November- Thanksgiving

November 2012

The girls had the opportunity to march in the Mesa Veteran's Day Parade with their dance studio.  They were super excited to do this until the had to wait around in the cold for a few hours before they even started marching and then had to march for a long time while dancing.  They decided after that parade that they didn't ever want to do another parade.

In Lexi's preschool they painted these cute outfits and made the noodle necklace.  She loves preschool.

We spent Thanksgiving with my family because all of my siblings came to Arizona for the holiday.  Here we are right before our yummy meal.

The day after Thanksgiving we spent some time with my family at BounceU.  Everyone had a great time and my sister Christin even enjoyed the slides.

Rachael and Steve enjoyed competing against each in the basketball shooting game.

Another great tradition my family has is to make homemade caramel apples (thanks to Andrew and Michelle who always make it happen).

Here are all the cousins enjoying making their creations.

Alexis enjoyed eating her apple with chocolate instead of caramel.

Aunt Christin even brought pretzels to dip in the chocolate.  

After everyone left to go back home Peyton had an orchestra concert at school.  She loves playing the viola.

Halloween

October 2012

For Halloween this year we decorated pumpkins again with the Mister Potato Head sets.  We love doing this because each girl can do it all by herself without our help (none of my girls like the mess that carving pumpkins creates).

Lexi chose the princess pumpkin.

Peyton chose the cowboy pumpkin.

Hailey chose the skeleton pumpkin.

Costumes are not something I am very good with so I always rely on family for help.  This year my mom let Peyton borrow a real flapper girl costume that belonged to my mom's Aunt.  We found a necklace and bought the head piece to complete the outfit.  I think it turned out great.

Hailey went through the dress up stuff at Grandma Ferrell's house and found this wig and shirt and decided to be a rock star.  She borrowed the guitar from her cousin Kate and that completed the outfit.

Alexis went through all of our dress up stuff and decided to be Snow White for Halloween.  I found the red ribbon and tied it in her hair to complete the look.

Addison didn't have a costume but my sister Becky let her borrow a tutu for this picture.

All of the Cardon cousins came over to go trick-or-treating together.  My sister in law Megan even wore a shirt announcing to us that she was expecting a baby as her costume.  It took all of us a long time to notice it.

It was a great Halloween.

October Break #2 (Minnesota)

 October 2012 (Minnesota)

Ryan's brother Tyler and his family live in Minnesota so we thought it would be fun to go visit them for October break.  They were such great hosts and are always so fun to be with.  We hope it won't be too long before we go to visit them again.  Be prepared for a lot of pictures because there were just too many good ones to choose from.

Alexis and Jane had a great time playing together.  They loved to dress up and dance around to music.

We went on a nature walk at a nearby trail and I could not resist taking pictures of my girls with the beautiful fall leaves.

Tyler and AnnaMarie's house is so great and so is their back yard.  They have this great baby swing hanging from a tree and Addison loved swinging in it.

Peyton was a great help with all of the babies (AnnaMarie has twin boys who are 3 weeks younger than Addison).  She offered to take them on walks when they wanted to get out of the house.

Here is Addison with Jack.

Addison in the stroller with Aiden.

The girls loved playing in all of the leaves that had fallen off the trees.  Addison wasn't so sure about them.

One day we went to a pumpkin farm and they had this fun tree swing that could fit two people.  Here is Peyton swinging with Katie.

Hailey and Katie

Alexis and Katie

The pumpkin patch also had lots of animals.  Peyton loved holding the rabbit.

Hailey petting the cow.

They also had a hay ride there that took you around the whole farm.  The girls loved it.

Alexis posing with the pumpkin people.

Hailey being crazy.

The girls trying to lift the pumpkins.

All of the girl cousins hugging on top of the hay pile.

AnnaMarie and Tyler also have this awesome swing attached to a tree in their backyard.  The older girls loved the swing.

Lexi swinging.

Uncle Tyler taught Peyton how to use the leaf blower.  She enjoyed helping try to get all of the leaves in a big pile.

Hailey and Katie in the treehouse (I told you their backyard was awesome)!

Hailey on the swing.

After a bunch of leaves were put in a huge pile the girls decided to jump in them.

Hailey even burried herself in them.

Lexi posing in the leaves.

Lexi getting a huge push in the swing from Ryan.

Katie and Peyton playing in the leaves.

Peyton and Katie in the treehouse.

Another day we went to an apple orchard.  The girls got to see how the apples are sorted and they also got to pick out some yummy treats.

Here they are eating their apple donuts with apple cider.

Addison enjoyed being outside.

Here are the kids next to a huge tree.  I couldn't believe how big some of the trees were.

Cute Halloween picture.

More pumpkins.

Our family next to the corn maze.

The girls by the apple trees.

The highlight of the trip for the 3 oldest girls was going to the Mall of America.  They loved everything about it.  They have an amusement park inside the mall and the girls were in heaven.

Peyton loved the Lego store.

We made reservations at the American Girl store to have lunch with our dolls.  Peyton brought her Kit doll and enjoyed her meal with her doll.

Hailey brought her Ruthie doll.

Lexi brought her Bitty Baby.

Peyton feeding her doll.

Here are all the girls enjoying their meal (the boys took all of the babies and walked around the mall so we could enjoy the experience).  While we were at the store the girls also got their dolls ears pierced.  It was quite the experience.

Jane and Alexis enjoyed all of the little kid rides.

Hailey and Jane

Addison was exhausted by all of the fun and took a nap in her car seat.

We enjoyed the log chute ride.

Ryan and Tyler took a trip to South Bend, Indiana to go see Notre Dame play BYU while we were in Minnesota.  They had a great time walking around campus and enjoyed the game.  Ryan enjoyed being back at his old school.

What a great trip it was.