We recently welcomed this little cutie to our family, and are now officially outnumbered. :)
We actually didn't think of the name Ginger until a week or so ago when we finally sat down determined to come up with some names. It was on a list of popular baby names, but not until page 5 or something. But there was something about Ginger that we liked so we added it to our list. And we ended up going with it! Probably helps that it's December. :)
I think she looks like the perfect blend of her older siblings. Jaxon and Violet have been so cute with her, especially Violet. She's really feeling like a big sister and will always bring Ginger things to "play" with and is so attentive to her needs.
We're so happy with this new beautiful addition. Welcome to the family, Ginger!
Last year we started a new tradition of Travis taking Jaxon to a BYU football game each fall. Jaxon's been looking forward to it for a long time, especially since we told him if he earned up enough money he could buy a "Cougar Tail" (a super long maple bar). I kind of forgot how long the doughnuts were- there was enough left over to bring home for me and Violet.
He brought his BYU pom poms and loved shouting and cheering the cougars on for the win. Go Cougs!
The kids absolutely loved Halloween this year. Jaxon had two costumes, Spock and a ghost. A ghost was his first choice, but since it covered his face (I guess I could've painted his face white, but I'm waaaay to lazy for that) he had to have a back up costume for preschool and other parties. Violet was Rapunzel (per Travis' request :) ).
Her cousin was also a Disney princess (we didn't plan it like that), so they looked adorable together.
After a festive dinner at my parents we went trick or treating with cousins, which was SO much fun! I didn't get a chance to get a picture of Jaxon's ghost costume, but my brother took a quick one on his phone while we were out. Here he is blind and crashing into a stop sign. He was bumping into things all night. It was actually pretty hilarious. :)
The only unfortunate event that occurred was Violet losing her "puppy" somewhere along the trick or treat route. It's her only "lovie" and she's been miserable without it since. I went back this afternoon and tried so hard to find it, but it's gone. :( We've since ordered her a new one. I might not have gone to the effort if she wasn't going to be going through a big life adjustment here in the next couple of months....
I know kids grow like weeds, but Violet's feet are really something else.
I wish I could say that these aren't really her shoes, but they actually are. The angle of the photo plus the white soles against the darker background kind of make them look extreme, but...she's got big feet.
And then I need to include this picture of her collection of "peluches". She likes to line them up and bottle feed them, or cover them up with a blanket so they're not cold. Channeling some big sister duties already. :)
Jaxon started his second year of preschool and he absolutely loves it. He attends the same school, so he's got all the rules down and speaks more English, thus the transition has been much easier than last year.
And of course Violet wanted to be included...
Still in pjs and hair in it's "natural" state...
I'm anxious to see how much he learns this year! :)
I know I've been bad about posting, this always seems to happen when I'm pregnant. Something about having zero energy to blog at the end of the day. Ah well. But we've been having a great time this summer aside from our Cascade vacation. So here are some snapshots of what we've been up to:
Just one of those moments you need to capture before assisting...
These two have become quite close this summer. They're buddies (when they're not fighting). I saw that they had snuck off into a corner of Grammy's house where no one could find them.
Chad and Wendi and their kids visited and we had a BBQ up the canyon with them.
Jaxon had a nosebleed...
Devin and Natalie visited and we went to This Is The Place Heritage Park with them...
And Jaxon enjoyed a couple weeks of swim lessons and got pretty good at belly flops.
One more month before school starts! I'm just looking forward to cooler weather. :)
We spent a week up in the mountains of Cascade, Idaho last week on a much needed and overdue vacation. We first visited this cabin in Cascade a couple years ago and had a blast, so we decided to revisit. It was incredible just how much Jaxon remembered about the cabin from two years ago! We were excited for Violet to be old enough to run around with Jaxon this time chasing squirrels, collecting pine cones and whatnot. Here are some of the highlights of the trip.
We loved going down to the lake. The kids had a blast and played for hours and hours. This was the first time we had the guts to take our camera out on the kayaks!
Jaxon loved playing "Agua, Agua, Agua!" which is basically just he and Travis splashing each other. Travis took his oar apart at one time and gave half of it to Jaxon. He LOVED it.
When we weren't on the kayaks, we were building sand castles and swimming and having a great time. :)
We spent a day at Ponderosa Pine State Park hiking and collecting wild huckleberries. This was one of Jaxon's favorite parts. I think more went straight into his stomach than into his bag. We enjoyed huckleberry pancakes the next morning!
We made sure to enjoy lots of s'mores at the fire pit.
And before we knew it, the week was over! We seriously considered asking for another day, but I guess we have "responsibilities" or something to get back to, so alas, until next time Cascade. The kids are already asking when we can go back.
As a little bonus, this happened our last morning at the cabin as the kids were enjoying their toast out back...enjoy! (yes, I'm an evil mom for laughing...)
p.s. I also just noticed that Violet is wearing the same shirt in almost all the photos...I swear these are different days-we did laundry while there!
Hard to believe this little girl is now 2 years old. :)
We celebrated on her birthday with ice cream sandwiches and tonight we had cake and ice cream with grandparents.
Violet loves to cuddle, and is very empathetic towards others (she's sad if other people are sad). At the same time, she's also quite the daredevil and I'm sure will be the first to break her arm in our family. She's always so cheerful except when she's not- then she'll give you the biggest crusty and you need to stay out of her way. ;)
Jaxon had his preschool graduation yesterday and he was so excited because it meant we would finally be able to go to McDonalds to celebrate. He was looking forward to it ALL year.
Here's a little snippet of his graduation. He loved this song. :)
