Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family!!!

Yellow Leaves

Fall quickly came and the leaves quickly fell, but I enjoyed it and loved seeing the colors of the leaves change, till next year.

Thanksgiving 2011

This year we got to celebrate Thanksgiving at one of my most favorite places, the beach in San Diego. It was great!
This is a shot of the view from the living room balcony.
And of course no Thanksgiving would be complete without starting your day off with a little 5k run, with over 10,000 other people.
My mom, sister Rebecca and I went and did it and had a fun time.
Me in action.
It was a fun race and I felt good about my results, keeping just under a 7min mile and coming in as the 21st girl with, once again over 10,000 people. I always appreciate my family coming and cheering me on so early in the morning.
Took a minute but we finally got a smile out of her.
Ellouise was having fun with uncle Dylan.
The meal as always was delicious. I have to say Kyle was a big help and made some delicious gravy, stuffing and green bean casserole. I love how part of the meal is a pan of marshmallows with a hint of sweet potatoes.
Ellouise would not sit still or smile for me so this is what I got on her first Thanksgiving day. She is getting so big and is all over the place. She loved having all the cousins around to follow.
Evelyn really loved her meal and enjoyed trying just about everything.
The best part of the weekend was being at the beach. The girls loved it. The weather was perfect and we had fun building and digging together. There were a lot of people and a lot of noise but I am glad the girls got to be with all their cousins and have a good time.




We walked down to the park where they have some fun rides for Evie.

It was a lovely Thanksgiving and I am reminded of all the many things I am so thankful for and blessed with. I couldn't ask for a better husband and family. My girls are everything to me and I just hope they are thankful for a mom like me. I am also so thankful for the example of my mom and am glad we got to celebrate her birthday with her.

"I Love to See the Temple"

This past Sunday Evelyn got to participate in her first Primary program. She was so excited that her class the "moonbeams" got to go up for one song and sing "I Love to See the Temple." Evelyn really knows this song and loves to sing it every night with a bunch of other ones so I was excited to see her belt it out. Well, though you couldn't hear her and though her lips were barely moving, she still did a great job and looked so pretty and big standing up there.
We wanted to say thank you to Grandma and Grandpa K. for sending the girls these beautiful dresses so Evelyn could dress up so nicely for her little program. They both looked so cute together and received multiple compliments on how darling they looked.


Evie being Evie, that is getting my phone and asking me to take a picture of her.

Santa Barbara Half Marathon

Yeah, I did it, I accomplished my first half marathon! It felt so good and was actually kind of fun. I was able to keep up a 7.45min mile and finish in about 1hr and 41min.
Thanks to my sister Brittany, she's the one who actually got me to sign up for it and see it till the end.
It turned out to be the perfect day in Santa Barbara to run a half marathon. All week the weather predicted rain, but luckily it stopped and was clear skies. It was so nice to have my girls and parents there to cheer me on. Kyle wasn't able to be there but I felt his cheers for me from Georgia. I am so glad I did it and feel good. Thanks to those for your support.
Cute little Annie and Ellouise having fun together.

Halloween Fun!

It was another fun Halloween this year full of pumpkins, activities and lots of candy!
If you couldn't tell there's a skier, ladybug, kitty cat and a coach in the picture above. We had fun at the pumpkin patch with the girls watching them pet the animals, ride the pony, take a ride on the train and pick out their favorite pumpkin. Evelyn's favorite was the orange and green pumpkin, she wanted nothing to do with the nice bright orange ones.
They are such cute sisters together.
Ellouise was having fun celebrating her first Halloween. She is just full of smiles.




Kyle helped Evelyn carve her pumpkin cause she also wanted nothing to do with the cleaning out part. She thought it was "disgusting" and was afraid to touch it.
We improvised and got her a towel to use so she wouldn't have to touch anything with her bare hands.

Ellouise was having fun watching all the action.

The final product.

Our ward put on a really fun "Harvest Festival" this year and the kids all loved it. It was set up like a carnival for all the kids to play and get lots of candy.
My cute little kitty cat and ladybug.



One activity was learning the dance to "Thriller." Evelyn was in it 100%, she followed every step and was having a blast dancing to Michael Jackson.

Grandma was in charge of telling a Halloween story to all the kids. She dressed up like a witch and did an awesome job. We know the kids loved it cause they all were paying close attention.
This year was Evelyn's first time trick-or-treating. She caught on very quickly and was loving going door to door to get free candy. She had fun posing for the camera.
She specifically asked for this shot to be taken.
Another of her own set-ups.
Ellouise had an enjoyable Halloween as well, but no candy this year. She is just getting so big and is so much fun to have around. I can't believe she is already 9 months. She loves crawling everywhere, pulling herself up on everything and getting her hands on whatever she can. She is such a love bug and I really just can't get enough of her, so I had to take some pictures of course.