Kysa's Christmas Dress

Not the best quality picture as I took it with my cell, but I love it.

Snowfall, Crazy Eyes at the Festival of Trees

I took the kids to the Festival of Trees Friday night as Ty was at Skyline
late distributing uniforms to all the teams. It was really crowded and it
took a lot of help from Raleigh to keep track of both of the girls. We
won't be doing that again for a few years! The Rupert festival is much more
our pace. It snowed a lot today during stake conference. President Russell
M. Nelson was our visiting G.A. It was neat to hear from him, although I
didn't hear all of it. I went last night to the adult meeting and then came
late with Kysa and Shay today. Raleigh and Ty went on time. Couldn't hear
well in the nursery room. The girls are full of it, still.

Cookie Monster & The Lion

Magic Hats!

Raleigh wanted the tree up yesterday, so I told him I'd put it up if he'd
clean up the house, which he did. Ended up going a little nuts with the
patriotic theme as I found a container full of good 4th of July stuff in the
garage. Kelsy would be proud.

Today the girls found two 4th of July hats in the same container, which Kysa
said are "magic hats". After donning her hat, she promptly requested a
magic wand, which I conveniently had two of in the basement thanks to a
recommendation from Grandma Ro that I withhold them from b-day presents last
year.

A few minutes ago as I was uploading pictures to our blog, Kysa came in the
room and very despondently reported, "Mom, my magic wand don't work....I
need to practice."

On another "magic" note, last night I was quizzing Kysa on the location of a
bracelet I had made for her. She said, "Mom, it's gone. It got magic-ed."
Apparently magic-ed means it disappeared. :)

Happy Birthday to Dad!

33--Yikes!

Campaigning for Barbara Ehardt

The highlight of helping Barbara Ehardt with her city council campaign was riding the "Barb mobile" (my decked-out bike trailer) after school with Raleigh whenever possible, going door-to-door with Raleigh, and riding segways around town with Kasie Shippen and Rebecca Nead.  The hours I spent building her web site, designing newspaper ads, making a YouTube video, and defending issues on local discussion boards, etc were worth it, but not nearly as enjoyable as hitting the streets with my friends and my son. 

More Leaves

Fall Fun

Playing in the leaves at Amy's house across the street.

Quality Time with Raleigh

After looking through Raleigh's scrapbook tonight (which Raleigh requested out of the blue), I said jokingly, "See Ral, I really do love you."

He smiled and said, "Yeah, one of the good things about you is that I like computers, and you are a good fixer. That's one of the really good things." ☺

Now the kids are watching a family highlight video from 2006. Shay is really into it. I love my kids.

Reading to Sisters / The End of Soccer Season

Raleigh’s last soccer game was cancelled because half of the other team had the swine flu.  Our last chance for a victory…let’s just say we don’t have to worry about the kids getting overconfident in their soccer abilities. The other picture--Raleigh has been great lately about reading to his sisters at bedtime.

A True Witness of Jesus Christ: Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland just gave an amazing testimony of the Book of Mormon in General Conference. I am looking forward to being able to post it. For now, I'll post these powerful testimonies:

Grandma Ro's New Swing

Cupcake Decorating

Chocolate zucchini cupcakes were a hit, decorated with frosting, M&M's,
colored marshmallows, and juju fish.

Our favorite park

We love going to the park by the Art Museum. Great playground, squirrels
(which the girls like to chase), the river, and a beautiful water feature.
Plus it's close enough to Skyline that Ty can meet us for lunch.

Raleigh Reading to his Sisters

The girls have been enjoying Raleigh's newly acquired reading skills.