{12.6.2021-12.12.2021}

Eli has been quite the helper this week! He loved climbing up the ladder to help Dad with the Christmas lights. // He also loves to help me make bread. 

He is obviously very clean when he helps me! Haha! I love his little foot prints all over the counter! His favorite thing when I make hamburger buns is to put the balls onto the cookie sheet and smash them down. 

He loved helping me paint the closet! I love having the closet painted! It looks so much better! I am loving these changes we are making in our house! 

I found the boys asleep together in Axel's bed. I love it when the sneak into each other's beds for some reason. // My little monkey boy! 

This is about as good as it got when I was trying to get a picture of the kids in front of our Christmas tree! Crazy kids! // We went to the kids' favorite restaurant tonight and were surprised to find that Santa and Mrs. Clause were there! 

Eli refused to get a picture with them, but that's okay! I learned when my girls were little that there is no point in forcing them to take a picture with Santa! 

{11.29.2021-12.5.2021}

Matthew got his bear skull back this week! It's so big!!

We went to our town light parade with Aunt Patty and Kass and the boys! I usually don't enjoy going to things like this, because...you know...people. But it was so fun! I'm glad we went! 

I promise Eli is in this picutre...he's behind Alya's antlers (which were given out at the parade...how cute is that?!) 

And then after we saw Santa and Mrs. Clause and drank hot cocoa we got to watch the fireworks! There were a ton of people there, but we still had a great time! // At the Sorenson family Christmas party this year we played a game of Kahoot! and if I remember right...Jessica and Miss Lyla were the winners! 

Alya was given this puzzle for Christmas last year, and she finally got around to getting it done! I love that my kids love puzzles, and this was a pretty cute one!

{11.22.2021-11.28.2021}

 

Happy Thanksgiving! The last few years it has become a tradition for us to go bowling the day after Thanksgiving with Matthew's family. 

I love this picture of Lyla and Grandpa! My kids are lucky to have so many people who love them so much! 

I don't think I have ever been this flexible! // I found a few selfies on my phone from Alya! 

Beautiful views up Fairview canyon. // He looks so peaceful! 

I needed a little alone time this week so Matthew kicked me out the door and stayed home with the kids so that I could go on a drive. I drove up Fairview Canyon and was just blown away by the sunset. 

It was absolutely beautiful!

{11.15.2021-11.21.2021}

Oh my goodness, he is such a character! // This was a fun burn for me! My mom asked me to burn on these spoons as a Christmas gift for their relief society! 

 

{11.8.2021-11.14.2021}

Happy Veteran's Day to all of our veterans! It seems like every year I get a little more grateful for our veterans. // Eli is pretty proud of his new undies! I am pretty proud of him too, and I am so glad we are officially out of diapers!! 

Axel has some pretty awesome artwork! // "Axel the Explorer." He is so creative!!

My sleepy little guy! // And my monkey boy!

Learning new tricks! Haha!

 

{11.1.2021-11.7.2021}

Axel made himself lizard feet. 

I love Eli's little hands and his drawings! I love watching how they develop! // My kids are fascinated with Matthew processes the meat from the hunts.

I love when they want to help me with a puzzle! Their attention doesn't last too long, but I love their help as long as they are willing to!

{10.25.2021-10.31.2021}

My little superhero! // My dad had a successful cow hunt up at the ranch with Matthew. It was fun to spend the evening with him...even though it was pretty stinking cold and my dad's knees were shot after coming off the mountain! 

We got the girls' school pictures back this week! They are beautiful!

We visited our local pumpkin patch this week. They just keep adding to the activities every year, and we are never disappointed! // I love when the girls get a little adventurous! 

The duck races were one of the new additions this year! None of the kids wanted to race Eli, so he had plenty of fun on his own! // We made it through the corn maze! 

I love that action shot of the kids climbing the hay tower! 

For some reason I don't have a good picture of Alya on the zip line, and I was holding Eli on it the whole time he was going down it, but here are Lyla and Axel. // Look how small Axel looks! 

Obviously we had to have a buried in the corn picture. (Lyla)//(Axel)

(Alya)//(Eli)

We love the wagon ride the most! 

This year Eli might not have appreciated it quite as much...he spent most of the train ride hiding from the scary things.

It's such a cute little pumpkin patch! I am so glad that we have it so close!

I love the eyelashes that Lyla gave her jack-o-lantern!

Axel had his Halloween parade at preschool this week! He made a pretty good little zombie.

The girls had their parade/party at school this week too. Eli and I got to go help with the party. I think the spider cookies were a big hit!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I love this family of mine and I am so grateful for Matthew. I am so glad I get to do this life with him!

I love this child and his crazy personality!

Disneyland {10.17.2021-10.22.2021}

Jeni and Crystal have been telling the girls for a couple of years now that when they turn 8 they can go to Disneyland. Crystal would remind Lyla every time she was feeling impatient that she had to be patient in order to wait in the lines at Disneyland. We sure wish Crystal had been with us in Disneyland, but Jeni kept her promise and took a couple of cute little 8 year olds to Disneyland, and I am so grateful that I was able to go with them! We rode as many rides as we possibly could have, we ate giant pickles (Crystal's favorite), we wore purple, we saw some Disney and Pixar characters, and we even spent some time at the beach and saw some dolphins! 

Our first day there! The girls were so excited! Our first ride was "Soarin.'" Possibly one of my favorites, I think. Alya hated it. She was terrified, because it really did feel like we were just kind of hanging in mid air...but we rode it three times so I think it's safe to say she overcame her fear. But she refused to go on the Incredicoaster...which Lyla loved! If you ask either of the girls now, though, they would tell you that Soarin' was their favorite ride. (Alya also said she loved the "It's a Small World" ride). 

We saw lots of characters; Minnie, Mickey, Chip and Dale, Goofy, Donald, Daisy, Woody and Jessie, Lightening McQueen, Mater, Ant Man, the boy from Coco, Elsa, the Headless Horseman, etc. They had a little booth set up by the boy from Coco and we got to write a little note of remembrance and hang it around their booth. It was a pretty sweet little moment, and I think we were all thinking about Crystal while we were writing our notes. 

Alya was very afraid of pretty much all the roller coasters/ rides that took you off the ground. She was very brave though and took lots of deep breaths and still rode them despite how afraid she was. Lyla is a little thrill seeker and loved all of the rides. 

Lots of tears were shed by Alya, but I'm glad she ended up smiling after each one. (It might have taken both the girls a little while to smile after Splash mountain and the Matterhorn! Haha!!) 

Grizzly Gulch was another favorite. You wouldn't know it by this picture because they were very nervous the first time we went, but this is one ride we did over and over again. 

The girls got to ride some of the rides all by themselves! 

We loved the animation studio! The girls are definitely little artists! 

I think Jeni and I heard the girls talk the most about the palm trees! They were so excited to see a palm tree and wanted us to make sure they could get their pictures taken next to a palm tree! So cute! 

We got to spend some time on the beach! It was a little chilly but that didn't stop the girls from playing in the water! They had so much fun! 

Unfortunately, Lyla didn't feel super great for most of our trip. (Thank goodness for Tylenol and Coke!) But she was such a trooper! You can kind of see it in her eyes in this picture that she wasn't feeling great. Poor girl!

They found this giant pile of kelp and tried to move it up onto the beach. They kept yelling "Kelp!" to try and get me and Jeni to help them! Haha! They are clever! 

We had so much fun! I really am so glad that I was able to go on this trip with them, and I am grateful to Jeni for arranging the while thing!