This is Halloween

This October we definitely made the most of Halloween. We decorated cupcakes and cookies. We made mummies with twinkles. Painted Hallowing signs. Painted and craved pumpkins. We also went to a pumpkin patch every weekend. And of course trick or treating, and scary movies.

 Mika's TrailBlazers Pumpkin

 Watching the pumpkin drop

One of my favorite things about Halloween is having a theme for our costumes and making the family all coordinate. This year we did a circus theme. And I am really, really, really happy with and so proud of how they turned out.

I made almost everything for the girl's costumes. Ellie's leotard and leggings were both purchased. And everything else I made! We had some issues with Millie's costume. I wanted to make it big, so the girls can use it for a dress up for years to come. Only I went way over board with it, so much so that it was originally too big even for Ellie and I could even fit into it! I took it in, so that it can be taken back out and be enjoyed for many years.

Mine and Mika's costumes were much simpler than the girls. I found my red blazer at DI and then just went a little crazy with the glitter and fabric glue. (It shed sooo much glitter.) I also found Mika's vest at DI. Then I made his popcorn hat and tray with a Krispy Kreme hat and box.

I really love how it all turned out! I am going to be sad when my girls get big enough that they don't want to do a family theme anymore.

Fall Fun

Saturday evening we met up with some friends, Chris and Molly and their little girls, at Hee Haw Farms. It was already getting dark when we got there, so most the pictures I got, aren't the best. We all had a lot of fun, and it definitely wore out all the little girls. 

 Waiting for the hay/tractor ride

 In the corn maze

 Feeding the goats

Afterwards, everyone came back to our house. We put all the little girls down for bed, and then stayed up way too late watching scary movies. It was a fun night.

Amelia's birthday celebration

On the Sunday after Amelia's birthday, we had a party with our family & friends to celebrate. Since our house is too tiny to fit everyone in, my parents were kind enough to let us have the party at their place.

 

4th of July

We started off our 4th of July by getting up extra early and hiking the Y. We wanted to get up there early so we could have an awesome view of the hot air balloons. Both the girls hiked really well. Ellie hiked the whole time and Millie walked as much as we would let her. (She was too slow to not have in the baby backpack.)

After the hot air balloons, we went home and took naps.

Then we headed to my Uncle Eric's house for a pool party & BBQ.

Wagon Train

After that we head to my Uncle Alan's house for dessert, games, and fireworks. They live pretty close to the Stadium, so we have a great view of the fireworks. 

 Amanda and Ellie had more fun playing with the glow sticks than watching the fireworks.

My Uncle has a waterfall fountain that Millie is always climbing on and playing in.

We ran to the car the second the fireworks were over to beat the traffic. Luckily we made it home without too much delay. Both the girls fell asleep, which is always nice.

Amelia's 2nd Birthday Update!

I can't believe my baby is already TWO!

In some ways it feels like she has been around much longer than two years, but it also seems like she was just born.

Millie defiantly has her own wild personality.

She seriously has no fear. She is always climbing as high as she can get, jumping off of everything, and getting into everything possible. I really can't leave the room without her doing something crazy. I am really am not sure how she hasn't broken a bone or had to get stitches yet. 

She calls Ellie, EE. (Which is what Ellie called herself as a baby)

She calls Mika, Babe Mika or Dad. (I guess I really need to work on calling him Dad too)

Millie will get mad at Ellie and say, "Naughty, Naughty", and shake her little finger at her.

When someone knocks on the door she yells, "Come in!" But it sounds more like, "Um in!"

When she wakes up from her naps, she will yell out for someone to come and get her. She starts out with "Mom, mom", and if I don't go in immediately, she will yell "EE, EE", and she doesn't go in, she starts yelling "Mika, dad". It's pretty funny, she is determined to get someone in there to get her out of the crib.

She is very observant while we are driving and points out everything she sees. If she sees a horse, she yells out "Neigh!" and then will say, "Mom, Neigh" over and over again until I say something like Wow or Oh yeah, a horse? And then she will do this to every person in the car, until she is certain everyone knows what she saw.

Millie is also the queen of dancing. She has the craziest and weirdest dance moves. (I really need to upload a video of them)

Her favorite books are Hand hand finger thumb and You are my Cupcake. Every time I read it afterwards she says, "Again, Again".

 Nine days old

 First Birthday

Two years old!

Fat Man's Misery

Me and Mika spent the weekend (from Thursday to Saturday) down in St. George with a few friends. We originally wanted to hike the Subway, but weren't able to get permits. So instead we decided to do Fat Man's Misery. 

On Thursday me, Mika, and Maddi drove down to St. George. We stopped in Cedar City and saw the movie Neighbors. (the movie wasn't nearly as funny as I thought it would be). So after the movie, we arrived at our hotel super late and just went straight to sleep.

We spent Friday morning swimming in the pool and attempting to Go-Pro ourselves swimming. After that Mika went golfing with our brother-in-law, while me and Maddi went shopping. Then Joanna and Reese made it in to town and we all went out for dinner to a Mexican restaurant. After that we went and played cards in the hotel room.

Saturday was our hiking day. We got up at about four to get ready and get headed to the hike. It was about a hours drive from the hotel.

Fat Man's Misery is a slot canyon with rappels, and a lot of gross water that you have to swim and wade through. There was even a few natural water slides.  

 Maddi, Joanna, and Me

 Reece trying to catch a gross little frog.

 Doing a little rappelling.

So here is the thing, Fat Man's Misery is such an amazing, fun, and pretty hike, but it is SO easy to get lost. The trail isn't marked very well at all. It's hard to find the slot, obviously then easy to follow your way through it, and then extremely hard to find your way back after exiting the slot. Luckily when we were trying to get to the slot on the way in, there was another group that directed us where to go. The guy had done it a few times before, so he also pointed out some major rocks/mountains to look for to find your way in and back out. This hike is supposed to usually take about 8 hours......and it took us 14! We barley found the road before it got dark.

If you have an extra 40 minutes, you can watch this little movie, Fat Man's Misery Canyon, from our trip. I know it's long, but you will see me ridiculously fall multiple times and Joanna swim across a pool while screaming, "Help me!". Trust me, it's totally hilarious.

I wish I would have taken more pictures. It is really such a pretty canyon. I have a few pictures that Maddi took and then sent me from her nice camera, but for some reason, my computer won't let me upload them.