BIG Snowstorm

We had our first BIG snowstorm of the season yesterday. Besides getting stuck in it in several locations (including our driveway...better there than on some lonely road), we thought we ought to build a snowman. The snow was up to my knees!?!? Here are some of the pix.

Lauren all bundled up

Addy tasting some snow

Barry with the finished product

Addy just wasn't warm enough inside after being out in the frigid air, so she donned Lauren's hat, scarf, and gloves and she and Lauren snuggled in her bed for a movie. This is a new favorite spot for them...especially Lauren when it's bedtime ("I want Addy bed"). So cute.

Wilde Family Reunion

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Britt's siblings and dad this year. Since everyone is spread across the country, the together times are few and far between, so it was great to be together. We flew to Britt's brother, Brad's, house in Tampa, Florida for a week and had a fantastic time! Not that we had snow to escape from (yet), but the weather, as expected, was very pleasant. On the cold side for the Floridians, but we enjoyed it. Here are some shots from the week's events. (And I'm sure after all my attempts to have this formatted so well, it'll be off...arggghhh.)

Here are some of the cousins Thanksgiving morning all crowded into bed to watch some cartoons together. From left: Owen, Kate (Brad's kids), Addy (ours), Lauren (Brent's), and Alex (Brad's).

The main chefs, Niki (Brad's wife) & Lindsey (Brent's wife). Niki is an UNBELIEVABLE woman! This was the menu (all homemade): roast turkey, deep fried turkey (we do have some southerners amongst us), stuffing, corn casserole, green bean casserole (SOOOOOO good!), mashed potatoes, rolls (to DIE for!), sweet potato something DELICIOUS, and 3 pies to choose from (apple, pumpkin, and pecan). Everything was SO good. I'm sure I forgot something. Such big kudos to Niki and Brad for housing all of us and feeding all of us. They were such great hosts - for me, a big part of having a great time was because we just felt welcomed and not inconvenienced at all (like not an inconvenience to them). Love you guys!!

Well, don't these chums look thrilled? Bad picture timing? Interruption of eating? Not sure, but we've got Brad, Barry, and Brent (aka "Booey"). The 2 on the ends are 2 of Britt's brothers.

Lauren (Brent's), Addy, and Kate (Brad's) having a grand time with their princess shoes and cute hair, compliments to their big-girl cousin, Kiersten.Candyland...Britt, Lauren, Addy, Brian (Britt's other brother), dad/Grandpa, Owen, and Brad

Couple shots from the real feast...Barry trying to feed Lauren

and Alex, Owen, and Addy at the kids table

The kids loved wrestling with Uncle Booey. That's what I call him...I guess everyone else has reverted to his given name - Brent. He'll always be Booey to me. He really got them going with "butt bazookas." Too bad we didn't have sound on our camera to get all the squeals of laughter. (Anyone want to show me how to enable sound when you shoot "video" with a digital camera?)

We spent a few hours on a great private beach to get family pictures. The weather was the BEST this day, so can I tell you how glad I was that I had long sleeves on...??? Argh. Here's just a casual shot of our fam.

Britt's sister, Brandi, and her girls, Sierra, Amber, and Kiersten Addy & Lauren
Baz & Lauren
Poor, fair-skinned Lauren had had it before the picture-taking ordeal was over. Good thing Grandpa has a way with getting her to sleep. She just loves those shoulders of his.

our fam walking on the pier

Adult night out (from bottom left: Niki, Brad, Barry, Britt, Brian, Dad, Renate, Brandi, Lindsey, Brent)...fun bantering

Pic of all the cousins (from left: Sierra, Owen, Addy, Kiersten, Lauren, Amber, Lauren (this would be typical of what Lauren was like a great deal of this trip...), Alex, and Kate)

We had a fun time at Busch Gardens. Tampa has the Africa "version," so we saw lots of elephants, zebras, gazelles, and the like. As well as all the cool rides they've got. We even got to see a cool Christmas show during lunch (still seems weird to have Christmas decorations up while palm trees and sunshine are aplenty, but 'tis the season, right?!).

Here's Addy and an alligator (we were in Florida)

Owen, Addy, and Lauren on a ride

And after a long day...

Another fun day spent at the beach in Sarasota. All I'll say is "Beware of the Seagulls." On more than one occasion, they swooped down and stole food right out of our hands - no joke. Couldn't believe it. It was like an Alfred Hitchcock movie. But we had fun building a sand castle...

and burying Uncle Barry/dad!

And on our last night (sniff, sniff), we enjoyed another FANTASTIC meal; this time prepared by Renate, Britt's dad's wife. Homemade tomato soup (just like the restaurants do it with the swirl of cream too!) was the starter, the main course was a tasty German (Renate is from Berlin) dish - hamburger and cucumbers (trust me, SO good) poured over new potatoes, and dessert was a delicious apple tart thing. Thanks again, Renate! Oh, we ate well on this trip! Next year anyone??

Gardner Village

My friend, Becca, the girls, and I took a little trip up to Gardner Village earlier this week. What a cute place! I've been there a couple times, and every now and then get the urge to go again. We missed the "elves" by a day, but enjoyed beautiful weather and ducks instead! Besides the company, of course. Becca is such an awesome person (those of you who know her will easily agree) - the girls and I just love her. It was fun listening to Lauren call her..."Bec-ca, Bec-ca, Bec-ca!" Then she'd just smile. I love that Bec just takes the girls without worry or feeling like she's got to ask my permission for things. It's a great feeling to trust someone with your kids! She's just great! Hope you had fun, Bec! Until the chocolate fest... :)

Feeding the ducks some Cheetos. You could tell these guys were used to getting "food" attention. One of 'em ate a cheeto right out of Becca's hand!

Static

Loved these pics of Addy and her little friend after jumping on the trampoline.

Princess-in-training

(First of all...ugh...it's been WAY longer than I wanted since I posted last. I'm figuring if the title of our blog holds true, I should be posting pretty often, right? I'll do better.)

So, to the post - Lauren is becoming so cute lately. She's saying lots of words now and following in her big sister's footsteps. Addy loved (loves?) princesses and has way too many of them, so naturally, Lauren loves to play with them too. She loves saying, "Jazzy (aka Jasmine), Ariel, Belle (that would be for Belle, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty thus far)" and is attempting some others ("Coco" for Pocahontas, "Mommy" for Mulan...unless it's a dark-haired thing...). She has been able to walk really well in the dress up princess shoes for many months, but she's branching out now. She walked out of the bedroom with these accessories on today needing help getting the "gasses" on.

5K Pumpkin Run

Well, for us it was mainly a walk. My work, Heritage Schools, Inc., put this on as a fundraiser so we thought we'd take the girls and go walk for a cause. The kids dressed up in their halloween costumes and away we went. With about a half mile to go, Lauren decides she is too cold being in the stroller, so I pick her up to give her some warmth, which slowed us down and kept us out of the running for 3rd place in the stroller category... oh well, we won some "random drawings" instead.

Lauren as a ladybug

If Barry would've run, he would have had a shot at winning, but instead he stayed with the stroller and the fam...what a good man.

Addy was a cold little cat bundled in the stroller.

A visit to the Pumpkin Patch

Well, it's more like a pumpkin store...well, greenhouse, kinda, but pumpkin patch sounds so much better. I don't know where to find one around here...I'm sure some of you do. So for our annual trip, the girls and I went out for a few decorations.

They liked riding around in the little wagon.

I love this one of Lauren. She's resting on the "swan gourd."

Beautiful Fall

While summer is my favorite season, I do love the beginning of fall. We took a drive up near Sundance yesterday to enjoy the beautiful colors on the trees. Everywhere you look there are breathtaking views. We stopped and got a few pix. Here they are.

Lauren, Britt, and Addy

Addy, Barry, Lauren (disclaimer: after viewing this picture, Barry has decided that he is a "bloater" and is going to do something about it)

View near Sundance

Utah State Fair

The first and the last. This always sounds like such fun to me, so I got discount tickets and convinced Barry that it'd be a fun family activity. Away we went. What a disappointment! As a teenager I loved going to the fair. I guess you're more concerned with finding good-looking members of the opposite sex to flirt with and riding the dodgy rides than with seeing things as they really are at these places: toothless ride attendants, pervy-looking balloon clowns, extortionary food prices, and scary-looking people all around. We tried to make sure our kids had a good time by masking our own displeasure. But I'm quite sure we won't be rushing to do this again.

Addy on the carousel horse

This was a cute little "farmer's market" kind of thing for the kids. They wore these cute little aprons and had their own little baskets to go through the farm collecting eggs from the chickens, fruit and veggies from the garden, milking a cow, brushing a sheep, riding on tractors, and things like that. At the end, they "sold" their goods and got to go to the shop to spend their money on something. That was the best part of the fair.

Lauren trying to ride the John Deere

Addy and Lauren by the sheep

Barry and the girls by a cow

Prima Adderina

Cute little Addy. I'm sure all little girls (and boys, for that matter) love to dance around pretending to be ballerinas (ok, maybe not little boys). We decided that at least for now, we wouldn't put Addy in preschool. She got a bit sad realizing that all her friends are going yet she's not. So, I thought to take the sting out of that realization, we'd sign her up for her first "official" dance class. It's just a six week course, half an hour a week, through the city. Nothing against dancers (I love to dance...remember I wanted to be a Janet Jackson backup dancer?), but I'm not into the idea of starting my little girl(s) in dance, only to grow up having body image/potential eating disorder issues. So, really, this is just for fun. Anyway, here are some shots of "Addy Grace"ing the dance floor.

Addy on her first day

During warmups - "butterfly legs"

doing a "lollipop" dance

with her cute teacher, Miss Julie