HaLlOwEeN!!!

We had a 3 day celebration for Halloween this year and it was so fun! Makena was Minnie Mouse and was so excited that she got to wear her mouse costume so much. I even painted her little nose black on the end and gave her little whiskers, I think this was her favorite part...gettting makeup on. We started out on Friday with Shane's family. Amy had us all over for a Halloween party. The kids all dressed up and looked so cute. We had all kinds of soup with bread sticks and it was so delicious. The kids played all the fun Halloween games like the "Mummy Wrap" and the "Doughnut eating contest". It was a great party-thanks Amy! Then on Saturday I took Makena Trick or Treating. I wasn't sure what to expect because last year we only made it to about 3 houses and she was done. Also, it was a little cold that night but Makena surpassed all my expectations and absolutely LOVED it! We were out Trick or Treating for over 2 hours and she literally ran the whole time. She was so excited and thought it was the greatest thing ever she could hardly contain herself. She seriously was laughing and bursting with happiness. We went with a few of our neighbors and their kids who Makena loves so she just followed all the kids and kept up with them just great. I kept asking her if she wanted me to carry her but no way was she going for that, she was one of the big kids that night! It was so much fun, I think I loved it as much as her. She looked adorable climbing the steps up to each door and holding her little bag out for candy. When we got home she looked though her bag and set her candy out and was dancing all around. She was wired! It was so cute and funny! Then on Sunday after church we headed down to my mom and dad's for a little Halloween party. We had hamburger soup and lots of great food. My parents surprised us by dressing up...it was so funny and I never would have guessed their costume. My mom was a hunter (not her favorite thing in the world...the first and probably only time she will ever wear the hunter orange. HaHa) and my dad was the buck. They looked really cute and it was a lot of fun. Makena wasn't sure what to think of Grandma and Grandpa in their crazy outfits at first. My mom had a cute Halloween game for Makena to play and we just hung out. It was an exciting and extra fun Halloween this year!!

Bitter Sweet

We hit a pretty big milestone at our house this month...Makena graduated from her crib and moved into a Big Girl Bed! This has been a bitter sweet experience for me. I had a fun time finding the headboard and bedding and it turned out so cute. Also, Makena was very ready to be out of the crib and has done really great in the big bed. But my heart aches just a little whenever I put her in it because it means that my baby is growing up and she is turning into a little girl who is independent and has her own opinions and personality. I don't want my baby to grow up, I have had so much fun with her and still almost everyday I think "I wish I could freeze time right here, she is so fun and perfect right now." But I guess if I stopped time then I would miss out on all the fun times and special moments still to come. I am so glad that she is doing so good in her new bed! But it does still suprise me when she comes walking out in the morning or after a nap, I can't get used to the fact that she doesn't need me to come get her out of her crib. Here are some cute pics of her last morning waking up in her crib and then the first night in the Big Girl Bed.

Fall Time

We have really enjoyed fall at our house this year. We haven't done anything too exciting and its been really busy but we have had a lot of good times. Here are a few pics from the last couple months.

Holding one of our pumpkins from our garden. We did much better than last year when we only got two little tiny crooked things, this year we got 8 nice pumpkins!!

The Poncho. I think it is so cute and LOVE it...Makena wasn't so sure about it, I seriously spent a good portion of the day convincing her it was super cute and that she wanted to wear it. :)

We never got around to carving our pumpkins this year but one day Makena kept asking me to draw but then she would cry everytime I gave her paper. She kept going to the front door and pointing. Finally, I figured out she wanted to draw on a pumpkin. I think she got confused because early in the day I had told her when she colored I would draw her a pumpkin to color...I guess she thought we would really color a real pumpkin, so I helped her draw a face on it and she took this very seriously.


Picking pumpkins out of our garden.


We have been trying to get Makena to ride on the lawn mower with Papa all summer and she usually just runs away and cries, she did not like it at all. Well, lately she has been on a major daddy kick and wants Shane to do EVERYTHING for her and with her. Shane told her he was going to go mow the lawn so she would have to go in with mom, she took one look at me and jumped on that lawn mower...its amazing what a little motivation can do. They had a great time on it and she now loves riding on the mower.


Makena and I went to Park City with Shane's mom and sisters and all the girl cousins for a night. It was a fun get-away and the little girls had a ball! They got twin glasses at the restaurant, so cute!


Emma and Makena in Park City. Makena adores Emma...she says her name at least 20 times a day. Whenever we are going anywhere she asks if we are going to Emma. I am glad that Emma is so sweet and patient with her.


I went on a Girl's Night Out with all my best friends, we stayed in my friends condo in downtown Salt Lake and went out to dinner and talked all night. It was sooo fun, it brought back so many memories from highschool. I have such good friends.


Makena sporting her new backpack Shane got her for our trip to New York that is coming up in just a few weeks! It even matches her cute boots...which also required some convincing for her to wear.


Playing with her two close friends from the neighborhood Laynee and Levi. Makena loves these two and they had a great time dressing up. It was so funny. They are darling friends to her.


Just a cute fall pic of my girl.


We tended my niece Gretchen one day and Makena loved it. She couldn't stop hugging her and bringing her little toys and books to play with. She was thrilled to have her there and thought it was the funnest thing ever. I thought it was pretty fun too.

TWO!!!

My baby girl turned two on Thursday. Its hard to believe that Makena is already two, the time has gone by so fast! Makena is such a fun little girl, she is always so busy going a hundred miles an hour at every moment. She is talking a lot now and continues to be very social and happy. She loves playing with her baby dolls and singing, she can even do the ABC song really well. SHe is definitely becoming a true two year old though, she wants to do everything by herself and she knows what she wants and gets very frustrated if we don't get it immediately. She makes us laugh constantly and we love her so much! We had such a fun birthday with her to celebrate her special day. First, on Tuesday my mom and I took her to Build-A- Bear to pick out a bear. It was so cute and although I think Makena had a fun time I am sure that my mom and I were way more into it than her and had too much fun picking clothes for a little bear. The morning of her birthday she got to open a few presents to play with during the day. My mom gave her a ballet outfit with a tutu and she loved it, she spent the rest of the day in it. She wouldin't even take the ballet shoes off for her nap. I turned on the music and she danced and sang and thought she was the coolest thing ever. We were going to go swimming but it ended up raining all day so Makena and I just played inside and got ready to have Grandma and Grandpa up for dinner. That night my parents came up for dinner and to open presents. Shane and I gave her a kitchen and she loved it, she has already spent many hours playing with it and "making" us and her babies dinner. My parents gave her a little four wheeler, she got the hang of pushing the button pretty quick and thought it was neat how it went on its own without her pushing. It is so cute and she will have lots of fun on it. We had a great night with my parents and it was a fun day. The next night we had a BBQ with Shane's family. It was a ton of fun to have them all over. We roasted hot dogs in the firepit and had lots of other yummy food. Shane pulled out his hockey nets that he made and all the sticks and they had a great game of hockey boys against girls! Makena was spoiled with lots more fun presents. What a fun B-Day she had. We love you!!

Pineview

Okay, I am so behind on posting these pics but it was so much fun I had to share a few of them. In July my brother and his wife came into town from New York where he is going to Dental School. We were sooooo excited to have them here and spend some time with them! Jake and Whitney and my mom and dad came up to my house for a BBQ on Sunday and then on Tuesday we all headed up to stay in a condo at Pineview for the rest of the week. We had such a fun time! We boated a ton, played games, took naps, went swimming at the pool and just relaxed and hung out together. It was great to have the whole family together. Makena had a ton of fun with her aunts and uncles. Here are some pics from that fun week.