Carving Pumpkins with our "pumpkins"

We carved our pumpkins tonight, since our ward trunk or treat is tomorrow night and we won't have time then.  We had lots of fun with the kiddos tonight!

Eeewww!  She was not a fan of the "guts"

Trying to get momma to do her job of cleaning it out:)

Brigham's newest teether was the lid of the pumpkin.  He was getting some pieces of it and chewing them up...I guess whatever works for ya.  At least it was keeping him happy!

I'm ready to clean a pumpkin!

Just a cute on of them together...not beating up on each other:)

Practicing her "spooky" laugh

Yes! Another piece of pumpkin to eat, thanks Mom!

I just love this pic because it shows all his teeth really well.  What a character.

The final results. 

We had the trick-or-treating at the dental school today.  It is always fun to get all the kiddos together and hang out with our hubbys in their daily environment.  David's sister Liz wanted to buy Isabel a costume.  So we got her a Little Red Riding Hood costume weeks ago.  She was always so excited about it and told everyone that came over what she was gonna be.  Well today came and it was the first time we needed to put it on.  She went NUTS.  I have never seen her get that upset that fast over something.  She was hysterical.  We have lots of things this weekend that she can wear her costume to, so I had to think fast.  So we ran back to the store and exchanged costumes and she picked Snow White out and then we ran to the school with minutes to spare!  What drama. I did not want to give in, but I knew I did not want her freaking out in all these situations with crowds of people, so I buckled!  Don't judge:)

Happy Halloween everyone, more pictures to follow this weekend.  Be safe!

The sun is finally back out in Omaha

After a few dreary weeks of clouds and cold, the sun has come out to give us one last blast of sunshine and warmth before it leaves us for 6 months!  The kids are still getting over their sickness and took turns napping, so we couldn't be out too much, but we did go out for a nice walk after dinner.  I have been having fun playing with my new camera and got some cute shots.  Still so much to learn...

The leaves are already on the downhill end of the color changing.  We love all the beautiful colors of Fall and have enjoyed living out here to see some good Falls

Giving sass to us!  If you haven't passed out yet from this picture, than you are stronger than me!  We cut his hair!!!!!  David tricked me and told me the longest attachment for the hair clippers would only take off  a bit of his hair, but it took off close to 3 inches of his beautiful, soft, blond luscious hair.  I almost cried:(  I know it will grow back, but it was so sad to see my little baby get a BOY haircut.  Oh, if I could only turn back time...

Showing me the flower she picked.  This girl is so sweet to always give me flowers.  Now, whenever she sees a bouquet of roses at the store, she always says (while pointing) "ohhh, Mommy sooo happy!"  She knows I love flowers and always wants to have me smell the ones she picks.  Now I just need her to stop picking the flowers at the Botanical Gardens:)

Trying to get the camera.

Isabel saw Daddy cleaning out the flower garden on Saturday.  So today after our walk, she went over to the shovel and drug it to the garden and proceeded to dig it all up.  She is always so observant and has a memory like an elephant.  She always wants to do what we do.  Lately she won't leave the house unless she has a baby and a purse, just like mommy.  She will go and bring food to Brigham when I am putting him in the highchair.  I love how she watches us and still wants to be like us!

Vala's Pumpkin Patch in one word....AMAZING!!!

We have lived out here in Omaha for almost 3 years and this was our first time at Vala's.  We didn't think Isabel was old enough to enjoy it very much.  Man we should have been coming every year, because we had as much fun, if not more than Isabel.  This place is incredible!  We were there for over 4 hours and we didn't even see half of it.  I wish some of you could come out and visit us this month to go to Vala's, it is totally worth the trip out here:)  Here are just a few pics of the fun stuff we did last night.

My two greatest blessings...

We have been keeping busy, but not doing much at the same time. How does that seem to always happen?
I love my children! They are more wonderful than I could have ever hoped for. I have seen even more lately how lucky I am to be a mother and raise these sweet children. Here is some fun facts about each of them so I can remember how great life is right now!
ISABEL:
-She LOVES to help. She has always been such a wonderful help to us. She stayed after music time last week to help put the chairs away because she saw some girls stacking the chairs and she wanted to help. Isabel loves to help cook or prepare food and empty the dishwasher and wash the dishes.
-She is learning how to be soft with Brigham. Since he has started crawling, she has had her world turned upside down and is learning that it is not the end of the world if he comes over to play with some of her toys. Those sweet moments when they are sitting together and playing and giggling just melt my heart and make me forget the battles they have.
-She is talking a lot more. She has started to form small, broken sentences and it is hilarious to hear the things that come out of her mommy. I love to hear her say, "Ohh, so cute!" or "ooooh, thank you mommy." She really has pretty good manners and learns to say things even if we don't want her to (guess we better watch our words:)
-She finally loves nursery. She has always had pretty bad separation anxiety, but she is finally able to go in there and let me leave without tears. She is growing up and it is so bittersweet.
-She is still as petite as ever. I love having her little because I don't break my back picking her up.
-She is always reminding us to say our prayers before meals. She says her own prayer at night. We don't understand much of it, but starts out by thanking Heavenly Father for this day, she blesses the missionaries and brigham and daddy and mommy. She asks for help being nice and to sleep good. I love her example and the innocence that she has. Do they really have to grow up???
-She loves to snuggle. She will go grab a blanket and say "coldy mommy, coldy" and want me to wrap her up and cuddle. Oh she melts my heart!
I love Isabel so much. I have felt bad lately because I feel like I am getting after her all the time for beating up, pushing, kicking, smacking Brigham. She will always be my little princess and I get teary eyed just thinking about her sweet spirit and all the happiness that she brings into our family.

BRIGHAM:
-He is now 9 months old: 19 lbs 5oz
-Since he has been crawling he has thinned out a bit. He is up and down the stairs like crazy and starting to cruise all over the furniture.
-He loves music. Just like Isabel, they can't help themselves when they hear a beat. He headbangs, but it is back and forth like he is shaking his head. It is pretty funny to watch him.
-He is learning how to voice his feelings when Isabel takes something away from him. He has learned from her how to scream in outrage and flail limbs in panic. What a temper!
-He no longer likes baby food, he wants stuff with texture.
-He loves it when David comes home from school. He crawls towards him with the biggest grin on his face and opens his arms for David to pick him up. I always love when little kids start to recognize people.
-He gives the biggest smile when you go get him from his crib and starts jumping up and down. He is so affectionate and loves to give hugs. If he needs me and I am in the kitchen making dinner, he will crawl in and stand up underneath me and hold on to both legs. It is so cute but really hard to walk around the kitchen.
-He can say mama when he is fussy. He loves to babble and talk back to ya. Sometimes it even says like he is saying his name...too funny.
-He now has 4 teeth and is working on 2 more. He got his upper laterals before his centrals so he looks a bit like a baby vampire (ooh good halloween costume idea, too bad he already has his costume) -When I am feeding him, he closes his eyes and shakes his head when he is done, like he is trying to make the food go away. If I try and give him another bite, he just closes his eyes again and shakes his head. Kind of a mean trick, but it is good for a laugh.
-Brigham is my special little man. I didn't know I could love someone as much as Isabel, but it happened. I love those moments with the family when we are all just hanging out in the living room and we can sit and enjoy these kiddos. It really is amazing the way they make my heart so full.

Here comes trouble!!!

Better grab a chair and a snack for this one!

This is gonna be long! I have been dreading this for a long time cause there are so many pictures and it takes so darn long to load them up (my camera is set up right now to take pictures as REALLY large files, and I can't figure out how to change it) Anyway, enjoy the pictures, we have been busy lately.

While David was in the Dominican Republic, we treated ourselves to homemade icecream cones. Can you tell she was loving it?

We finally decided to give Brigham a real haircut. He was 7 1/2 months and had quite the mop. I love his hair and didn't want to take much off.

Our little Kennickie! He was being so silly, wish I could dress him as Danny Zucko for Halloween, that is quite the hairdo!

After: What a cute little man, even with his crazy face he is pulling!

I hope they call me on a mission, when I have grown a foot or too!

Sibling love. I love these moments when they are getting along, they are few and far between right now!

We went to Kansas City at the end of July for David to do an externship at their program there. We stayed in a nice hotel in downtown KC, and it was so fun! There was a rooftop pool that Isabel and I swam in, she was crazy, I couldn't take my eyes off her!

Isabel loved to play with the controls for the Sleep Number beds, it was like sleeping on a moving boat:)

One word: YUM! We went to this wonderful BBQ restaurant inside a gas station, it was the absolute best and it is world famous. We stood in line for 45 minutes and it was totally worth it. I could have eaten so much more of that great food. I hope we go back someday, whether for his residency, or just to get some more of those sandwiches.

Brigham started crawling right after we got back from KC. He is so crazy and it is hilarious to watch him wander around and find things to tear apart. He moves non-stop and keeps me on my toes.

We were so lucky to have David's parents and little sister, Rachel come and visit us in August. It was lots of fun and we did so much, here are some of the highlights.

Rachel babysat the kids so we could go do a temple session with his parents. Poor rachel, she is soooo wonderful, but our kids were kinda naughty for her, I don't think she will want to watch them again for a while:)

We made baby back ribs one night (okay actually two, but they were soo good) and we couldn't resist giving our little monkey some of the bones to chew on!

This little girl is starting to dress herself a lot and this is the hat she picked to wear out to dinner one night.

David's mom treated us to a girls night out while they were here and we went to the Taylor Swift concert. It was incredible!!! Thanks so much Camille. It was so fun to go out with the girls and know the kids were having fun a home! The concert was amazing and we had lots of fun singing our hearts out with her.

We took them to the Kanesville Tabernacle and Mormon Trail Center. Here is little miss sunshine playing with the wagon wheel. She sat there for like 15 minutes just spinning the thing.

can't go there without getting dressed up in pioneer clothing!

What cute little pioneer men! Brigham was having fun having all the attention. Isabel was having a blast getting dressed up and showing off to everyone.

We had so much fun with family in town. The girls got to do some shopping, the boys did some golfing, we ate like crazy and just had a good time doing nothing!

We went with a bunch of friends to this really cute spray ground. Isabel didn't know what to do at first, but then she warmed up and started running around and splashing in the water. She was really good and could run through the whole thing without ever getting wet. I put Brigham down for a second and he crawled over to one and put his face right over it when the spray went off. He was very surprised and got his breath taken away. Too funny, I wish I had a picture of his expression when that happened.

The Children's museum had a sesame street/elmo's world exhibit here for a bit. They had a chance for us to go and meet Elmo. I thought Isabel might be nervous (you know how some kids get when it is time to meet Santa), but she was so cute! She got excited when she saw him and walked up to him and gave him a hug. I asked her if she wanted to sit on his lap, and she backed up a little, but then cheesed it up for this photo. Oh, what would we do without Elmo in the world???

Brigham LOVES the dishwasher. If he crawls into the dining room and sees that it is open, he goes from 0-60 in 2 seconds flat. He is into everything, but he is so adorable about it, you can't get mad. He has learned how to stand at the toilet and spin the TP roll, he pulls all the books off the shelf, he likes to eat magazines, paper, and shoes, and he uses me like a rock climbing wall! We love our little Brig and enjoy watching him learn and grow.

I love this picture. Brigham had just woken up right before David had to go to school. He saw David, got a big grin on his face and reached out for his Daddy. I love how Brigham looks when he has just woken up, sooo adorable.

My younger brother, Kyle came through town on his way back from visiting his girlfriend's family. We took them out to Lake Manawa and had a dutch oven dinner. It was lots of fun with them and great to hang out for a bit with family.

My brother Kyle, his girlfriend Lisa and Isabel all enjoying a cookie. I told Isabel to show me what she was eating and this is what I got from her! We are working on manners:)

This is her pose she has been pulling lately when we bust the camera out. How can you not love this little lady???

We swapped nights babysitting with some friends, so we were finally able to go out on a date without the kids, I think it is the first time we have gone out to dinner alone since Brigham was born. It was very relaxing and it was nice to be able to hold hands and have an adult conversation. We went to this yummy restuarant in Old Market called M's Pub. They have really good food, but it is a little different. David decided to go with the beer brats and he said they were great.

I tried this dish called Lavosh and Iwas so pleasantly surprised with it and really enjoyed it. I have been craving it since I ate there last week. I will definitely eat that again!

One thing I love about Omaha is all the beautiful flowers and greenery that grows out here. One of my favorites are the hibiscus'. Everytime I see one, it reminds me of Hawaii, and brightens my day.

Here is David's prized turkey. He shot it last spring and decided to get it taxidermied. We just got it back from the taxidermist a few weeks ago. It is huge, and the only place it will fit is on our bedroom dresser, how lucky am I? So every night when I go to bed and each morning I wake up, I have this lovely thing staring at me:) I told him when we have a house it can't be in the front room and it can't be in our bedroom. But he is so happy with it, so I am happy for him.

Brigham bonked his head the other day and got a black eye. You can't see it very good, but it was instantly blue and looked like a blood blister, the next day it looked like he had eye shadow and now it is finally black. He is already been beat up so much more than Isabel, he is gonna get some big bruisers in his day.

Whew!! I knew I was dreading this for a reason. My hands have carpel tunnal from typing so much. I hope you enjoyed the pictures and I promise to do a better job keeping the family updated on our happenings!

Vacation Part II...........Spokane!

After Denver, David dropped the kids and me off at the denver airport, and we headed for Spokane, to spend the week with my family while he jetted off to the Dominican Republic. It was such a fun trip and so nice to be able to spend time with my family and some best friends from high school. My sister, Carrie, had her 5th kid the day we arrived in Spokane (talk about good timing-I guess I am her good luck charm!) These are a few of her kids, playing with Brigham. They were so good to play with Isabel and Brigham and we had lots of fun with them.

I went out to lunch with my best friends from high school. Nikki, had to run back to work, so I didn't get a picture of her :(. There are a few girls missing. I just have to take a moment to let these girls know how much I love and miss them. I was going through my old yearbooks while I was home, and I was reminded of some fun great memories we had. We had soooo much fun in high school. I have so many fun memories of sleepovers, meals at Red Robin, school dances, lunch room stories, movies, malls, and being a menace at school. Just ask me, and I will have stories for you. It was great to see them and share a few laughs. I wish I had more time to see them. Love you girls!

Aisha, Ashleigh, Me and Dianna. Dianna is pregnant with her 2nd. Kaitlynn is Isabel's age, and she is gorgeous! I think we all look pretty much the same as we did, maybe just a bit more mature and Diva-ish! (ha ha, inside joke!)

Here are Isabel and Kaitlynn. Look how shrimpy Isabel is compared to her. These girls played really well together. Isabel was invading her personal space a bit though:)

Isabel was getting tossed around on the trampoline by Isaac (her cousin who is 5 months younger than her, but bigger than her!) I kept trying to save her, but she was laughing her head off everytime she ate it and flopped around. Who knew it was so fun to get beat up!

Enjoying some yummy watermelon from Washington. We had a fun picnic one night with my sister, her hubby Brett, and their family, and my brother Rob and his wife Melanie and their three boys. The weather was so wonderful (I especially loved the DRY heat- it was a great change from our humidity!)

Playing in the backyard with Grandpa G

Playing with my brother's boys. They are so cute and ALL boy. It was great for Isabel to be around some cousins

Brigham was in heaven playing with all these balls. It was so nice to be able to spend time outside and not sweat to death. I love the weather in Spokane and miss it now that I am back in this humidity.

My niece Corissa with her newest Brother, Brogan. Carrie has a great family and we had fun playing with the kids during the week. We wished we could have seen my bro-in-law Brett more, but he was really busy with work and his church calling. Hopefully next time!

All of Carrie's kids with Isabel. She had fun playing in their little pool with them and playing with Corissa and all her toys (especially the barbies and littlest pet shop).

Kissing Cousins! She was showering Trevin with kisses and he was getting a little annoyed, but he was sooo sweet to her!

Playing with Grandpa before we left.

Jumping on the cushions. She was getting pretty brave and having a good time.

We had a great time visiting family and relaxing in Spokane. It was hard to be away from David, but he was doing good work in the Dominican Republic. When I get pictures of his trip from his mom, I will post those.

Vacation Part I...Denver!

So since David only has a month off from school, we didn't plan any major vacations. He decided he wanted to go visit the pediatric dental program in Denver (He is applying to the pediatric dental residency programs for after graduation. He wants to be a pediatric dentist, which means two more years in the residency program starting next summer). So we headed to Denver so he could spend a few days there doing an externship. He has aunts, uncles and a cousin that live in denver, so we were excited to see them. We stayed with his Aunt Mary and Uncle Bob. They were so gracious to open there house to us and we are so thankful. While David spent his days at the Children's Hospital there, we played with Aunt Mary! The first day, David took the keys to my van, so I couldn't go anywhere. We stayed at the house and played with toys and had fun with Aunt Mary. The next day, I ran some errands, went and saw the beautiful temple they have and went to Park Meadows Mall (the biggest mall in Denver, it was fantastic!). I made a yummy dinner for everyone on Tuesday night. Wednesday, Aunt Mary took me to an amazing fabric shop (Omaha has terrible fabric selection, so I was in heaven. I want to move there just for that store:) and a cute little boutique store with fun house decorations and down east clothes. We had so much fun seeing everyone and getting to know them a little better. I will be totally content if we end up in Denver! Here are a few pictures from the trip:The kids did great with our 9 hour car trip. Isabel watched a few movies and Brigham just smiled and slept the whole time. We have great kids and have so much fun with them! We stopped and ate our lunch at a rest stop. We got eaten alive by mosquitoes and got the wiggles out by running around on the grass. We got together with all our family in Denver and went to this fun restaurant called "Traildust" It has this really fun slide inside the restaurant that is 2 stories high. Isabel went down with Bailey (David's cousins daughter) with a huge smile on her face. Thanks for lots of fun guys!

The posse.

This is the Denver Temple. It is gorgeous! They were doing construction on the front, so this is the best picture, but I still think it captures its beauty.

This is Aunt Mary. She was so hospitable and it was lots of fun to get to know her better. Isabel called her "Ont Murray" and enjoyed playing with the doll bed and the piggy figurines.

Here is uncle Bob. Brigham always had his hands in his beard and would give him a big smile when Uncle Bob "spoke" to him:)

We had a great time there and hope to be coming back next year!

I'm here to pump, (clap) You up!

Here is our little Arnold Schwarzeneggar (Ahnuld) in the making. Rather than fuss and cry, Brigham grunts like crazy when he wants our attention or he is getting upset. I think it is so funny, what a typical boy not to cry! Enjoy this little video and look how hard he flexes his arms!

4th of July weekend

We had a nice 3-day weekend over the 4th of July. It was not the greatest weather, but we made the most of it. On Thursday after school, we headed over to the zoo and had lots of fun looking at all the animals. Isabel had fun watching the giraffes, monkeys, seals and these beautiful parakeets called budgies. They are bright birds in blue, yellow and green and were so fun!

On Friday, we took turns going to a temple session while the other watched the kids. It was so great to be in the temple and feel the spirit so strong in there. I definitely need to make an effort to go more often. That night we watched the fireworks at Rosenblatt Stadium. We have a perfect view from our bedroom window, so we got to stay in the comfort of our home and watch them.
On Saturday we were signed up to clean our church building, so we did that in the morning. It was kinda muggy and misty all day long, so we skipped the parade in the afternoon and instead took Isabel to see "UP". It was so cute and she kept calling it "up and down" and jumping while we were walking to the theater. We ate tons of popcorn, m&m's and licorice and had so much fun!
Sunday afternoon, we went to this little park by our house called Mt. Vernon Gardens. It is supposed to be this little replica of George Washington's garden at his house in Vermont. It looks fun, but has gotten a little rundown. We had fun playing around with the kids.

Isabel doesn't like to pose very much for the camera, so it was a challenge to get her to hold still for a second.

What sweet little children! They love to laugh at their daddy, and seeing their smiles just melts my heart.

Brigham loves to grab onto Daddy's hair. He likes to pinch my arms too and he HURTS, as you can see from David's expression. We had such a fun weekend and it was great to spend lots of time together. I love my family. We were sad we missed out on both of our family reunions, but tried to make the most of our time here in Omaha. Can't wait to see some family in a few weeks!