Nutcracker

A friend rallied a group of 20 so that we could get the 

group discount for tickets to the Nutcracker. 

It had been a couple years since we had last been, so I signed us up.

 

We met at Red Robin for lunch before the production.

(a Colorado tradition carried on)

 It really is hard to top RR and friends

 

  The girls really enjoyed this version. 

It had a lot of magic, which was fun to watch 

(and it meant not quite as much dancing) 

 Their favorite part was the truffles.  

They were REALLY fun to watch,

it was like they were floating just above

the ground, or on wheels.  

The girls drug their feet at first, they were not happy to 

 to be wearing dresses.  I hope that over all they had a good time, 

they said as much anyway.  I guess only time will tell,

years from now as they look back and are retelling the story.

  Love you GIRLS!!!

Syd's 7th

Sydney's Birthday was on Wednesday this year.  She was lucky enough to 1-Have Grandma and Grandpa here on Monday and 2- have no school on Monday.  Sooo the celebrating started Monday!  We did some birthday mixed with Christmas shopping with Grandma which was then followed by a fun afternoon at Monkey Joe's Bounce House.  

 Wednesday she chose dinner at Chili's. 

New favorite birthday spot

(free brownie and icecream)

 This is her response as she sees Aaron bringing in her new bike.

Up until now her bikes have been hand-me downs.  So this is HER First bike.

 She also graduated from the princess bike helmet. 

Still pink though :-) 

 We actually had to return the bike because when the back tire was full, it rubbed on something and wouldn't move right.  They didn't have anymore of this one, but I was to lazy to take another picture of the replacement.

Sweet Sweet Syd!  

You are so full of life and such an important part of our family!! 

Love you Sis!

We LOVE company!

Aarons parents were here for a week the first part of November.  

The weather was yucky the day they came and the day they left.  

Other than that, it was Beautiful! They couldn't have timed it any better. 

The color of the trees were beautiful. I am sad to say that somehow 

I didn't end up with any pictures.

The girls were in school the first and second day of the visit:/  

One of our outings took us to the Science Museum

Down three kids, but still managed to have a good time:)

We took the girls out of school Friday and made our way to Wilmington. 

1st stop was the Battleship NORTH CAROLINA

for a self guided tour.  

Its role was to protect aircraft carriers in World War II 

The ship is 729 feet or 2 1/2 football fields

This was a scouter plane.They would launch it off the ship with a catapult!

This was the cabin where the missiles were put in place, aimed and fired

The ship had five levels below deck

It was designed to carry 1800 men, but by the end of WWII it was carrying 2,300

The ship was not moving at all.  I still can't figure out why I ended up so quezzy!

Honestly even looking back at the pictures is putting me into a spin.  

So when Eli said he had to use the bathroom,
 I was more than happy to volunteer.

This is just a random pic, but I think it is funny.

He is pouting , refusing to go any further.
This later turned into a fit.  

(fit not so funny)

  Its size, craftsmanship and function were amazing.  

A guy took our picture of us in front of a green background before we got on the boat.

This is what we ended up with.  Pretty Funny!

This is my favorite. 

LOOK, we are all in the 2 passenger plane!  LOL!

After the battleship adventure we grabbed some dinner and walked it off 

by doing a little Christmas shopping.

The next day we walked around in the downtown area down on the river

And then made our way to the beach

It was Sooo close to being nice enough to jump in.

Sydney and Eli had thicker skin and didn't stay dry.

The rest of our time was spent on leisurely walks around the pond 

behind our house and Christmas shopping with Grandma.  

We are so grateful for family that is able to make such a long trip in order to spend time with us.  We love every minute!  Can't wait to see you again!

October in a nutshell

We missed out on the county fair,which from what we hear is quite the  experience.  So we crashed my friends neighborhood fall festival.  Thats close enought right? The highlight was the pony riding. Rylie and Abby decided that they were to good for the ponies. (not sure if that is just their age or the fact that they have been spoiled with my mom's horses)

 Sydney did not follow her sisters lead, she thought it was GREAT!

Eli was not quite sure.

 For Activity Days we were invited to come as a family and given pumpkins to decorate.  I didn't want to be left unprepared, so I found a picture of the bat and black cat pumpkins   This is our version.  I debated on whether I was stunting their creativity by copying. It was still their work, and they were pretty proud.

He loves these slippers!  

I thought he would play with them, 

but he didn't take them off for days

Des was able to come for a week, with no kids.  It was a pretty layed back week.  The first day she was here we  didn't even get dressed, it was GREAT!  The second day we did make plans and got all the way to loading in the car, only to have it not start. The crazy thing is that the same thing happened when she came to visit in Colorado.  (The security chip in the key blitzed) 

The girls were at school, so only pics with Mr. Eli at Pullen Park.

We rode on the carousel, the small train and

Eli rode the in the little wooden boats.  

Her trip to see us was over before I knew it.  I have to thank Jason, his mom

 and my mom for making it possible. That has been the hardest part of

 our move, visits are going to be few and far between.  

I made the mistake of waiting until the day before Halloween to buy pumpkins   The stores were wiped clean! Aaron was able to find a few small pumpkins at a store near his office.  They were small enough that carving them was not really an option.  So we painted the silhouettes instead of carving.

 

We went to the ward fall festival and they had a photo booth set up.

Better pictures than was able to get on Halloween night!

I had to throw in this picture of my friends little Raggity-Anne.  

(my inspiration for Pippy Long Stockings hair)

I love it!

 We were invited to go trick or treating with some friends.

WOW!! We were not prepared for how serious they take 

their Trick or Treating!  They had bags to dump their full bags into

so we could keep going.  It was CRAZY!  

To the beach with the grandparents!

My parents made their first journey to NC this week.  We have been counting down the days until their arrival.  I can't believe how fast the visit went and now they are gone:/ The first day was pretty layed back.  The kids were in school and my parents flew in pretty late the night before. We did make our way to the NC Museum of History. 

We spent the next four days at the Outer Banks.  

In Avon and Hatteras Island to be more specific

We saw and climbed the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.  

By "WE", I mean all but Eli and me.  He was two inches to short:/  

 From there it was all Beach!  The water was a little harder to play in than the last two times we have been.  The waves were crashing really close, so it made it hard to jump or ride.

They spent more time running from them

The rest of the time was spent searching the beach for shells 

and tiny little oysters buried in the sand

Chill'n...watch'n the waves roll in

And don't forget building a sandcastle and mote!

 They also had fun watching the little crabs scurry from one hole to another.  It was fun to watch them bury down into to sand and disappear.

The last night we went out to dinner and then walked down below the pier.

I don't know what it is about seeing the old wood with the waves, but it is my favorite!

Great company, Great memories!

And the countdown starts again!