Preschool Program

Katelyn had her Halloween Program at her preschool for 2 days. Each day she wanted to wear a different costume to switch it up. She was adorable and did a great job singing. She was so excited that we were there and that we were video taping her! She is loving preschool and is starting to learn to read. Her cousin and partner in crime, Morgan is in her class and they have a blast together. The video at the end is them singing Monster Mash-my favorite!

Holiday warmers

Check out these new Holiday warmers from Scentsy! I am loving them! Along with the scents Cozy Fireside and Autumn Sunset-my personal favorites! I know what I am giving for Christmas presents!

SNOW!

So, we arrived home from CA late Monday night. Then we woke up Tuesday morning to this! Talk about a drastic difference! We went from 90 degrees to 35 degrees! It was hilarious to see Katelyn's reaction. She walked out of her room half awake and in her underwear and t-shirt. Her hair was all disheveled, and she looked outside and screamed, "Holy chicken! Holy freakin' cow! There's snow outside!" I wonder where she got the word freakin' from! Here are some pictures of her first steps out into the snow for the season. Taylor isn't in them because she was inside sick. I will tell that story after these pics...

So, the entire time we were in CA Taylor had a fever, but no other symptoms. Then she got a bad cough Monday, but I thought she was getting better. Well, this morning she woke up struggling desperately to breathe. I rushed her to the doctors office and they told me to take her to the hospital. It was the scariest thing to hold her limp body, and watch her struggle to take every breath. She was on the verge of passing out and her lips were turning blue. As soon as we got there they gave her breath treatments and steroids to open up her airway. That kicked in after about a half an hour and they watched her for 3 hours. They determined that she had a bad case of Croup and that her airways were closing off. So, I have to keep a close eye on her and give her steroids in the morning. These girls have been so sick the past month...nothing like when we lived in CA. It's going to be a fun winter!

Lombardi Ranch

Friday afternoon we headed to Lombardi Ranch with Kim and Marci and Julio, and their kids. It was a little weird to be at a pumpkin patch when it was 90 degrees, but that's CA! The fall season really doesn't exist...but then you also don't have to deal with the snow!

Costumes

Friday Night Fun!

On Friday night we had our own Halloween Celebration with family since we won't be there for the actual day. We had a fun night of food, cake, carving pumpkins and eating donuts from strings. It brought back memories from when we were kids and had to eat a donut from a string. So, Marci and I decided to join in the fun and have a little competition. It was so much fun! We should let loose and act like a kid more often! It was so fun to get all the cousins together in their costumes and watch them play together.

Then Sat. night was girls night! I spent that day shopping with Marci and Melissa, which is always fun without kids! I just wish I didn't have another migraine that entire day! :( Then that night I first met Genine, Shay, Naomi and Marci at the Elephant Bar for dinner. Then Amber, Rachel and Tina came over after to hang out and have fun. Man, I miss those girls!!! Love you guys!

Hangin out with Tammy's family

Last week Tammy and Casey and their kids came up to Salt Lake to spend the day with us. We had a blast and the kids had fun together. We went to This Is The Place then got some pizza and hung out here. I can't get over how well Tammy handles 4 kids under the age of 5! What's wrong with me, I am going crazy with 2!? I love you Tammy! We were meant to be college roommates and meant to be friends forever!

Markers...never again!

Why is it that when I finally give in and buy markers, Taylor decides to do this!? Right before I have to get her dressed for church! They were washable markers, but that only means it fades when you wash it! I knew I should have kept markers banned from this house! And look at that look on her face...she knows exactly what she did!

Yesterday was a gorgeous day here! It was 75 degrees and beautiful! So we headed to the park and the girls just loved rolling down the hill, eating snow cones and collecting dandelions. Taylor has this obsession with collecting things in her hands and seeing how much she can hold. She walked around the park collecting dandelions and she was so proud to show us how many she could hold in her little hand. The hard part is getting her to part with them and let them go.


We also headed to Wheeler Farm again and the girls got to ride the ponies. It's crazy how many horses these girls have been on since moving here.
Grandma Olsen sent the girls Halloween packages. They are their favorite and they were looking forward to this box arriving. Katelyn got a kick out of the wax lips! Thank you Grandma!

My new favorite Soup!

My favorite thing about Fall is making and eating soup!!! I love a good soup with rolls, and I have a new favorite! My sister in law made this and I loved it! It's out of my new favorite cookbook-Favorites (done by a family here in Utah). This soup is full of so much flavor-it's an italian soup. Make it and ENJOY-You won't regret it!

Tortellini Soup

1 lb ground mild italian sausage

1 onion chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup water

2 (13 oz) cans beef broth

1/2 cup apple juice

3 carrots, sliced

1 zucchini, sliced

1 (28oz) can crushed tomatoes

1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

2 tablespoons dried parsley

8 oz cheese tortellini ( I like the ones in the refrigerated section)

In large soup pan, brown sausage. Drain fat and add onion and garlic and cook til tender. Add water, broth, apple juice, carrots, tomatoes, basil, oregano, zucchini, and parsley. Simmer for 30 min or longer. Add tortellini 10 min. before serving and cook til tender, but not soggy.

ENJOY!

Carving the Pumpkins

For FHE we carved our pumpkins. Both of the girls were too scared to put their hands inside to scoop out the seeds and guts. It freaked them out. But it was a success and the girls are now even more excited for Halloween!

Pickin' out a Pumpkin

We took the girls to pick out their pumpkins, and they took their time finding the perfect one.

Last week, before both of the girls got really sick we went to Gardner Village with some friends. It is a really neat place with lots of little shops ad boutiques and they decorate it really cute with witches and Halloween stuff. The day after this trip Taylor was hit HARD with the Hand Foot Mouth Virus. Her mouth was full of kanker and cold sores. She was miserable and couldn't eat, drink or sleep. We took her to urgent care and they said since it's a virus there was nothing they could do and she just needed to ride it out. Then we discovered that Katelyn got it! Katelyn wasn't as bad but they were miserable and had little sores on their hands and feet as well. It took a week for that to pass, and now this week is looking up!

St George...again

Up here in Utah, they have a weekend called UEA. I don't understand it and don't know why they do it, but it means that the kids get Thur. and Fri. off of school. So we headed down to St George with Chad's mom, sisters and friend Leslie. It was also nice to get back to warm weather and to run away from the snow a little bit longer. Chad came down on Sat. and I was so excited to have him there to help, have fun and make the drive back:) Our activities included playing at the Sand Dunes, riding the "Surry" (4 man bike), swimming, soccer, hiking and lounging at the condo.

Taylor was obsessed with sitting in the front basket of the surry.

Katelyn is naturally so athletic and loves soccer and tennis right now. She loves spending one on one time with Chad, especially when they are playing sports!

Taylor made a mess of herself at the pool, and so we put Chad's shirt on her to keep her warm. She loved walking around in this huge shirt and didn't want to take it off-too cute!

Hiking up the wedge-Katelyn's perfect kind of hike-climbing rocks!

The Sand Dunes

Scentsy

I have stumbled across this amazing product and have decided to sell it. It is called Scentsy, and they are wickless candles that smell amazing! I would have never spent money on one of these warmers and candles, but I was given one and am now addicted. Especially at this time of year we all want our house to smell yummy! My mom sold Salt City candles forever, and we have appreciated good smells in the home. So, here I go! Off to selling Scentsy! I am just getting started, but will have a website where you can order online! You don't have to go to a party! (my favorite part!). Especially for my girlfriends out of state, you can just order online. I will have samples of all the smells at my mom's house so you can actually smell them and decide what you want. I will let you know more info, but check out their website www.scentsy.com