Hypocrite

If I've made fun of you for wearing skinny jeans, I am sorry.

Fashion in Utah is a slippery slope.

New Family Pictures

My fabulous sister-in-law Robyn took these FABULOUS pictures of us the other day.  I've been meaning to get them up for a while.  If anyone is in the Utah county area, she is very reasonable (both to converse with, and in her photography prices).  Thank you Robyn!

Halloween, Myra's Blessing, etc.

Feels like a non-stop party here. 

 The Wednesday before Halloween, we woke up to a pretty scary site:  SNOW.  Maybe 2 inches covered everything we could see.  It was actually kind of glorious for us.  The kids didn't believe me that they would want hats, coats, and gloves.  I succeeded with the coats.  We headed out after breakfast to make a snowman, and ended up making a SNOW MONSTER!!!!! (cue: Roaring)

 Clark shows how scary it is.  (note two things:  His poor frozen hands with icey white knuckles, and the sweet carrot that came out of my parent's garden with three prongs)

 

Later that morning I looked out the window to see how our monster was faring and I found him laughing maniacally.  Seriously, he was waaaaay in character.  All the snow was gone by that afternoon, leaving only a lump of ice and leaves where SnowMonster had been.

 I had this great idea that the kids and their cousins could all be Toy Story characters, and all the other cousins were thrilled because it is their favorite movie (especially Anna, it is her favorite "in her heart" --she's 2).  Then my kids decided that they wanted to be deer.   (cue: trombone sliding out) Wa wa waaaaaah.  But they are dear little deer.  After living at the Shipleys, they have become fascinated with deer.  Clark wanted to be a buck and Eva wanted to be a buck-fawn.  Not really sure how that works, but she pulled it off.

 

I totally love this picture

 

 Meanwhile, Baby Myra and Baby Eliza were still rolling with the Toy Story theme.  Good work on the hats, LJ! 

 Which brings us to the next dress up occassion:  Myra was blessed on Saturday at my parent's home.  She did great.  So did Ben.  Thanks to everyone for coming to support her!

 Myra is named after this lovely woman's mother.  She even looks like her Grandma Francisco!

So that brings us to the present.  We'll check in again in two weeks (when my little sister Emily gets home from her mission!)

A month of photos

Well, we sold our trusty motorcycle.  Ben's brain just keeps getting more and more valuable, so we decided that this risk/benefit equation had tipped too far to the risk side.  For the record though: Ben rode this nearly every day in med school and during the ride-able seasons in undergrad and he never had an accident.

Good riding Ben.

 We said goodbye (again) to friends in San Antonio, and had a fantastic roadtrip (which I neglected to take any pictures of) to Utah with this favorite bearded uncle Thad.

 The first morning in Utah we were a liitle wussy about being cold.  Okay, I was.  The kids just did what I told them and let me dress them.  It was a little nippy though.

 

Hanging out with Grandpa Bus (this is how me and my brother used to watch TV with him, using his shoulders as pillows.  I love that my kids do it now).

 

Holding hands with cousins is SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!

 We went on a swing zipline that was fun.  We just kind of trespassed and luckily the owner is a kind hearted man who didn't mind.  Thanks Keith.

 We spent a fabulous weekend at Ben's parent's house in Southern Utah.  The kids LOVED their toys. . .

 . . .and horses. . .

 . . . and cabin. . .

 . . .and four wheeler. . .

but mostly, they loved their grandparents.

When we got back, we went fishing!  We caught so many fish we were actually hoping they would slow down so we could have time to get the next hooks baited and set up (and have enough attention to notice any kids who were falling into the lake--we needed more adults, I guess).

 This is what I've been missing.

Pigtails!

And now some fabulous photos of "Baby Myra Jane" which is the name Clark calls her every time he refers to her.

 oh, hey guys.