December

What a fun and fabulous month! 

Love this time of year!

We have had many visits to Santa and his workshop.

 Many darling letters to Santa and rides on Santa's magical carousel.

The first two weeks of December were full of Christmas performances.

Addison, Ella and Olivia danced in the Nutcracker and Festival of Lights.

They also participated in a sign language choir.  

Their choir performed 5 times in December...

Butterfly Pavilion, Santa's Landing and Tree Lighting, 

1 Evening performance and 2 school performances. They LOVED it.

CHRISTMAS MORNING

Olivia was SO excited to add 

Marie Grace to her doll collection.

Ella with Cecile--

her FAVORITE American Girl doll

Addison with American Girl's newest 

historical character Caroline Abbott.

She loves her. :)

Our little Ava woke up Christmas morning to a 

new baby stroller, clothes for her bitty baby, 

and a darling diaper bag with her name embroidered on it.

This was her response...I NOT LIKE IT!!!!

We laughed and laughed, silly girl.

2 year olds are adorable.

She has grown to love her baby & stroller,

 but it took a day or two.:)

More highlights...

American Girl movie collection &

tickets to Broadway musical Mary Poppins. 

 Sweet Ella playing Tangled on the Wii.

With a broken foot 2 days before Christmas, 

Rapunzel has been good company. Poor thing.

Ava Claire- 2 years old

Our baby is not a baby anymore...

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Week

(2)trunk or treats

(6)parties

(1)trip to the pumpkin patch

(2)fun grandparents here to celebrate

(1)late night of trick or treating

 We have gathered A LOT of  C-A-N-D-Y.

Yum. Yum. Yum. So fun.

Costumes: A frazzled mom :), sweet little cupcake, energetic bee, 

gentle red riding hood, a cheerful pirate and a s-p-o-o-k-y pirate.

Good Times- Best Friends

Denver Zoo

 The Denver Zoo is fantastic---one of our favorite family activities.

Brad and his sweeties.

Baby Ava is growing up---so excited to walk & explore with her sisters.

 Love the new elephant exhibit and show.  Fascinating.

Olivia and Addison---relaxing in the shade.

 Flamingos--always our favorite 

Artwork in the zoo children's park.

Sleeping Beauty Ballet-Ellie Caulkins Opera House

Denver Rock 'n' Roll Weekend

What a fun weekend!  

Addison and Brad kicked off the weekend with a Rockies game.

Addie loves to go on dates with her dad, they are good friends.

They stayed late and enjoyed a spectacular fireworks show from the field.  

Addison was featured on the Jumbtron, she was SO EXCITED.

 While they were at the game, Olivia, Ella, Ava and I were with the Westhoff family.

We were enjoying a good carb-load before our half marathon in the morning.

Dan, Megan and I ran the Denver Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon.

It was a blast!  Loved it!

  It was so fun to run with my running buddies that ran my first race with me 7 years ago.

We also have exciting news about a little cutie who lost her front tooth!

Olivia is very proud of her darling new smile. :) So much fun.

School

The first week of school was a success!

Ella has been so excited to go to school with her sisters.

She loves school!  She is feeling so grown up.

She has so many cute experiences and 

new adventures to share each day.

She makes us laugh.

A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E

First Day of School

Addison--4th grade  

Olivia--2nd grade

Ella is our new little kindergartener!

She absolutely loved her first day.

She is a sweetheart.

Happy Birthday Addison!

Addison is 10 years old!  

She is growing up, such a sweet young lady.

Love, love, love her!

Addison's birthday was so much fun!

She invited 10 of her friends to celebrate with her at her 

favorite water park.  They had so much fun swimming, 

playing water games and going down slides.

We concluded the party with an ice cream parlor at our house. 

Y-U-M

Each of the party guests dipped a balloon in chocolate when they arrived.

When the chocolate was ready, they popped their balloon and discovered 

a darling little chocolate bowl to fill with ice cream and toppings.

It was delicious and so much fun.

Cake cones for her birthday cake-she loved them.

 

Addie loves her American Girl doll.

She was sooo happy to pick out a canopy bed for 

her doll with bedding to match her bedroom.

She was also excited to take Julie(her doll) to the American Girl Salon

 to get her ears pierced and braces put on. So cute.

Ballet

Olivia, Ella and Addison are in a new ballet school this year.

They are so excited to be dancing again.

The girls love ballet and love to be on stage!

They are looking forward to their Nutcracker performance in December.  

It will be Ella's first time. Can't wait. So fun!

Happy Birthday Ava!

Sweet Ava is 2 years old!  

She is such a delight in our family.   

Darling personality--cute little smile. 

We love her so much!

Ava's sisters planned a pink party with pink cupcakes.

She loved the pink---she really loved the cupcakes!

We took a trip to the American Girl store.

Ava was very excited to pick out a Bitty Baby.

Thank you Grandma!

Ava and her new baby are inseparable.

She loves to be a little mom...SO SWEET.

Happy Birthday Ava!

Summer Hike

One of my favorite hikes in Idaho leads to Table Mountain(Rock).

It is nestled in the Teton Range of the Rocky Mountains.  

The view from the top is breathtaking! 

You stand shoulder to shoulder with the Grand Teton

 and overlook glacial valleys and canyons.  

B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L-!  

It is well worth the strenuous 6 miles you climb to get there.  

Brad and Addison hiked it with the Nelson cousins, my dad, sisters and brother-in-laws. 

 It was not easy for the kids or for the adults, but they made it to the top!  

It was such a great experience for Addison, she loved it!

Elevation: 11,300

Distance: 12 miles(roundtrip)

Elevation Gain: 4,000

Dad, Isaac, Brigham, Addison, MaKyra

Kambria, Eric, Brad, Matt

Cute Cousins

We had two darling Daybell cousins here to visit this week!

Amanda and Alyssa traveled from Utah to spend a few days with us.

We LOVED it!  The girls had so much fun exploring Denver.  

We were excited to learn that they love to shop as much as we do!  

We shopped for two days, it couldn't have been better.  

We had a great time.  Can't wait to see them again!

Riverfront Park-- LoDo Denver

Amanda, Ella, Addison, Alyssa, and Olivia

On our way to H&M (my girl's favorite)

riding the bus--16th Street Mall
 

Loved the street performers and downtown fountains. So fun.

School Is Out

The last few weeks have been very busy!

Fun activities, lessons, getaways and visits from grandparents,cousins and friends.

We are so excited that school is out and summer is here!

I absolutely LOVE having our little sweeties at home during the summer!

UPDATE:

On the last day of school we had a surprise water party.

We had cute little treats and all of our good friends to celebrate.

The kids loved it.  

They were so excited to welcome summer vacation!

The blow up slip 'n slide was a hit!

 C-u-t-i-e-s---Best Friends

They have been busy swimming, playing at parks,

jumping on the trampoline, rock climbing at the gym, 

and going to piano, cheerleading and gymnastics.

Addison, MaKenna and I were so excited 

to go to the musical Wicked.  LOVED it---new favorite.

We planted a small garden...

cherry, yellow and roma tomatoes, 

cucumber, squash, mini sweet peppers,

rosemary, basil and cilantro.  

Everything I need for my favorite greek salad.

Addison, Brad and I ran in the Bolder Boulder 10K race.

So happy for Addison, her first race--over 6 miles!

She loved it, made it look easy.  So excited for next year!

Sweet little Ava is loving summer and we are loving her!

We all enjoy watching her make new discoveries.

She is a sweetheart---growing up so fast!  We adore her.

Happy Birthday Ella!

Our little Ella turned 5 this week.

She is a sweetheart---such a cute age!

She is energetic, talkative,

clever and always witty.

We love her so so much!

Ella wanted to have a

B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y

P-I-C-N-I-C

We invited 15 little friends to join us.

Ella was so excited to decorate her birthday candle.

She was very proud of her design.

C-u-t-i-e.

Ella's birthday picnic...

sack lunches full of her favorite picnic menu,

pink and yellow layer cake,

dipped marshmallows and balloons.

We walked to a near by park to eat and play.

She has so many sweet little friends.

They had a lot of fun playing together.

After Ella's party, we went to the American Girl store.

She picked out new pajamas for her and her doll.

After visiting American Girl, we went to a"doll friendly"

restaurant next door(White Chocolate Grill-YUM).

Ella's doll sat in a cute little high chair next to her

and received a free dessert for stopping by. It was so cute.

Ella's HUGE backyard chalkboard.

She helped me paint it.

All of our girls are enjoying this new birthday gift. :)