October 2012

October was a pretty eventful month. The girls and I made a trip to St. George during Rachael's school break. One of the plays that Tuachan did was Aladdin and Rachael had been going through a serious princess Jasmine phase. I knew she needed to go to this play. I was a little apprehensive about her attention span, but she did great! Grandma bought her some popcorn and she just sat her happy self down to watch. After intermission she said, "We go home now?" Unfortunately it was not time to go home, but the flying carpet right after intermission brought her back around.

Better than Disneyland!

 Just down the road from us they have a pumpkin patch with cheap activities and super expensive pumpkins. The girls loved feeding animals, riding in those quarter machine rides, and jumping in bounce houses. (We didn't get a pumpkin, they really are ridiculously expensive)

 We'll take what we can get...

 Grandma and Grandpa Meyer were also able to come for a quick visit to the pumpkin patch...

...and a trip to the Orange County Great Park with a free carousel and jack-o-lantern balloon ride.

 We also went to DL a few times, and this picture of Whit on the Winnie the Pooh ride is HILARIOUS!

 Dumbo!

 Pluto!

 Then of course Halloween. The girls were clowns and they were ridiculously adorable.

 Rachael's annual Halloween Parade at school. This is her favorite teacher, Miss Yuko.

 Then of course the Halloween party at daddy's work, always a screaming good time.

 Halloween dance class, Whitney had to get in on the fun.

 This particular costume of Rachael's my sister happened to find at a garage sale for super cheap. I later found four costumes for $5 on craigslist, she loves wearing them to class!

 I wanted to particularly mention this little girl in the bumblebee costume. Her name was Erin (easy for me to remember) and she was so shy her dad could barely get her though the door. Rachael was always SO SWEET to her. If Erin was standing on the outside of the circle, Rachael would go and take her hand to try to include her. She would always stand by her and try to get her to do what the teacher was teaching. I love my sweet little girl.

 And trick-or-treating. We love us some free candy!

September 2012

So apparently nothing of too much excitement occurred in August, we'll just skip it. :) September brought a huge change to our lives. Nate's oldest sister, Sarah, and her family came to visit and hit up Disneyland. We went on a fun quick trip to the beach where Rachael almost got washed out to sea (thank goodness daddy was right there!). On the last night of Sarah's stay we met them at DL and upgraded their passes, and we became annual passholders to the happiest place on earth! Woot woot! Its been so much fun to go to DL a few times a month. Unfortunately Nate isn't able to come very often... But its still awesome.

 Rachael also started dance class! She as LOVED it! And I've loved watching her improve over the last few months. This little girl just tugs at my heart when she dances because dancing was such a huge part of my life a few years ago. I had made the decision to keep her from the dance recital for this year ($80 for a hideous costume and then $20/ticket, plus pictures and I would have to buy a video from them if I wanted footage. Not happening.) but I recently found out about a girl in the Stake who has a studio in her home, and she's letting Rachael and Brooklyn (see below) hop into the class. Now, next month, she'll be dancing to a Disney song in a costume that only cost $45 and a family ticket for $20, including dinner. So fun! I'm so excited!

 Here's Rachael and Brooklyn on their fist day of dance class. They're the cutest friends!

 I don't remember if this was our first Disney day, but they're the first Disney pics I have so lets go with it. We stopped in at Pixie Hollow and got to meet Perriwinkle (Tinkerbelle's sister) and Silvermist. We haven't been back since because the wait is usually at least 60 minutes. We need to do it again though, Rachael needs their autographs!

Crazy @ Craigos

 For a little stroll down memory lane, we headed to Craigos Pizzeria (now American Pizza Pie Cafe, so dumb...). Nate and I had our first date at Craigos, in this same booth, following a harp concert almost exactly six years ago. The girls were CRAAAZY!! I don't know what it was, but Rachael was seriously a lunatic and Whitney was just following along. Its a very relaxed place and every other customer there had kids, so I wasn't entirely concerned about her behavior, but seriously, she was bouncing off the booth walls. I love going back to Rexburg to see all of our old hang outs and places where our family started and grew.

Fun on Grandpa's Farm

 The girls spent a LOT of time eating raspberries, playing with the new litter of puppies, and playing make believe in the grass. Lets not forget tractor rides, picking carrots, feeding chickens, gathering eggs, and looking at the new baby cows. It was so awesome for the girls!!

 Grandpa and sweet baby Calder (Celeste's baby)

 Whitney didn't love the tractor ride...

Rachael did!

Rexburg Water Fun!

The end of July we went up to Rexburg for a Russell Family reunion. We did a LOT of water activities. First being going to Egin (ee-gin) Lakes. Super fun, its about two feet deep across the whole thing, perfect for games. Rachael was content to do her own thing, and Whit was busy being busy.

Whit and Hannah, they're about two months apart. Hannah is THE sweetest little girl, full of hugs and smiles.

The next night we rented tubes from BYU-I ($3, buy one get one FREE?! Yes please!) Aunt Melissa is super fun and adventurous and decided to strap a metal tub to a wooden pallet and started a fire. SO FUN!! Rachael and Kloe were such cute friends together!

Jonathan tying a rope around the fire.

Love this girl!

The next day since we still had the tubes we just went as a smaller group, sans fire. I LOVE floating the river!

And so does Rachael, apparently.

I took like 27 pictures of Whitney in the boat because she was so dang adorable in her life jacket.

Rachael looks like she's being a drama queen bawling her eyes out, but she was just lounging on daddy's lap, trying to keep the sun out.

We hit up the Rexburg splash park and Rachael loved it! (Notice my two sis-in-laws, Sarah and Heidi, in the back. I love those ladies!!)

Such cute cousins! Abigail, Paige, Rachael, and Kloe

July 4th

^Thrilled to be going to a parade

We had a very low key 4th of July. Normally, in UT/ID, we would buy our own fireworks and light them in the street. In CA, not entirely possible. Basically our day consisted of a small local parade, swimming, and a BBQ picnic dinner. After dinner, around 8, we debated on going to the city's fireworks or heading home to get the girls to bed. Nate, the fireworks fanatic, voted we put the little grumps to bed. So we did. Nate and I watched a movie while we listened to the fireworks through the window. I'll be honest, it was nice to have a stress free holiday.