Utah for Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful and full trip to Utah for the week of Thanksgiving. My pictures are all over the place and out of order but they are fun nonetheless. The Friday after Thanksgiving we were able to go with Mom, Paul's family, and part of Joe's family to Temple Square for the Christmas lights. This was a perfect way to end our week.

Chris, Joe, and Paul.

Brittany brought her friend Dalton and the kids totally loved him. Here they are with Dalton, Chloe, and Maddie.

Each family had a portrait taken in front of the Temple and the lights. We held up a lot of foot traffic. :)

Joe, Maddie, Halli, and Zac

Richard was trying to read the plaque at this statue and I had to capture the cute sweetness of it.

Hannah loves her cousin Riley. He is an awesome young man and so cute and sweet with the kids.

Here is Paul's family: Paul, Riley, Rocky, Heidi, Brittany, Bo, Bryce, and Chloe.

Mom, Hannah, Jaime, and Maddie.

Riley and Halli. The younger kids all adore Riley!

Cute Dalton and Brittany.

Brittany, Halli, and Chloe.

Maddie, Heidi, Brittany, Hannah, Riley, and Chloe.

Thanksgiving at Mom's house. Richard and Hannah were so excited to play in the 10 or so inches of snow since we don't get much of it here in the south.

I love this pic of Richard throwing his "snowball" at Halli. She got a few shots at him too.

My little snow angel baby girl!

Richard got Hannah in the face, too.

The kids got to help Grandma Taggart make pies for Thanksgiving. Good thing I brought their aprons. They were so excited to help!

Then we made sugar cookies at Grandma Kia's.

I love this crazy boy!

Richard made a tasty looking treat for himself and Grandma Kia...ice-cream, shortbread, sugar cookies, chocolate syrup, and chopped string cheese. Delish!

Richard and Hannah were so excited to play with Brielle and Colby. They had a lot of fun!

We got to celebrate Uncle Greg and had a fun and tasty dinner at Cafe El Lago. Chris played some fun games with the kids at dinner. We went to the theatre afterward and saw "Mega Mind" it was really fun.

The night we drove into town we found out Paul and Heidi were having Grandma T. and Grandma Kia over for dinner so we crashed the party. After dinner the kids went outside to slip and slide on the snowy trampoline.

Fun pics of our party crashing.

Before we went to Paul's the kids got to open their Christmas presents from Grandma and Grandpa Taggart. They were so excited, but we really missed having Grandpa there as he is serving our country in Iraq.

We had a lot of fun and the kids got spoiled with gifts, love, and cousins. We cannot wait for our next visit! And to make things even better, we had no idea Joe and his family were going to be in town from Atlanta. We got to spend Thanksgiving night and the following night with them. It was great for Richard and Hannah to meet their Georgia cousins!

Grandma Taggart gave the kids these darling Church clothes. Hannah wanted to wear hers every day, but we wanted to keep it nice. They are so cute!

Thank you to everyone that made the visit so enjoyable!!!

WOW! Time for an update...

Deer hunting season is in full force. These are a few pics that we took while resting from hiking, Daddy was looking for deer, but we were playing. :)

The kids wanted to use the timer on the camera so we got this cute one.

These two were playing around having so much fun. They are drama, drama, drama. Look at their faces in some of these pics. Sometimes they trick me with their acting skills. :)

We all stopped for a picnic and the kids got FILTHY playing in the dirt making "movie traps". When we explained they are called "boobie traps" they both insisted we are simply incorrect.

Continuing his annual Super Hero trend, my tiger has selected to be Super Man this Halloween. Gotta love his passion and consistency.

We found this darling skeleton costume and just HAD to have it! She will barely take it off. I think she looks so adorable! But she wants to scare everyone, so tell her she is scary. :)

They both LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to play dress up. Hannah prays, every prayer she says, that we can "go back to the Halloween store."

Last month there was a family festival so we headed up to it. The lines were ENORMOUS so we didn't get to do too many rides. I think we had some fun nonetheless.

Richard helped me bake brownies several weeks ago and I caught him tasting our creation. I could not resist the photo op. Then, on another day, Hannah insisted on a photo shoot with her soup. They are total hamms!

First day of Pre-school

Hannah started preschool last week. She goes for a few hours one day a week. Four other moms in the ward and I rotate houses and treaching. She is having a really fun time and was so excited to begin school like Richard. Thank you to the fun moms helping us out!

And she couldn't wait to use her lunchbox, backpack, and school clothes!

Shoe Laces

They are getting better at it!

Family Squirrel Hunting Trip

Snacks on the drive there.


First signs of autumn and the slowly cooling weather!!!

Richard was so excited about all the leaves we were finding.

Hannah even brought her gun to shoot the squirrels.

We had to get this huge leaf, but in shadow form.

We did not see a single squirrel, there are far more in the city. Maybe there are just plentiful hiding places in the woods. But we did get to see some deer, had fun being together as a family, and went on a beautiful nature walk.

My angel babies

Richard wears a uniform to school and has to tuck in his shirts. So they are playing around and Hannah asked me to tuck in her shirt (this is a very unusual situation). So I did and she asked for her backpack. When I inquired Hannah replied, "I am going to school."


She proceeded to the next room and came back holding Richard's hand. "Richard is taking me to school." They are too funny!


We were waiting outside Chris's office today and I let the kids get out and play for a little while. Hannah came over to the car and asked to get back in. "I want to get in the car and comb my hair." LOL!!!


I was getting my temple clothes clean the other day and I put my dress on a hanger to dry in the front room. Hannah saw it and thought it was so "beautiful". Richard ran in from the other room and responded, "Wow. Mom, that looks just like Heavenly Mother's dress." What a sweet boy!