New experiences

Chris went ice fishing today so I took the kids to the pool, after tracking down a tiny swimsuit for Ella. Although she is very upset in this picture, she did great once we got to the water. I look forward to many more swimming trips with these three. I cannot express how much I love my babies!! They bring me so much joy and I adore them and doing new things with them. It was fun to see how Ella would react.

8th birthday...

Richard just turned 8 and when we asked him if he wanted a friends party he told us that he wanted to invite his family, namely his cousins, so we invited both sides of our family and had a great time. He and Hannah took turns taking pictures. (I am sorry we didn't get a picture of everyone there but thank each of you that were able to attend.)

We had a wonderful time celebrating his birthday and thank everyone for excellent company and thrilling gifts. Richard is really very thankful for the love that was extended to him and he had a blast with his cousins.

6 weeks

I just wanted to post a few pictures of my newest love and beautiful baby girl. Ella is enjoying her baths slightly more, she loves a noisy crowd/party, is getting better about her diaper changes, went swimming for her first time, and is sleeping much better through the night. I love to hear her cooing and watch her smile (which happens much more often now).

And she likes to watch a little TV with Daddy.

Richard's birthday outing

Chris's parents have started a wonderful tradition. Each time one of the grandchildren turns eight they get to go to Temple Square, go to lunch, and pick out new scriptures. Richard was so excited for this outing and had a wonderful time.

Waiting for his food at The Garden...good time to flip through the scriptures.

I asked him why he ordered a hamburger at such a nice, yummy restaurant. He said that they just gave him a kid's meal. My little burger boy.

Richard loves the story of Moroni burying the plate at the end of the Book of Mormon so I am sure he was thrilled to find this paining.

I love this boy and cannot believe he is now 8 years old and getting ready to be baptized. I am so proud of him!

Ella at 4 weeks

I love this beautiful baby. We are getting her into a better routine/schedule and she is becoming a lot less fussy then the first few weeks. Regardless, how can you ever be upset with that beautiful face? Oh how I love to snuggle with this baby girl!

The girls had fun wearing their princess crowns. Hannah is so happy to have a little sister. She has been really great with Ella and understanding of the extra time Ella requires of me. Richard has be awesome, too. He has really come around to loving her even though he desperately wanted a brother. Maybe next time, bud.

Richard has enjoyed scouting for deer, elk and moose with Chris and I since he was tiny. Last year he started immitating cyote and elk calls. Chris pulled out his elk call today and let Richard play with it. They are two peas in a pod! To hear this you may have to pause the music at the bottom of the page. :)

Monkey boy...

Richard loves to climb and, as you can see, will climb just about everything! Well, today he decided to attempt the fridge with much success.

When Chris got home from work Richard said, "Dad I want to show you something, but don't get mad." It was pretty funny. I love this crazy kid. (Hannah is going to be just the same, she loves to do what Richard does and she is quite the climber, too.)

Random Phone Pictures

I finally pulled these pictures off of my phone to blog. I am sorry for the blurriness in some of them.

 

 

These first two of the kids were when I got my new phone. We were testing the camera.

 

 Both Richard and Hannah learned to ride their bikes without training wheel this summer and earned new bikes. They were really excited. This is Hannah practicing on her old, small bike. 

 

Falling asleep in the car.

 

I worked at my sister-in-law's preschool during the summer and the kids were able to come to some of the camps with me. This was pirate/princess camp. Clearly Hannah decided to forgo her typical princess garb to be a pirate.

 

 

Downtown had a back to school fair so we went to enjoy some fun and cool off in the water. Richard got into the dunk tank and Hannah got to throw the ball to dunk him. It was a lot of fun.

 

 

We were given passes to a local fun zone and were able to play laser tag, miniature golf, video games, and the kids tried wall climbing.

 

 

After buying this year's costumes we went to meet Chris. While waiting I let the kids try on their costumes and they stood by the street waiving to people. It was really funny.

 

 

Crazy hair day for school...

 

 

My cousin, Amber, made this cool Angry Bird's hat...

 

 

...and this cute Hello Kitty purse.

Checking out the new Scheel's



 

 

 

Our new addition, Ella Mae

 

 

Ella loves the Christmas lights. She will watch them for almost an hour.

 

 

I mistakenly put Hannah's capris in Richard's drawer. He came out of his room honestly thinking they were his pants that he had outgrown. So funny and sweet.