Our Picasso

Bryn's artwork was the only one selected from the kindergartners at our school for her grade level for the Rodeo Art competition. We are very proud of her! We'll have to post some of her other creations, she produces several per day. Jeremy makes me save all of them. I really do love children's artwork, it is so fresh and full of life! Grandma Carlie has done a really cool project in the past with Avery and Nina with their artwork where she takes their drawing and creates a colorful stitch art project using fabric. They turned out so cute. She framed them and we have them hanging in the girls' bedrooms. She's going to do one of Bryn's drawings next...thanks, Carlie!

Early Christmas

It actually snowed here last week on December 10th. Christmas time is officially here! Snow is a RARE occurrence in these parts, so the whole neighborhood was out playing in it.

The next morning there was still snow on the rooftops.

We preserved some of the precious snow into a giant snowball and it sits in a bowl in our freezer. We've never seen the kids this excited, it was better than Christmas morning!

We surprised the girls with an early Christmas present a week ago. A 9 week-old kitten! It's been a rough start with a sick kitten and Annise showing allergy symptoms the first few days, but they're both doing better. She is the most playful, cuddly kitten we've had. She jumps up to sit in our laps every chance she can get and romps around the house. We are in love! No consensus on a name yet.

Annise and kitten cuddle up...

Photo Shoot

We got family pictures taken last week and our friend, Kari got some great close-ups of each of the girls too. Thank goodness for pictures so we can remember how they looked when they were little.

Been Busy

A special visit from Great Grandma Sherlia from Idaho for Thanksgiving. What an amazing lady! We had a fun day together eating, playing games and hearing her testimony.

Jeremy coached Nina's soccer team, the Blue Jays, this season. Great daddy-daughter time and he's committed to coaching another season. Nina and her cousin, Malery have had fun playing on the same team for a few seasons. They are both awesome players! Soccer is in their blood...


Amazing talent show performance by Bryn and Nina and friends. Dancing and singing to
"Party" by Demi Lovato. These are brave gals to get up in front of a huge crowd and perform.

Suprise! Avery's room got decorated by the Young Women's Presidency for her birthday. So cool - she's already had three paid babysitting jobs during her first month of being 12.

Halloween X Four

Pumpkin carving for FHE...the girls gave their ideas and Jer and I carved accordingly.

Bryn got to dress up as a storybook character for school on Halloween. We came up with Miss Viola Swamp at the last minute, but she also looks a little bit like Wednesday Addams. She's the first daughter who's let us dress her up in a "scary" costume. What a great sport...she really got into it!



I guess the reason Bryn was okay with the scary day costume was because she got to be a garden fairy that night. They each knew exactly what they wanted to be. Let me tell you, it was quite a feat getting four girls into costume, hair and makeup. But, of course, worth it!
We had a really fun time trick-or-treating this year.

Babies

I was looking at my sister-in-law, Megan's new post of her baby Peter and thought he was so beautiful. These are baby photos of Annise (first) and Bryn (second). (Nina and Avery were born in pre-digital camera days) Of course I think they are so beautiful ~ I just miss that soft baby skin, baby scent and baby cuddle. I guess knowing we're done adds to the longing for those baby moments...

Last Year's Halloween

Halloween is so much fun! Here's a photo of the girls last year. Their plans for this year so far are: Annise - ballerina, Bryn - garden fairy, Nina - devil, Avery- Hermione. The youth are putting on the Halloween party this year for the primary kids so Avery gets to help that night. It's on her birthday and will be her first youth activity she gets to attend as an official "Young Woman."