Thanksgiving 2012

Boy do I have so much to be thankful for! This year has been quite the adjustment with lots of hard days, but  a TON of good days :).  I am so lucky that I am able to stay home with my 2 beautiful little girls and raise them, and especially thankful for Brandon and all his hard work to provide for this family.  I often complain because he is hardly ever home.. but I know that he is doing everything in his power to make sure this family has all of its need AND wants.  We are so lucky for his job!  I am also very thankful for my family.  They are always available to help me out when needed and I know I can count on them.  I am one very lucky daughter, grand daughter, sister, wife, aunt, and MOMMY! ;)

This was Miss Harp's first Thanksgiving and I am pretty convinced she is a fan ;).  Anything with food involved is a great thing for Harper haha!  We went to my mom's house and it was perfect!  It was just our close family and lots of yummy food.

Daddy and Kins

Idk what this face is haha!

Grandpa and Harper

My and my baby girl

She likes to crawl and hide any chance she gets lol

Kinsey taste testing the ham

My brother Colton.  These two are birthday buddies :)

Her first Thanksgiving meal!

Making a mess at Grandmas!

After my mom's we decided to stop by my grandma's house to see my dad and that side of the family.  My girls were pretty warn out by this time..haha

Kinsey is so ready for bed in this pic haha

My dad and Harper

Kinsey and her cousin Kam!

Overall we had a great Thanksgiving and have so much to be thankful for!

Punkin Pickin'!

Whats Halloween without a hay ride and picking out your own pumpkin!  Last year we went to Black Island Farms and have decided that for as long as we live in Layton, we will make it a tradition to go there every year! Luckily for us, we got my youngest brother Mason to come along and even spend the night!  Kinsey and Harper adore him so it was that much exciting for them ;).  The hay ride was so much fun, a little muddy since it had just snowed and then melted, but thankfully the tractor didnt get stuck and we made it without too much mud on our shoes.  Kinsey is such a perfectionist already so she took the longest to pick out her pumpkin.  She walked around and passed by each pumpkin at least 5 times before we finally convinced her that this one was the perfect one! haha After the hay ride we went down the slides.. and for those of you who havent been to Black Island Farms, well you are totally missing out!! They tickled my belly when I went down them but Kinsey LOVED it!  She was a wild woman and went down each slide so many times, and even rode on the train all by herself.  Miss Harps was just enjoying snuggling with me and watching her sister go down the gigantic slides!  We ended the night with pizza and so many laughs!  It was PERFECT ;)

I am one lucky girl to have these guys :)

Kinsey waiting for the hay ride!

Harper waiting for the hay ride!

What a stud! 

Love my family!!

Kinsey being a dare devil and flying down the slides haha

Me and my Harps hanging out while the big kids do their big kid thing ;)

Kinsey riding on the train! (her favorite!)

Halloween 2012

Our Halloween this year was busy, crazy, and SO much fun! I tried to cram in as much as I could without over exhausting my poor girls lol..  The Saturday before Halloween we went to the Radio Disney Halloween party where the girls got to dance and show off their costumes.  It was the weekend when my mom had Addy so they came along and I'm so glad they did.  Kinsey was an elephant, Harper was a zebra, and then Addy was a lion!  So we had our own little zoo :)

my youngest brother Mason

My mom and Miss Harps

Watching the fountains at Station Park

After the Radio Disney party and eating lunch and Jonny Rockets (totally delicious by the way!), we headed to the horse ranch by my mom's house.  They were doing pony rides and a horse show where the horses and riders were dressed up.  The girls LOVED it!! Kinsey got to ride on her first pony and I am pretty sure she hasnt stopped asking to ride again since that day.. lol

Kinsey all ready to ride her horse

Kinsey riding the horse named "Dafney"

My brothers little girl Addy

The day of Halloween we wanted to make extra special as well so we planned to go to the Dinosaur Park with Brandon's mom and cousin Rylan.  The girls, once again, had so much fun!  I am so glad Kinsey and Harper are growing up close with their cousins because they will have life long friendships.  After the park we went to Lee's market to show off their costumes some more and go trick or treating around the store.

Kinsey and Rylan

haha i LOVE this pic, I told the girls to give me their "monster" face ;)

diggn for dino bones

Harper's favorite part!

My girlies were pooped by this point so off to home we went so we could take a nap and rejuvenate :)
Our first stop for trick or treating was to Grandma and Grandpa Swartz's house!  The girls got HAND FULLS of candy.. Thank goodness for grandmas ;)!  Then we went to my mom's house to show off their costumes to grandma, grandpa, and Uncle Mas.  They got a ton of candy from them as well!  By the time we got home it was getting dark so I figured we would just go to a couple houses in our neighborhood then head home and eat dinner.. but the 5 houses we went to was just not enough for Kinsey haha!  Her and dad went to more houses while Harper and I got dinner ready.. and I'm sure Kinsey would have stayed out all night if we let her!  Luckily we convinced her to just pass out candy at home to all the other trick or treaters ;)

First stop was to Grandma and Grandpa Swartz's house! 

Then to Grandma Kristy and Grandpa Rob's house

Then to a few houses in our neighborhood!

I love my lil girlies!!!

We had such a great time and Halloween is 100x better when you have kids to dress up and show off! :)

Fall Is HERE.. but not for long..

One of the very FEW things I like about living in Utah is there is actually 4 seasons. Snow in the winter, beautiful spring days, HOT summers, and well about 10 days to enjoy the changing leaves in the fall..  Fall is by far my favorite season with the smells, weather, and just the atmosphere.. but it doesnt stay for long.  The other morning I woke up to SNOW.. everywhere! It was even sticking to the roads. I was already running late, plus it took me a full hour to get to school.  Not a good way to start with the snow season for me.. but I am really going to try to enjoy it this year and try skiing for the FIRST TIME! Kinsey absolutely loves snow and thinks it is the neatest thing.. Harper doesnt feel the same way.  She would rather not touch or be around that wet, cold stuff ;)

Our tree in our front yard is awesome.. sometimes!  It provides so much shade in the summer that it is often cooler under the tree than in our house (I like to save money and not use the air conditioner unless I absolutely have to lol).  But the dang thing doesnt drop a single leaf until it snows.. then they all drop at once.  So we are left with soggy, wet leaves to rake up and throw away.  Here are a few pic of the "day" our tree decided to loose its leaves.. haha

Kinsey playing in the leaves.. and snow!

Happy girl!

Brandon raking away.. I offered to help, but he didnt accept it so I just snuggled  Miss Harps and watched Kinsey play :) rough life! ha

BFF

Kinsey eating snow.. She gets it from her dad's side ;) lol