Pre-Baby Fun

So, I thought I'd squeeze in a few outings while I still can. And, it's the perfect time of year to do it because friends and family come to town!

Some of my friends from Albuquerque. I miss these girls SO much and I love seeing them, even if it's only once or twice a year. It's always good times. Btw, this was about 37 1/2 weeks for me.

Amy, my SIL is in town and it was so good to see her and Beau and catch up. Julie, Amy, Beau and I all went to get pedicures today and then out to lunch. I'm exactly 38 weeks here.:)

It's About Love

A great couple I know is looking to adopt. I don't know how it would feel to not be able to have your own children, but these two have shown such great faith and perseverance through this incredible obstacle. I hope and pray that they'll be blessed with a baby someday. Go here to learn more:

It's About Love

December

This month has gone by unusually slow for me as I count down the days until Baby #3 arrives. But, we've made the most of it and tried to pack some fun activities in before I'm "unavailable." We got a Christmas tree, went to see the lights at Thanksgiving Point, made a trip to Discovery Gateway Museum, went to our ward Christmas party, got all of our Christmas shopping done and presents wrapped, and played in our first real snow this morning.

It took Amelia about 5 minutes to find and make friends at our ward Christmas party. We didn't see her the rest of the night.

Oliver waiting for Santa with his best friends, Parker and Ethan.

So excited to tell Santa what he wants for Christmas!

At the Children Museum.

Doing some serious construction work.

Feeling right at home on the horse at the museum.

Loving playing in the first snow of this winter.

Brrrr!

Nesting November

I am in full-blown nesting mode. I cleaned all the kids' drawers out this morning, organized their clothes, cleaned the entire garage (which included all of Christian's window cleaning equipment and was no small task), and vacuumed my car out- all before 11:30 am. I've got a long list of to-do's, but I'm getting there. Anyway, we've had such a great and busy month. First and foremost, Christian got a new job- a great job that he is SO excited about. We went to the Governor's Gala at the Salt Palace in SLC, celebrated Julie's birthday, Christian got shoulder surgery for a couple tears in his labrum, I'm 35 weeks pregnant and counting with a scheduled c-section on Dec. 27th, and we celebrated Thanksgiving with people we love (which I didn't get a single pic of, but was a lot of fun).

My little Loves. Amelia went through a face-scratching phase, as you can see from Oliver's face.

We celebrated my sister, Julie's birthday with some banana cream pie.

Trying to get a Christmas card pic with Grandma and Grandpa Bell.

Just an afternoon tea party in our front yard.

At the Governor's Gala

Daddy a couple days after his surgery.

The other day I was upstairs and it was extraordinarily quiet so I went to check on Amelia. As soon as I rounded the corner, she came running towards me, covered in baking soda, with this "I know I'm in trouble" look on her face and said, "I want to go to time out. I want to go to time out." I didn't deem this time-out worthy, but I definitely explained that she can only "bake" when Momma is there to help her. So funny.

Goodbye Halloween

We spent Halloween in the best trick-or-treating neighborhood in all of Utah. We went up to Ryan and Macy's house (Macy was induced the next morning so major kudos to her for having us all up). We went out with their kids, Rex, Lucy, and Molly. Their neighborhood is so quaint and beautiful and their ward even makes hot dogs for trick-or-treaters as well as donuts and drinks. So, we made a pit stop there in the middle of our night. The kids had so much fun together, running from house to house and they got SO much candy. Which I had to ask Christian to "hide" from me after I made more than a couple meals out of Snickers and Twixes. Ugh- I need to go to sugar rehab.

Amelia, the princess and Oliver, the future Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Making their way through the 'hood with their cousins.

Such cute cousin friends.

We went and picked these apples tonight at one of ward member's house. They had the hugest apple tree and these apples literally taste like candy. I'm in apple heaven- forget about Halloween candy.

Princesses and Race Car Drivers

Amelia thought she wanted to be a princess for Halloween until she saw Oliver in his snazzy race car driver costume. She's been begging for a pink race car driver costume ever since. Anyway, we've been keeping pretty busy this week and here's the proof:

Playing in our neighbors' leaves. Oliver and Parker: best buds.

We made one last trip to Trafalga with our season passes before it gets to cold.

Racing with Daddy.

This is the hardest I have laughed in a long time. Oliver (and every other boat) was pelting Christian. He was soaked. And it was really cold outside.

Oliver and Amelia going out to the trunk or treat at our ward party.

Too sour! But that's not going to stop her from consuming every last nerd.

Hanging out in her princess dress.

Me at 30 weeks.

Pumpkin Patch

Let me tell you- Utah has a plethora of amazing pumpkin patches and I think we picked one of the best to go to last week. We had so much fun at Hee Haw Farms. They had so many fun things to do there the kids did not want to leave.

Off subject: Oliver and Christian made this basketball court out of play-doh and they were both very proud of it. Enjoy.:)

Amelia ran right to this little pony. He was certainly no Lil' Sebastien, but he was a close second. She was such a natural on him and loved it. She wasn't scared for even a second. A lot of that might have been that she was only 2 feet off the ground, but still, I was impressed.

Have I ever mentioned that my mom was a rodeo queen in Idaho? Looks like we have another one in the making!

These "animals" were hooked on to a riding lawnmower and the kids were pulled VERY slowly around the farm. But, Oliver and Amelia loved it. They kept running away from us and jumping in before we could stop them.

The potato sack slide. It was pretty fast and, no, we didn't sign any waivers.

Even Christian was a little scared to go down. But not Amelia.

Feeding the goats. No fear for this little gal.

And this was the highlight for Oliver and Amelia. They loved the corn box. Christian and I had a lot of fun burying them.

The only way we could get them out of the corn box was for the pig chase. The kids were divided in to age groups and put in the pig pen to chase the pigs. Our kids didn't fare too well, but they had SO much fun and I was laughing the whole time. I love how Farmer Joe is totally decked out in farming attire...except for his blue tooth.

Oliver wasn't at all afraid to get his hands dirty with the pigs.

On the hayride to pick out our pumpkins. I don't know if I'd call their pumpkin field really authentic or just primitive. Either way, we got a lot muddy and had to weave through sunflowers and tons of poking vines to get our pumpkins, which were all still attached to the vines. No one told me to bring my axe, so I just gave the pumpkins a good kick to break them loose. (I was on my own at this point because Christian had gone home to record the GOP debate.)

The fruits of our labors! The kids had the time of their lives painting and carving their pumpkins. I love this Halloween tradition. And, guess what? Fresh pumpkins are SOOOO much easier to carve than the ones you pick up at the grocery store!

I know you're all wondering why I let Amelia's hair get this long. Put your mind at rest- she got a hair cut the next day. Her stylist (my sis, Julie) is just super booked:).

Goodbye, Summer

We're sad to say goodbye to summer here in Utah. Especially when we think of the long winter months ahead. But, Fall has been nice so far and we're going to enjoy it while it lasts!

Amelia is really going to miss the sprinklers- she would beg to go out whenever they came on.

A last summer run through the sprinklers with the neighbor kids.

Amelia is so nice to share her bed with her baby, Tami during nap time. She actually doesn't do much without her baby, Tami.

Oliver spent about an hour dreaming up and creating this domino art. He is quite the artist. We still aren't sure where he gets it from.

Cruising in our neighbor's Hummer.

Fun Times

This has been a really packed month with a birthday, family visiting, education week, end-of-summer trips to Seven Peaks, etc. I was able to go to a few days of education week which I'm so grateful for- I loved it. My Mom came to town a couple times which is always fun, and we went swimming a TON because my kids have turned in to little fishes.

Amelia practicing her floating with Daddy.

Amelia's pretty much learned to swim this summer. It's been SO fun to watch her little body squirming around in the water.

Amelia has also been training all summer to be a Mommy. She even sings a song about wanting 6 kids someday.

Oliver speeding along on his scooter that he loves.

We spent a couple days at my parents' cabin up at Sundance for Labor Day. And what a Labor Day it was. I spent 9 hours doing deep cleaning up there for my Mom.

I love Sundance. I think it has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. My kids played and played all day.