Dance Your Heart Out

Reese did dance for the past couple of months and it was so cute. They had a recital last week and did a tap dance to ABC by Jacksons and a ballet dance to Santa Claus Is Comin to Town. She was totally into the makeup and everything. After her dance at rehearsal she said, "When do I get to go back on stage mom?" It reminded me of Elle saying she was born with a tutu on when she first started dance. And then Reese told me, "Mom I like wearing makeup!" She doesn't do the dances all that well, but she always has her feet turned out perfetly. There are two videos at the end of the post.


For some reason the camera videoed a little blurry and white, but she is second from the end.

Sick Kids

I think the kids always look so cute when they are sick (granted they are not throwing up everywhere:)). They lay on the couch and look so peaceful and cute.

Bass Pro Shops

Anyone who knows us very well knows that Ryan's favorite place ever is Bass Pro, aka "the fish store." We go there often (too often in my opinion) and usually get the kids pictures taken with Santa at Christmas. It is cool, they set up this little Winter Wonderland and have a train and Santa (plus you get a free 4x6 picture) and a snowball fighting area and coloring and letter writing, and a bunch of other fun stuff. And this year they even had free horse carriage rides.




This day was Black Friday and we got up WAY too early to get the kids ready for the day, so we just braved it and went with it. It is what it is:)

Thanksgiving

This year we went to Ryan's sisters house in Colorado Springs and spent the day. It was fun, the kids had a blast playing in their basement and I had a blast playing the WII games:) We had some yummy turkey and all got really full.

Fall Fun

Fall is my absolute favorite season, except for the fact that it is right before winter and we don't usually get a super long fall. This year, however, we have yet to have any measurable snow and I LOVE the weather!! I know we need the moisture but I am enjoying the 50's and 60's right now. Maybe it is saving up for Christmas Day:) The girls love playing in the leaves now in our backyard because our Cottonwoods have gotten huge and drop LOTS of fun leaves! I love the looks of pure joy on their faces, it makes me smile.

Little Goblins

Halloween was fun this year. Mostly because it was nice weather again this year, but also because both of the kids were super excited about it this year. Reese was very insistent on being Ariel for Halloween and for some reason Elle decided she wanted to be a witch. We had school parties, church parties, friend parties, and trick or treating. So needless to say we were blessed with PLENTY of candy this year:)

Grandma's visit

Way back in October when my dad and Ryan took my nephew hunting, my mom came and stayed with us and I just thought this was a really cute picture of them so I am posting it, mostly to make my mom mad because she hates having her picture taken:) No, but I really like the picture.

Bebe Gun?!

For anyone who knows my husband, you know that he is a lover of guns. So he decided it was time to get Elle a bebe gun for her birthday, obviously only to be used under strict supervision and locked away when not being used. So since he agreed to those conditions, I agreed to let him get it for her. She loved it and actually was a pretty good shot. She had the form down and everything. Ryan can't wait until she is 12 and can go hunting with him, we will see what she thinks about that when the time comes.

Wagon Wheel Skate Rink

I struggle to keep up with posts on here. So this is way past due, but the kids had a blast at Elle's 6th birthday party in September so I thought I would post some pics. We went to the Skating Rink in Brighton and skated til we could skate no more.

The beginning of the night

Being sung to by the whole skating rink for her birthday


And we finally got it down!!

And then there was Reese....


She actually did pretty good considering her skates were tightened A LOT so she couldn't even really roll it was more like walking. But she still had a blast thinking she was doing great!

Broken Crayons

So Reese started dance class this last month and has been loving every minute of it. She is so excited that she finally gets to participate in things rather than just watching Elle. So, needless to say, her teacher is not the most caring person in the world towards small children. She is not necessarily mean, but she has no concept of how to talk to a 3 year old and get them to actually listen. So, the first day of class she had them standing on the bar trying to get them to put their arms out straight with their feet pointed out like a ballerina. Of course none of them were doing it and their arms were all over the place. Actually what was funny(and I am not just saying this becuase I am biased) is that Reese was one of the only couple that were really doing it right. So, the teacher says to them, "when you guys color do you like to use little broken up crayons or nice pretty straight crayons?" Well, any of you who know Reese very well can imagine right now her high pitched little voice chiming in trying to be defiant and says, "I like bwoken(broken) ones!" Oh my gosh, Ryan and I could not stop laughing. It probably doesn't sound that funny to people who don't know her very well, but just the way she said it and that she was actually doing the right position all combined to make it HILARIOUS! Anyway I think she is AH-Dorable in dance and here are some pics

1st grade and a new 'do

Elle is in first grade this year, which is CRAZY to me! She got a cute new haircut for being a big 1st grader (mostly becuase her hair was totally fried from swimming all summer), but I absolutely love it and so does she. Surprisingly, it was harder for me to send her to 1st grade than Kindergarten. I almost cried this year. I guess because it is actually all day school, I don't know. She is a good girl, though and loves her teach Mrs Doughty. Her and her little friend Jacob that they have been buds since they were born switched schools this year and so far we are happy with Henderson.

Yee hah!

At church a couple of weeks ago they did a bike rodeo for the kids that was super cute. They had a race course and a bike wash and a snack stop. They also had a guy come and do really cool bike tricks. It was amazing the things he could do, like jumping over this very high rope from a stopped position!

Reese's 1st day of preschool

I can't believe my baby is already in preschool! Sad times! She is oging to preschool at the Episcopal Day School of Evergreen, where I am working. She gets to go to a really awesome preschool for FREE! So we are excited! Everyday she says, "am I going to peeschool today mom?"

14ers

While we were off gallivanting all of July, poor Ryan had to stay home and work.. Although, somehow I don't think he was too put out, considering he has been able to do 6 of Colorado's 14ers in July and August. He loves hiking and would love to eventually do all of them.


These two were the most recent pictures (Saturday) when he and some others from church did Mts. Democrat, Lincoln, Cameron, and Bross


This was when he and a guy from church did Mts. Belford and Oxford


This was Mt. Yale, which he did by himself while we were in Montana

St Mary's Glacier

For my birthday, we decided to go on a hike up in the mountains. We drove up to St. Mary's glacier (kind of near Idaho Springs) and took a lunch. The kids did really good once again and it was a really rocky trail. There were people snowboarding down the glacier, while others were jumping off cliffs into the ice cold lake. They are all crazy if you ask me:)

Cousin Eric

My cousin Eric also lives in Missoula with his wife and kids. They are super fun and bravely invited all of us over to invade their house. They live in a really cool valley with a huge yard and he has chickens and rabbits and veggies and honeybees and all kinds of cool stuff. They have a fire pit and we ate dinner and made s'mores and terrorized his animals. The kids had a ball and it was so good to see family we hadn't seen in a long time. Gramps even came with us which was a treat because he obviously didn't accompany us on a lot of the adventures we went on.

Floating in the river

One day while we were in Montana we decided to go down to the river by my grandpa's house and play and float. Whose bright idea was that?:) There was a PLETHORA of mosquitoes and I can't stand those nasty little creatures! Even bug spray didn't help and the poor kids got eaten alive! But they still had fun for the little time we were there. My cousin Kim's horse, (okay, okay, great dane but I am convinced she is a horse) Aris, came and splashed everyone like crazy.



Sorry, I know how much everyone wanted a picture of me in a bathing suit on here but not gonna happen today (or ever)!