Didn't make the cut

Its that time of year again! I got my girls all dressed up and took them outside for some pictures for this years Christmas card...

Here is was you will NOT be seeing on the card...

"CHEESE"

Can you see her saying it?

She is trying so hard to get the word right that she forgot to really smile :)

Look how BEAUTIFUL her hair is!!! Jealous!

"Kiss"

I told her to kiss the tree...

looks like she is getting ready to take a bite!

"No way"

This little cutie kept throwing her hands up in front of the camera like, "Don't you dare take a picture of me!" but as you can see her smile was saying otherwise...

"Hands up!"

again

Anyone recognize the outfit she is wearing???

Probably not.... so i'll just tell you.... Its the same thing Maycee wore for our Christmas cards last year! (what can I say, I like green)

This little girl is growing like a weed, and is much much bigger than Maycee was at Lydia's age.

"and again..."

"Look what my tongue can do"

I don't know what Maycee was thinking... do you?

"Almost"

Cute girls, crappy backround

And thats it!!!

(I mean I took alot more but I didn't want to bore you)

Ironically the very first picture I took turned out the best, you can enjoy it in a few weeks :)

Employment!

The last couple of days have been COLD!

I mean wind blowing all day, no sun, frost in the mornings and even a little snow!

Its so different for me to be in conditions like this. Blake says to me this morning (in response to me talking about the cold) he says, "Ya know, it wouldn't be so bad f this was as cold as it got..." and im like "WHAT?! It's gonna get worse!!!" Aw shoot! I am in trouble!

Since it has been cold we have been doing things like this...

Yesterday Blake had the morning off so we took advantage of some family time!

Notice we are all still in P.J.'s and we had soup for lunch, so fun!

We really have to take advantage of the time we have together now since BLAKE GOT A JOB!!!

He is your newest Walmart Associate!

He stokes shelves in the grocery department :)

We came out here think school was going to be most of Blakes time but soon found out that was not the case... not for this semester anyway's. We have been so spoiled having him around almost all the time! Now we will be lucky to have him around AT ALL. Bitter/sweet. We decided it would be easier in the long run not to have so much "debt" in student loans when we were done with school.

The kids have so much fun playing in all the leaves!

Betty has agreed that she will pay us if we can keep up with the falling leaves. So far the leaves are winning... by ALOT! Betty has many MATURE trees on her land. They really are kicking our trash. We got up and racked this morning, and now you can't even tell where. But it is kind of fun. (that might sound weird but it is)

AND AS PROMISED...

The girls costumes...

Maycee was a cowgirl. I just used a picture from this summer's reunion...

Just imagine her with a pink sweater underneath, and no cute hat. (she destroyed it, the stinker)

And Lydia was a DOLL! Well actually she was a bunny, but she was as cute as a doll...

Here you have to think of warm costumes cause its so chilly in the evenings. So what I did was just add some bunny ears to her... I don't know what you would call it but its really puffy and really warm...

... and a bunny tail of coarse!

I think she quite enjoyed it!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Well, no pictures of the girls in their costumes yet but I have everything else from yesterday...

Betty's birthday was the 28th but it worked out better for us to celebrate it on Halloween. We had a yummy soup night next door at the Browns!

5 choices: Cream of Broccoli (Blake)

Potatoe n veggie (Megan)

Pumpkin Curry (Megan)

Chessy Tomatoe (Betty)

Clam Chowder (Betty)

and we ate our soup in these...

Pumpkin looking bread bowls!

and for dessert...

Betty surprised us all with a great costume!

All the kids got a kick out of her hat, it danced and sang songs...

Megan (Brown) made thses really cute bats that we hung on the ceiling aorund the table

We shared alot of laughs through out the night...

in this foto I told the guys to smile add this is what I got...

I think the pumpkin bread bowls and soup are going to become a Halloween traditon.

And are pumpkins this year...

Blake's

and

April's

I feel like I was slacking this year on my pumpkin, but oh well... next year! :)

All in all we had a great Halloween Holiday :)

Brimhall Hotel

We have been here a little over 2 months and lets just say.....

IF YOU HAVEN'T COME TO VISIT YET... YOU ARE MISSING OUT!!!

We have been having so much fun getting to know are neighbors and hosting all of our family that has come to visit! Infact Grandpa Shum and Grandma Kathy just left this morning with Kamy to head back home. Oh what fun we have had with everyone!

In no particular order here are the pictures from our adventures so far...

Maycee had been towing all her friends in this...

Now we tow them in this...

Its not much to look at but it has been SOOOO much fun!

(It is currently under some cosmetic surgery, so stay tuned for updates)

The neighbors have some "pocket" bikes and the kids enjoy them...

We have been shooting...

Maycee finally got to shoot the gun she got for her birthday...

Well she posed for a picture anyway, she did shoot the 22 though...

It was a windy day, but lots of fun!

This little girl has hit 9 months and she is a blast to have, she even helps with the dishes!

Took a trip to Sutherland Farms for the "Green Chile Festival"

Here in NM everyone uses green chile in everything, EVERYTHING! You can walk into any restaurant here and order green chile on just about anything, that includes the franchises like McDonalds and Burger King. They even sale green chile dip next to the french onion dip at the super markets. (We, of coarse, have bought our fare share of green chile and bottled it)

My family payed us a visit. This was our scenery on the drive up to Durango during there stay. And let me tell you, this picture did NOT do it JUSTICE !

We rented this fun little bike in Durago and road along the river. We of coarse all didn't fit at once so we brought some other bikes and just rotated.

Best $20 we spent the whole time they were here.

We weren't totally prepared for the snow, but we stopped on the way into Silverton and "played" for a while. Rachel, the one in the middle, was SUPER excited because she had never played in the snow while it was snowing.

WE SURE MISSED YOU ANGIE!!!

If you haven't heard of Bolacks, here is a taste of it!

Its a musem of animals that one man, Tom Bolack, hunted in his life time. There are over 2000 species of animals in this place and let me tell you, it is worth the visit! This crock is about 12 FEET long, record size. You have to see it for yourself!

Here is Maycee and Kamy together, from the visit just these last couple of days. These two sure had alot of fun together!

It was awesome to have Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Shum here! It was just a flyin-in trip but we made the best of all there time here. We started out at Bolacks and then stopped in durago for lunch and then onto Cortez and had a tour of the Cortez Flour Mill there, which was amazing, and then back down through Shiprock and home again. Beautiful country we drove through!

Grandma made us some amazing biscuits and gravy while they were here! Blake has been that happy in a long time :)

We have been having so much fun with everyone here! Hope the rest of you can make it soon :)

Home and Labor Day Weekend

Here are some pictures of our "trailer" house, as promised :)

I debated about putting these up for two reasons

1.) The house wasn't the cleanest when I took them. But then I decided "Aw heck! My house is never gonna stay clean long enough for "clean" pictures anyway"

AND

2.) I don't want this to be an excuse for people that they don't have to come visit because they have "already seen the place".... So you can only look if you still promise to come visit.

Blake has always wanted a yellow house, now he's got one :)

The set up is kind of funny. This is the front door, but if you really pay attention to the layout of the house this should actually be the back door. So our back door has a doorbell. Anyway...

Our front "nook"

Betty pulled up one day in her golf cart and said "What a cute little nook you have."

Isn't it though??

Here is the entry way when you come inside...

and then you walk right into our living room...

(im still working on curtains and other decorations)

then if you walk up those stairs in the living room you pass through the small kitchen and dining room and then walk into the play room... As you can see it also currently doubling as a clothes line. We don't have a dryer yet! Can't tell you how much I miss my fluffy towels!!

We also were almost a whole month without a microwave but we have one now :) So funny all the conveniences we can't live without!

For labor day weekend we had yet another family reunion! We have been to three this summer! And I am really sorry that none of them were with my family :( I mean don't get me wrong, Blake's family was a blast to hang out with all summer, BUT I wish my family would get together more often for reunions or just planned party's in general. (Yes, that was a stab to my family, hopefully it will motivate them to put something together :) )

Maycee enjoyed her weekend with Avie at the reunion!

They have turned out to be the best of friends!

Aren't they adorable?!

We had some good laughs at the reunion. One of which involved these "Mobys" (Moby's are these wraps that are made to hold your babies)

Some of us were finding other things to hold in them... like adults! It was great! Can't wait to do it again next year.

Maycee finds some many things to do at home. She is always playing with her neighbor friends Jacob and Ellie and Betty too. This place is great for her!

The stairs inside are fun for the girls too. Maycee will jump from the very top occasionally. And I did find Lydia had climbed the whole way up yesterday. That girl can get around, even if it is still an army crawl.

This girl's favorite breakfast is eggs. Im not sure if even half of it gets in her mouth but she LOVES to feed herself.

Blake is staying busy with school and he did get a job. Don't know how long it will last... he is making minimum wage :( Better than nothing but he is WAY better than that! He is working as a lock smith but really all he has done so far is scoffer(sp?) a tech around.

No church callings yet... But we hope they will be soon :)