Black Friday Shopping

So my friend Aubrey thought it might be fun to head up to South Towne Mall on Thurs. night at 12:00 (or I guess Fri. morn?) So the boys played Halo while we hit the crowds. I've never gone before and have to say that I was a bit dissapointed. I don't know what I expected, but why couldn't everything just be free or 5$ or less? It was entertaining though just to people watch, holy cow, I think it was the biggest crowd of teenagers I have ever seen. I guess that we didn't get the memo about the rave at the mall.

With my $25 budget I scored this cute dress for Lil, along with 2 pairs of tights, and 2 headbands and some jammies. I guess the 30 min. wait in line was sort of worth it.

This is when we got home, and I think I was getting a little goofy because I haven't been up this late since, well I can't remember.

It was fun to hang with my friend though so my verdict is next year, if I go next year, no expectations except for a fun girls night out!

Christmas Card Sneak Peek

Here is a little sneak peak of the AMAZING pics my talented photog friend Angi took of our family. Yeah, she got over 100 good shots in 15 minutes and now it's going to be impossible to decide which one for our card. If you want her info. let me know.

Lily's story

The funniest part about this is that when she told us this story earlier she made the "mean horrible ugly witch" named Jessica, and then the handsome prince who saves the day was named, Guess what? Chad! I really hope this isn't her real view of us. Ha! I love this age of hers- the world of IMAGINATION!

Thanksgiving Bunco

Okay so I forgot to take pictures when we did the big Thanksgiving bunco at my house, but here are the last few stragglers (Stacie, Me, Darla, Lisa, Lindy, and Janet) There was so much good food and so many good friends, yay bunco!

Last nice day at the ZOO (11-09)

Back in November Angi and I took the kids to the zoo. It was actually really great because it wasn't crowded at all but the sun was out just enough to make it really pleasant. Here is cute Ollie at the play area being a baby bird.

Lily the turtle

Peek-a-boo

Bugs caught in the spiderweb?

Everyone on the Alligator

Ella in the turtle

Comin down the slide

Feeding the swans

Bear Lake

(There are tons of pictures so fair warning)
So in early October some good friends of ours invited us to share their timeshare condo with them up in Bear Lake. After a lot of working around chad's work schedule and getting our car in shape we decided we really couldn't miss out on a little getaway, especially since we haven't been on Vacation (not counting going home to our parents' houses) since before we had kids! So we drove through Wyoming, and Idaho and arrived at this beautiful spot in Garden City, UT.

After the long drive on Friday the kids really needed their wiggles out, so I took them to explore a little around the Ideal Beach Resort, while Chad unloaded and unpacked the car. And I love all these pictures because it just hit me how big my baby is getting, and now she just runs all over following everywhere her big sister is going.

Now that the fun is in sight she started to run, not walk to get there.

And this happy girl is right behind her, only to happy to be going wherever "Yeah-Ye" is going

Tah Dah! Wow, I was very impressed with the park here and I knew the girls would be in heaven! On the way there we passed a heated pool and were in sight of the beach. (Fun times were ahead)

Oh my Sweet Lily! I just Love her guts, I can never be not smiling when I see her face.

And this little miss, is now a playground explorer herself and feels so BIG! (Of course Mom still has to be right beside her but still, it is fun to see the independence building)

So right away, Lily found the little tiny shells that are EVERYWHERE! And all I kept hearing was, "Mom, look at this!" "Mom do you see these?" "MOm take a picture of this"

Peek-a-Boo- her favorite thing to say lately "Mom, where are You?" When I answer "I'm right here" She says, "Mommeeee!"

Still Shell Collecting (I think I still have a hundred at the bottom of my diaper bag)

This huge tree was just gorgeous and I sat and gazed at it while the girls were entertaining themselves.

Then Chad, Joseph, Aubrey, and sweet little Ava joined us to play for a bit before dinner.

We had some fun on the merry go round, and I get why they don't put these on playgrounds anymore, can we say dangerous and dizziness? Oh, hello Jojo?

Then the Manly menfolk took the baby and diaperbag down to the water to check it out

This little girl would not have anyone holding her, and wanted to do it by herself (which only took a million years for her in the sand)

THE POSE

I LOVE this MAN

In our attempt to get one family picture, we of course failed, but it's always funny to me to see the multiple tries.

Freaking out because the Seagull she wanted to catch, moved her way before taking off! She acts tough but is still a girly girl

P.S. I WANT TO LIVE BY THE WATER

Saturday Morning, what do you do when your kids wake up at the early hour of 7:00 and everyone else in your little condo is sleeping in? Eat some breakfast as quietly as possible, and take a bath for a while then head outside to the Beach of course! We ate some more breakfast out by the water and explored down by some tall reeds trying to find ducks, and played at the park some more. But the girls got freezing so after an hour we headed back to wake everyone else up. I got to go run along the beach by myself (PURE HEAVEN) which was gorgeous and then eat a super yummy breakfast with everyone that Aubrey made.
Seriously, she CRACKS me up. Where does this come from? Pretty Sure I don't pose like this do I?

That day we headed to a cave that is nearby, but it was closed for the season, so we just walked around the national forest around there and took in the beautiful nature. Then the boys went shooting for a bit while we attempted to have all the kiddies nap at the same time. When that didn't work I took the girls swimming which was HEAVENLY! The pool was warm and the sun was out and I actually got hot sitting out there- Oh I miss the warm sunshine! They had a little kiddie pool and Lily made a friend instantly so we chilled out there for like an hour and a half. Then we went back to make dinner and hang out with our friends.






Sunday morning our friends left for home but we decided to stay and extend out little trip for as long as possible. We went for a family swim for a bit, lounged around and ate all the yummy leftovers and took a family nap. Then we played at the beach, let the kids build sand castles and dig in the dirt and get totally filthy until the sun was going down. Then we bathed the kids while we packed and Chad loaded up the car (making about 25 trips up and down 3 flights of stairs, Bless Him) and we said Goodbye to Beautiful Bear Lake! But hopefully we will go back someday because it was just too much fun. (And yes Yay for me, this is the first post where pictures actually go in order- it took me that long to figure out the backwards world of Blogger pictures)