Goodbye 2014!

Well, it's time for a little catch up!  The past 4 months have been great :)  Here's a bunch of pictures with a bit of what we've been up to:

In September we enjoyed the beautiful weather and took the kids out exploring at the Kaysville Botanical Gardens--at least I think that is what they are called.

Winston found sticks on the ground so he was happy,

and Edie got to walk around outside so she was happy.

Sundays after church are spent on the ipad.  It keeps the kids entertained while we recover from church and make dinner.  Now they associate ipads with church, and whenever we go to the church for anything else, they want to play on the ipad when we get home.  They are smart kids :)

 One Saturday we took a drive up Weber and Ogden canyons to look at the beautiful leaves.  There just happened to be a triathlon up at Snowbasin, so we got out of the car to stretch our legs and walk around a bit.  It was fun to watch a bit of the race and see all of the people up there.

Edie started going through a phase where she kept taking her diaper off.  I thought that meant she was ready to be potty trained, 

 but she started taking her clothes off too.  I think she just liked being able to do things for herself.  I was amazed that she could take a onesie off all by herself.  I thought it would be a good way for her to keep her diaper on, but she showed me!

 Some friends found a new park that we went to a few times.  The kids loved it because they could both swing at the same time.  They love swinging!

Winston turned 3 on October 10!  We had a party with all of his cousins at the church.  We had pizza and broke a pinata.  They all had a great time.

The next weekend we went up to the cabin with Whit's family.  It was so beautiful up there with all of the fall leaves!

I thought it would be great to get some good pictures of the kids together, but they didn't really want to cooperate.  Oh well.

 The next week Winston started preschool!  He graduated out of the Early Intervention program since he turned 3.  So now, instead of therapists coming to work with him at our house, he gets to go to school twice a week.  He still pretty much hates it and cries every time we go.  But we're hopeful that someday he will like school :)

 For Halloween the kids got to go to their first trunk or treat.  They didn't really like it since it was dark and some people dressed up and I think they got a little scared.  Plus, they didn't really get the whole concept of trick or treating.  Maybe next year.

We let everyone know that we are expecting though!

 Since Winston goes to school during our morning walks, Edie gets the stroller to herself and she loves it!  And she loves wearing hats and gloves.

 And eating bread.  We went grocery shopping with the kids and Edie saw the bread and wouldn't stop crying until we gave her some.  She ate quite a bit before we got home.  A girl after my own heart!

In November we said good-bye to Whit's parents!

They are off to Iraq to serve another humanitarian mission for the Church.  Whit is less than thrilled that they are going to such a dangerous place, but we pray for them constantly and it's been really neat to hear about all the wonderful things they are able to do to help the people over there.  It really reminds us how lucky we are to live in America!

 In December we took the kids out to see some Christmas lights.  They really had fun doing that.

 And I really enjoyed the warm weather!  We went for lots of walks,

 and the kids always begged to go look at the cows after.  It's really fun living across the street from a farm :)

We've had lots of fun playing with the kids,

 watching movies, eating popcorn, 

going for walks (Winston loves it so much he's drooling--haha!),

playing outside,

 and enjoying the sunshine!

 Some days it was a little nippy, so we played inside.  I build the kids a "fort" and they sit on top of the blanket and fall down through the cracks.  They love it!  I don't think they understand that the whole point of a fort is to play under the blanket.  Oh well!  As long as they are happy :)

 Sometimes I try to get a little work done while they are eating lunch.  Sometimes it backfires on me, as I have to spend more time cleaning them up!  But I try to sneak in as much work as I can during the day, so I don't have to do it all at night when they are in bed.  I've been busy with work lately and it's been nice to have the extra money :)

 So we could buy the kids a trampoline for Christmas!  We set it up in the basement so they could jump during the winter.  It was so hard for us to wait until Christmas to show it to them!  That was a long week and a half of waiting :)

 Edie.

I really wanted to get some nice pictures in front of our sad little Christmas tree.  I didn't want to brave the long drive and walk in the cold with the kids to cut down our own tree.  So I convinced Whit that we could just get a fake tree for a year or two until the kids would enjoy cutting down our own.  So I ordered a tree online and apparently a 6 foot tree isn't really that big.  Oh well!

And oh well with the family picture in front of it!  Whit was busy cooking for our party and couldn't come be in the picture, and the kids wouldn't sit still long enough for the timer to catch them sitting on my lap.  I tried.

 Christmas morning was fun and we opened up presents.

 Edie knew exactly what to do with her pillow pet :)

 Winston was excited to get some Fireman Sam figurines.

And they both loved playing with their new food!  I took a video of them jumping on the tramp but sadly didn't think to take a picture.  But they loved it!

Later that morning my family came over to spend the rest of the day.  Edie got to wear Auntie's wig.  

And play the piano with uncle Dallin.

That evening we had the missionaries over for dinner.  Whit cooked us sweet and sour pork and honey walnut shrimp.  It was quite a delicious meal and we had fun talking with the missionaries!

The day after Christmas we all got to go to the Ogden Temple to do sealings.  It was such a nice time.  It was the longest sealing session I've ever been in, it would have been faster if we had done endowments.  But it was nice to all be in the Temple together and we knew the kids were in good hands (they were being watched by 4 of their cute cousins).

Then we went up to the cabin for New Year's and this is the only picture I took!  Edie has discovered pockets and thinks they are the coolest thing ever :)  Whit's family all came up and we had so much fun hanging out and playing games.  It was too cold to take the kids out sledding, it never got warmer than 10 degrees!  But we had so much fun together and it was a great way to end the year and begin the next!  I love our family :)

Awesome August

 We had our annual "Bryce Birthday Hike" up in the Canyons at Park City.  We did it a little early this year, not on Bryce's actual birthday, so McKay and Loida could come before they went back to China.  It was a beautiful sunny day and even though we had a rough start (I forgot to bring Edie's shoes so we had to go to Walmart to buy her some new ones, once we were inside Walmart we realized Whit didn't have his wallet, so we had to call mom and dad to bail us out!) we had a fun time together!

 Edie was such a good little hiker!  She was so excited when we took her out of the backpack and she could walk by herself for a bit.

 We stopped here to rest while the rest of the gang went to the peak at 9990.  Some day our kids will be old enough for us to go there again, it's such a neat hike!  But we had fun chillin in the ski lift while we waited :)

 It was so sad that this was our last fun thing with McKay and Loida!  We had so much fun with them while they were out here and we hope they decide to move here soon!!!

Here is Winston, channeling his uncle McKay!  I was getting Winston's bath started and I turned around for two seconds and saw this when I turned back around.  He's quick!  And he loves his baths :)  It just made me laugh because we have a picture of McKay in his pajamas in the bathtub as well.  Guess it must run in the family :)

This kid sure does make me laugh :)

The last weekend in August we went camping!!!  First time ever for the kiddos.  They had fun hanging out with Grandpa

and Grandma

 and playing in the trailer

 Uncle Dallin practiced his photography and got this awesome shot of Edie.  I was trying to get an equally great picture of Winston and I got this,

him trying to hit the camera lens with a shovel.  Oh well, I guess I captured his personality :) 

I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but Whit discovered that the pump for the air mattress doubled as a great fire blower.  He loved using it to stoke up the fire!  Camping is so much fun.

 

The next morning these guys took the kids down to the reservoir so Whit and I could clean up camp a bit.

Then we all went on a little hike together and it was so beautiful!  I just love being in the mountains.

I think Edie does too :)

 Yay for camping!

And yay for being home again.  Nothing can compare to sleeping in your own bed :)  So here we all are the next day, all clean, showered, and ready for church.  It was Labor Day weekend, so my goal is for our family to have our picture taken in front of our house each Labor Day weekend.  Then we can see how we change through the years.  Next year we may actually have flowers in the flower beds, in a few more years we'll have a concrete pad instead of weeds next to the driveway, and then we'll get a fence...We are so happy to be here and to be in our own place that we can keep making better and better.  Life is pretty good :)