Merry Christmas!

Our family has had a wonderful Christmas season. The kids are at fun ages and they've made Christmas extra magical. It's been fun to have them help me bake goodies and I've enjoyed listening to them sing Christmas carols as they play. I love this time of year we have to reflect on our Savior Jesus Christ and all that he has done for us. We enjoyed a relaxing Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and loved being together as a family. The only thing missing was snow!

This picture was taken earlier this month at our ward
Christmas party. Obviously, Charity was a little nervous
about the man with the white beard.

Charity checking out her stocking

Rachel opening a present

Santa actually brought this couch for Charity,
but Lydia lounged like this all morning.

Charity is starting to enjoy trying clothes on.
Here she tries on a new pair of pants.

New sunglasses make these girls
look bound for stardom

I made tutus for the girls this year and they seem to like
them (thanks to Anneka for the idea). Even Charity knew to
begin twirling when she put it on.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving. We had so much fun hosting Thanksgiving dinner for the first time and having some of our good friends over. Our family has so much to be thankful for and I'm grateful for this time of year that reminds us of how blessed we are.

The kids anxiously awaiting the meal

Chatting after the meal (Kenny is taking the picture)

Sarah brought supplies so the kids could make cookie turkeys

Free hands on Sunday

Charity recently began going to nursery at church! She's having a little trouble adjusting but we know that in no time she'll really look forward to it. Kenny and I are enjoying having empty hands, at least for a couple of hours.

Here are all our girls on Charity's first day of nursery

Happy Halloween!

The girls all had a fun Halloween. Our ward had a Trunk-or-Treat activity along with a dinner and costume parade. The kids all enjoyed dressing up and receiving candy!

Rachel the cat

Lydia the princess

Charity the honeybee

Having a great time at the Trunk-or-Treat

Political ranting

OK, I don't want to get too political on the family blog, but is anyone else really sick of this election season yet? Does anyone else find it ironic that Obama spent months tearing into McCain as a “Washington insider,” then turns around and selects someone with just as much time in Washington as his VP? Or how about McCain criticizing Obama as too inexperienced to be president, then selecting someone with even less federal experience as his VP? Having come from Utah, which is NEVER a battleground state, I thought it would be exciting to live in a battleground state like Virginia is this year. Well, I have learned that it is more annoying than anything else. I hear at least 10 political adds on the radio daily, there are at least 2 political adds during every commercial break on TV, and we get at least 2 political campaign phone calls a day (live and recorded). We have also been personally visited at our house by Obama campaigners several times. What have they achieved with all of this campaigning? Well, a sign I saw says it best: "They both stink '08."

Our newest niece!

Congratulations to my brother Joe and his wife
Candis on their beautiful new baby girl Alexis!

Autumntime in the Capital

Kenny and I went to Great Falls National Park a few weeks ago. It is located on the Maryland/Virginia state border. The falls are on the Potomac River.

There's a really neat hike in the park called the Billy Goat Trail. It's named that because you pretty much have to be a mountain goat to hike it. Most of the trail involves scrambling up large rocks. Kenny helps me to be more adventurous than I would be on my own, and he convinced me to go on this hike. We had a great time.

Lydia and Rachel started taking a dance class at a rec center near our home. Charity and I stay during the class each week and it's fun to watch them leap around.

Charity is growing up fast. She'll go to nursery in just one month! Right now she loves "push toys" and she walks around the house all day long with them. Here she is with a shopping cart and two backpacks that she prefers to use as purses.