Our Thanksgiving Trip

We decided to make the trek to Utah to see family for Thanksgiving.  Since we have lived in California we hadn't yet gone anywhere for Thanksgiving.  We spent the first part of our trip with the Prices.  All of the kids were in absolute heaven because they just love the Price cousins. I am so glad that Chanelle had Lucy because it is so fun for Annie and Clara to have girl cousins their age.

We had a dinner with all of the Utah Hansens at Erica's house.  It was so cute to see Russell with Harvey.  He is absolutely entranced to think that there are little boys, because all he knows is sisters.  Harvey just loved Russ too, it was really cute to see them together.

One of the nights we went down to Provo because it has been over 12 years since I have been down there and I really wanted to see what it was like.  It was so nostalgic to see all the things and places that were such a part of me growing up.  Then we took the kids to the Bean museum, which was so fun!  Clara especially loved seeing all the animals.  She is obsessed right now./

Russ had to get his picture with a blond bear because that is what he is!  I love this cute boy of mine.

There was a little play area that Clara loved to play on. She went down the slide at least twenty times.

After the Bean museum and dinner we went to the new Provo Rec Center which was amazing!  The indoor pool was so fun!  There was a whole play area and cliffs to jump off and a lazy river.  It was just too much fun.

Russ and Anne were beyond thrilled to play and were absolute daredevils. They were so cute.

Clara had the best time too. I was worried after how awful she was last summer with the pool but she didn't act that way at all. She had so much fun and was just the sweetest little thing even though it was actually past her bedtime.  It was a really fun trip.  Its just hard trying to split time with family because we could easily spend the whole time with either side.

Our Baseball Boy

 After having Russ have so much interest in baseball we decided to put him in t-ball to see if it was something he really wanted to do. It was fall ball which meant it was a lot less pressure and more relaxed which is great for figuring out whether or not he really wants to do this. 

 Kevin helped out as an assistant coach and seeing shots like this was seriously the cutest thing I have ever seen. I loved seeing both my boys out there doing something they love together!

 Russ and Kevin had spent a lot of the spring and summer playing baseball with Kevin pitching it to Russ and Russ becoming quite a good hitter, so Russ struggled a little bit with the whole hitting off a tee thing.  But that's okay. He doesn't need to hit it off a tee if he can hit it from a pitch.

It was really cute watching him get so excited about playing baseball.  He did struggle with wanting to play in outfield on the right side because that's the side that never gets hits so he just has to stand there. 

The girls had fun cheering on Russ as well.

He loved when they got trophys too.  It was really cute to see him play baseball this year and I think it is the start of many years to come.

All About Lizzy-12 Years

Lizzy is twelve!!! Its kind of unbelievable that she is that old! Time is just flying by!  Its crazy to think that potentially she will be out of the house in 6 years! That means we are already two thirds of the way there.  It makes me really sad to think of it that way and realize that my time with her is limited! 
Lizzy has taken over babysitting duties for us in the last few months and it has been amazing!  She is the best babysitter and I am so grateful that she was born first because she fits that oldest child personality so well.  Sometimes she does get a bit bossy and think that she needs to tell everyone else what to do and how to do it, haha!  I do love the help sometimes but not everyone else is as happy about it. She has also babysat some other kids and they just love her too. She is totally a natural!

Now that she is twelve she is in Young Women's with me and that is really fun. I love getting to be in there with her, I'm just a little worried about hindering her. I don't want her to not be herself because I am there. She is just growing into such an amazing young lady!  She is so grown up for her age, but she still likes to have lots of fun too.  She is always full of smiles  and laughter.

Lizzy is in middle school now which I was really worried about.  I wished that they didn't have middle school until 7th grade here.  But Lizzy has done really well. She is so good at staying on top of things and loves having a lot of different classes. She has struggled a little bit with her friends but she is really good at making new friends when she has a friend that is acting crazy.

She is really getting into teenager things and getting a bit of an attitude at times when she feels like she should get something that she isn't allowed it.  She is a good girl though and always is understanding that we know what is best.

Lizzy is still my best eater. She has a hallow leg!  That girl cam eat circles around just about anyone. Its so nice that I can always count on her to eat the dinners that I make and appreciate them.  Part of her big appetite is that she is a runner now.  She has run cross country and discovered how much she really loves it. Its really fun to watch her do something that she loves so much! 

Lizzy is just the coolest girl and I love getting to be her mom. She is so fun to be around and I love getting to hang out with her.  I'm so glad that we were blessed to have her as our firstborn!

Halloween

We had a great Halloween this year.  It was nice because the kids have gotten used to the fact that we aren't really willing to spend a great deal of money on costumes so they have to figure something out with what we already have.

 Jane wanted to be a pirate and wear the costume that we already had that we made for Lizzy a few years ago.  She looked really cute as a little pirate girl too.

 Russ wanted to be Clayton Kershaw and it worked out so perfectly because he had just gotten a Kershaw jersey for his birthday and he had all the other clothes.  It worked out great. He was just the cutest little baseball guy. I love that he posed like this without me even saying anything.

 Annie of course wanted to be her favorite,  and we of course didn't own an Ariel costume, so we had to buy one. We tried to use it as bribery to get her to try and keep her pants dry since she will never do it. But it wasn't really that successful and we couldn't exactly not let her have her sotume when it was the day of.

 Clara absolutely LOVES mickey mouse and she likes Minnie too, so when we remembered that we had this costume she had to be it.  She actually really liked dressing up and she even liked wearing the Minnie ears.  I have never seen a kid her age that would keeps things on their head for very long but she will and she did for the whole night. She wouldn't let me take her picture however unless I let her use my phone.  She has a crazy addiction to phones right now.  Its almost a little scary.

 Luckily Lizzy was willing to try and figure out a costume, she came up with this FBI agent costume and I think it was perfect.

 Nellie came up with this skeleton costume from stuff we already had around the house.  I wish I was really good at doing makeup but it didn't look too bad.

I just love this little gang.  We didn't go out for very long because it was drizzly that night, but I feel like we got just the right amount in.  We went with our friends the Waldrons and it was so much fun.  I think we will try and go with them again next year.