I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...

It would be my dream come true if we could have a little white stuff for Christmas this year. It really isn't looking good for us. It just wants to be brown and ugly, but I guess I should appreciate the good roads while we have them.

We did get to enjoy the beauty of fluffy snow when we flew to Utah to welcome my brother, Jed, home off his mission. Just like him, we were not used to the freezing weather since we had just come from nearly 70 degree weather to feet of snow and nose-hair-freezing weather.

Aliyah had never gone sledding or played in such deep snow. I couldn't believe how much she loved it. She didn't want to stop playing in it or eating it.


Aunt Hannah spoiled Aliyah by taking her several times on the sled. Once everyone else quit, Aliyah decided to attempt it by herself. I wish I could go back to being a kid who doesn't care how cold it gets...I have become so wimpy.


Hannah braved taking all the cousins down in one sled. It was quite hilarious to watch!


If only we could enjoy some of this at our own home!


With my luck, we will get some great snow when this baby is born and Aliyah will again miss out. I am getting so anxious to hold our little boy. Three weeks from today and he will be in my arms! I can't wait!!

Monsters and Pumpkins

Okay, so I know I am well behind but I better post Halloween before Christmas is here. These days have been flying by for me and actually I wouldn't mind if they slowed down. I realized that I have less than two months before this baby is here. Where does the time go?

For Halloween festivities we started off with a Family Home Evening of carving pumpkins, caramel apples, and a whole lot of laughing. Aliyah tried feeding me raw pumpkin many times and she was so excited about the finished pumpkins.




We had a church trunk-or-treating along with a chili cook-off. We weren't able to get any great pictures there, but got one of Aliyah before it got crazy.


Since that was about all I got from that night, I made her dress up again to get a shot of her as "Boo" from Monster's Inc. I decided that since I had a nice round tummy I could do a little something around that, and then it turned into a theme. I ended up being Mike Wazowski and even though Aliyah isn't dark-haired, she was still adorable. The only way I convinced her to wear it was telling her it was a monster outfit...she loves monsters (they are nice and always knock on our door according to her).



Even though it all turned out fun and cute, I am so taking it simple next year. That was just too much work for one night.

Terrible or Terrific Two...we will see!

I love fall, not only does it bring slightly cooler weather, changing leaves, and home-baked goodies...it is also when Aliyah was brought into our family. She was such a sweetheart then and just melts our hearts even more now.


One of Aliyah's passions is bugs. She gets so excited even over a fruit fly and anything creepy-crawly is fascinating. I haven't inspected so many bugs in my whole lifetime than I have in the last few months, but I am grateful she loves nature and all the amazing creatures within it.

Because of her passion for bugs, I made a caterpillar cake just for her.


Blowing out her candles!


Enjoying the cake and ice cream.


Opening all her gifts. She was very particular that all the paper come off little by little before she pulled out what was inside.


Most of the party attendees (grandpa and Jason were taking the pictures and video). Thanks family for being with us to celebrate.


Since we celebrated Aliyah's birthday the weekend before, I decided to take her out on a special birthday date to a local restaurant /creative play area. Sadly, we found out they had removed all the little creative areas and replaced it with bouncy houses. Aliyah still enjoyed having a special day including yummy food, riding on a carousel, and a little bouncing around with big balls and other kids.




Opening gifts from the Harrison family. Thanks Grandpa, Grandma, Caleb and Hannah. She loved her jammies and butterfly towel.


Other than a birthday, we have been having fun going on nature walks and collecting all the beautiful colored leaves, making yummy baked goods, spending time with friends and just dancing and singing.

("helping" mommy make cookies, or more like sneaking chocolate chips)

We are so in love with this girl. She brings such joy to our family and we look forward to the many things we get to experience with her. Thanks for always making us smile, Aliyah! We love you!

Labor Day Weekend

Around our area we have the Balloon Classic which is held during Labor Day weekend. We had the perfect view from our windows of all the hot air balloons. Aliyah was obsessed with them and was devastated when they went away.

These balloon ascensions went on for three days straight, and Sunday as we were heading to church the balloons were floating barely five feet over our roof. It's too bad that the batteries in the camera died just the night before so I didn't get any of them close to us.

Saturday night we braved the crazy crowd and went to the Balloon Glo. It was beautiful to see them all lit up in the darkness. I didn't get great pictures of it, but we did get some fun videos that I can't get posted for some reason.


The best part was Aliyah's reaction. She just LOVED it!


And last of all, we recently went in to find out the gender of our little baby. As fun as girly things are such as hairbows and making dresses, we are excited to have a little boy be a part of our family. He is healthy and adorable!

I asked Aliyah the day before I went into my appointment if she thought we would have a girl or boy baby. She confidently told me, "a big monkey!" Oh, she makes us smile!

David and Bridget's Wedding

We were so grateful to be able to make it for my brother's wedding in August. It was a fly in, fly out trip, but we wouldn't have missed it despite our busy lives.

Daddy and Aliyah smelling the flowers while waiting for the bride and groom.


They sure fit each other perfectly and they make an adorable couple. We wish you the best in your future together! Thanks for letting us be a part of your special day.


My five-year old niece took this picture of our little family. She did an alright job!


David and Bridget with all the nephews and nieces.


It is definitely fun having a new sister in the family. I am hoping for a girl's day someday soon with all the sisters so I can get to know her as well as the rest of the family does. We love you Bridget!

Sweet and Sassy!

I have recently learned that children don't give you too much trouble until it is too late and you have already found out you are having another one. Yep, that's right...Aliyah is trouble and also going to be a big sister. We are due in January and are very excited! Things have gone well with this pregnancy and we are very grateful for that.

Aliyah has becoming quite the sassy little toddler. We can't help but smile sometimes when she gets into trouble because she gives us this innocent look that makes us forget how upset we were. She has a great talent of being overly cute!

(how can you get upset with this face even when she took one bite from many breadsticks?)

No matter the struggles with a tantrum throwing toddler, I am so grateful for her and our growing baby. I couldn't think of a better job in life than raising children and watching them learn. Aliyah has become quite the talker lately and loves praying on her own. Granted it is a short and repetitive prayer, but it cute nonetheless. She is constantly reminding us to pray when she is ready for bed. One day she got her teeth brushed and pj's on and said, "Pray?" and folding her arms began her sweet prayer. I am grateful for her good example for our family. Aliyah is a great blessing to us and we can't wait for this new blessing to arrive.

Aliyah can also "read" some of our books all the way through, sings many words from familiar songs (loves leading the music as well), and always surprises us with a new word.

I just love being a mom!

Missing Hannah!

We had my sister, Hannah, here with us for three weeks. We packed those three weeks going swimming, to the zoo, the county fair, hiking around waterfalls, playing at a splashpark, sewing a few projects, mini golfing, shopping and going to the movies. We had a great time while she was here and I was so grateful for her occupying Aliyah while I got a few things done.

Of course, I didn't take my camera with us everywhere, but I did get a few pictures in there.

Taking a nice hike to the waterfalls!




Waiting for the petting zoo to open at the county fair. That is really all we went for anyway and Aliyah loved it. Although, she didn't like the goats trying to eat her pants.




Aliyah now loves llamas. Let's hope she doesn't ask for a pet llama when she grows up!


Practicing her golfing swing.


We had Nicole (she is basically part of our family) come hang out with us for miniature golfing and lunch. She and Hannah got along really well, and I think Hannah enjoyed playing with someone her age that didn't always have to take a nap each day.


Hanging around the elephants at the zoo.


Honestly, I can't remember what type of animal this is, but Aliyah was taken with it. It kept reaching out to get some grapes from an animal trainer and Aliyah thought it wanted to be held because she yelled out, "Hold you?" So cute!


Getting together with her kind. I am sure she would be in heaven living with the monkeys. This gorilla wasn't too sure of her though.


Isn't he adorable? Just the sweetest little creature of the zoo, I'd say.


We sure miss having Hannah with us. The few days following Hannah leaving, Aliyah kept asking for her and wondering where she went. Thanks for putting up with us Hannah, and if anyone else needs an adventure they are welcome to come visit us!

And Here We Have Idaho...

We were able to have a family vacation up to Idaho for a Winkel family reunion. It was fun to be able to go back to the place of our early days when we were dating and first married. The day we drove to Idaho was our 6th anniversary and so we celebrated by visiting our old apartments, the spot where Jason proposed to me, and stopped by to get some beloved bambinos (the delicious pizzas from where Jason worked when we met and while we were first married).

I never really brought the camera out except for the Sunday we were there and went to the beautiful Cave Falls. We used to visit this place while going to school, but it had been around 5 years since we last went. The only thing that changed was the cave being buried, which I guess makes it just the Falls. So much for the whole cave part of it. It was still just as beautiful as I remember it.


It was fun experiencing these places with our little family instead of just the two of us.

Grammy, Aliyah (not looking so thrilled) and Jason

Aliyah was happy once she was able to throw rocks in the water just like everyone else.


Aliyah loved following the little girl cousins around at the reunion. She was their little shadow most of the time. It was adorable. You can tell they didn't mind having a "live baby" to play with.


With it being around a holiday the Rexburg temple was closed around the time of the reunion. We were hoping to stop by for a session since it would be a while until we could visit again. Jason secretly took off an extra day so we could go after the reunion. It was just beautiful and I was grateful for his sacrifice and the opportunity to go.


My sister and her family were gone on vacation and we didn't get to see them on the stop in Utah. Thankfully, she allowed us to stay at her home while they were gone. Aliyah made herself right at home and even climbed up herself to change a baby's diaper. I don't know how she did it since I turned my back for a few seconds. I was just grateful everything was still in one piece when we left.


It is always nice to finally come home, but I sure loved being away from responsibilities. Now it is back to life and it sure did not slow down any while we were away.