Pics from 2009

I know I haven't posted many pictures lately, so I thought I would find a few from the last several months. I haven't been taking many pictures, but I found several on Ryan's camera that I hadn't posted.

This is a very recent picture of Alexia. We finally gave in and cut her hair short and gave her a few bangs. We do have to straighten out her natural wave every other day, but that doesn't take too long. It's definitely a lot less tangly at this length:)

Austyn and Madeline were just baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints this last week, the day after Christmas. We had a lot of friends and family join us for this special occasion. There were about 75 people there! Everything went smoothly and my stresses were relieved. Most of our guests joined us for lunch afterwards and we had a great time visiting.
Ryan and Austyn

Madeline and Austyn

You may recall my mention of Andrew breaking his collar bone on Thanksgiving. Here is a picture of his x-ray from that day. He still has quite a large lump visible in that area, but apparently that is normal and should reduce with time.

Adalyn still loves playing with her ponies, even in the snow!

Here is Addie all ready to go play in the snow. She loves being outside, even when it's freezing!

This was Ashley's Halloween costume. She was a princess. You can't see it in the picture, but she was also wearing a little tiara in her hair.

Here is Austyn as Darth Vadar and Alexia as a Pirate.

Austyn, Alexia and Addie on Halloween. It's hard to tell, but Addie was a horse.

Adalyn loves to help with whatever is going on in the kitchen. Here she is helping with pumpkin guts.

Here Adalyn is helping chop up potatoes for clam chowder. This is her favorite place to be when we're preparing meals or making treats.

This is the new baby elephant at our local zoo. Addie and Ryan made many trips to the zoo this year, Adalyn just loves to see the animals.

Adalyn at the zoo.

Here are the kids on the "train" at This is the Place State Park. Austyn was sitting by the photographer in this one, therefore not in the picture.

Here is Adalyn after her hike. What a beautiful background. Ryan took the kids on several hikes this summer.

We had a really nice Christmas. My brother Sam and 3 of his kids joined us Christmas morning. The kids got the usual clothes and underwear, but the most exciting things were a Nintendo DSi for Austyn, an iPod touch for Alexia and Ashley and Andrew each got a new netbook (basically a mini laptop). The fun part for us was Ryan hid each of these items in a separate box of cereal, opening it from the bottom and then gluing it back shut. The kids each opened their present and were happy for the box of cereal, but it wasn't until they went to eat the cereal for breakfast that they found the hidden "prize" in the boxes. Andrew was first, as he had anticipated a little something more for Christmas and noticed the box to be a little heavier than usual. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to post from Christmas as I was only using the camcorder.

For Christmas lunch we went to Ryan's parents house for a couple of hours. We left there at 4:00 and came back home to host Christmas dinner for all my family members who were in town. It was a most enjoyable Christmas this year!

We had a couple snow storms during the week following Christmas, making for a mess of the roads. Things have "warmed up" the last couple of days, melting some of the accumulation and drying out the roads again. I am definitely looking forward to spring!!

Well I better get Addie bathed and then jump into the shower myself, so we can hopefully make it to church on time this week. Bye for now!!