Our First Big Winter Storm!

Well, we knew it was inevitable, and here it is! We woke up this morning to a winter storm. There was a few inches on the ground already and it was still coming down. Of course we had to be somewhere by 9:30 so instead of staying home and playing in the snow we decided to brave the roads. It worked out okay and we still found time to play. I don't think the flowers in these pots on the patio are still alive...

Russian Dress

My parents had a lady in their mission hand-sew this dress for McKena. Here she is modeling her very special souvenir.

Blog Background

I've seen everybody's cute Christmas-y (or Hanukkah) backgrounds and I have attempted to change mine without success. I can change the furthest background (like the wallpaper) but it leaves half of my old background (following the directions given on "Cutest Blog on the Block"). I may be stuck with it forever! If anyone has had a similar problem and figured out what to do please let me know! I'm getting a little tired of the polka-dots.

Family Pictures

We attempted to take our own family pictures for our Christmas cards this year. This is Kade hiding in the corner (apparently he was tired of the photo shoot).

Colin's 9th Birthday

Colin celebrated his 9th birthday on November 29th. He also had a cake but apparently I didn't take any pictures of that part of the festivities. We had spent a few fun days in Park City with friends swimming and shopping and eating for Thanksgiving. Tyler and Tara joined us for Thanksgiving dinner. We rushed home on Saturday to open presents and start decorating for Christmas. Last weekend I took Colin and a few friends to go see the movie "Bolt". It was really cute and I'd recommend it to anyone who has kiddos.

Hawaiian Vacation

John and I just returned from a vacation to the island of Kauai, HI. We were invited to go with our friends, the Karrens, and we jumped at the chance. It was so relaxing, warm, and fun, etc. We had a couple of days of storms, but a lot of days of nice weather. Notice the lounge chairs where we spent about 75% of the vacation. For some reason we didn't feel too inclined to leave them. We did venture up north one day where there was also beautiful scenery to be found--but we did that on the stormy day so the pictures aren't great. I quickly remembered that there is no hairstyle of mine that can withstand the humidity in Hawaii. Hence the pulled back look (it is not long enough), or the just plain ugly look. We stayed at a beautiful resort with beautiful grounds and a great location (beachfront). We tried a ziplining tour one morning that was fun and we felt like that was enough excitement. John read two books on the trip. Thanks to all those that helped with our kids and everything else. Now we are back to real life, work, kids, holidays, etc... it's all good!

So-Cal Wedding So Fun!

We were able to go to Southern California last week for my youngest brother's wedding at the Newport Beach Temple. The weather was awesome and the scenery even better. I think I could go back sometime when we have more time to sight-see and play. We had a great time seeing family and participating in the wedding festivities. And thanks to those who tended the kids for us so we could make the quick trip!