First Snow

We had 4 inches of snow fall Monday night.

The kids couldn't wait for Parker to get home from school yesterday so they could try out their new sleds.

We didn't have much time before homework, dinner, and cub scouts, so we just used the hill in our backyard.

 No one seemed to mind that it was just a short little run.

Hiking back up...

Anndra patiently waiting for her turn.

Lincoln zooms down.

Baby girl gets a push from big brother.

Little man loves his penguin sled.

So funny how L has to tilt his head back to see out from his hat.

Parker almost sliding into the river - just kidding!

Our little snow princess.

5th Grade Field Trip

Parker's class went to Glacier National Park last week.  We were the last group of the season and it was very cold.  But we still had a fun time and learned a lot.

We started by the lake and then hiked up into the part of the forest that was burned nine years ago (light brown area on the left side of the pic below).

A beautiful bald eagle flew right over our heads.

Parker was a great hiking buddy because of his positive attitude.

I loved the 'old' forest we walked through to get to the burned area.  It reminded me of Endor.

We were split into smaller groups for the hike.  This was ours:

 

I'm so happy I was able to go.  Thanks to Debbie for staying with my 2 little ones!

Me and my boy:

Sweet Pickins

Grandma Debbie is visiting this week and today we went to a pumpkin festival at a local farm.  We enjoyed the beautiful fall weather and colors, the animals and activities, the yummy food and each other's company.

Anndra leading the way through the corn maze.

Trike races

Petting zoo - Anndra could not get enough of this - she giggled EVERY time!

Enjoying FRESH kettle corn on the hay ride.  Delicious!

Parker and his friend from school (whose family invited us to the festival) locked in the "jail"

"Train" ride

Another race track - this time for go-carts.

Parker's friend giving Anndra a ride.

Now Lincoln gets a ride and Gma gives Anndra a little help.

Linc jumping with P's friend - it was like a bounce house with only a floor.

She was so nice to jump with him when the rest of us were too tired.

Spider web climbing net.

Lincoln catching some air... again.

Anndra having too much fun to stop for the picture.

Pulling 3 pumpkins and 2 kids to the car.

I asked them to say "Happy Pumpkin Day!"

Anndra is 3!

Anndra has been telling everyone who would listen for the past three months that she would be having a Max & Ruby cake for her birthday.  Since last year's Dora cake was so much work, I decided not to attempt making a rabbit shaped cake.  Instead, we printed pictures of the characters and had them standing on the cake - SO MUCH easier!  And the birthday girl still loved her cake.  Win-win.

A kiss from Daddy right after she blew out the candles.

This year Anndra was old enough to help in every step of the cake-making process: dumping the ingredients in the bowl, cracking the eggs, holding the hand-mixer as we blended the ingredients, scraping the batter into the pans, and of course applying the yummy frosting.  In the picture above, I was trying to capture how excited she was to finally taste it after all that work!

Unveiling the birthday present.

A play kitchen!  Looking inside to find the toy food and toy cookware.

Lincoln was just as excited to play with it as Anndra was.

A happy new 3-year-old.

Conference Weekend

We had a splendid General Conference weekend because some wonderful friends came to visit!

These two were having fun trying to run into each other.

Parker was being goofy and closed his eyes.

Anndra being a kitty.

Their youngest on Anndra's scooter.

Funny picture Anndra took while playing with the camera.