An early winter

Audrey and Ryan had a good time with the panoramic setting and our dirt hills

 We woke up Thanksgiving morning to a foot of snow.  Frost and Teesh got creative quickly

We took Theo on our walk through the field but he quickly got weighted down

We're painting the mudroom so a lot of junk was left on our kitchen table.  Jeff found a machete and decided it was a great way to eat his pancake

My birthday trip

 For my birthday, Mario surprised me with flight tickets to Phoenix.  Of course it was heavenly weather down there.  We took advantage of it and took a 2 day side trip down to Tombstone and the Saguaro national park. 

teesh getting her old west on

our night time trolly ghost tour. (Nicole and Teesh were scared- maybe?)

Liam had changed so much and we couldn't get enough of him.  He loved showing us his incredible climbing skills

Changes and we're off to France

I'm now the 1st counselor in the stake YW.  The pros--I get to have an actual purpose at stake functions, the cons--I have an actual purpose at stake functions.  I'm looking so forward to working and laughing with these friends though.

The grandparent addition has begun!!!!

I sure love little Jo and this little picture.

This was our favorite man in France.  We called him "My grandma's homemade hotpad man"

saying goodbye to Jo before we were off

Taken after our session in the Paris temple

One of Ryan's favorite mission friends fed us a yummy french Sunday dinner

 Our trip to France with Audrey and Ryan was so much fun!  My fave part was anytime we went out of Paris.  I love the European countryside.  I also super love  all of the cathedrals.  Buildings there are just so amazing and...old.  We had fun in 2 different escape rooms, ate a lot of yummy food, saw a lot of sites, saw a few of Ryan's areas and spent a lot of time in the train stations, and had the usual struggles getting back home when we wanted to.  Being in Europe always has an effect on me---it makes me want to go back and see more of Europe.

Audrey and Ryan were the perfect traveling companions

ok-Mario's is a little better than mine.  The chin is WAY out of control

Halloween and baby Frosty turns 15

We had the idea to do Gru and his minions mostly because of Isaac and his tall skinny legs.  His part of our theme costume was definitely the best part.

Audrey, Jo and Ryan killed it with the whole Spiderverse thing

Teesh organized and threw Isaac a surprise birthday party with a bunch of their mutual friends.  I've loved seeing them at the same school this year and how they have so many friends with siblings that are the same ages--so it works out perfectly for them.  They're all a fun group of kids!

Mark H. is Isaac's bestie and we have zero complaints about this.  What a great kid!!

Trip to AZ

Jeff and Teesh for homecoming

 Teesh and Jeff have been really great friends for awhile now and they often get asked if they are siblings.  Then when Teesh points out that it's actually Isaac that's her brother, they usually think she's joking with them.  We love having Jeff around.  He's always happy to help with all of my moving of furniture, taking apart the deck, etc.  He also has a personality/crazy sense of humor that rivals Teesh.  --how the heck does that even happen?

At Akita right before Liam got hot soup spilled on his lap

 I didn't make it very long at all without going to AZ.  It was planned a long time ago though, since Mumford and Sons was coming to Phoenix and Teesh, Frost and I are so obsessed with their music.  Ian started it and would have come in a second if he could have.  It was so fun to see them again and the concert was everything we could have hoped for and then some.

such a happy little guy

patiently waiting for the concert to start

Goodbye to my lil guy

AJ and Nicole decided summer was officially over, living with parents was officially over, and us getting to hold Liam anytime we want to-also officially over.  I plan to get on a plane for AZ as much as humanly possible.  Sure love that little guy!

Teesh has been asked to homecoming and trying on dresses with her has been an....experience.  But also really fun.  She's come a long way since the days of her self esteem depending on how well she did at football with the boys during recess.

Girl trip, and Isaac

 We took our annual girl's trip to Blanding and had a lot of fun in both Lake Powell and Recapture Dam. I think Lake Powell is one of the top most unique places in the world and I had guilt that we've been to Blanding so many times and yet never taken the kids there.  So we fixed that.

Audrey and Teesh

love my Little Jo

Audrey, Melissa, Jo, and Zoey

Ryan and Teesh's album cover

extreme AJ likeness

first day of school for these 2