Today's Our Anniversary!

Eight years ago today Jason and I were sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple. I can't believe how the time has flown by. When I look at these pictures it feels like it all happened yesterday...

The happy couple...







Bride and groom...









Love you Babe! Happy Anniversary!

Fall Photo Shoot

I've been wanting to get some updated pictures taken of Tressa and Corbin together, but didn't want to pay a professional...seems like we are at the portrait studio way too often and the cost adds up quickly. Lacey told me about Woodward Park and we planned a day to take our kids there for a photo shoot. The park was beautiful and there were lots of great places to take pictures, but it is SO dang hard to get both kids smiling and looking at the same time! Between squirrel chasing, rock climbing, puddle jumping (Corbin actually fell face first into a muddy puddle about 15 minutes into our photo shoot, but luckily he was wearing dark clothes so you can't really tell), leaf picking, hill rolling and running wildly through the open spaces we did manage to get a few good pics....but maybe next time I'll leave it to the professionals! I'm trying to learn how to use photoshop, so maybe I can fix/enhance some of the pictures, but as of right now these are my favorites:

Little Mommy

The kids are at a really fun stage right now. They are playing together more and more now that they can communicate better. Usually Tressa is kind of the boss and Corbin goes along with it, which I think is so cute...and sometimes really funny! The other day I had just gotten out of the shower when Tressa came running up to me and asked if I could open Corbin's toothpaste for her. When I asked her why she said "Well, I already helped him go potty, put underwear on and I combed his hair. Now I just need to help him brush his teeth." Corbin is not potty trained so I had to go investigate this one for myself. His diaper was laying on the bathroom floor. He really had gone in the little potty and was wearing underwear. She even managed to get his pants back on. It just made me laugh. They both seemed to be having a pretty good time so I decided to let them be while I finished getting ready. While I did my makeup I could hear Tressa down the hall in Corbin's room..."Okay buddy, it's time for your nap." She then proceeded to go through the whole nap/bedtime routine. She got him a drink (climbed up onto the counter and got a sippy cup out of the cupboard then filled it up with water in the bathroom sink). Next I heard her asking him to choose a book .... "No, how about this one instead," she said next. Then I heard her ask him to sit on her lap. I grabbed my camera and got a picture of her "reading" to him. She can't read yet but she did a pretty good job of telling the story and was pointing out different things to him....and he was totally content to sit there with her (that's the amazing part)! Next she turned the light off and sang "I am a Child of God" to him. He kept saying "Happy Me, Tretta....Happy Me..." because he wanted her to sing Happy Birthday instead, but she just kept on singing. Then she shut the door, blew him a kiss and said "Nighty night Corbin, I love you!" He called back "Lub you too Heehee (sissy)." Sooooooooo adorable. Tressa is such a little Mommy....and Corbin is a very good sport!

Happy Halloween

Halloween is such a fun holiday for the kids. This year they got to celebrate almost all month long. We went to two different pumpkin patches here in town. They loved checking out all the pumpkins (and rolling them, climbing on them and trying to pick up the huge ones). They also got to do the hay ride, pet the animals, ride the tractor tricycles, pull each other in the wagon, climb the haystacks and run from playhouse to playhouse.





We each carved or decorated a pumpkin and we even made one for the baby. Here's our little family of pumpkins:



This was Tressa's first year to participate in a costume parade at school. She was so excited and felt pretty special wearing her costume to school. Here's a picture of her and her friend Maddy. Maddy is a Southern Belle and Tressa is a princess. Aren't they cute?!



Tressa wanted to be a princess this year (I'm sure we'll have many years of princess costumes). Corbin still doesn't care too much about what he wears, so we thought it would be cute if he was a frog prince to go along with Sissy's costume. I was going to try to make both of their costumes for the first time this year. My Mom always did such a good job sewing our costumes and I think it made Halloween a little more special. The last couple years I haven't planned ahead far enough, so I ended up just buying them. This year I started looking at patterns about a month ahead.....I still didn't finish Tressa's costume until the night before she had to wear it (must get that from my Mom too!) By the end I was asking myself why I was spending all this time sewing a princess costume when there's no shortage of such costumes in the stores, but I think it was all worth it in the end. She loved the dress and felt so beautiful. I ended up finding a frog costume for Corbin at my favorite thrift store, so I didn't bother making it...but I added some special touches like the feet and a crown. When I first bought it he almost threw a fit when I asked if he could try it on. "No! Don't want dat Mommy!" But we made a big fuss over how cute he looked and when he figured out that he would be getting candy if he wore it he actually tolerated it for most of the ward party and for trick or treating at the mall.

For the first time in our married life Jason actually dressed up this year too, kind of. We found this really great mullet wig and he wore it to the ward party. I couldn't look at him without cracking up. It was hilarious!



More cute pictures of all the fun things we did for Halloween this year:

And the holiday season begins.....