Tessa Baby

Happy Christmas 2010!

Snowfall

We had a huge snowfall on Monday. I got a pic of this basketball hoop to show how much snow it caught. We had a great time sledding down the driveway with the kids!

Get your Decorating on!

Here are some pics of creating our gingerbread house, decorating the tree, and some yummy goodies just in time for Christmas

Buy Low Rocks

When the grocery store Buy Low came to town, the parents couldn't get enough. Seems like it doesn't matter what it is, the joke is that whenever somebody found something fantastic or for an unbelievably good deal, it always came from Buy Low. It is still the parents' favorite place to dance in the aisles late at night.
Well just when we thought Buy Low couldn't get any better, when we happened to stop in last week, low and behold, there was Santa! No worries about going to the mall and waiting in long lines for the girls to sit on Santa's lap.
In theory, Siena loves Santa. In reality, he totally freaks her out, and she wouldn't go near him, unless she was sitting on my lap and I was holding her.

Siena's Gynnastics

Siena was born a gymnast. She can amazing physical things that we often think she shouldn't be able to do. We signed her up for the gym, mid-semester. Her first day, the instructor used her as a demo to show all the other kids how to do a forward roll (somersault) on the balance beam. Siena was the only kid who wasn't afraid and who could do it. The other kids had been going for at least a month already. Much to our chagrin, she often tries her tricks at home to, often destroying things, or at best, making a complete mess! But she sure does enjoy it :)

Coming to a crawl

Tessa is trying to crawl. She is really close, but now quite there. She has the best laugh in the world, and nothing makes my ears happier! She is also eating more solids too, like an occasional cracker.
Siena is still a great big sister. She loves holding Tessa, but Tessa is not always so sure...
The screaming car video with Siena was taken this summer at Chuck-e-cheese with Siena's friend Sami. Maybe she got her term "car slide" whenever we go down a hill, around a corner, or just fast in general from this ride?

A fine fall day

Enjoying some really great fall weather. Siena being a great big sister and pushing Tessa on the swing.

Happy Hallow's Eve

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We had a fun trunk-or-treat this year on Friday, the 29th, with the girls and I dressed up as sailors and Thad donning his army get-up. Siena helped carve her own jack-o-lantern this year, and continued decorating it after it was carved (notice all the Sharpie lines on jack's face). She loved putting the candle in the jack-o-lantern and even spontaneously sang "Happy Birthday to you, pumpkin!" It was quite adorable!
It was a good thing the trunk-or-treat was on Friday, because Saturday, the 30th (for intents and purposes, the actual Halloween day, here in Utah), was a cold, rainy, and a bit miserable. We decided that a few pieces of candy wasn't worth the possibility of getting sick, and we didn't even bother suiting the girls up again. No worries, though. Siena got more than her fair share of candy and had no complaints :)

Yellowstone in October

Siena with her "cheesy" make-up job (read story below)

The main Park in Jackson Hole

Grand Tetons

Cascades at Mammoth

An inactive volcano cone at Mammoth

Dragon's breath

Dragon's Cauldron

Upper Falls (the one the reminded me of Iguassu because of the sheer drop below)

Old Faithful. It goes off every 90 minutes (give or take 10 min). We missed the previous explosion by 2 minutes, and the next one was 16 minutes late, so we ended up waiting 114 minutes to see it.

The Painted Pots

Siena's "buffalope"

Firehole Falls

Elk rutting

Last week was Fall break, and we took full advantage. I took an extra day off work (Thad had the whole week off, but I only had Thursday off, since I don't work Fridays anyway). So Thad had this brilliant idea to go to Yellowstone. We had never been before. I wasn't sure how the girls would do on that long of a road trip, but as it turns out, it is only a 6 hour drive from our home! I can't believe we had never gone before.
Right as we drove into the park, we saw a bald eagle flying overhead, and a swan swimming. A few minutes latter, we found our first "buffalope," as Siena called the bison. We saw the coolest 'painted pots' of mud volcanoes. The basically looked like mini volcanoes, with boiling mud inside. Oh wait a minute, that's exactly what they are! And geysers galore! We took every little side road possible to get the most out of the experience.
Old Faithful was cool, but the tiered 'pools' at Mammoth and the dragon's cauldron and dragon's breath were probably my favorite, along with the painted pots. The dragon's breath was a geyser coming out of a crevice in a rock that looked like a cave where a dragon might live. Siena thought that was so cool, and decided to scare the dragon off. She Grrrr-ed her loudest GRRR! and ran away. After that, she kept looking for dragons (geysers) so she could scare them away. Too cute!
We also saw coyotes, a rabbit, and tons of Elk. (no bears, no moose... or 'meese' as Thad calls them)
As it turns out, October is the absolutely BEST time to go to Yellowstone, since there are no crowds or traffic. Sure it got a bit chilly that first morning- below freezing as 30 degrees, but it soon heated up a bit. The variety of the landscape just blew us away! From desert-y landscape, to geysers galore, and springs, waterfalls- one so huge that is was reminiscent of Iguassu- and grasslands, forests, jagged mountains. It's amazing that God could fit such a variety in such a small radius!
And the girls did so well! A couple of times, Siena got a little bored in the car, but she kept us all intertained, either by singing songs (actual ones, and ones she made up), and by getting creative with her dippy cheese and stick crackers, turning it into a makeup set, and applying the cheese on her face as eyeliner and lipstick. Look really close at the pic of her.
We finished our trip driving down through the Grand Tetons, and through Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Definitely our best road trip ever!

Tessa's Cheeks

One of my favorite things about my sweet Tessa are her cheeks. Both sets.
And she has been making the silliest faces lately where she sucks her bottom lip in.
Just wanted to share :)