Thanksgiving-and a lemon cheesecake!

Look at this lemon cheesecake. Okay, so I am really proud of it. I found a way to make a "safe" meaning dairy free lemon cheesecake by combining two recipes and buying the expensive but so worth it Tofutti cream cheese. This year it was fun to see how far we've come in making good food that the entire family can eat including those with food allergies. We also made some fantastic garlic mashed potatoes and Brian made an apple pie that I know he was proud of too.

Before we ate today we sat down in a circle and talked about the things we are thankful for. I was really surprised and touched by all the nice things that our kids said. We've had a great year and we do have a ton to be grateful for. We had a really fun day and managed to take a family walk/bike ride around the neighborhood at the precise time it started raining. Tomorrow we are off on our mini vacation to Galveston so more pics to follow.

Here are just a couple of pictures of things the kids did lately that made me laugh.

Annelise using all the hairbows she could find to decorate herself and her stuffed friends.
Annelise and Nathan playing starfall on the computer one Sunday. The were just giggling nonstop and having the best time together.

Halloween costumes and a pumpkin

It was really hard to get a good picture of the kids in their costumes. Lily didn't want to wear hers, but was easily distracted by the dogs that came to the party and didn't realize it when I put the costume on her. Nathan requested to be a "construction site worker" this year and Annelise is a combination of her two favorite things: princesses and butterflies-put together you've got the butterfly princess.
Brian did a great job helping Annelise and Nathan carve this pumpkin. Nathan wanted the "nice pumpkin" to have a missing tooth just like him, so if you look closely you might see the pumpkin's "gapy". The kids had fun collecting candy and Nathan really only wanted a sucker when we got home. I think this would be the last piece of candy Brian or I would chose to eat out of all the choices but he was really happy with this sucker.

Happy 3rd Birthday Nathan!

Annelise made Nathan this birthday sign. She said that the brown blob was a trash can because Nathan loves to talk about garbage day and things that can be recycled.
Here is the birthday boy about to blow out the three candles on his breakfast pumpkin muffin.
He enjoyed getting a sleeping bag, a lot of hot wheels cars, and a remote control Toy Story 3 pizza rocket that he can put his new Woody and Buzzlightyear inside of.

On Nate's birthday we carved a big pumpkin, played toys, made homemade chocolate coconut milk ice cream (with candles in it again to blow out) and later went to the ward trunk or treat.

Nathan has grown a ton this year. He loves to talk, which I didn't really expect since Annelise also loves to talk a lot, he is potty trained (yeah!) and he enjoys being my big helper with the laundry. He is also really good at picking out books about trucks at the library. He asks tons of questions and says lots of cute things. Happy Birthday Nate-man!

My quick trip to Utah

I love this picture. Probably because it is such a rare moment since we all live so far apart. Me and my two sisters. Yeah!

And the reason we got to see each other....Aaron's wedding!

Congratulations Aaron and Rachel!

Little Helper

Nathan loves to help me around the house. One of his favorite things to do is put away groceries. He is very proud of how he organizes the food too.

Star Shark

Annelise was star shark a couple of weeks ago and she declared it, "The best week ever!" Mainly because she got to be the line leader all week and talk about herself in front of the class. This is the poster we made together for school. She loved it because it had glitter and butterflies on it.

First Day of Kindergarten

Annelise ready to start her first day of school. She was very excited to use her new butterfly backpack and lunchbox.
After school when I picked up Annelise she summed up school as "great!". When we got home I started asking her all of the zillions of 'Mom' questions I could think of. After awhile I stopped and she said, "Mom, ask me more questions." So I did. Her day sounded really fun.

Best school story of the night:
Tonight at dinner Annelise got off the table and started jogging around the kitchen and says, "Mom, I learned how to jog today".
Mom: "That's great."
Annelise: "Yeah, we learned it in a new class".
Mom: "What class?"
Annelise: "I think it's called JP."
Mom: "You mean PE?"
Annelise in her super excited voice "Yes! That's it! It was called PE! And we learned how to jog!"

So I wrote a quick note about JP on my dinner napkin and she asked what I was doing. She liked my note and told me to write down other things she saw at school today. So here they are.
Things Annelise saw at school today:
jogging kids
small playground (not the big one)
teacher
red table
alphabet rug (sat on the lion)
friends! (new friend named Hannah)
art

Lily is walking

She walks now! Lily has so much more fun now that she can keep up better with her older siblings.

And so we don't forget: Lily with her lovey and favorite two fingers.

Lily learning to walk

Curly Head

Everyone who saw Lily in Utah missed her true hairstyle. This little girl has curls! I had to document this in case they grow out like Annelise's did.

Butterflies and a Birthday

July 20, 2010


Happy 5th birthday Annelise! Butterfly everything and it was perfect.
Best present: "butterfly costume". Why? "So I can be a butterfly rockstar."
What Annelise looks forward to most being 5: "going to kindergarten."
I love your imagination and excitement for life. You are a very fun girl.

Modeling her new leotard, tutu, and butterfly wings all at once.

Visiting the Children's Museum

We were lucky enough to meet up with my old college roommate Becca and her kids for a day at the Children's Museum last month. I decided to spend all day there with the kids since we don't make it often. They had a blast, cried when we left and promptly fell asleep in the van before we even made it out of the parking lot. It was a really fun day!

Outside water play.

Annelise trying to treat her "patient".

Nathan pretending to be a veterinarian.

Riding the Vietnamese scooter.

June in Utah

We lucked out this year and found a way to spend the month of June in Utah with my family. Brian made it to about half of this vacation squeezing some work in in the middle. Which meant we were there to see both Aaron come back from his mission in the DR and Sean leave on his mission to Brazil three days later! The kids had an absolute blast the entire time and we avoided any major illnesses-so it was a success. So here are what feels like a marathon post with a zillion pictures in no particular order...

Little Cottonwood Canyon
One morning we took the kids up to Little Cottonwood Canyon. The trail we planned to take was closed so we just found another trail off the road and went exploring.

We quickly came to a mountain stream.

I showed Nathan and Annelise that you could throw a rock in the stream and they immediately fell in love with the idea. They spent nearly an hour just throwing rocks in the water.

Spray park

Lily thought this wheel at the spray park was the best part. This worked out well since spinning the wheel keeps the water going.

The nice dry Utah air made the kids cold really quickly once they were wet.
Aunt Kaili was a fun participant too.

Just a random fun day

One day we took the kids to the mall and rode the carousel.
Even Lily loved the lights and music.
On the way home for some reason Kaili and I ended up talking about chocolate covered strawberries. Since there were a TON of strawberries in the fridge we decided to make some when we got back. They were a big hit!

Bridal Veil Falls

One morning we went to Bridal Veil Falls in Provo.

Sean showed Annelise what really cold water feels like.
And how to make footprints.

This is the Place Monument

This place was really fun. I think Brian and I came the second summer we were married but didn't actually pay to see the sites. There were lots of activities for the kids and fun places to see. The best part for Nathan was probably that you can ride a train around the sites. So we made sure to do that a few times.
Panning for gold.

Hill Airforce Base Museum
We tried this place last year on vacation, but it didn't go so well since Annelise was having severe breathing problems, so we decided to try again since Nate really loves airplanes (all thing transportation really). It was great but the kids were much more interested in these little toy airplanes than the real ones.We also went to Salt Lake with Brian's family while they visited us for a couple of days. I think the kids thought this fountain was amazing.Welcome Home Aaron!
Hanging out at the airport waiting for Aaron. Kaili made this awesome sign and the grandkids held red balloons. Aaron had a lot of new families members to meet (Katie, Nathan, Lily, and Halle).

Back from the Dominican Republic!

Fun with Sean and then....Tchau (good bye in portuguese?)
Sean made this really awesome jungle fort for the kids one afternoon before he left on his mission. They set up all the tents, blankets, took out every stuffed animal, made admission signs, and played jungle music. He told them to remember he was their favorite uncle. He definitely was this day.

Saying goodbye to Elder Sean Robison.
After Sean left Nathan and Austin wanted to check out the scale used to weigh Sean's suitcases.

Gardener Village
Gpa took us to Gardener Village one day with Kim's family. We had a fun lunch and then headed over to the candy shop to get the kids their free candy sticks that came from the lunch menu. I think the kids all thought that every flavor was their favorite.

After lunch we visited the ponies and the petting zoo. Here's Annelise riding George.

Nathan riding CJ.