Halloween

Emily was a ballerina. She was soooo very cute. Her tutu was extremely easy to make, and I just love her in it!

Such a little happy baby.

Aaron was a male model. Here he is doin' his thing on the catwalk.

Andrew was a missionary. He wore Mike's tag and looked super cute. He had another costume, but refused to wear it. This was a great alternative!

Three things: Note Andrew eating candy. He was soooo very excited about it. Note Emily's cutie little chubby cheeks. I dare you not to want to kiss those cheeks. I double dog dare you.

Andrew point-blank WILL NOT look at the camera when I'm trying to take a picture. I finally got him to look at the camera and smile. And of course it turned out super fuzzy. Oh well. He's a cutie.

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch

Andrew riding a corn husk horse.  He was super excited!

We went to the pumpkin patch today at Peach Tree Farm with some friends of ours. You may remember us going last year. Andrew was so tiny!!! Anyway, we had tons of fun, the weather was absolutely beautiful, and it effectively wore out my very active little two year old. Yay. We took a hay ride, fed goats and chickens, sat on corn husk horses, played in a teepee, etc.  It was great to have it finally feeling like fall.

With his friend Mia

With his friend Porter checking out the roosters.  I love his little hands on the fencing.

He laughed like crazy when the goats licked his hands while he was feeding them.  He also somehow lost a shoe INSIDE their pen.  Luckily I noticed and was able to fish it out before they decided it would be a good snack.

I wanted to re-create the picture from last year, but this one is pretty darn cute, too.

I love the new Blogger format, but I can't figure out why they flipped this picture.  Anyone know?

Cowboy Andrew, riding on the plains

And his favorite part?  When all the kids decided to run around the teepee in circles squealing.  TOTALLY up his alley.

Confessions from the Exceedingly Blessed

I found this post in my draft folder.  It was written when I was pregnant...with ANDREW.  Wow.  Anyway.  Here it is in all it's belated glory, with some updates.
Confession: I am the worst visiting teacher. Ever. As in, I quite literally avoid the lady who gets my visiting teaching numbers each month because I feel racked with guilt by the very sight of her. No joke. I’m that bad.

Confession: I avoid making friends. Now, I think I’m a pretty friendly person, and I don’t bite people who try to talk to me, but I feel like I get such limited time with Michael and my family that I never go out of my way to spend time with people other than my family. *Update - that's not so much true anymore, although I am still a homebody.*

In church on Sunday, the speaker was talking about angels. One thing he said that really made me stop and think was that some people are afflicted with many trials in this life and “some are exceedingly blessed so that they may help others as angels.” Now I’m not saying that things have always been easy or that I’ve been given some sort of carte blanche on trials or anything. All I’m saying is that my life has been blessed beyond measure, and I really ought to be looking to see who I can help more often. Hence, my first two confessions.

I can’t think of any aspect of my life in which I haven’t been blessed. I have the best husband, the best family, a good job, the best friends, the gospel, and the sweetest little Jellybean (who has been boxing in my stomach all week, I swear.) I have every reason to slap myself when I become a Laman/Lemuelite and start my stupid murmuring.  Don't pretend like you wouldn't kind of like seeing me slap myself.  I'm considering selling tickets to earn money.  *Update - Sweet little Andrew, sweet little Emily.*

Last Confession: I often space out in sacrament meeting trying to figure out what famous person or animal the speaker looks like. (We had Thomas Edison speak on Sunday – no kidding- they could have been brothers.) I will do that until I realize I’m doing it. Then I stop. (usually)

And here's a quote from the real Thomas Edison that fits quite nicely...

"I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world."

Googly...

Karen, is this blog post seriously all about googly eyes?

Yes. Yes, it is. Because they are awesome. Especially when they have adhesive. We've been having a wee bit more fun than you would imagine with these little guys around the house. Andrew calls them "silly eyes."

The Willow Tree people finally have faces!

Halloween Fun

This is cracking me up. Happy Halloween!

Click here!

Our Weekend

"They hiding. I show you."
Andrew showed Brady his mad skillz. He's (kind of) catching onto the concept of sharing, and I am SO glad!! :)

Photographic evidence that I exist! Doesn't she look thrilled?

We got to play with Daddy this weekend! It was awesome, and we all loved it.

Lots of tickling, hugs, kisses, laughing, wrestling, and snuggling. Awesome stuff.

Oh. And modeling. Lots of baby modeling.

Some of us got to eat mini M&Ms and hang around in nothing but our skivvies. No worries, that was just Andrew.

We just chilled. And it was wonderful.

Andrew thought Emily was tickling him. It's nice that he's started to kind of enjoy having her around!

He thought Uncle Aaron's headphones were awesome!

Again. Chilling. Modeling. Being too cute for words.

But mostly, we watched General Conference. The prophet and apostles of our time came together to speak to us. It was inspirational. It was beautiful. It oftentimes seemed like it was just for me. I loved it. I truly believe these men are called of God. I believe that Jesus Christ is at the head of this church. I feel so grateful.
Andrew loved watching the "poppy" and tried to imitate him while he was speaking. And I had a thought of him "following the prophet." And my heart just yearned, hoping that he would always follow the prophet. That he will always follow the Savior and trust in the Spirit to guide his life. I hope this so much for children, and am so grateful that I can teach them.

www.lds.org - Feel free to head here to watch Conference!! You won't regret it.