Thanksgiving!

Oh, Thanksgiving! I just love Thanksgiving. Those of you who know me well know that this is my very favorite holiday of the year. We get together with the ones we love and eat! We cook together, make new and old recipes together, visit, play games, and just enjoy each other's company. Outside the changing leaves are beautiful and we get to break out the cozy clothing! We dwell on the good; the things we are most grateful for. It is a time of reflection and gaining perspective. Life is good! There is so much to be grateful for! Have I convinced you yet? Well, if not, maybe the picture of the pies will sway you! Hope you had as good of a time as we did! Happy Holidays!

Uncle Dave was so good with baby Izzy. She loves him!


This is Katie, Jessie, Grace, and Jill making apple pies the night before Thanksgiving. So fun!





All dressed up and ready for the day!


Adorable! Need I say more?


She really wanted to eat with us!


Grace loves the Wii. This is her special bowling technique. She call it "jump spin." Somehow she always wins!


Aunt Stacy and my cousin Tyler


Uncle Dave with Katie and Jessie


What all of us wished we were doing...Marc and Izzy; so cozy!



Love those cousins!


More cousin love!


Grace with her bowling competitor Luke Champion; (he's practically a cousin too.)


Mmmmm....PIE!


Awww...so sweet! You'd never guess they were actually making some tooting noises with the phone! Go figure!

Fall Fun!

Lately we have been really busy having fun! It seems a good chunk of our family traditions take place in October. This is my favorite time of the year! I love the changing colors and cozy nights. I love decorating my house for Halloween too! There are so many fun things we do together this time of the year. Here are some of our favorite fall activities.
Around the first week of October we take a drive up the canyon to look at the beautiful leaves. We let the kids bring a bag and fill it with leaves to use for art projects when we get home. They love looking for the perfect leaves and all the colors. We also pick a leaf bouquet to display at home that stays up ‘til Christmas.



There is a fun little pumpkin patch down the street from my parents where we get our pumpkins. The girls had a lot of fun picking out their pumpkins and a “wittew wun fo Izzy” –Jill. They also had fun posing for pictures (as you can see!)









We have some pretty nifty pumpkin decorations for the girls so they don't have to carve them. They really don't like to scoop them out; and honestly, I don't like it much myself! So these little 'Mr. Potato Head' accessories work great for us! They look fun too!





Another fun thing we do is go to Witches Night Out at Gardner Village. Marc’s family (girls only!) dresses up and goes to a fun festival at a really cool outdoor shopping place. I made the girls witch costumes this year and we brought along our little friend Sadie (who looks like she belongs to me;) ) They had a great time dancing and dressing up with their cousins, aunties and friends.



This year we also attended the Scarecrow Festival with some friends. It was so much fun! I was a little hesitant because I thought that it would just be way too crowded but it was really great! There were so many toys and so much space that it was really fun! Grace had fun on the blow up slides and rock climbing wall and Jill really liked the cotton candy and shooting off rockets!





Isn't she the cutest?





Jill really didn't want to do anything at the festival. We couldn't get her on any of the blow up toys. She kept saying "Go backwards Daddy!" Finally Marc started back to the car when they came to the rocket launch. THEN she wanted to stay. She had seen it on the way in and was trying to get back the whole time. She must have shot her orange rocket off a dozen times...it would have been more if the side of it hadn't blown out.

Road Trips and Family

In September we did quite a bit of traveling. We had weddings to go to and really wanted to get away before the snow came and trapped us here for next few months. We first took a trip down to visit Marc's family in Mesquite, Nevada. The drive was about 6 hours for us; we have to stop often now with the three girlies. We stayed with Marc's cousin Paige and her husband Casey. Our kids have so much fun together and so do we! Casey and Paige started dating around the same time Marc and I did so we all go way back. It's so fun to have our little families grow up together! Here are some cute pics of the kids hanging out watching cartoons in the morning. Awww...cousin love!







After such a successful trip to Mesquite we felt more ready to take our next trip...OREGON!! A 13 hour drive one way! Dun dun dun!!! My cousin Bryce got married to the wonderful Carolyn and we got to go! The wedding was beautiful and we had a great time staying with my Grandma Brown who I love dearly. I kept forgetting my camera everywhere but I did get some great pictures of my girls; Grace, Jill, Izzy, and Grandma! I think Dad snuck in one too! Though the drive home was not nearly as lovely as it could have been (2 days of driving + 3 kids + car sick + speeding ticket = misery!) I am glad we went. Although I don't think we will be traveling anywhere for a while...


These lambs were given to my Grandparents by some dear friends on their mission in Australia and Grandma passed them on to the girls. We will take good care of them!


Kisses for Grandma!


Look at all those Brown girls!


Four generations in this picture...I love my family!

Is it still camping if it's in a cabin?

My wonderful Uncle Kyle was so kind to let us use his cabin in the beautiful mountains up Ogden canyon. Our good friends the Shaws joined us. Our kids are the same ages and we all get along great (It's always fun to find parents AND kids that you get along with!)


Grace and Ty were up early and ready for breakfast...to their parents dismay!


Jordo was looking rather mischeivious with his cup of rocks!


Then Jill looking surprisingly innocent; don't be fooled!


This is the fun little pond we fished and played at all day!


Ty rescued Grace a couple times. We need to practice climbing up hills I guess. Most of our dating before Marc and I were married including rock-climbing. I guess that isn't something that is passed along...


After lunch we made paperbag puppets...but the kids were more interested in decorating their own faces.


Ready to go!!


Or not?! Grace warmed up to it later...when she was on dry land.


Well, at least the ducks liked the water. Thanks again for going with us Shaws and thanks so much Uncle Kyle! It was beautiful and we had a great time!

BBQ and Baby Blessing

Grace's Birthday 2009