Canada

A few of you already know that Mike spent a good part of the fall in Canada. The first time he was gone for 9 weeks, working 7 days each week. Since he was unable to come home to visit us, the kids and I decided to be brave (or crazy) and take a road trip to see him. We spent 42 hours in the car by the time we returned home, but it was worth every minute! We got to spend Halloween with Mike in Canada, which was fun. He was able to come home for almost 2 weeks around Thanksgiving, and then he went back for 8 days. Now he's home for good, and we're so happy to have him! This experience made me grateful for Mike and all he is and does for me and our children. Here are some pictures from his time there, and also from our trip to see him.

Here's a picture he took of the tower they were working at, from the bucket as he was being taken down.

Some of the rebar they used. The stuff was seriously thick, though you can't really tell in the pictures.

Here's the tower, and the tall think going up to the windows? That's the concrete pump, which they used to get the concrete up into the the tower where they were pouring.

Working on the rebar.

And here's just a shot of the tower. To give you an idea of the size, that white box the crane is lifting to the top is actually their office trailer.

Now these pictures are from our trip to see Mike. Here are the kids playing at a nearby school playground. It was so cold there!

We saw this sign on our way to church Sunday, and I had to get a picture.

The kids went trick-or-treating to some of the guys Mike worked with, who were staying at the same hotel with their wives who were also visiting for the weekend. They were from Quebec, and mostly spoke French, but really nice people, and it was fun to meet them. This is a picture of the kids trick-or-treating to Marc Andre's room.

Here they are in the hall outside Norm's room.

Marc Andre, Norm, their "girls" and our kids.

Natalie dressed up like Cinderella, and Carson was Harry Potter.

And Parker was inducted into our family officially as the traditional baby chicken!

With their daddy.

Love my baby!

Our little family, getting bigger all the time.

Our family with Marc Andre. He loved Mike, saw something special in him, just like we do, and he also just loved our kids! He bought them toys, and TONS of candy! They were very spoiled by him and his wife.

Marc Andre and the kids.

We went swimming every day we were there, and I think it was the kids' favorite part. They love to swim, and we had the pool to ourselves every night. There was a water slide, and the kids loved going down it with us. Carson reached a milestone while we were there, in that he started actually swimming on his own for the first time! Even Parker liked the water. I guess we have three water bugs for kids.

We are so glad to have Mike home now! What a great Christmas present!

Birthday Princess

Natalie turned 3 in November. She was so excited about it. She had her first friends' birthday party, which was new for me. A bunch of 3 year olds dressed up like princesses. But it was fun! Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures. But here are some from her birthday.
At our house, the birthday person chooses breakfast and dinner. For breakfast, Natalie chose Lucky Charms, which I thought was so silly that I had to get a pic.
Here she is opening her gifts.

She got Tinkerbell roller skates, and here she is trying them out.

All dressed for church on her birthday.

Here's a side shot of her hair.

And here's the cake. She wanted a castle and a mermaid, so here's what Mike and I came up with.

We were snowed in to Idaho for Thanksgiving. It was relaxing and fun, though we missed seeing my family. Here's a picture of our little feast.

Way Behind!

I am so far behind on blogging! It might take me a while to catch up, but here's the oldest pics I have to post. These are pics of a mini tea party the kids had. Grandma G gave them this little dish set, which they love. The best part is that I was filling the kettle with milk ALL THE TIME since it only holds about 1 tsp of milk!

Here the kids are cleaning out their pumpkins.

This shot has become a tradition, and Carson wouldn't let me forget to take the pic.

Here are the kids in the first snow storm. Carson made this little snowman all by himself, with a little help from Natalie.

This is Natalie's hair. Carson decided to help me out by fixing it for me. He was all about the bows, and he even gave her a ponytail in the back.

This one is how I found Parker one day. Carson decided to pose him.

This is the part of our swing set that I didn't take into the garage after it fell down in a terrible windstorm. When I told Mike about it, he asked me, "Who engineered that?"

The kids at the ward Halloween party. Natalie is Cinderella, and Carson is Harry Potter.

Baby Blessing

Things have been busy here lately, and I realized the other day that I haven't blogged in a while. Luckily I've been too busy to remember to get out the camera, so this shouldn't take too long to do. Mostly, these are pictures from Parker's blessing. Sorry to everyone else who came. I forgot to get out the camera after everybody arrived.
Here's Parker, 5 1/2 weeks old:

Here are my folks with the kids:

Natalie and Parker:

Carson and Parker:

Mike and Parker:

Our family:

Mike, me, and Parker:

And this is one I took of the kids a week or two before that. They just happened to all have matching shirts, courtesy of their grandma, so I decided to get a picture:

We also got to go to the first UW football game over labor day, but I forgot to take pics. If I ever get any from my brother or my mom I'll post them. And the kids have started gymnastics, so hopefully I'll remember to bring a camera soon and get pics of that as well.