HALLOWEEN!

Carly and Ellie are wearing costumes that were handed down from Nanny Nette's house - I remember wearing these! I even have a picture of me as a clown (about Carly's age), with the same wig, but a different clown costume.

Sadly, I didn't get a picture of Aubree!!! She was a fairy - and so cute too!

We went to dinner at Tanner and Libby's house with some other friends and went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. We ended up at our house and enjoyed hot cocoa with our friends.

Visiting the Wakefields

It was so fun to visit the Wakefields at their home in St. George - they are such awesome friends. We go back a long way - Shawna and I since we were 5, and Aaron and Curt since Jr. High. With them, we can always pick up where we left off - it's great! We arrived Thursday night and pretty much just went to bed. Then...


Friday, Aaron was nice enough to watch all 7 of the kids in the afternoon while Shawna and I went shopping. We made sure to stop by Sweet tooth Fairy for a treat too. I discovered the yummiest way to eat a tortilla while there - grill the cheese on both sides of one tortilla, then fill it up with fresh tomatoes, lettuce and ranch dressing - YUM!!! Shawna insisted Aaron bring his guitar (reminiscent of the good ol' college days.) Curt had to drive Aaron to the store to buy a new string so we could hear him play. His hands were sore because he hadn't played in awhile and then he played a lot while he was there.
For dinner we had some yummy BBQ beef...
Here we are having a little picnic in the backyard.

(these pics are out of chronological order) The last night there we watched the replay of the BYU game - they lost.

We went on a double date to the Tuacan theater where we watched Grease. It is an awesome outdoor theater. Curt is a seminary teacher at the high school at Tuacan, so we got free tickets. It was so fun to be there.


We went on a hike on Saturday by Tuacan High School/Theater. St. George is so beautiful!! I love the red hills, and also the background of "regular" mountains - so so pretty!

Adults and kids alike had a great time at the playground we went to on Friday night. Although, Shawna and I both left with injuries - I seriously thought I broke my knee cap.

The kids all got along really well too. Heidi and Carly left with promises to be pen pals.

As a side note, Heidi said something very profound and true after we left their house. Carly and Heidi did something they weren't supposed to do (I don't remember what). After we left, Shawna talked to Heidi about it and told her that she should have let Carly know that they weren't supposed to do whatever it was. Heidi replied: "Carly's not really the type of girl you tell what to do."

Jordan and Anna Forever!

Uncle Jordan is one lucky guy! On September 2nd he married Anna Sorensen in the Los Angelos Temple. They are so perfect for each other. In the ten years I have known Jordan, I have NEVER seen him so happy - the whole Parson clan is thrilled to have Anna in the family!

Aaron and most of his siblings (Justin couldn't make it to CA) went to Los Angelos for the wedding. Here is an awesome sibling photo:Aaron looks so young - like a missionary!

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THE RECEPTION IN IDAHO

At Grandma and Grandpa's house A candid of Aubree, Ellise and cousin Suzie

Cousins Anna, Sarah, and Carly

Our one family photo of the year!

The beautiful bride pulling girl cousins

Speaking of girl cousins.....

It was fun to have Kay-Lynn here with Justin - they got to ride to and from Idaho with us.

That is one great thing about living in the SL valley - we get to see our family that's flying in and out of the SL airport. And if we're lucky we get to have slumber parties! In fact, when the caravan drove down to California for the wedding we had Leon, Kathy, Holly, Troy, Alie, Franci (and her bro-in-law) spend the night.

Tea Party with Ellie, Carly, Megan, Kaylie, Anna, Kay-Lynn

First Day of Kindergarten

Ellise wasn't even nervous for the first day of school. She got all her Jewelry on - including the earrings and necklace I made for her a few weeks ago - and off we went! I got to go with her on the first day. After that first day, she was a little nervous, maybe because the reality of it finally hit her. Her teacher asked her what she wanted to be called and she said "Ellie". I was a bit surprised because she usually says she wants to be called Ellise. It was kind of a weird thing to see Ellie make that decision on her own - it was like I could feel her growing up.

I didn't get a picture of Carly on her first day (hopefully blogging more will keep me on my toes with things like this). She was opposite from Ellie, very anxious leading up to the first day of school, but after that, she was good to go!

It was a little hard for me with both of them. Especially since I didn't get to go with Carly on her first day and I knew she would be gone all day.

Kids and teachers alike get these two mixed up. One boy that knew Carly saw Carly and Ellie standing next to each other and looked back and forth at them a few times, with a bewildered look on his face, and then pretended to faint. :) From what I've seen and heard, they have been being good friends at school. Whenever they see each other, Ellie will run up to Carly and wrap her arms and legs around her.

Daddy-Daughter Day Camp

Our stake has a Father-Daughter Camp-out every summer. The girls look forward to it so much. Last year just Carly and Ellise went, this year Aubree got to go too!

Beautiful Girls! And Handsome Daddy!!

The last two pictures are ones that the stake took - I love the caption on the last one - "You're always safe with Dad!!" (For whatever reason, Carly didn't want to be in these ones.)

More Fridge Quotes

April 20, 2011
Carly had a friend over (Hariet). Carly asked her, "Do you bite your fingernails?" Hariet answered, "Um, not really". Then Carly admitted, "I do, and I bite my toe nails and I pick my nose."

May 2011
While driving in the car as a family one Sunday Carly said, "I feel so sorry for Mommy. Soon Aubree will be at school and me and Ellie. And Daddy will have to go to work. Mommy will be home all alone." (Aaron and I exchange a knowing look.) Then trying to sound more upbeat Carly says, "She'll have a mommy relationship with Mom. She can go grocery shopping." And then it was as if a light bulb lit up in her head. She continued, "We'll come home and there'll be chocolate smeared all over her face, laundry not done, and she'll be drinking a soda."

June 17, 2011
We were watching Oliver and Co." as a family and we watched the part where the little girl is practicing the piano. After the song was over Carly said matter-of-factly, "I don't think she needs to practice!"

here and there

This is the view we have out our back window in the winter time - so beautiful! And in the summer - even better!


Two miniature Mommies

This little girl is so much fun! Some of her latest phrases: "I don' wannu", "Love oo", and "my do it". She loves to pretend to be a puppy and loves for me to pretend to be a baby. Sometimes she'll pretend to be my baby and just cuddle with me - so sweet. I wish I could share all of her cuteness in this blog, but so much of it is just in her body language and the way she moves and talks.

Ellie and I made this cake from scratch - start to finish. (I'm sure you were thinking we had this ordered from some fancy bakery and paid a lot of money for it :))

So, things here are going really well. Aaron got a job at an Engineering Firm in W. Jordan in November - Yay! They have been SUPER busy and Aaron really likes the people he works with. We feel really blessed that Aaron got this job so quickly.

Carly on class picture day. 6 going on 16 - seriously! This girl keeps me on my toes. She is ALWAYS listening and asking hard questions. She really likes Kindergarten and has picked up on reading so quickly. She struggled at the beginning of the year with making friends which was really hard for her (and me). There are a bunch of girls in her class that have grown up in the same ward and she was the only girl who didn't know anyone. I was really surprised because Carly has always been our social bug and other kids have always been drawn to her. But, she has now found her place in the social scheme of things and is loving it. Here's a cute story about how Carly can be such a sweet sister: Ellise had spent a lot of time coloring Valentine's for some of her neighbor friends while Carly was at school. Then Ellie went to the mailbox to see if she got anything ..... nothing. So, when Carly got home from school with a big bag of Valentines, Ellie felt pretty bad. A few minutes later Carly told us to go check the mail. Inside was a cute picture/Valentine that Carly had secretly made for Ellise.

Ellise is so creative and inventive. She made this toy ALL BY HERSELF. It's a plastic cup with a string coming out of it and a bead at the end of the string. (You try to catch the bead in the cup.) Just today she asked me why we don't see a crack in everything. I kind of gave her a blank look. So, she pointed to the bridge of her nose and asked me why there isn't a gap when we look at things. (You have to be really bright to understand what she's asking - it took me awhile :)) I had never thought of it before, but thought is was a very good question. (Maybe our good friend, Dr. Klingler, has a 5-year-old explanation for us)