Picnic Lunch

Today we had a picnic lunch at the park. I am regretting not going out all day long everyday while it was so nice out this summer. Now whenever we have sunny days we go out because I know soon I will be hibernating with two girls all winter :) Kherington thought it was so fun to be eating outside!

She just can't get enough of swings!

Somewhere between 29-32 weeks pregnant. I am still not convinced that the doctor is right to push my due date back. Call it intuition... or pride :)

Caring For Small Children

I LOVE NOVEMBER!!!! Not only does it mean the holidays are approaching and the season of giving, family and good food, BUT I get to meditate on my life and the blessings that God has given me, more than normal. 

Today I have been thinking a lot about this quote from Sister Hinckley

"It is the mothers of young children I would like to address first. These are golden years for you. These are years when you will probably do the most important work of your lives. Don't wish away years of caring for small children. Life is what happens to you while you are making other plans. This is a time of great opportunity for you to build the kingdom. When you teach children to love their Heavenly Father, you have done one of the greatest things you will ever do. If you can be a full time homemaker, be grateful. If not, you must do what is best for you. I for one have never felt a need to apologize for my role as a full-time homemaker. 

These are busy busy days for you... (Mormon) women are among the hardest working women (people) of the world... But remember my dear young friends, that you are now doing the work that God intended you to do. Be GRATEFUL for the opportunity."

When I think about how much my life has changed in the past two years it AMAZES me!!!! Two years ago I was newly engaged and my days were full of doing things that I WANTED! I worked at MY JOB, I planned MY WEDDING, hung out with MY FIANCE, cleaned up MY MESSES, shopped for MY GROCERIES. etc.

Lately, I have noticed that my mind has wandered to thoughts of  "life will be better when.........I get my body back...,when Kherington can walk..... when Kherington can talk and I can communicate with her better....... when Baby #2 comes.... when I am done having children" 

I am SO GRATEFUL for this quote to bring my thoughts back to reality and be challenged again and again to trust my Heavenly Father's plan instead of my own.

 How great a blessing it is to become a wife and a MOTHER and have the opportunity to forget yourself!! 

October Fun

A few weeks ago Judd happened to get off work early on a beautiful Friday so we headed to the park!

I have a feeling she will like parks more when she can actually walk

Have I talked about the AWESOME yard sales in Belgrade?!? One weekend we saw an ad for a yard sale with baby girl stuff so we went and scored BIG TIME! They were doing "Stuff a bag full of clothes for $3" and we got Christmas toys and a practically new baby gate. All for $15

One day I was folding laundry and K decided to help. I love watching her try to mimic what mommy does. It is such a testimony of the divine callings genders have! ( no im not saying that her divine calling is to fold laundry :) She is such a little mommy already. She grabbed daddy's work shirt and tried to put it over her head. She is growing up too fast!!

Thanks to the City Library we were able to reserve tickets to the Museum of the Rockies. It will be a fun place to go to ask K and Baby #2 grow up. You can walk through all their exhibits for hours and they have a fun "Discover Yellowstone" exhibit for kids!

Halloween!

This year I was SOO excited to pick out a costume for K. It will probably be one of the only Halloweens where I had 100% of the say in what she wears and she loved it! :)

The week before Halloween a lady in our ward planned the CUTEST party! K's favorite part was the box of crayons and coloring pages she got. She went straight for the perfectly NEW sharpened crayons (even before the frosted cookies which was surprising) 

Getting ready for the ward party

Judd as Bob Ross

Trunk O' Treat

Bob Ross, Happy Tree with baby owl and older baby owl!

FALL- my favorite season

Last Saturday we went to Rocky Creek Farm for the Fall Festival. We went on a hay ride, picked out a pumpkin for Kherington at the pumpkin patch and got some fresh apple cider!! YUMMM I just love Fall!!

Kherington is UNO

I didn't have much time to even breath after Vegas before I had to unpack, vacuum the car and get ready for some birthday fun! My little sisters Davi and Dakota drove down on Tuesday to spend a few days with us and celebrate Kherington and Dakota's birthdays!

This girl got the most excited about her cards!! I love it! Easy to please!

I wasn't planning on making a smash cake but Judd told me that was the only thing he requested for the party.. so on Wednesday morning I whipped one up.

Birthday girl!!!

Aunties are the best!! She just didn't like them holding her..... crazy girl

We had one of our couple friends over, they have a daughter just 3 months older than Kherington and made it a party! Pizza, salad, chips, layered jello, and cake... lets just say alot of food was thrown away!

Timid girl kept looking at me to see if it was okay for her to touch the cake!

The plan was to have a UNO themed party... but after the fondant looked so pastel and baby like we switched plans!

The after math

PRESENTS!!

After opening presents real fast we headed over to the local straw maze! It was dark and all the pictures stink but we had a ton of fun!

Nothing like a 28 week pregnant momma in stripes... yikes

Burying Koda in the corn box

We decided we need one of these in our back yard one day! 

Marlee and Kherington! Best Friends!

Bumpy hay ride!

The next day we started Koda's birthday with a big breakfast of french toast and bacon and got all dolled up for a day of shopping

Koda was a great sport in sharing a "used" cake with Kherington!!

11 years old!!! Dakota is by far the most mature, sensible, stylish, fun loving, hilarious, beautiful 11 year old I know! I love her to death and can't believe she will be in Young Womens next year!

Thank you Davi and Koda for all your help making food and celebrating with us!!! 

My sweet little girl! Sometimes when I think about it I am sad for her that she will only be my "little" baby for a year... She still seems brand new to me some days and in just 11 weeks she will be a big sister. Kherington is a little fire ball. She is so sweet and so stubborn at the same time. She is a little copy cat and surprises us at what she learns how to do so quickly after watching us. She folds her arms and says "Ahhmmm" during prayers, she tries to snap her fingers, gives the best hugs and kisses to momma and daddy and her dolls, dances to music, gives high fives, her favorite thing to say is "HI!" and she will say it all day long. She also says "BYE-Bye", "Momma" "Dadda" and "PPPPPUUHH" for please. She climbs over everything and everyone but still isnt walking!

We love you Kherington Elise!