October 2013 part 3

Took my little sweetie to the park.  I love this little
four year old girl.  She cracks me up!  Sometimes
I wish I could freeze her at this age.  She likes to make
us laugh, but she also get offended VERY easily when
we laugh AT her.  It's a very delicate balance we have
yet to master :)

Love this face.  

It is fun to spend time with her, when I'm not trying so hard
to get all my "important" tasks done.  She's a great little pal!

She looks like she has something very insightful to say.  

Riley doesn't need a dog to pull him around!  He has a Malia!

A little Halloween activity we went to.  Kids loved the reptiles!

My little stretcher.  I can always count on her to do some good
stretching after a nap.  I just sit there and enjoy the show and laugh.

Done stretching...time to make a face.  I can't believe
I captured this face!  It is so funny....I've never seen this one!

Malia busy making....something.  And the curls!!!  Love foam rollers.

Now for the Halloween pics.  Pink Power Ranger
and Dorothy.  These two just keep growing!

Out little tough Rangers.

Fun Halloween.  Fourth year trick or treating in this amazing
neighborhood.  Love where we live, and these sweet kids.

October 2013 part 2

Malia absolutely loves her sister.  Makes me glad we had
another girl.  There is something special about sisters.

Miniature golf at Trafalga.  Always soooo exciting.  The kids
love it, and it's free with our passes, so it's a win.

Getting golf tips from a pro.

Miniature golf structures are pretty cute.  And these kids are cute.

Gracie was pushed around in style in her stroller, and she got
her hands on this package of cookies.  She is at the very beginning
stages of holding things, and bringing them to her mouth.  Pretty
soon everything will go in her mouth.

I think the Bumbo chair will be a much loved item someday.
But for now she is not a big fan.  I think it wears her out.

The yearly Red Barn Pumpkin patch trip!  We went last year
with these buddies, now this year, and might as well continue
Except it's getting more and more expensive each year.  Went
from free for the hayride (just pay for your pumpkin), to $2/person,
to $3/person, and this year $5/person!!!  

The hay ride.  Okay, so there's no hay.  The "bench" ride.

Riley and Malia had a ball on these pedaled bike contraption thingy's.

Had to capture this because this is pretty much how she spends
at least an hour of her day.  She's always drawing something new,
or practicing things she already knows how to draw.  I love her
concentration. For Christmas we are going to get her a nice set of
stencils.  She's always asking "Help me draw a cat." Or "Help me
draw a shark."  She will love the stencils!

Crazy hair day at school.  To be fair, Riley colored one
side green (my favorite color) and the other side red (Ben's
favorite color.)  He was really excited, but kept double
checking with me to make sure it really was crazy hair day.
That would be a bummer to be wrong on that one!

Second pumpkin carving experience.  And there's little Gracie,
with her bottle propped as usual (GUILT, GUILT, GUILT!).  Life
is busy, and we hold her all the time, but sometimes when she's
demanding her food, I just don't have enough hands!  Grandma
Blacker was here to help with the carving.

October 2013 part 1

October, one of my favorite months.  Except for the fact 

that it is followed by November, which is the beginning of

the end :(  I love three of the four season's.  Can you guess which?

We had the good fortune of being invited to attend a FREE
Imagine Dragon's concert, put on by Vivint (Kade and Ciara's
employer).  It was so amazing!  And included with each ticket
was an $8.50 credit for concessions.  We were definately up in
the nosebleeds, but it was fine because of the huge jumbo
screen.  I went and bought the Imagine Dragon's CD the next day!

Up in the nosebleeds!  We felt really cool going to a concert.

Rough night, Malia?

Malia got a pumpkin on a pre-school fieldtrip, so this was our
first pumpkin carving experience of the month.  Yes there
was more than one.  They were grossed out by the "guts".

Every month we take a picture for Gracie's baby book. Gracie
of course looks adorable, but look at Malia!!!  Georgeous!

This picture is funny for two reasons.  Riley and his theatrics, and
oh by the way, there's Gracie chillin' on the floor facedown :)
She's probably busy licking the carpet.

Bowling shoes!  Always in style.  Malia was
hoping she could keep hers.  We used our Pass
of All Passes to go to this rinky dink bowling alley
in Sandy.  It was actually a lot of fun.  Trashy, but fun.

Looking smug.  Did he get a strike?  Nope.
That's also his gutter ball look.  

Gracie was actively eating, and I decided it would
be fun to yank the bottle out.  Hee hee!  This was
her bowling alley experience. Warm bottle=Happy Baby.

Seriously, does it get any cuter???

Well I guess it does get cuter!  Or wierder.

Topic change:  Gracie's Blessing Day!  Gracie is
technically sitting on her cousin Logan.  Kelsey
makes a very cute pregnant gal!

And I love, love, love this picture!  

September 2013 part 3

I could seriously see Riley being a teacher someday.  He was teaching
Malia 12345.  He would write the numbers, and then she would try to write
it below his.  I overheard him say "Oh, that's really good but your forgot
the 2 and the 3 is backward.  But good try!"  How cute is THAT!

I think she looks like a little flirt here!

Cross eyed.  So glad this isn't permanent.

Look at those cheeks!  

My Aunt Julie came for a visit.  Aaaaand that's my mom's
eyeball over her left shoulder.

My mom's idea of fun: 6 hours of TORTURE climbing from the South
end of West Mountain to the North end.  Don't let the picture fool you.
It was hard, and I am only smiling because I had no idea what I was in for!
I couldn't do stairs for days after! And here's the crazy part...I kinda
want to do it again! But with better shoes.  And Julie was there too!

Double rainbow!

I love that Malia has a little sister to love.  And there is a LOT of love here.

Their first bath together was a hit!

After bath time. The cheeks! The cheeks!  And the hair!

Hanging out by the fire.  Very cozy.  This is not a good picture,
but all three kids are in there.

September 2013 part 2

We were lucky enough to get invited to our friends cabin one Saturday,
and had the best time riding four wheelers. Me and the girls on one, and
Ben and Riley on the other.  Gracie pretty much slept the whole ride.  Her
baby self protection instincts kicked in when it became too exciting, and she slept.

Riley became a man this day!  Not only did he drive the four wheeler
most of the time with Ben on back, he also shot a gun.  

Can't tell much by the pic, but we got majorly rained on and
all hunkered under some trees and ate lunch.  

Tired kids after a day of hanging out in the mountains 4 wheeling.
Malia looks just like my mom does when sleeping during a movie :)

My kids pediatrician.  He is so sweet. As he was examining
Gracie, I asked if I could get a picture.  I figured I would
just snap a quick shot of him listening to her with his stethascope,
but he took this seriously and did a cute gazing-at-baby pose.
I was chuckling inside :)  I'm trying to do all the things I wished
I'd done with the other two, such as pics at the 2 month check up!

The monthly pic for the baby book.  Sad thing is that
I took this pic just two weeks ago, and she has pretty
much already grown out of these jammies.

My little Malia is so gorgeous. And she LOVES her sister so much.
She often says "Oh I just can't believe how much I love Gracie!"

And let's not forget Malia's crazy side!  

A new fun thing Malia likes to do: Carry Gracie
around.  Gracie's not so sure it's all that fun but
it is very cute to see!

Malia's dream come true....lipstick! This girl is ready for make up
and getting her ears pierced already.  Already! 

The word "cute" just doesn't do her justice!  And this gorgeous
blanket was made by my Aunts Yvonne and Annette.  Oh and
Gracie's shirt says "I make chunky thighs look good!"

We had a great time this year with Riley's soccer games.  It
was so relaxing going to his games, and he seemed to grasp
the concepts of the game really well this year. I look forward
to next year!  And we'll sign up Malia to. That will be a hoot!