All grown up!

When did my little babies become little girls? I looked at them this morning and couldn't believe how old they looked. Scott had a meeting at our house this morning so they girls and I were hanging out upstairs and had lots of time to get ready for church. I painted their nails and round brushed and flat ironed their hair, and they looked so cute. They loved these darling Christmas dresses from Grandma Melanie too! Yes, we already have our Christmas tree up and all our holiday decorations. We have an ornament from all the vacations we've been on since we've been married. I also have quite a few from when I was growing up, so it is always fun to get them out and have the memories. The girls loved helping decorate.

Bella


Maddie


Trying to get them to smile for a picture is difficult these days- they say CHEESE really big and we end up with all sorts of silly faces. This was our new strategy of telling them to strike a pose!


I adore these girls!

Family Weekend!

Scott had all weekend off for the holiday so we ate up every minute and loved having him around! Friday we did a little Black Friday shopping and then had brunch at First Watch- a delicious diner. Saturday we hit the Great Lakes Science Center. The girls love the play area they have there and could have spent hours in the ball pit!



The museum is right on Lake Erie, so it is fun view. We enjoyed the break from the snow and the "warmer" temperatures this weekend. (Okay by warmer I mean still in the 40's- live it up my Arizona and California friends!)


The museum is also next to the Rock and Roll hall of fame. We didn't go in, but will have to go back there at some point while we live here.

They were playing all sorts of great music outside the Hall of Fame, so of course Maddie and Bella wanted our whole family up on the platform to dance. They were loving it, and provided quite the entertainment for everyone around.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had the Gowdy kids over the other day and all the kids were insistent that they each wear a different hat. I love that Cade really wanted the pink pooh bear one, but he put it on backwards to make it a little more "cool."

We had a thanksgiving tradition growing up that we would make and deliver thanksgiving fruit baskets every year. I always loved doing this and we have been continuing this tradition in our little family. I was always in charge of making the card every year. This year the girls helped me put all the fruit in the baskets and got their new snowboots on to help deliver them. Thanks mom for this fun tradition. We have so much to be grateful for.

Thanksgiving was fun for us this year. Mike and Chantele came from Indiana to celebrate with us. It was a treat to be with family. Since it was just us we learned to make the entire Thanksgiving spread for the first time. I must say we had pretty much everything- turkey, potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, rolls, rasberry jello, the classic Lunt baked peaches, and even some tasty pies that Mike and Chantele got from an Amish town near them. Scott took care of the turkey and gravy and they both turned out excellent! What a great chef. He'd done all his research on the food network and it paid off! Thanks honey!


We went and saw Madagascar 2 and it was Maddie and Bella's first experience at a movie theater. Bella was a little nervous at first, but then warmed up when all the animals started dancing and the music got going. It was actually a pretty funny movie, and a good thanksgiving outing. The day ending with lots of food and then of course we were all exhausted. Thanks Mike and Chantele for coming and for the wonderful holiday family time!

Notre Dame

This was our first snowfall of the year. The girls didn't have snowpants or boots yet, so they lasted about 2 minutes. I had to document it though!

We headed a couple weekends ago to South Bend, Indiana where my brother Mike is getting his MBA at Notre Dame. We had such a fun weekend staying with Mike and Chantele. I surprised Scott with a weekend getaway after his surgery rotation. Mike and Scott went to the football game on saturday and lasted the entire time despite the subartic temperatures! They have all sorts of traditions and tailgating before the game so they joined the festivities (minus the drinks) for a once in a life time experience! After the game they hit a local restaurant that got the BYU v. Utah game so they could watch it. We won't comment on that- poor cougs! The girls and I had fun shopping and playing with Chantele. They absolutely adore her! Thanks Mike and Chantele! You were so nice to let us invade your house and play with the girls. We loved being with you!

Meet me in Toledo!

We had such a fun day yesterday. We met Tobey, Addie, and Noah Roos in Toledo for the day. It was such a treat to see them. They are our close friends from Kirksville and we've missed them so much! All three girls were absolutely in heaven! They just picked up right where they left off. They were loving being silly and playing together. We had an exciting time at Chuck E Cheese's and then played and cruised around the mall. Between all the games, rides, playing with Addie, Pizza, and icecream the girls were truly in heaven!



Here are the girls on a little carousel at the mall. Tobey got some better pictures so I'll get some from her. Thanks for meeting us Tobey! It was so nice to have our regular old girl chat and to just hang out. I loved it. We definitely need to plan another trip very soon!

$1.89

We filled up our car for $1.89 a gallon yesterday! UNBELIEVABLE!

Our week

We had a fun week with lots of little outings. We had beautiful weather so we made it to the zoo, the park a couple times, and even the Science Center. Scott went to his first ever NFL game and saw the browns play with some friends. He had a great time and was completely hoarse the next day!


This is the front of our house and I'm sad that I waited to take a picture until mostly all the yellow leaves had fallen off our front tree. It was beautiful though. No one really saw our front yard before this picture so you can't fully appreciate all the yard work we've been doing but it has been a project. The entire front of the house was overgrown wildflowers that were quite crazy! Scott is in the middle of putting up the little stone divider between the grass and flowerbed so that is what the stack of bricks is from. He's done a great job.

This picture doesn't even do justice to the HUGE amount of leaves in our back yard. This is only a tiny portion! The girls have loved playing in them!

Friday night date with dad!! The girls and I were excited all day to go on our date with dad. He's a pretty lucky guy to take out three lovely ladies! They wanted to get all dressed up in their dresses and everything. We went to the Olive Garden, to the icecream shop, and to the movie store! Although the girls insist they always want vanilla, they ended up devouring my chocolate cone!



We also enjoyed another trip to the Columbus Temple yesterday! The Smith's were nice enough to switch babysitting with us so we could go together. Scott says with our new President we may need to go quite a bit more often! :)

Happy Halloween!

We had a family of doctors for Halloween last night. The girls had the greatest time trick or treating. It was very exciting!


Here they are checking out their stash of candy! They wanted to eat everything right away.

Last weekend we had a trunk or treat at our ward party and the girls really wanted to wear their flower fairy dress up clothes so we had to throw in a picture of these costumes too. Halloween is always fun but I'm so sick of the candy so thank goodness it is over and we can move on to Thanksgiving!