Nick and Lisa and Kids

Friday, January 27, 2012

Pumpkin Carving

This year we opted out of cutting and gutting our pumpkins. Instead, we had a paint fest. We even had two extras: Abby's friend Rylee and Bryant's friend Carter.
It was fun, a little messy, and much less time consuming than carving. Although we did have some sadness morning the loss of Jack - or Mr. 'O Lantern - better known as Jack 'O Lantern!

American Fork Canyon

This is our annual trip to the American Fork Canyon during October General Conference.
This year we went up and had sandwiches and a marshmallow roast. The key for us is to get up there pretty early in the day or else all of the spots are taken. We have definitely come to enjoy our "favorite" spot year after year. We even have "our log" that we take our annual picture on.
Anyway, you can see we had a lot of fun playing, hiking, eating, throwing rocks in the water, and playing in the leaves. We'll be back again next year, I'm sure!

This is the look we got from Emma when we told her it was time to go (above)!!

Dirty Dash 10K

So, as if the 5K in June wasn't enough ...
I decided to lure in some of my family (cousins and cousins-in-law) and do the 10K Dirty Dash too. It was at the same venue - Soldier Hollow. It was so much fun. It was really great doing it together with a large group of people. It was really hilly. My legs were so sore the next day. We waded through mud, swam through muddy water, climbed walls, crawled through tunnels, swung on rope swimgs, and even scaled a 20(ish) foot rope wall. It was a lot of fun. I hope we do it again next year!

This picture is of me and my cousin, Kelsey Belnap. We look dirty, but this is after rinsing off after the race was over. So, you can imagine what we look like 10 minutes previous to the picture!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

First Day of Preschool 2011/12

This year, Grayce and Emma started preschool. They are going to "A Leap Ahead Preschool." Their teacher is Miss Cathie. She is amazing!! We love her so much - she does an incredible job with the kids.
The open house was a little scary for Grayce. She was very shy and scared. But, since then, she has grown to love preschool.
The girls go to school Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:30-11:45a.m.
Preschool is done in Miss Cathie's house (in her basement). That was a concept that was a little bit hard to understand at first.
Now, it is a countdown every day to when they go to school. I really feel like this year has been such a great preparation for kindergarten next year.

First Day of School 2011/12

The first day of school for the kids....

Abby, 6th grade (I can't believe she is a 6th grader)

Bryant, 5th grade (He seems so little to be in 5th grade)

Tyler, 1st grade (He is, by far, the most excited to start school this year)

Tyler and his best friend, Ty (above). Tyler and his first grade teacher, Miss Ramsey (below).

Thursday, January 19, 2012

The Anniversary Trip

Nick and I celebrated our 15 wedding anniversary this year - August 22nd. We decided that one of the things on the top of our list was to go to Minnesota. Such a big part of our lives was there. We have dear friends there that we love. We also were anxious to go to some games at the Twins' new stadium, Target Field.
We took the kids to Idaho to stay with Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles (2 kids at a time in each place, for 2 days at a time). We stayed for 5 days.
We went to church in our old ward, we went to 3 Twins games (and we went on the pregame tour of Target Field), we visited my old place of work, we went to lunch with friends, had dinner with our old bishop and his wife at their new lakeside home, we went to the Mall of America, and we relaxed too. We slept in each morning - it was fantastic! I had forgotten how it felt. I had also forgotten how it was to only be responsible for myself. It took a little getting used to, but I managed. Even the airplane trip was relaxing and quiet.
We had a great time!!!!