Got Gas???

So, Dan came home today and said "ooo, I have something to show you". Now, I must say that he rarely is able to surprise me with anything. I somehow figure things out before he gets to see the "surprised look". It drives him crazy. Anyway, he brought me a little piece of paper. Sure enough, it was a surprise! Today he filled up tank in our SUV (I'm not appologizing for having an SUV) that was below empty. The surprise? He spent only $36.00!!!! Yup, that's right. It cost him $2.53 per gallon (sad that excites me)!!! Instead of paying over $50 like we had been doing in the summer, we spent under $40! I was shocked, thrilled, excited and wanted to go for a drive! Now if only gas prices would go down to $2.00. I'll never forget back in college paying $0.98 per gallon. Oh, the good ole' days... I'm curious, how much is everyone out there paying at the pump???

Family Picture

This is one of the pictures I was talking about from a previous post where the lady came up to us and said she'd take some pictures for us. Anyway, we're going to have do some more of the girls and I'm really excited. She's so nice and works great with kids. If you're in Massachusetts, check her out. www.joanelizabethphotography.com

The things a 2 year old says...

Mckenzie has found a lot of joy in using words. She not only loves to talk (although half the time I'm translating for people), she loves to sing! The other day she ran up, gave me a hug and sang "I love you..I love you.. I love you.. MOMMY!" I love the sweet and tender heart my little Mckenzie has. She seems to always know when someone needs a little boost. She has a way of making everyone around her feel good, important and special!

More pictures of our visit from Bree and Spencer

Here's some more pictures of when Bree and Spencer came last week. I have to say that Mckenzie absolutely ADORES her aunt Bree and uncle Spencer. When I dropped them off at the airport, she BAWLED for the next 10 minutes.

Spencer, Dan and Bree carving pumpkins

Mckenzie had a blast riding the horse named Spencer. She has a knack for eating up all the attention.

This is our 3rd time to Nantucket!

Dan and Spencer on the boat

Spencer waiting and waiting and waiting some more...
Apparently, Dan is very bad luck to take along on a fishing trip. Oh well, they had fun.

Bree and Mckenzie looking for sea shells while Dan and Spencer went on the sport fishing boat with Jonathan (Dan's brother).

"There must be something wrong with Abby. She is like the perfect baby". This is my favorite quote while they were visiting us.

If you can't tell, Jonathan is showing Mckenzie a live crab. She thought it was pretty cool until it crawled under the stroller...

It looks like Mckenzie needed her hair brushed more than Aunt Bree.

Broncos Game!

My brother and sister came out to visit for their fall break. Spencer is a Broncos fan and it just so happened that the Broncos were in town for a Monday night game against the Patriots, so I was able to get tickets and watch the Broncos get beat REALLY bad. It was a lot of fun and we were surprised by how many Bronco fans were there. Smart people! The game was great, but the driving and parking situation was absolutely horrible. It took us 2 hours to get home when it's only 40 miles away ugh... We had awesome lower sideline seats and we were able to see everything so well. We talked with the guy next to us a lot and he gave me his email and stuff so that when Spencer comes out during next summer, he'll give us Red Sox tickets. I'm way excited about this because it is SO hard to get tickets to a Sox game!

APPLES APPLES APPLES

We absolutely love Massachusetts in the fall. It is BEAUTIFUL and it keeps getting better! Saturday, Dan said that he wanted to take us to breakfast. What did he have in mind for us to eat for breakfast??? APPLES! There are huge orchards in the area that for a decent price let you go out and pick apples and eat some while you're doing it. We rode a big wagon (if you ever watch Jon and Kate + 8, they've done the same thing, but with pumpkins) out to the orchards and then had a blast walking up and down each aisle. I never knew there were so many kinds of apples! Dan really liked the "topaz" and I really liked the "macintosh's". Mckenzie ran around taste testing and Abby gnawed on apples the whole time (she still has NO teeth). I can't wait till we go again and get pumpkins, but what I'm really excited for is next summer when we can pick all the different berries. Our tummies were a bit tired of eating all the apples, so we bought some "cider donuts" and apple cider at the kitchen. It was a great way to spend a beautiful fall Saturday in Massachusetts. If you have any suggestions on what to make with all the apples, let me know. I've made a yummy apple pie already, but I'm thinking about trying other things like apple butter or applesauce. Anyone have any good recipes???

If you're interested...

Crazy 8s

Crazy Eights!

I have been tagged! Enjoy!

8 t.v. shows I love to watch:
1. Everybody Loves Raymond
2. What Not To Wear
3. Flip that House
4. News (I know, I'm boring)
5. Just Shoot Me (I'm a HUGE David Spade fan)
6. Real Stories from the ER (My uncle was on one of these shows once)
7. Baby Story
8. ANYTHING on Discovery Health

Favorite Restaurants:
1. Johnny Carino's
2. Wayside Inn
3. PF Chang's (it's the only Asian food I'll eat)
4. Dan's cooking (sorry, I know that's not a restaurant, but it's really nice when I don't have to cook)
5. Rodizio's (YUM!!!!)
6. Macaroni Grill
7. Vinny T's
8. Texas Roadhouse

8 Things that happened yesterday:
1. Went to Stake Conference
2. Tried to remain calm with my 2 year old during stake conference
3. Took a nap
4. Watched Dan make potatoe soup
5. Watched Dan make YUMMY dinner rolls
6. Gave the girls a shower
7. Read scriptures and said prayers and put the girls to bed
8. Watched a movie

8 things I am looking forward to:
1. Spencer and Bree coming to visit on Saturday!
2. Jonathan finishing up work in Nantucket and hanging out with us for a few weeks
3. MAX GETS TO CALL ME TODAY!!!
4. Holidays in Colorado and Idaho
5. Snowboarding, snowboarding and more snowboarding!
6. Being done with Christmas shopping
7. Voting for the next president, though living where I live, my vote doesn't matter a whole lot
8. nap time

8 things I love about fall:
1. Boston
2. playing in the leaves
3. sweaters
4. daylight savings time
5. not so humid
6. dressing the girls up in Halloween costumes
7. trick-or-treat candy
8. knowing it's almost winter time meaning we get to snowboard soon!!!

8 things on my wish list:
1. Visit Russia and my sweet friends there
2. To be a better momma
3. buy a house
4. get the camera I want
5. Trip to Fiji
6. To have a spotless house without having to clean it myself
7. For the laundry to do itself
8. For both my girls to be completely potty trained (Mckenzie is getting there)

8 people I am tagging
1. Eve M
2. Stefanie M
3. Kirsten J
4. Soon-to-be momma, Janae B
5. Melissa M
6. Jake W
7. Cindy W
8. Anyone else who wants to!

General Confrence Weekend

General Conference is always an eventful time when you have little ones running or crawling around. The saturday morning session was spent getting in a couple words here and there. LONG STORY! When the session was done, we had a great idea. Since we can listen to conference on my phone via the internet (don't you love technology), why don't we go for a drive and listen to it that way? It worked out rather well. The girls were calmer and quieter and we were able to listen to a good amount of the afternoon session. We decided that Sunday would be spent drive up the coast into Maine while listening to conference and checking out the fall colors. The leaves are still in the process of changing, but it made for a BEAUTIFUL drive and a much more pleasant conference experience. We also went to "Old Orchard Beach" and had a picnic in the sand while the seagulls swarmed us. We took lot's of pictures, though I ended up not taking many pictures of the trees. Go figure.

Mckenzie actually looked at the camera. AMAZING!

Abby a sweet as can be!

Daddy's little girls!

The girls had a blast playing in the leaves at the Grist Mill.

I love the look on Abby's face.

Mckenzie is the most ticklish girl I know!



This professional photographer lady was taking pictures of another family at the Grist Mill and offered to take some for us with our camera between those clients and another family. Then, she decided that wasn't good enough and took tons with her camera. I can't wait to check them out!


Abby didn't like the taste of the sand, but kept putting handfuls in her mouth. YUCK!


Mckenzie loves collecting seashells. Sunday she was very good at putting the shells back in the water (I have way too many shells hanging around the house).


Mckenzie is a daddy's girl! She absolutely adores him!

A Fun Blogging Game

Okay so for this blogging game, you need to post a blog using one of your own pictures. Open "My Pictures" file and choose the fourth folder in there. Then find the fourth picture in that file and post it! Let everyone know where, when, what, and who is in the picture and enjoy!!
I may start doing this once a month. We'll see. It's fun to look at pictures you haven't seen in awhile. I have to admit that this picture was not the fourth, it was the fifth. The fourth picture was of me pregnant and there's no way I'll post it. Sorry, I guess I'm self-conscious.


This is a picture of my sister, Bree. Mckenzie absolutely ADORES Bree. She thinks Bree is the most fabulous person in the world. Well, next after her mommy and daddy. This is when Bree came out to Arizona for Mckenzie's first birthday. We went to the zoo even though it was so hot! Mckenzie will do ANYTHING as long as it's with her Aunt Bree. We love you, Bree!

Tagged

4 Random things about my husband:

He takes care of the kids so I can have breaks.
He snowboards.
He is genuine.
He is sincere
He is thoughtful
He is a great cook.
ok, I'll stop and move on to the next,.

4 movies I could see over and over:

Dumb and Dumber
How to Lose a Guy in 10 days
Happy Gilmore
Emma

4 T.V. shows I watch:
Everybody Loves Raymond
What Not to Wear
Top Gear
(Sorry, we don't have cable so I really don't watch tv, but these are shows I do like. We do Netflix and I LOVE renting the tv shows and watching them that way)

4 places I've been:

Russia
Wales
Mexico
Switzerland

4 people who email me regularly:

Mom
Toni
Max
Jetblue airways

4 favorite foods:
cannoli's
chocolate covered strawberries
just about anything from the "Wayside Inn"
potatoes (any way except raw)

4 places I would like to visit:
Greece
Fiji
Wistler, Canada
Russia

4 things I am looking forward to in the coming year:

paying off all our medical bills
snowboarding
life with a 3 and 2 year old
more sightseeing on the east coast