Cherries

I love things with cherries on them and when I saw this fabric I knew I had to make something for the girls out of it. They needed more dresses and I was having a hard time finding cute ones so I decided to make them jumpers. I think they turned out pretty cute. I am making the girls and Kevin pajamas for Christmas, and after that I am going to find another hobby to do for a while. I don't want to burn myself out on sewing.

We couldn't get a good picture of Nellie because she wouldn't sit still

Lizzy giving her "Cheese" smile.

We did get a good picture of Nellie

Apple Hill

Every fall when I am out here in Sacramento I like going to Apple Hill. It is a place up past Placerville in the mountains on the way to Lake Tahoe. There are all kinds of apple orchards with food to buy, crafts, a few activities for the kids to do and just fun for all. I love it and always try to go when I am out here in the Fall. It was really fun to take the girls up and go with Grandma, Grandpa, Judy and Jim and Bryce, Mel and the boys. It was a little bit chilly so it was fun to go and get yummy hot cider and apple donuts. then we went and looked at different craft booths, and went to the fudge factory (I had to get my chocolate fix.) then we went to a different orchard and let Lizzy ride a pony. We promised her she could because it is one of her favorite things to do. It was cool this time because it was on a big track instead of just a little circle so it was like a real pony ride. Nellie had fun seeing all of the animals. Of course every time she saw a dog she started freaking out wanting to get down and get them. We had so much fun!Daddy's girl

Nellie and Uncle Kay as Lizzy calls him

Nellie and Grandpa, Nellie really has warmed up to people, I love it.We really enjoyed the donuts and cider, especially Nellie, anytime there is food involved Nellie is all about it.We had so much fun with Bryce and Mel and the boys Lizzy especially loved being with the boys. We are so glad they made the trip from Phoenix.

Lizzy likes her hot cocoaNellie trying to get a doggie

Lizzy riding Blackie the pony, it was the cutest little pony and she looked so cute clip clopping around on it.It was funny on the way up Lizzy kept calling it Blueberry Hill. "I am so excited to go to Blueberry Hill!" She is so stinkin cute.

Thanksgiving

It has been quite a while since I have posted, but I really had nothing to post. Not too much happened between Halloween and Thanksgiving, We did have our Primary program last Sunday and it went really well. Lizzy got up there and sang her heart out and when it was her turn to speak she was shy the first time and then got braver and louder each time after, until by the end she had to stand up there by herself as she pulled the microphone down to talk. Everyone got a good laugh out of her. All I can say is that it was absolutely the biggest stress relief when it was done. I honestly felt like I had a giant weight lifted off of me. That evening we drove up to Omaha because our plane left the next morning at 6:55 am. I had to get up at 4:30 as it was so I am glad that we drove up the night before. we flew into Oakland because it was over 100 dollars cheaper per ticket to do so, My mom was so nice to pick us up.

For Thanksgiving we went to Aunt Judy and Uncle Jim's house to eat, the food of course was so good, Jim smoked the turkey, it was amazing! I made all the pies and I would say that they were pretty darn good. The girls had so much fun playing at Judy's house, she has a ton of toys and things for kids to do so we didn't have to entertain them much. My brother Bryce and Mel and the boys came up from Arizona and it was so much fun to see them. Bryce always makes things more fun. Lizzy absolutely adores the boys. She and Jace had fun playing and everyday since then she has just followed them around. If we are driving somewhere and they are in the other car she will keep asking "Where are the boys? I want the boys." It is so sweet, because they are these big boys and she is this little girl, and they take care of her, they will hold her hand when we are walking in some place and make sure she is safe.

The guys watching football (surprise, surprise)

Nellie and Daddy, so cute

Lizzy and Jace playing, they actually had a lot of fun.

Nellie trying to get the kitty, she is obsessed with animals and just wants to squeeze them all.

Lizzy enjoyed(just a little) some of the candy that Judy's house is famous for

Happy Halloween

Little Bo Peep and her sheep.

Last year I didn't do anything special for Halloween because I was having such a hard time with Nellie at the time and I could barely do all the bare minimum stuff so I just borrowed a costume last minute for Lizzy. This year I have been kind of on a sewing kick and since I had a dang cute sheep costume I made for Lizzy two years ago that fit Nellie perfectly I decided to make Lizzy Little Bo Peep. The costume took quite a bit of time to make but it was so worth it, the girls looked so cute. We took the girls downtown for trick-or-treating at all of the businesses and then we went with our friends the McCall's to Pizza Hut for dinner before going to a Trunk-n-treat at one of the local churches. There was also a little train popcorn and hot cocoa to drink at the trunk-n-treat. It was a really fun night. It wasn't too cold although it was about 15 degrees cooler than yesterday. the same thing happened last year, it was really warm the day before Halloween and then Halloween it dropped about 30 degrees and we about froze to death. Thankfully it wasn't too bad and we just bundled up the girls so they were warm enough. It was one of the best Halloweens ever. I love having kids they make life so much more fun.

We told Lizzy she was Little Bo Peep princess because she wanted to be a princess so bad. I know I am a bad Mom to make her be what I wanted, but I figure next year I will let her choose.

We had to give Nellie a sucker so that she would actually keep her hat on

Riding in the train with Bethanie

Thomas and Austin

Lizzy was pretty excited about carving "punkins" as she calls them. Right now she is going through a phase where she asks what people's names are, and also inanimate objects as well. She asked me when we got the pumpkins what their names were. I told her that they didn't have a name and we needed to name them, so I kept saying names and asking if that was his name, each time it was "no that is not his name", until I came to Thomas for her pumpkin and she said "Yeah that is his name." The same thing for Nellie's pumpkin until I got to Austin. So we named our pumpkins Thomas and Austin.

The girls really enjoyed pulling out all the seeds and the squishy stuff.

Nellie loved being able to be up on the table hanging out and was very interested in what is inside the pumpkins.

Nellie was so cute. She has started saying "Cheese" when she sees a camera and smiling really big.

Lizzy thought it was pretty neat to see the pumpkins all lit up.

A Cinderella Party!!

Friday was Lizzy's 3rd birthday, which of course she has been looking forward to for about 6 months now. I threw her a Cinderella party of course, all though for a short time she wanted a Strawberry Shortcake party. She eventually came back to Cinderella which I always knew would happen.

I made her a Cinderella cake which took me about three hours to decorate. (I know I can't believe I spent that long on a cake either, but I am a perfectionist and the cake was really, really hard to do.) Plus I didn't want her to look like Cinderella's ugly stepsister, which I was afraid of because I am really not the greatest cake decorator. It turned out pretty good as long as you don't look at the picture of what it is really supposed to look like.Any way it was worth it because she loved it, even though by the time it was time for cake and ice cream she was so overstimulated she wasn't interested in eating it. I like how she had to hold her magic wand in one hand and her doll in the other while she blew out her candles. Nellie didn't have a hard time eating the cake however, she devoured her piece and started squealing for more. Lizzy loved all of her presents, She got a Princess Sleeping bag/air mattress in one. (she has been sleeping on it every night since.) She got a Cinderella Dress-up dress from Grammie and Poppie , and a shirt, socks and plate, bowl and cup (all princess of course)from Grandma and Grandpa. Our friends the McCall's gave her some My little ponies which she also loves. She definitely made out like a bandit. It turned out to be a great birthday for her.
It was so cute every time I would say "Happy Birthday Lizzy" she would say "Happy birthday Mommy" very sincerely. I am just glad that I am done making that cake and I don't have to make another for about 9 more months.

Three Whole Years!

I can't believe my Lizzy is three. It literally seems like yesterday that I got to hold her for the first time and knew my life was never going to be the same. I have had the best time being her Mom. She was one of those babies that came here smiling. She really was smiling from the time she was a week old. I think because she is the happiest person I know. She is so completely full of life and fun. She always has a smile on her face and a hug to give someone. She is just the sweetest little girl. She is so concerned about others. If she does something wrong she always tells me "Mama I am so sorry." She is always giving compliments and tells us how much she loves us. She loves to sing and knows too many songs to count, and can be found singing all day long. She loves her sister and her Daddy so much. She loves to discover the world around her, and I think that is why she is so mischievous, she just loves life and everything in it. Everyday I feel so lucky to have been blessed with such a sweet and special girl. I love you Lizzy Lou!! Happy third birthday!

Smarshmellows

Kevin was at Presidency meeting and I really needed the girls out of my hair while I cleaned up dinner so I gave them each a bag of "smarshmellows" as Lizzy calls them. Nellie thought it was the neatest thing ever that she got her very own bag, and they both decided that eating them under the table was the very best place to eat them. I love these little gals!

A few more pictures

Nellie trying on her Minnie ears. She is such a little doll

Eating at Knott's, Nellie was so tired but she still enjoyed eating her mashed potatoes.

When we left Universal, we stopped at the Dodger's Store and Kevin got himself a jacket he really wanted and couldn't resist getting Lizzy a pink Dodger's hat. She looks so cute wearing it.

Universal Studios

Friday we went to Universal Studios. We decided that next year 3 days of amusement parks is enough. It was really hard to get the girls up early to go. They were so grumpy and tired from going non-stop the last three days. The other thing was Universal is more for older people and not for little kids so it was hard to keep them really entertained. We decided to head back to the hotel pretty early and it was a good thing too because we ended up being in traffic for almost two hours with two crying kids the whole time. Man was that fun. We did have fun though, Nellie loved meeting the dog Morgan who plays a lot of parts in T.V. It looks like she is scared here, but she is actually squealing in delight. She wanted to squeeze the dog and we had to keep holding her hands back.

Lizzy was very excited to see Dora. She has liked Dora forever, and although she is into princesses more she still likes Dora a lot.

Yes, she likes Sponge Bob no matter what I do. I don't even know how she got introduced to the show, but somehow she did. I just try to dissuade her from it.

We finally got a picture of just us without the kids. The first one in years.

Knott's Berry Farm

On Thursday we went to Knott's Berry Farm. It was really nice because there was nobody there and we walked onto every ride. Nellie was in hog heaven when she saw Snoopy. She is obsessed with dogs right now and whenever she sees one she starts woofing. She went right up Snoopy and tried to hug and squeeze him. She could have stayed there all day. The kids had a lot of fun because there was no waiting around just lots of rides. We went to the Chicken Dinner restaurant that night at Knott's, the food was good, but by that time the kids were so tired that dinner was pretty miserable, they just needed to get back to the hotel and get to bed. They were majorly sleep deprived on this trip.

Notice Nellie still hanging onto Snoopy, she really liked him.

Lizzy had a lot of fun hanging with her cousins Carson and Conner.

One of Nellie's favorites. She got on that tramp and kept getting up and trying to jump. A bigger kid would make her fall but she would just laugh and get back up. It was probably her favorite ride. I think because she got to do what she wanted to do.

Nellie had fun riding the big trucks.

Lizzy and Brinlee on the airplanes. They had fun being in control.