The Beach

Rilynn was throwing sand at my feet and laughing the funniest forced laugh. She loved the beach so much. She should have been freezing, but she didn't care she was having so much fun. I loved the way she would run toward the ocean then run away before the waves could touch her.

Maclain and Alex had fun swimming, even though the water was so cold. It had been raining before we got to the beach so the sun made for some cool photos. While we were there we watched two helicopters fly up and down the beach.

All the kids had so much fun finding all the different beach treasures. Maclain found a clam shell still together, but with no clam.

Alex and my dad in a classic stance. It was too cute, right before I took this picture Bridger had had his hands in his pockets too, but I missed it.

Kids got soaked and we had sand everywhere, but it was worth all the fun we had.

Christmas

Christmas this year was a blast. On Christmas eve Maclain was so excited he couldn't go to sleep. They each had so much fun, all we did was play all day long. It was fun and relaxing to just stay at home.

Houses

This is Bridger with a finished House

Every year I try to find some kind of Christmas Gift project the kids can help me make. This year it was fun wintery houses for all of our grandmas. Alex had to fly one night, so I let the kids stay up and we did our project. At first I was thinking I might be alittle crazy for undertaking this on my own, because they were fast, I could hardly keep them suplied with paint.

For being 2 I was very impressed with how well Rilynn painted.

Yes it was a very messy project, but very sucessful.

Maclain was maticullous with his paint. He had to have it perfect. He is a great artist.

December brought us lots of family fun. Maclain was a Beaver in his class Christmas play. The beaver's were the best part. They think the Christmas trees are for them because the people know their teeth get so soar from chewing wood, and they light them up so the beavers can find them. Natures most beautiful sight is a Beaver dam made with blinking lights.

December also brought us Bridger's Birthday. He is finally 4!

We took a train ride into Temple square to see the lights. Alex's family all came with us. One big party on the train. It snowed on us the whole time, but we had so much fun.

It's Been awhile

Well the end of the year went by even faster than I thought the beginning did. I honestly don't know where the time has gone. We finally got a new family photo the end of Oct, and the first of Nov. Bridger cut Rilynn's hair. Yes I cried. Luckily my friend Melanie blended it well.

Halloween

This Halloween I had two Cowboys, one Cowgirl/monkey depending on the day, and one Grand Tetons Park Ranger. Bridger and Rilynn had so much fun playing in their costumes it's amazing they are still intact. Maclain came up with his costume all on his own, I will admit I am impressed and surprised he stuck to it and had no desire to be anything scary or tough. My second Cowboy just happened to get caught. The neat thing about Maclain's costume is the hat. It happens to be my grandpa's hat and Maclain asked to borrow it for his costume, and he loves it and takes great care of it. It made my grandpa's day to think Maclain would be interested in something of his. My grandpa went in for heart surgery on monday. He is doing good, his recovery is slow but steady, so it looks like he will be ok. Because of that this last week I have thought alot about what it means to age and what really is important, and what it is like to lose people we love, and what people want to get out of life. For everyone the story is different, but often similar too.

Pumpkin Patch

This year took us back to our favorite pumpkin patch to pick out the best pumkins. We have done this the last few years and the kids love it and talk about it as soon as the fall comes. Rilynn and Allie had so much fun on the teeter totter it was hilarious to just listen to them laugh.

On our tactor ride to the pumpkin patch the trailer blew a tire so we had to off load and join another group. Because of the incident they let each of us pick two pumpkins each, so we had lots of pumkins this year, and we even carved them all. We had lots of neighbors comment on how many pumpkins we had lining our porch.

Normally I like to take pictures of our family and the kids in the pumpkin patch but this year I was out voted, and I got zero pictures because they were too busy choosing pumpkins.