Family Pictures 2016

 Every year I wait til the last minute to schedule family pictures, and it is always a stressful experience (Abby wanted our photographer/friend/neighbor to hold her the whole time). A lot of bribery went into these pictures!!  But every year I am so glad to have these amazing pictures to capture this time in our lives!

 Abby.  She will be 2 in January, but she thinks she's as old as Eliza.  She loves to dress up with Eliza, run/gallop everywhere she goes, sing "Popcorn Popping," play playdoh, watch Frozen, say "mine" and "NO!", and play with her baby.  She's starting to say more and more, and we love hearing what she has to say! She has trouble with sharing and grabbing/hitting now. She has the biggest smile around and has so much energy and zest for life! We love our Abby!

 Pictures with the girls and Andrew are always my favorite! I can't believe we'll be adding another girl in March!

 I think this is one of few pictures of Andrew and I that I like! :) We just celebrated 8 years of marriage, and it feels good! Its amazing to look back and realize how much we have done together. We both graduated from college, I taught/subbed in Elementary school for a couple of years, Andrew graduated medical school, we have 2 1/2 daughters, and we are getting so close to him being done with his anesthesia residency (June 2018)! We have really been blessed, and we know we owe all of our blessings to our Heavenly Father.

Eliza! She will be 5 in March, and I am so grateful to have such a great helper when baby #3 comes in March.  She is so much like me, and most of the times it helps both of us, and other times with makes us pretty frustrated with each other! ;) Our family is so blessed to have her as our oldest.  She is kind, smart, thoughtful, and really wants to do what's right. She loves reading, puzzles, dress up, ballet, Moana, Elena of Avalor, singing, and playing with her friends. Sharing and waiting are hard for her right now (especially with her sister). She is starting to read and is good at focusing on things, like puzzles and different projects (got that from her dad, definitely not me!). We love our Eliza!

Topsail Island, NC 2016

Every two years (we've been doing it for 18ish years!), my Mom's family rents beach houses right on the beach and we party for a week.  This year we had about 85 people there-- and there were a couple of people missing! We are so grateful for my Grandpa Monk and his wife Nancy for allowing us to go there and for giving us our awesome family. It is heaven on earth. And thanks to my sister Amber for taking all of these pictures!

 Eliza and cousin Jack.  This makes my heart explode just a little.

 Too cool.  Actually too pale.  Our pour fair children.

 Eliza wasn't a huge fan of the actual water, but she LOVED the sand.  She made sand castles, dug LOTS of holes, and played with cousins.

 Cousin Jane and Aunt Nikki.  I think Eliza could live with these two for the rest of her life and not look back at all. 

 This one, on the other hand, LOVED the water.  She is our fearless child, and we knew she'd be a handful.  She really doesn't walk, she runs, and she is the queen of changing her direction last minute.  She had Andrew and me on our toes, but we're so glad she loved it!

 

 My dad does a summer Olympics with all the kids (this is just Eliza and Jack in one of the races).  She got a gold metal! Woohoo! (So did everyone else. ;) )

 Utah is too far away!!

 Isn't this view unreal?! Night time was pure heaven.

 Eliza with Aunt Amber.  Master babysitter/picture taker.

 My siblings! It had been a really long time since we were all together, with my brother and sister's missions. I'm so proud of each one of them!

Until next time!

Random catch-up

We are majorly behind, so I'll do a quick upload of some random pictures from the summer.  :)

Fourth of July!

 Fourth of July bike parade in our neighborhood. I chose her skirt, and she chose her shirt...

 Cutest Abby at 6 months old! Rolling, laughing, eating baby food, and her personality is really starting to come out!

 Eliza is such a great big sister. When Abby can start talking back to Eliza, I think it will be the greatest day of Eliza's life.  She says multiple times a day, "I just LOVE having a sister!"

 First try of baby food.   Abby is an eating CHAMP. She even ate the meat baby food. Yuck.

 Eliza was always at the very bottom of the charts for weight and height (not for her head though-- she has one big noggin').  Abby on the other hand has been around the 50-70% for weight and height since she was little.  When the doctors first told us that she was 75% for height at 2 months, Andrew and I laughed because we thought she was joking.

 Preschool!! Eliza is doing a joy school with some friends and she is also doing a preschool with Miss Jenny-- our neighbor that teaches preschool in her basement.  She loves it and has really thrived this year.

Abby at 7 months! She is CRAWLING.  Abby is SO MUCH FUN and pretty mischievous.  She is such a blessing in our lives and keeps up busy!