Christmas Letter

This year we are only sending out our letter digitally.

Visiting with Santa

The Saturday after Thanksgiving there is always a very short parade in Parowan with the highlight being Santa. Katie and Abbie both got to ride in the Fire Truck and throw candy then visit with Santa. For the first time ever Abigail was not afraid of Santa Claus and actually sat on his lap and asked for "a dolly with brown hair" to go with Katie's "doll with yellow hair and a pony with yellow hair."

Happy Halloween

We had a fun filled day. First getting the girls dressed, it took me about a half hour to do Abigail's hair- she doesn't hold still very well. Then we went and visited Grammie and Aunt Tia at their schools. We carved our pumpkin, which is named Pumpkin Lucy this year, grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed out to gather candy. We first went to the ward Trunk or Treat where I stayed with the car and the Patrick's took the girls around. I was surprised when Abbie came back with more candy than Kate. Apparently Katie was a little picky with her choices of candy. Afterward we drove around to a couple friend's and Richie's parents. We tried to Trick or Treat on our own block, but no one was home. After putting the tired girls to be we finished off the day with making the traditional Rice Krispy Treats.

Pumpkin Patch

We went with our friends to a pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkin for this year. The one we planted in our garden got eaten before it could grow very big. The girls enjoyed the things they had set up for pictures more than they liked picking a pumpkin. It was a chilly day so we got to bundle up in our cute hats and scarves. Now we need to actually carve that pumpkin.

Deer Hunt

Carrie, Katie and Abbie were able to go with the Barton's up to the cabin for the opening of the Deer Hunt. After a couple of days at the cabin Katelynn decided that she liked it there, but still missed her house. The girl's favorite thing to do was swing, of course, and Grandma spent many hours out pushing them.

It's Official

We had our ultrasound today and were able to take a peek at our little one. After checking out so many things we found out that we are having a very healthy little GIRL. Katie and Abbie have been saying that we are having a little sister since we told them we were pregnant, and of course they are right. This also marks our 20th week, meaning we have made it to the half way point in the pregnancy. Now I guess Jed will buckle down and help me with a name and we better start getting things ready. The ultrasound tech said that according to the numbers our due date is closer to February 3rd, but I think I will stick with the due date of January 31st.

Swimming Lessons

So after we got back from a week in Lake Powell then we had out swimming lessons. Abigail and I took a Mommy and Me class and Katelynn took her very first class. They learned to put their face in the water and blow bubbles. Practiced floating on their back, moving their arms and legs and tried to look under water (that didn't happen for my girls). They both did not like going off of the slide or jumping off of the diving board, both had to be coaxed/helped off.

Lake Powell 2011

We went to Lake Powell with our Barton family and my Uncle Eric Staley's family the first week in August.

Katie's Dance Recital

Katie had her very first dance recital. She looked beautiful and danced okay. Jed had very low expectations so he thought she did fabulous, I had a little higher so wasn't quite as impressed with my 4 year-old's attention span.

This is her in her costume and with her friend Elsa Huff.

Easter 2011

I just had to share some of our fun Easter pictures. We went to the ward Easter Egg Hunt, colored eggs with the family and have to show off the girl's cute Easter dresses, the benefit of being a little girl.

Medical Maladies

Katie has been having problems with her tonsils for a little over two years now and when she was 2 we removed her adenoids, but she was too little to remove her tonsils. So after a couple years of slow growth, she is still a little girl, we decided to remove the tonsils. The surgery went well and they ended up removing a portion of her adenoids again, the recovery was not the funnest event though. After many years of taking her medicine beautifully and often just having to hand her the syringe we had to hold her down and force her to take her medicine every few hours. Only a couple days after Katie's surgery Abbie got into the dishwasher, got out a steak knife and cut her finger open. So we had to take her to the doctor and get three stitches. Luckily Katie was doing quite well after a week.

April Birthdays

April is always a busy month for us with Abbie, Jed and Katie's birthdays being so close together. This year we added another fun birthday to the mix, our first niece and cousin, Kaisley Nicole Isaacson, was born.


For Jed's 30th Birthday I pulled out my cake making skills and made him a candied pecan cake. Which I then turned into an I-pad, one of his new tech obsessions.


The girls are in love with the Disney movie Tangled. It is so much fun to watch them watch the movie as they have to sing and act it out as well. So for their birthday cake I decided to make them a Rapunzel tower and I was determined to make it all out of cake. It probably could have been taller, etc if I had made it out of Rice Krispies, but I really enjoyed the challenge of getting it as tall as I could with cake.

Kids & Phots, arg

I have been trying to get my 3 favorite girls on the planet in photographs together. Lets just say that it hasn't been going well.

Individually they take pictures fine, except for Carrie who does not like me taking her picture, but when you put them together both Katelynn and Abigail tend to move all over the place.

I love having kids so very much, it is such a great experience.

The Two Mess Makers

Our two sweet children have discovered a brand new hobby, they make messes.

It does not take them long to make the mess, which is good for them and bad for us.
A funny side note to their mess making is that Katelynn tends to blame Abigail for all of the messes. As you see here, Katelynn is not so innocent as she seems to be.

Having Children is such an adventure.