Holiday happenings

Last week we rode on the Polar Express at the Grand Canyon Railway. It was a beautiful train built in 1928. We had such a great time. The staff were great, the train was comfortable and the chocolate chip cookies were perhaps the best I've ever eaten.

Charlotte was so excited; I had to hold her tight to keep her from bursting with excitement!

Charlotte was pretty friendly with Santa; Olivia-not so much.

They were pleased with their bells.

Charlotte has a Holiday performance at her pre-school. They sang lots of cute songs; including one about 10 little presents; and did a few dances. It was so cute. I love how that boy is smiling at her.

More oogling from boys.

Here are the girls in their Holiday dresses. Olivia wore one that Charlotte wore on her 2nd Christmas.

I loved Charlotte's dress this year (it was a very expensive dress that I got on ebay at a really good price). You can't see it, but it had a pretty pleated layer at the bottom. Too bad she wouldn't sit still for a good photo. She kept making faces and thought she was so funny.

Candyland Birthday

Charlotte had a Candyland Birthday party this weekend. I used some decorations we'd painted for our Halloween contest last year at work. The rest I made while at home sick last week. It tuned out really cute.
Charlotte was literally jumping and screaming she was so excited for her party.


Here is the strawberry cake with strawberry filling and strawberry frosting; is it pink enough? All the kids wanted a frosting filled icecream cone.

The kids decorated crowns, played pin the horn on the unicorn, and had a giant game of candyland using the path on the floor.

She got all 4 candles in one big blow!

Aren't we done with pictures yet?

Livy had a good time too.

The girls spent the rest of the day playing on the rainbow path.

Her favorite gift was probably this dino bones model we put together as soon as all the guests were gone. It is now perched next to her bed so it can "protect her from dragons".

Happy Birthday Charlotte Belle! We love your sweetness, your crazy imagination, and they way you love your sister.

Turkey Day highlights

Poor Thanksgiving never gets the attention it deserves. When else do you get to wear a turkey leg hat! (Thanks cousin Abbey for making this adorable hat.)

I made everyone play "Pin the Hat on the Turkey". I spent a whole dollar on that! At least Olivia liked it!

The feast. (Cousin Kassidy, Olivia, Charlotte and Cousin Abbey).

I dug out the old pilgrim costume for Olivia to wear. Charlotte filled in as the Indian.

Charlotte's "Indian warrior" face; most likely her T-rex impression.

On the way home from St. David we stopped at the Mesa Az temple to see the Christmas lights; they were beautiful. Inside the visitors center they had a display of manger scenes from around the world. They were all so fun.

I liked the mossy stuff around the edge of this one.

I think baby Jesus might have been frightened by these Kachina doll faces starring down at him!

This one from Japan was my favorite. Although, baby Jesus doesn't look so comfy

in that rice bowl.

Little Gnome

I found this little gnome on my doorstep.

Sedona

This is what Livy does when you ask her to smile these days.

Taking a rest so Charlotte's legs would'nt "fall off"

Bell Rock (on the left) I am not sure what the other one is called.

Last week for Veterans day I took the girls to Sedona; Scott was working of course. Sedona has been out little getaway while we've lived in Flagstaff. It is only 40 scenic miles away and is always 10-15 degrees warmer than Flagstaff. There is a beautiful creek that runs though the canyon that we like to visit too. The girls and I had lunch and then took a walk around the red rocks. We walk until Charlotte started telling me her "legs were falling asleep". Olivia rode happily in the jogging stroller. When we got to the car I said "was'nt that fun?" Charlotte replied "I never want to walk that far again." She had fun despite the dramatic comments.

Halloween-finally

Our beautiful fairy/butterfly/princess

This is her excited face.

More pictures;are you serious?

After first deciding to be a triceratops, then a viking, Charlotte settled on a pink butterfly. As you can see; she felt simply beautiful in her costume. In fact she told everyone she knew that she was going to be a "beauuuuuuutiful butterfly". She also wore her old dog costume to pre-school and her old witch costume to the church party. So many costumes; so little time!

You are probably wondering what happened to Olivia? Well she was the cutest little garden gnome this year. But I took pictures of her using the camera on my phone because I had left my camera at work-and I haven't figured out how to download them from my phone if you actually want to view them in a size larger than a pea. So, I will have to keep working on it.

So, another Halloween come and gone. We had so much fun carving pumpkins, reading Halloween stories and singing about witches. It was a fun year.

I've got lots of cute pictures of the girls recently that I plan to post. So, stay tuned.

Pumpkin Patch

Cutie pies at the pumpkin patch.

This pumpkin is heavy!

I love Livy's furrowed eyebrows as she tries to lift this pumpkin.

This one is more Charlotte size.

Charlotte had a blast scooping out guts.

Don't worry; it's a safety knife!

Spooky green eyes Finn.

Halloween isn't complete without a trip to the pumpkin patch (or dressed up gravel lot in our case). The girls had so much fun picking out the perfect pumpkin. Olivia just wanted to sit on all of them. Charlotte spent a good 20 minutes searching before she found "the one'". She insisted it have a "spooookey" face. It turned out cute.

Zumbathon

My friend and fitness mentor, Karen. She turns 50 in February and can still move it just as good as I can-amazing!
We had over 100 women come, and a few guys too.

Here I am on stage.

We had 9 instructors teaching ranging from young to old.

Last weekend I participated in a Zumbathon to raise money for Breast Cancer research.

It was fun to get to teach with other instructors and see their unique styles. It was awesome to see so many people come together for a good cause and for fitness. The next day there was a terrible picture of me in the paper. I was pulling a funny face. Oh well, the rest of me looked pretty good. Zumba has really helped me grow as an instructor. I feel like it has also helped me except my body just the way it is; because when you are having so much fun you don't really care what is jiggling!