Circus

We went to the Circus in Farmington with some friends today. The girls loved it! Avery got a little board, but Halle sat completly still and watched the entire thing with her hands clasped together. There favorites were any of the acts with animals, but a close second was the motorcycles. Avery also liked the dancers. It was a lot of fun. Some parts were a little scary thought. I had a difficult time watching the tight rope walkers, they had no safety nets or ropes. Before the show and during halftime, they offered pony and elephant rides. We got to get pretty close to the elephants.



I couldn't believe they both smiled for the picture.

Its beginning to look like Christmas

We have been getting ready for Christmas. The girls love listening to Christmas music. I think the favorite is Frosty the snowman. Avery talks about how we are going to build a frosty and give him a magic hat. She hopes that he doesn't melt. We have been slowly getting out the Christmas decorations. Avery helped with the tree and I rearranged it a bit after she went to bed.

We have already been to see Santa once and talk about what we want for Christmas. Avery was set on a Barbie house. But when we were at Joanns she saw a miniture sewing machine. She told me that she wanted the Barbie house next year and wanted the sewing machine this year. Then she asked me if I would teach her how to sew.

I was wanting to do an advent calendar. But changed my mind after doing one for Halloween. It was fun and we enjoyed the activities, but Avery never forgot and sometimes I just didn't feel like doing anything. So I got them each the chocolate calendar and we will still do the activities when we can.

One thing I wanted to try this year was Elf on the Shelf. We watched the movie that came on TV a couple of days ago. Then we had a knock on our door. Avery went to go get it and was so excited that it was our very own Elf in the Shelf. Since we had just watched the movie, she had to name him Chippy. IT was cute to see how excited she was. We then read the story and I helped her and Halle decorate their own little Christmas trees for their rooms.

Halle wanted nothing to do with Chippy.

We had fun looking for him this morning. We found him in our tree.


Just some other things. My sister had her baby while we were on our cruise. She is darling and I can't get enough of her. The girls love her as well. The girls love to play Hide and go seek. I was humming this morning and Avery told me to stop because it was "Bringing on her nerves". Halle talks so much now and is putting sentances together. She seems so old now. I love how she says OK. She holds out the O for awhile.

Tree House Museum

This past Monday, we met Sharelle and her boys at the Tree House Museum.

It was my first time going with both girls being mobile. It was busy because they each wanted to do different things. They enjoyed music and story time, making masks, the music room, the little farms, the school house with the little chalkboards, the little houses and the dress ups. It is so fun to get out of the house and play.

Mexican Rivera

Monday was our first day at see. It was still a little chilly with the wind, but we still got some sun, and reading in. We enjoyed painting eachothers toes. Aaron had a fun time playing basketball and ping pong. That night we had a Karoke night.



Our first port was Cabo. It was beautiful and so warm.


We took a water taxi to Lover's beach. It was so beautiful and we even saw some whales and sea lions. It is called lover's beach because of how pretty it is, the nice beach and calm water. It is at the Sea of Cortez, but you walk about 200 yards over a sand bar, than you are at a rocky beach with very dangerous Pacific Ocean water. That side is called Divorce beach.

I not quite sure why I chose to make this face, I think because I already felt so cool with my snorkle gear. We snorkled on the Lover's beach side. The water was so clear, and got deep really fast. I counted up to 14 different fish.

Divorce beach.




When we went on a cruise about 8 years ago to the western Caribbean we ate some authentic food and still talk about it today. So again we followed Spencer and ate tacos from a street Vendor. They were Delicious. We did avoid the guy selling the tacos out of a bucket on the beach though.

Mexican food isn't the same with some orange soda.

Beautiful Cabos Sunset.


The next day we set out to do some ParaSailing.

I was nervous at first, but it was a lot of fun. I am glad that I got to go Tandem with Aaron.



After parasailing we had some more tacos and walked around Cabo and had our picture taken with a baby Lion.

Our next port was Puerto Vallarta. This was our favorite. We rode an open bus clear up into the mountains? The rode was very narrow, dirt with a river, and often had a drop off on the other side. We had to stop several times while the chickens crossed the road. The ride up to the canopy was an adventure in itself. Was we were there we did several Ziplines. Some over deep gorges, canopy tops and one into a river. It was a blast. I was really nervous for the first one, but after that I felt safe. Our guides were Hillarious.

Aaron was brave enough to do one upside down.

We also did some repeling, a free fall, tubing down the river and rode mules to get back up the mountain. My mule was named Banana and he had a mind of his own and kept trying to pass everyone.


After the zipline, we had the bus drop us off in Down town Puerto Vallarta. There we did some shopping and walked the 4 miles back to the ship along the board walk. It was beautiful and there were so many statues. I haven't downloaded the pictures from that because I only had our small camara.

We had a blast. We enjoyed being with our family. We loved talking, eating, playing cards, dancing, eating, mini golf, basketball, reading, and did I mention eating. We can't wait for our next big family trip.

Super Long October Marathon Post

We have had a FUN month!. I have always wanted a Halloween Advent calendar. I have loved the one from Pottery Barns Past, and also have admired some on Etsy. I ended up getting this one from My Growing Season. We had a blast. Sometimes I regretted because Avery did not forget even one night. She was so excited, but at times I felt lazy. We did lots of fun things but most were simple like reading a Halloween book, a Halloween sucker, stickers and different things from the Dollar Spot at Target. One day we dressed up like witches and made witches brew (soup). We went to Gardner Village and looked at all of the witches. Avery loved seeing all of the different ones and talking to the actually witches. They also got to go on a pony ride as well. Avery would wave Hi every time she passed me.

We got a cute new Nephew at the beginning of October. Congrats Darrick and Kami. Brock came over to our house and had a sleepover. Both kids thought it was fun to sleep in their sleeping bags.

That morning we had a Halloween Breakfast.

And then we had a Halloween lunch. Mummy Dogs, finger carrots, and apple mouths. The kids loved them.

I am not much into Pumpkin Carving so I will wait to do that fun activity until they are older and insist on it. So we painted pumpkins as well.

Halle is just starting to get into doing art projects and coloring.

We went with my Mom, Aunt Sue, Heidi, Courtney and Aubrey to Black Island Farms Pumpkin Patch.
Here are the girls waiting on the tractor to go to the Pumpkin Patch. Avery was so excited. She remembered coming last year and kept talking about the carrots. She wanted one that she could eat. Luckily she did get a small one.

Avery was so excited to pick out a pumpkin. She jumped right off the Tractor and picked the first one she saw.

It got heavy pretty quick.


There were lots of fun things to do at the Pumpkin Patch. There were lots of fun animals to see. Halle of course loved the animals.

There were these huge slides built on hay stacks. The girls loved them. The only scary part was trying to climb up the back. Little kids are crazy.


The girls loved the Ghost house. It was like a Giant milk carton. They loved to shout and listen to their echos.



The had a corn box. Avery had to make a Corn Angel. She had kernals in her shoes afterwards.

Halle loved the tunnel. You could hear her sqealing and laughing. Unfortunetly there was always a line after her.

The girls were so excited for the pig races. They were fun to watch. Each pig had a different color so you could choose who you thought should win.

After the Pumpkin Patch, we went to Noodles for Lunch. Halle was starving and dug right into her make and cheese. It was so funny.
We went to Mueller Park with some friends. Moly and I were laughing that every seat in our car had a carseat. We loved exploring and it was so pretty with the fall colors. There were several huge pine trees grouped together. You could go underneath and there was enough room to stand up. The kids loved playing there and called it their house.

Another Angel. Silly girl.

We packed a lunch to eat while we were there. We will definetly have to go back next year. They have several picnic spots with fire pits. It would be great to roast marshmellows and hot dogs in the summer.

One thing in the Advent Calendar was that Avery could have her own little Halloween Party. She was so excited and talked about it for days. She helped me plan it and helped wherever she could.
Here are the invites. I saw this idea on Pinterist.

Halle getting ready for the party. She was Minnie Mouse this year.

Avery finally narrowed her choices down to tinkerbell. I actually let her wear a little bit of makeup. Just shimmer and lip gloss. But she was so excited.

We played a Mummy game. Basically the kids wrapped eachother in toliet Paper. But Brock didn't want to be Daddy not a Mummy.

I told my own version of the Ghost story where the Ghost changes colors depending on what he ate. So each of the kids decided what their ghosts ate and than colored them accordingly. This activity was a hit. The Ghosts where hooked to a coffee straw. You would than place the ghost in a normal straw and blow and the Ghost would go flying. I got the idea here.

We had a Halloween lunch. Mummy Pizza, Grape Eyeballs, Witch Finger breadsticks and Monster Juice. I was surprised that most of the kids didn't like the lunch. Oh well.


I taught the kids the Song "I'm a mean old witch"

We played Pin the "everything" on Franky.


We also read stories and played.
We also had our annual Ward Halloween party. Here are the girls ready for that party. We got lots of wear out of our costumes this year. THe girls had fun dancing with Daddy.


Finally Halloween! Avery was so excited to go Trick or Treating. She kept asking if we were going today. When I replied Tonight, she would get upset and say "no Today". I think she though tonight ment tomorrow. We went over to our neighbors for Soup and than started out Trick or Treating.

Isn't she adorable. I loved having her be Minnie Mouse.



We never got Halle to say Trick or Treat. She liked getting candy and would always say thank you. She wanted to eat each piece that she got right then and there. But she wasn't really interested in Trick or Treating. I held her part of the way. Aaron kept trying to tickle here and she got so mad and said "NO DADDY". She got easily side tracked by any animal that we saw.

Avery loved trick or treating. She would run from house to house and even got caught up in the wrong group. She was pretty good about saying thank you. Except when we went to her teachers house, she had a special treat that she went to go get for Avery. Avery shouted down to us "But she didn't give me any candy". The stinker. One of our nieghbors did a haunted house in their garage. She went in unknowingly and practically ran out in the end. She was a little scared.

Just some random things left. Aaron and I have enjoyed the Ute games and are looking forward to our Cruise soon. We have been busy finishing our basement and are finally to the painting phase. Aaron has been very busy with school.

Loved this picture of the girls. They have been playing really well together.


We through a baby shower for McCall. My mom made all of these cute onesies for her and we strung them up like a laundry line with pom pom trim. We can't wait for Baby Taylee!


Avery is loving dance and had her first mini Recital. She did really well.


Halle loves to watch Avery's class and tries to do everything that they do. She wants to be just like her sister.



Some funny things that Halle says: Housekeeping (like Houspeeping), Rug Rat, Okie Dokie, and will try to say almost anything. She wants to be a big girl and doesn't like to sit in her High Chair. She is wild. She is always running and climbing. She loves any animal or bug. The other day we were doing yard work and she was getting the biggest kick out of the grasshopper. She would laugh and squeel any time it moved. She even wanted to hold it. She loves string cheese, books, making messes and going through cupboards.

Avery is so smart and observant. We are now at the phase where we have to watch what we say. One day she asked me "Mom, will you teach me how to be a Mommy". She is a great big sister and is very patient. She loves dressed, barbies, princesses, books, playing outside and playing with friends. She loves Apples and Carrots. She asks everyday what we are doing, where are we going, what am I wearing and what is for lunch. She will oftentimes set her clothes out the night before. She is not having as many nightmares now.

Have a great day!