A long time coming

This post is really a long time coming. But I choose not to feel guilty about it. Three kids, busy job, 2 church callings, hubby who works a lot...I could go on and on with excuses. But I'd rather not. Look how much cuteness y'all have missed, though, during my blogging sabbatical:

Alexa turned FOUR months. We went to Disneyland:
Alexa rolled over for the first time in California:

Alexa rode her first ride:

*please ignore the akward angle I'm holding Alexa at; they made me try and tuck her under the bar. I'm not a no-blanket feeder, thank you:)

I really do want to be brief with explanations on this lengthy post, but I have to mention two funny Ethan moments in the restrooms at Disney!
1. Pointing to the child-size urinals, "Hey, they have little Ethan potties!"
2. Again, at a urinal, "Hey, that boy has my same underwears!"

Alexa's hair continues to grow longer and longer (only on the top, of course.) We call it the "Donald Trump".

Cassidy had her first day of 1st Grade! She's getting way too big. Okay, old, not big. She's the smallest in her class:)

Alexa just gets cuter:

I started a little [free] preschool for Ethan and a few of his buddies. I call it "Little Dudes Preschool". I was nervous at first, but I am really loving it, and so are the kids, especially Ethan. He loves that Mommy is his teacher.

Alexa turned FIVE months:

We took family pictures and everyone pulled these lovely faces in the bright sunlight:

Joel turned the big 3-0! He celebrated with "over-the-hill" balloons and tried out Ogden's iFly, an indoor skydiving experience. It was pretty funny watching him try to walk back out of the air tunnel. You'd think they would turn off the air before you try and exit. I'm pretty sure they leave it on just for their enjoyment.

Alexa turned SIX months and learned to sit:

I made cute matching shirts for the kids for Halloween:

And I made Ethan's "Thomas" costume! I was SO proud of it. And SO disappointed to realize that it's not safe to trick-or-treat down staircases when you can't see the feet or stairs in front of you! He took it off, and I held it up each time a door opened:)

And in case you can't tell, Cassidy was a clown and Alexa was a pea in a pod:

Alexa also had this skeleton costume that was so DARLING cute:

Cassidy lost her first tooth. And now Ethan keeps pulling on his, because he wants a dollar, too:

We saw the Christmas Windows in Ogden, a family favorite:

proof of the toupee that you will never see, because I'm a perfectionist and I can't handle it, so I always put her hair in piggies:

We hosted Joel's family and made Gingerbread houses (another favorite tradition):

It took a few minutes to say goodbye to everyone at the door. Then I walked back into the kitchen to see my Gingerbread house already half-destroyed by this hungry monster:

We went to the Newgate Mall to see Santa, since that is the only mall that lets you take pictures with your own camera. At least it WAS the only mall that lets you take pictures. I decided $16 for a 5x7 was highway robbery. So no first pic with Alexa and Santa. I'm so heartbroken!

Instead, we did our own mini photo-shoot behind the Santa display:

I HATE STATIC ELECTRICITY. I am super-charged and I shock EVERYTHING: my kids, my dinnerplate, the mouse to my computer, lamps, remote controls, everything. With every touch. Seriously, I have irreparably damaged multiple electronics (a mouse, a cordless phone) with just one touch. But I have to say, it does wonders to Alexa's toupee:

Christmas Eve at my mom's house is my favorite day of the year:

Alexa loves the attention she gets at Grandma's:

She was baby Jesus this year, and LOVED all the kids coming over to pet her and dote on her!

Christmas morning-ready to run downstairs!

Ethan got this present from his grandma and grandpa and had been pushing it around the house and begging to open it DAILY. "But it's mine!" he would say. "Grandma and Grandpa gave it to ME." He was so excited to finally open it. Forget Santa and the bike that was sitting right next to the tree! He had to know what was in this present! (it was a tunnel and tent, by the way, that he loves to sleep in:)

Alexa loved her toys, but she wanted the wrapping paper. She started scooting Christmas morning.

Trains, of course. Santa knows his stuff:

I took the kids to the Aerospace museum a few weeks ago and they absolutely LOVED it:

even Alexa loved it:

And I found my fighter-jet that I had misplaced:

The kids' Activity Center was WAY cool, I highly recommend it:

Apparently Alexa didn't turn 7 or 8 months, but she did turn NINE months:

And now she's a crawling baby. I'm not stressing out quite yet, since she is new at crawling, and crawls pretty slowly. But I'm sure I'll be baby-proofing soon.

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Oh, and by the way, I did it. Well, I guess I did it with a few months to spare, because I actually shed the baby weight before my baby was nine months old this time! Lots of 5k's, Zumba, bananas and willpower. Go me!
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We finally went sledding this year with what little snow we had. Alexa seemed to enjoy it, and the kids had a blast!

Well, there you have it. August 2011 through January 2012. Did I make a resolution to blog more this year? Nope, no promises. But feel free to check again sometime. I blog when I feel like it, and don't when I don't. Thanks for stopping by!

Hiking, running, football, haircuts, look-alikes and Bear Lake. Oh yah, and a PUPPY!

We just got back from Disneyland, but for some reason I felt like updating this past summer first. I'll post Disneyland soon.

A couple months back we went on a fun hike with the kids.
On the hike, there was a little spring that trickled down this creek. We thought it was a good time to teach the kids about water safety, since the rivers were super high, and we were going to be crossing one soon. We told the kids that they were not to touch ANY water anywhere, without asking Mom and Dad first. And to be super-careful over bridges by holding hands, etc. Just SECONDS later, I lie not, Ethan leaned over the little bridge and FACE-PLANTED into the little stream. We grabbed him too quick to snap a picture, but it was pretty funny. And completely ironic. Well, if the lectures didn't teach him, this little testing ground did:)

And then this little missie turned 3 months (over a month ago, I'm lame:)

I ran a 5k on July 4th. They had the race chip-timed for the first time this year and the event planners were pretty excited about it. Well, the company they hired completely botched it and everyone's times got messed up. They announced the "winners" and they went up there and told them that they saw people come in ahead of them. Stupid stupid. They told us all they would work it out and post our times soon on the Internet. Well, 3 weeks later I finally called them to see what was going on. They said, "Oh, you got second in your age division. We can mail you a ribbon if you want." Lame. Anyway, my time was 28:35. Not super-terrible, for my first 5k back. (Not super-great, either).

Ethan took a little ball class this summer where he learned to play soccer, baseball and football. It was way cute.

And take a look at this! My Little Ethan looks just like Jonathan Lipnicki from Jerry Maguire and Stuart Little.

Cassidy had been growing her hair out all year, but I had finally had enough! Watch it go...

tada! Aaah, much better. I don't do tangles.

And our biggest news on this post...

we got a DOG!!!

He is half-pug, half-pomeranian. He's a cute little guy, but oh my. Puppies poop everywhere.

Joel had always wanted a dog, so he is just thrilled.

A few weeks ago we went camping at Bear Lake with Gus (the puppy).

The campground we were at was so awesome. It had a pool, a super-fun park, tennis, mini golf, a game room...

...and these awesome bikes called a Surrey!

two people pedal and the kids sit in front! It was a little hard, but too hilarious to not try. Such fun.

And of course, we had to enjoy some famous Raspberry Shakes!

The lake part was the most un-fun and un-eventful part of the whole trip:)

Beautiful Bear Lake