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We went to the downtown arts festival a few weeks ago.  There were some really fun activities for the kids.  Abbie loved the fireman station:

Getting creative with pipe cleaners:

Painting:

Our friends Rob & Haley came to visit us for the weekend, which was so much fun!  We always love hanging out with them and their kids.  They were on their way down to Disney, so they stopped at our house for a few nights.

We met them down at Disney for a day later that week, which was great.  It was REALLY busy (it was Veterans Day), but still a great day.

This is how Olivia likes to pose for pictures now:

Ellie doing "makeup" with sidewalk chalk:

Such a little doll:

I did a little CPR class at church in November.  It was fun and it's always nice to learn (or re-learn) things.  Although, all I could think of during this part was that episode of "The Office" where they learn CPR.  Classic.

"Mom, take a picture of me in front of the garage!"

Halloween 2014

  Halloween was a huge success this year.  I had big plans to make the girls "Russian Nesting Dolls" outfits, but I ran out of time.  They really wanted to wear their Frozen outfits anyway, so it all ended well.  All I had to do was make Olivia's outfit, which only took about an hour.

Garrett and I never dress up, but at the last minute I decided it might be fun.  When people asked us who we were, we said, "We got BEAT UP by BYU." Haha.  I think a lot of people didn't understand it.  Also, I think a lot of people just thought we were dressed normally and not dressed up in costumes.  We have a lot of U of U people in our ward (thankfully we didn't have to waste money on these outfits, we just borrowed them).  I guess they didn't really notice the black eyes.

The ward party was fun, and trick or treating was fun too.  Garrett was actually home to trick or treat with us, which was fun (last year he was out of town).

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Ellie, looking lovely in her Elsa dress:

My friend made some business cards for me.  I love how they turned out!

Olivia lounging by the pool:

 

Olivia taking a break from shopping at Homegoods:

We went to the BYU game one Thursday night in Orlando.  Unfortunately, it was the first game after our quarterback broke his leg and we lost the game.  It was fun, though, because it went into overtime which was exciting.  It was a really late night, but thankfully our kids were at a friends house in Orlando and we were able to stay the night over at their house after the game (some of our good friends from here in Gville - the husband is a practicing radiologist now).

The next day, we went to Disney.  Because... why not?  We were already in Orlando!  Here's Olivia on her very favorite ride, the Peoplemover.

The girls on Big Thunder Mountain:

Abbie & me on Splash Mountain:

I made an "Elsa" quilt and an "Anna" quilt for my etsy shop.  Here are the girls modeling the quilt tops:

"I'm flying in my airplane!!"

We went to the Blue Angels show in Jacksonville at the end of October.  It was incredible!

Enjoying the nice Fall weather:

 
And enjoying an afternoon rain storm:

I love her short little legs coming out from under that huge umbrella!

One Saturday we took the girls to a retired horse farm to feed the horses.  It was a lot of fun!  The farm isn't far from our house, but we had never been before. I'm so glad we went - the girls really loved it.

This is me in 65 degree weather.  I'm going to die in Wisconsin next year!  So are my kids.  A few weeks ago, we had a cold snap and it was around 45 degrees one day.  Ellie, shivering, said to me, "Mom... is it going to be this cold in Wisconsin?"  Poor girl! Haha.

Voting day!  Olivia and I walked up to our precinct to vote. She was a great helper.

This is what ballet class looks like in our class.  Olivia is a great teacher, as you can see.

Updates

First day of school 

 Both of the girls really like their teachers, which is great!  Ellie had a wonderful teacher at the beginning of the year, but her class had too many students so after a month, 4 of them got transferred into a new class.  Ellie was one of the "unlucky" ones to get switched (she was in the same class as 4 other friends from church), but it has ended up being just fine.  Her new teacher is great - her husband is a resident also so we have a lot in common.

Another day at Disney!  We went on Labor Day (and, it was shockingly EMPTY that day!!) and then again the next Saturday.  Gotta go while our passes are still good!

Garrett loves the Dole Whip:

The girls were SO excited to meet Anna and Elsa.  Usually the line is quite long (averages around 60-90 minutes on normal days, but I've seen it as long as 180 minutes!) but since the park was so quiet on Labor Day, we only waited about half an hour which was a miracle.  We knew this was our only chance!

Olivia was a little shy:

Teacups:

The girls started tennis lessons in September.  We found a tennis coach who lives in our neighborhood, so she has been doing lessons at our neighborhood tennis courts.  It's been awesome!

This is how Garrett feels about car shopping, haha.  We've been looking for a Honda Odyssey for several months now, but haven't bought anything yet (although we came REALLY close in August!).  Since our Vue still runs fine, we aren't in a hurry so we're just waiting for the right deal to come along.  Also, I'm kind of a brat about what kind I want.  It has to be a 2011 or newer, have leather and a DVD player, and it has to be silver, black, gray, or maybe white.  I figure that if we're going to spend a lot of money on a van, it might as well be one that I love, right?  Ha.  Garrett's also trying to convince me to look at Siennas but I just don't like them.  Anyway, we haven't quite bitten the bullet yet but hopefully before we move to Wisconsin?

Olivia, dressing up in Abbie's dance recital costume:

Abbie finally brought home her artwork from school last year.  I guess she was absent the day that they sent them home last year, so she finally got hers a few weeks ago.  Grumpy Cat!  I love it.

We had a little beach day one Saturday in September:

Helping Daddy make cookies:

"Pirate Day" at Krispy Kreme.  They were giving out a dozen donuts to people who were dressed like pirates.  We walked into the store and they immediately handed me 3 dozen donuts, one for each girl!  Oh man they were sooo good.  We dropped 2 dozen off at the hospital on the way home so that Garrett could share them.

The hospital had a BBQ for all the residents and their families.  Garrett couldn't come so I brought the girls anyway.  We had a great time!

And finally, pizza night!  We love making pizza.  The girls mostly love playing in (and eating) the piles of flour and cornmeal off the counter (??).

10 years

Garrett and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary in August.

We took "a trip around the world" at Epcot.  Gotta use those Disney passes as much as possible while we're here!

We visited China, Germany, Norway, Italy, Japan, Morocco, Mexico, France, Great Britain, and Mexico.  Ate dinner in China and Morocco, and had amazing desserts in France!

 Garrett channeling his inner Sherlock Holmes.

 Epcot closed at 8 to the general public, so after the fireworks we took the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom and went on Space Mountain and Splash Mountain and just walked around a bit.  Space Mountain was closed for technical problems when we arrived, so we kinda just stood around for a few minutes deciding what we should do.  Suddenly, the opened the ride up again and we were able to literally walk onto the ride - we were in the first car to go! (I guess maybe that's not what you want to do after a tech difficulty? haha)

The next day we went to Hollywood Studios and spent the day doing whatever we wanted - Tower of Terror a couple times, Rock'n Roller Coaster, the long "backlot" ride that I wouldn't want to take the kids on, etc....  It was so fun to be there without kids and just go at our own pace and do whatever we wanted.

I would have loved to go on a longer trip with Garrett, but the timing didn't work out very well.  Maybe for graduation next Spring?!

Anyway, I'm so glad we got the chance to go away, even if it was just for a day and a half.  It was a ton of fun!