there.

I can't believe our babies are both going to be 2.

We think RJ and Lucy could be twins.

They look so much alike and are only

3 months apart.

 Riding scooters...

  Playing together...

 Riding camels at the Zoo.

Cousin love is strong! 

 We are so grateful we could spend a week in the Valley of The Sun

with some of our favorite people!