Thanksgiving Part 1

Our holidays were spent in Utah this last year.  Fortunately, we were able to fly up for Thanksgiving!  Maylee was thrilled to be on a plane.  She even took Daddy's window seat!  It was both her and Brooklyn's second time on an airplane.  

Seeing Grandma Jones was our first stop once we arrived in Utah.  She is such an amazing woman!  She had a delicious lunch all prepared for us as we visited.

Since we flew up on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and stayed a couple of days after, we had a lot of time to play at Grammie's!  It was the first time the girls got to see the Mapleton house.  We love the Mapleton house!  It has the best location ever!

Even though we were bummed that there wasn't any snow, the girls still found lots of things to keep themselves entertained.  One of those things was throwing apples down the hill for the deer.   

And walking through the orchard...

And playing on the wagon...

And watching the deer eat the apples and rest...

And throwing rocks off the bridge...

And walking down the canyon trail...

We were so lucky that we were able to spend so much time with Jeff's family while being up in Utah!  We had a great time!

Maylee's Dance Recital

Maylee was in her very first dance recital the beginning of December.  She looked so stinkin' cute!  Miss Erin's mom made the beautiful costumes and Maylee's fit her perfectly.  I think our cute little girl was a tad bit nervous before the recital because she kept asking to go to the bathroom, but she did an amazing job up on the stage.  She didn't even look scared!  She was in a 2-3 year old class and was one of the older students.  

(She thought it was fun to get me with the flowers she got for the recital.  What can I say... my girls love to get their picture taken!)

She finally struck a little pose for me!  Seriously so cute!  She worked hard and we are so proud of her.  Way to go Maylee!

enjoying the weather...

Jeff was able to take a couple of days off the beginning of November, so we filled them with some fun activities!  One day we headed over to South mountain and did a little hike.  The weather was perfect and the hike was simple.  It was nice to be outside and getting a little exercise.  

(Time to recharge with a little snack!)

(Brooklyn was sporting her Elmo socks.  They are sweet!  She has a slight obsession. :)

After hiking up a decent hill for a 3 year old, I said, "Maylee doesn't that make you feel good to make it up that big hill?"

Maylee said, "No, it make me feel tired... of walking!"

But then we pumped her up at how well she was doing and she soon took the lead all the way back to the car.  Then we headed to Culvers for some burgers and custard and then to a golf store to get the golf balls Jeff won from calling into the radio- can't beat a day like that!

Jeff spent the other day off building a bookshelf that I am in LOVE with!  He did an amazing job and it is just what I wanted.  We put it up in Brooklyn's room in a corner, so we have a little book nook!  We get all cuddled up in the pillows and blankets and read.  (Can you tell I once was a teacher?!!)  Picture coming soon. 

Halloween

After all the other Halloween festivities, I was amazed the girls still wanted to put their costumes on when the big day arrived!  I was even more shocked that little Brooklyn even kept her wings on! :)  For dinner we had our traditional mummy dogs and apple monster mouths, then we headed out for some trick or treating.

We just went to a few houses on our street, but the girls loved it.  Brooklyn caught on quickly as Maylee took the lead.  Brooklyn however thought you were supposed to eat the candy right when you got it, so she lagged behind a bit as she tried to bust into her bag!

(trying to take a little peek while walking down the street!)

(Going through the loot!  They didn't waste any time to see the goods they scored.)

Happy Halloween!

Halloween day

Halloween is a fun day for more than just the trick-or-treating (and candy!)... it is my mom's birthday!  Our new tradition is taking my mom to lunch at Cafe Rio, so this year we took advantage of being out in Gilbert and went to a little farm.  The girls had a good time walking through the pumpkin patch, seeing the animals and chickens, playing in the jumper, and finding their way through a hay maze.  Maylee liked the hay maze a lot more than I thought they would.

(on the hayride... it was sunny... it got hot)

(this is pretty much what Brooklyn wanted to do the whole time- forget about the animals and bouncer, she was hungry!)

Halloween festivities!

Halloween definitely seemed like more than one day this year.  It started the week before and continued!  We got plenty of use out of their cute costumes.  

Toddler Time at the library was so much fun the week before Halloween.  They had the kids wear their costumes, listen to Halloween books and songs, and then the kids went trick-or-treating to different stations in the library.  They even had a little craft at the end!  Our library does an amazing job with the activities for the kids.

 We also had our ward Halloween party on the Friday night.  The girls had a fun time wearing their costumes and doing the different booths.  

I was shocked Brooklyn kept the wings and tutu on for most of the night.

 Maylee was hilarious.  She did the cupcake walk and won a cupcake and then just sat right back down in the chair to eat it.  And it was a big cupcake.  It took her awhile to eat it.  She seemed confused as to why everyone was still walking around her.  I guess she just wanted a place to sit and enjoy her treat.  Funny thing- they kept calling her number to win a cupcake.  They finally just remembered what number chair she was in and would pick out another one if they called her chair.

 A Halloween play-date at grandma's house!  Halloween BINGO and pumpkin cookies!