Merry Christmas, fun in the snow, and pigtails!

Yes, more apologies for being slow, yada yada yada. I just haven't been great about keeping up, so prepare to be deluged!!

I'm lucky to have found a good friend already; they moved here from Pennsylvania the same time we did. Their little girl is only 6 months younger than Bryn, and they're bffs!

 

In November, we were able to join some friends from our ward to go to the Palmyra Temple. It looks just like our temple in OKC, except it has the most amazing stained-glass windows and on the other side is the Sacred Grove. It was an amazing trip and I got a lot of family work done...

 

 

We wanted to see more, but it was absolutely freezing. So we posed for a picture then ran to the car.

 

I did get to see one historical site: This is where the Book of Mormon was published. It was really cool to see the process of old school printing as well as learn more about how it all came together.

 

 

In December, we were in gingerbread heaven! We made our very first gingerbread house with real gingerbread and it turned out fantastic. The kids had a blast...

 

 

Feeding Bryn some frosting

 

 

All done! Check out our awesomeness!

 

 

Apparently, the little gummy bears that live in our house all wanted to line up on the roof. I don't ask questions... :)

 

 

We also made gingerbread men a couple of times. Drew loved the decorating part...

 

 

And Bryn usually just skipped ahead to the eating part!

 

 

Mmmmmmm, good cookies! Drew still asks if we can make gingerbread cookies, and it's the end of February...

 

 

Run, run, as fast as you can! You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!

 

 

Also in December, Brent and I got to go to the formal Masquerade Ball. He's looking pretty good in his dress uniform, huh?

 

 

Ah, so sophisticated...

 

 

Our friends Josh and Shelby, and new friend Shanan

 

 

So, I had made my dress for the ball, and I wanted Brent to get a picture of it for me. He told me I needed to put some more attitude into it, and apparently Bryn thought he was talking to her. This girl is FULL of attitude!

 

 

She is crazy and a hand full, but she is so cute and loving and wonderful! She's definitely a keeper!

 

 

For Christmas, we wanted to pass out some treats to our friends and I had bought a new tiny muffin tin. Brent over-estimated how much brownie mix we needed and we ended up with a bazillion brownies! The kids thought it was awesome.

 

 

Bryn "helping" to decorate the treats

 

 

Seriously, I feel so very blessed. I have such wonderful kids! And this little girl makes me so happy -- everyone comments on what beautiful eyes she has and what fun curly hair she has or how very charming she is. How lucky am I!

 

 

Christmas was fun this year because both kids could really appreciate all the fun stuff that comes with it -- I think they loved decorating the tree almost as much as opening presents.

 

 

We got our first snow on Christmas. The kids went out and ate snow, built a snowman and tried to do some sledding...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drew and Bryn lookin' super sharp in their Christmas clothes

 

 

I am so excited that Bryn's hair is finally long enough for pigtails! They look ridiculously adorable on her!

 

 

They're even adorable when we're trying to take a picture of her and catch her picking her nose. Silly girl!

 

 

Wow, what a year we've had! We're so lucky to have this little family of ours. We're looking forward to lots of new adventures this next year!

 

Missing that summer sun...

I had one more post from last summer I forgot to publish. Ah, swimming and hanging out with friends and family was the best! I just can't wait for the next time we come home.

 

We got to spend one more day with my bff Keri before leaving for Oklahoma. We were initiated into the family by joining the Haslam family reunion at Cherry Hill. Funny thing -- I've lived just up I-15 from there most of my life and this was my first time there. We had a blast!

 

 

It was so much fun it wore Bryn right out -- Brent took her on a trip around the lazy river and she fell asleep. It was adorable...

 

Sorry Keri, but I love this picture of us, even though we're going sans makeup. Maybe we could get a cute one of us when I come out. :)

 

 

My mom took us to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden. Here's my little cowgirl, taming the bull. Yeehaw!

 

Ride 'em, kiddos!

 

Anyone want to join me for some fake sushi?

 

That little court jester is going to beat daddy at chess!

 

Hmmmmmm, President Drew? Nice!

 

 

Perhaps a future vocation?

 

Wow, I can't believe that's been almost 7 months ago! Time has flown by. We really miss everyone, but we've also enjoyed our time in upstate New York. We have some good friends here, and although things are a little yucky in the winter, we've been doing some fun things together and really enjoying our time with our kiddos. We're excited for the summer and all the other fun things we'll get to do.

Summer rewind...

Oh man! Is it cold in here! It's definitely got me thinking of all the great stuff I plan to do this summer -- go to the beach as often as possible, hit the drive-in theater, run the trail next to the river, and just plain enjoy some sun and warmth!

 

We really had the best time last summer, and I had uploaded these but never actually posted them to my blog because I'm a little forgetful like that sometimes. We got to go to the Cady family reunion, which I haven't gotten to do in more than 10 years! This was the first time for my hubby and the kiddos. I missed some of my cousins, but all the aunts and uncles were there... 

 

 

We were at Fish Lake this year. This is our old family banner -- it wouldn't be the Cady Campout without it! We need to add quite a few names to it.

 

Uncle Steve, my dad, Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Connie, Aunt Lynne and Uncle Shawn

 

Aunt Debbie made us all Cady Campout bracelets. And yes, we were the coolest ones at Fish Lake that week. :)

 

We went up to Johnson Reservoir to see if we could find some better fishing. It was absolutely beautiful up there! You just had to watch out for the cows and what they left behind.

 

My cousin Shawn caught a nice-sized fish. Bryn was intrigued!

 

It's Fish Lake, so every afternoon the rains rolled in. And one day we even got hail! It didn't last long, but it was a crazy downpour! Left us with lots of mud...

 

 

We got to go out on Uncle Steve's fishing boat. That was lots of fun!

 

 

It was fun, but we didn't catch much, just some itty bitties.

 

 

Drew caught his first fish! We didn't get the stay the whole time because Bryn was more than done by Wednesday, but it was wonderful to get to see the fam again and take the kids camping.

Trick or treat!

I'm seriously behind on my blogging, but I have a good excuse. I was working on these...

 

Meet Wendy, Captain Hook, Jake the Never Land pirate and Stinkerbell, wait, I mean Tinkerbell. :)

 

 

We wore these to our ward Halloween party on Saturday. I'm hoping we'll actually get to wear them for Halloween, but we'll see if Hurricane Sandy feels differently...

 

We've been enjoying fall in New York, raking leaves and playing in them, trying some awesome apple cider and for me, I've been super busy with photography because everyone wants the beautiful fall colors for their background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

B loves wearing her costume, although I think she likes her leotard and ballet shoes more than the tutu and wings part...

 

 

Getting donuts and cider at the Burrville Cider Mill -- yum!

 

 

Mmmmmm, daddy made chocolate chip pancakes -- with A LOT of chocolate chips...