Camille and Hunter's Wedding

Back in January we sent to Utah for the wedding of Camille (Rachel's sister) and Hunter. We had a great time and were pleased to welcome a new brother into the family. 

Family members from both sides of the wedding, and many other guests, stayed in a rental mansion house in Mapleton, Utah. There were around 50 people in total who stayed in the mansion.

It was very fancy both inside and outside. Sylvia looked very posh descending the double staircase in her fancy dress (disregard the binky and baby doll)

Here we are all dressed up for the wedding!

It was a somewhat cloudy winter day in Utah, but it wasn't too cold despite the snow and cloud cover. Here is Sylvia sporting a stylish hat while hanging out with Grandpa Judd

Big smiles with mommy 

Andrew had lots of fun throwing snowballs

 Andrew got a little bit sleepy from running around and playing with everyone, plus the wedding took place during his usual nap time

Here's the happy couple exiting the Payson Temple!

Sylvia stole some of Camille's thunder by getting quite a few kisses of her own 

 The suit we got for Andrew was a size too big for him, and his pants decided they didn't want to stay up anymore as we were walking back to the car after the wedding

That evening we all attended the reception. We left to put the kids down for bed before the party really got started, but Sylvia and daddy were still able to dance a little bit

Andrew got really thirsty dancing and playing at the reception

We also visited the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point while we were in Utah. 

The kids (Andrew at least) have been there a couple times before and they LOVE everything about it.

Here's a picture from our visit back in 2014. We kept the tradition alive of recreating one dinosaur about to eat another one  

Here's the most recent recreation with Andrew

And with Sylvia (she was happily resigned to her fate as you can see, where as Andrew was a little more spirited in his attempt to escape daddy trying to eat him) 

The kids had so much fun playing with the dinosaurs in the water and sand table. We had to drag them away. We also learned that Andrew needs to work on his sharing, as he went around the table taking dinosaurs that other kids were playing with and hoarding them for himself (see the row of dinosaurs on the ledge beside him) 

They also had a lot of fun playing paleontologist uncovering dinosaur bones with brushes in the sand box. 

The kids did pretty well the entire trip, especially considering all the time spent in airplanes and cars, sleeping in a new location, and missing nap times.

Sylvia did get quite sleepy on the airplane though 

She also got a ride from the terminal to the parking lot in style.

We had a great time in Utah and were proud to celebrate the new life that Camille and Hunter are creating for themselves!

Giving Thanks in November

We had a wonderful month of November, and we are surprised the month is over already!

The kids love to play at the Nature Center, here Andrew is gathering gourds and hand puppets.

Sylvia looking cute at playgroup.  We meet up once a week to play on the playground with friends.

One day we visited a new library, the one on Fort Carson and the kids had fun playing shape games on the computers and checking out some books.  (Mommy was looking for a book called the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.  I would highly recommend this book!) 

Then we met Daddy for lunch on post.  It was a special treat for the kids!

We also visited the zoo again in November.  Giraffes are Andrew's favorite animal at the zoo.

The kids love playing in the airplane too.  Can you spot the elephant in this picture?

See-saw

Sylvia likes the Reptile House

We always stop halfway to have a picnic lunch.  This time we stopped at the bear exhibit.  We just saw the bear come out from behind a rock before we took the picture, that's why the kids are so smiley.

Andrew yelling, "Goodbye giraffes!"

The kids love to color, especially Sylvia!

We had two Stake Conferences in the month of November.  Here Sylvia is waiting patiently for it to start.

Cuties ready for church, they didn't want to sit still for a picture.

Sylvia is wearing her snail dress and is holding her snail toy.

Andrew is playing the guitar.

Andrew has been wearing big boy underwear 24/7 since the beginning of November.  He is now fully potty trained but still has accidents every once in a while.  Sylvia's new thing is to pretend to sit on the potty.  She uses overturned toy boxes, stools, and laundry hampers as "potties".  She leaves her diaper on, luckily.  Her potty training days are fast approaching.

Just playing in the van.

Reading together.

I have no words for this picture.

Playing at the park.

It has snowed once this month.  The kids could not wait to get out in the snow to play.  We built snowmen, made snow angels, and had a snowball fight.  Sylvia tried eating it. 

Even after the snow melted, the weather has been feeling more like fall.

We have had to bundle up outside!

Happy Thanksgiving!  Daddy took the kids to the park to play while Mommy was cooking.

Having fun

The finished turkey!

We had two families over for Thanksgiving dinner.  We had plenty of food and a wonderful time!

This is how we spent Black Friday, hiking in the mountains!  The snow capped peak is Pike's Peak.

Sylvia let Daddy carry her in the hiking backpack.  Which is good because she is a very slow hiker.

At the top, Andrew said, "I'm tired, I need to stop and play."  Little did I know that Andrew wanted to bring his backpack because he was planning on playing with his toys on the top of the mountain.  We stopped and played for a bit and gathered acorns before heading back down.

Sylvia is looking so grown up!

Our kids making silly faces.  We love these two so much!