{11.20.17 - 11.26.17}

We got a little bit of snow and the girls were dying to go out and play, and of course, Axel didn't complain at all about that! I was shocked that he kept his hat and mittens on the whole time! // The snow you see in this picture in really about all we had in our yard. The girls insisted on wearing their new coats that my sister gave them, even though I'm not sure they needed them. They went out and the first thing they did was practice making snow balls.  

Who's who? I think the girls are starting to look more and more alike everyday. Alya was having an emotional day one day and I asked her to come in and talk to me. I could hear the two of them in the other room whispering, and the next thing I know, Lyla comes in to me and says, "I'm Alya." And I thought, "I'm in trouble!" Haha!  

Lyla, my hoarder, holding onto her snowball as long as she can. 

Axel's little cheeser is probably my favorite thing about this picture!  

The girls brought their snowball up on the porch to see how long it took for it to melt...they couldn't wait that long and ended up smashing it themselves.  

I love my handsome little lion! 

Mo is the most patient dog I've ever known! I'm sure it's not comfortable for him to have Axel rocking him back and forth on the cement...especially since he can't be feeling all that great anyway. But he just lays there and takes the abuse! I'm so glad Axel loves him the way that he does, and I can tell that Mo has a special place in his heart for Axel as well.  

Over Thanksgiving we made decorated gingerbread houses with Matthew's family. Lyla's favorite person is Crystal, so of course she had to be on Crystal's team...which is good because I think Crystal is the only person who can reign Lyla in on all her crazy ideas. Sarah made a special peppermint flower for Lyla to put on their house and Lyla insisted that be the side of the house we got a picture of! 

Grandma and Papa with their gingerbread house // Alya was obviously on Jeni's (and Jessica's) team! 

After his nap, Axel was pretty good to just play with toys or anyone who was available to play with him while Matthew and I finished up our house! 

A baby's version of cookies and milk...? Even if all he ate during the Thanksgiving holiday was pumpkin cookies, at least he had something right!?

Lyla has been really into doing tricks lately. She asked me to take her picture doing this one. Don't worry, I had to take many pictures of her doing "different" (it was hard for me to see the difference) poses. Silly girl! But I love that she is so impressed with herself! Haha!

{11.13.17 - 11.19.17}

Axel was so proud of himself when he figured out that he could use the chairs to climb up onto the table. 

Matthew and I took a trip down to the Henry's for a day to look at bucks. It was really nice to get away, just the two of us for a day - even though there were SO many people down there!  

We sat and watched some young bucks practice their sparing skills. I've never actually seen a bucks fighting, so even though this was just practice for these two young'uns, it was still fun for me to watch! 

I love when Axel blesses us with his musical abilities! He likes to make the rounds in this room from the piano to the guitars, or vise versa. He's pretty great!

We learned the gender of the new baby this week! The girls were a little disappointed, but I think they are coming around to the idea of another little brother!

{11.6.17 - 11.12.17}

We must not have had a real exciting week this week as these are the only pictures I have. The reason for taking this picture was because my baby was eating a banana like a big kid for the first time, and he absolutely loved it! Upon further inspection, the other great thing about the first picture is his (or rather, his sisters) shoes. This kid is such a riot!!

Axel has also started trying to help me with all my chores. He wants to be wherever I am and doing whatever I'm doing. I think his favorite thing is to "help" me vacuum. Instead of trying to hold onto the vacuum like his sisters did, though, he has found other items in our home that will work as a vacuum for him. We have a push-popper toy that he normally uses, but he couldn't find that this week, so he used one of the girls' strollers instead. He was very careful to go back and forth like I do and to make sure he got into all the corners and as far under beds/couches as he could get!

{10.30.17 - 11.5.17}

How sad is it that these are the only two pictures I took of us carving pumpkins?! I don't even have a picture of our finished pumpkins! These pictures aren't awesome, but I love the amount of jewelry that Alya is wearing! They did not enjoy pulling the seeds out and they weren't all that thrilled when we wouldn't let them carve their own pumpkins. Haha! 

My little photographers enjoy taking pictures of anything at their eye level. 

Happy Halloween 2017. This year we had a princess, her unicorn and our little Charlie Brown! The kids got to go trick or treating with Dad this year while Mom stayed home and took a much needed break! I guess the girls walked around saying hello to almost everyone and complimenting people on their favorite costumes! 

Lyla loves her crown and the skirt that I made for her. Unfortunately I think this skirt is only going to fit her-not to mention hold up-for Halloween. I have a lot of room for improvement when it comes to my sewing projects!  

He was the cutest Charlie Brown in my opinion!  

Alya was planning to go as a cat for Halloween this year, but as soon as she found this unicorn get-up, she was in love!  

Axel and Mo are best friends. Sometimes I think it's a little one sided (haha!) but I know that Mo loves Axel. I don't think he's ever cuddled with the girls like he lets Axel cuddle with him. It's pretty fun to watch! 

And here's a video of my cute baby and his Dad! 

{10.23.17 - 10.29.17}

Axel's addiction to shoes is so funny! It really doesn't matter who's shoes or what color they are, if they go on your feet he wants them on. // It makes me happy that he is so happy!

Pretty Mo. As I mentioned in my last post, we got some bad new about Mo. You can see just how swollen his neck is in this picture. I hope the medicine he is taking will help us buy him some time. 

Ephraim city had their first annual Pumpkin Walk this week so I took the girls over. It was short but lots of fun! 

They loved holding the bunnies. Lyla wanted to hold the white bunny so bad but he was just so nervous around all the kids, he kept scratching her every time she tried to hold him. She was pretty disappointed but was glad that the little brown bunny let her hold him! 

Our first picture of the new baby. We had a little scare this week so I had to go in for an ultrasound earlier than usual, but all is fine and I'm so glad we got a few pictures of this little thing! // Lyla is so excited about her princess skirt I'm making her for Halloween!  

Nana bought the girls some new Christmas dresses and they loved trying them on! Lyla on the left, Alya on the right.  

You can't tell how glittery they are, but the church chairs are covered in glitter when they wear these dresses to church! // When four year olds dress themselves. I love that Lyla is wearing a headband as a necklace and that Alya didn't want to take her helmet (or helment, as they call them) off for this picture.

{10.16.17 - 10.22.17}

I do like the fall, and I think my backyard is extra beautiful when all the leaves change color and blanket the ground. It's even more fun to enjoy these colors when my kids are all mixed up in them! 

These pictures of Lyla include just a few of the things that she loves right now. *Necklaces. I love that she completed her outfit with this string of pearls today. *Bow hair. She hates to get her hair done, but she loves to have it all fancy. She wants it crimpy, or curly or done up in or with a bow. *Her horse. The girls are almost constantly galloping everywhere. Up and down the halls, in the isles of the grocery store, through the parking lot (as far as I will let them) and on their stick horses in the backyard! 

When we're out in the leaves, there has to be at least one leaf angel made! 

I'm getting closer to being done with the girls' quilts! I finally have the border on! I can't wait to get them back from the quilter!! 

Axel has decided he doesn't want to be in a high chair. He wants to be at the table with the rest of us. I hope Alya will continue to enjoy sitting next to him as much as she enjoyed it for the first time today! Also, notice her scriptures sitting next to her plate. She takes them everywhere with her these days. She likes to sleep with them because they bring her comfort, so I guess she has decided that if they can do that for her while she's asleep, maybe they will do that for her throughout the day, too...? I hope she will continue to develop a love for the Book of Mormon and the word written within. 

{10.9.17 - 10.15.17}

Making leaf angels! If there are leaves or snow, you can bet that Lyla will want to make an angel out of it!  

Alya - even staring at this picture, knowing that Alya has that little scar under her left eye, I thought this was Lyla for a second. (I think the pink jacket threw me!) 

Matthew is hunting in Idaho this week, so I made plans for almost every day if it was possible! The first thing on our agenda was a hike. We got together with a couple of my friends and their kids and tried a new hike in Maple Canyon. We didn't get to the end of the hike, but we all had fun! Lyla really wanted her picture taken by that "tree" // Alya is such a people person! She had never met any of the kids that we hiked with today, but she made friends with all of them! It's a talent I wish I possessed!  

Hi Axel!! // These are all the big kids that could hike on their own. They all did so good! It was a lot of fun!  

The mamas and the babies! Axel surprised me by letting me carry him a lot of the way, but eventually he just wanted to hike on his own! 

The kids were pretty proud of themselves for getting *almost* all of them up on this rock by themselves at the same time.  

Next on our agenda was a trip up north. We dropped Axel off at Tia's house and the girls and I had some girl time. We went and saw the new "My Little Pony" movie and they both loved it...but, no surprise, Alya thought it was a little scary.  

As we were getting ready to leave Salt Lake to head home, I got a call from Matthew. He had shot his deer and wondered if we wanted to just continue up to Idaho to meet him at his mom and dad's house. So, on our way through Logan we stopped and did some shopping. The kids had fun trying on hats and things at Cal Ranch and we got some pieces of the girls' Halloween costumes! 

Matthew with his first white tail. 

{10.2.17 - 10.8.17}

I looked out the window and what did I see? My guys playing together in the front yard! Such a great view! One of my favorite things about this picture is the fact that Axel is wearing his shoe of choice these days...his sister's purple rain boots! Haha! 

How cute!?!?

I love these two and I love watching them together! 

This boy loves this dog! Mo was recently diagnosed with lymphoma and we are heartbroken about it. He was put on some medication that will buy him some time and we are just hoping for the best. For now, we will just keep loving on him as much as we can, but I don't know that any of us will love on him quite like Axel will! He sure loves Mo! 

These girls love to help out in the garden! They helped Dad plant "rainbow carrots" this year and Lyla frequently asked all season if we could go pick them. She was pretty excited about it today!