D.C.

The last week of September Micah and I were able to go visit Washington, D.C. We had a great time! We were able to see Micah's parents who are serving a mission and also his sister Shanna who lives in Arlington. It was super to get away just the two of us and we had a ton of fun. Many thanks to the Becksteads and Aunt Bekah for taking care of the kids.

The Stratton kids. Love Love Love them!

The view from Mt. Vernon

White House. I just know our dinner invitation was lost in the mail.

Hope Diamond. It is on my Christmas list and I have a good feeling about it!

Washington Monument

Closed due to the earthquake that happened a few weeks before we went

The Capitol

I don't want to bore you with all the photos and details but we really had the best time. There was so much to see, I don't think we even did half of it. I hope we get a chance to go back and finish the things on my list. We loved seeing Nyle and JoAnn and Shanna and her family. Thanks for the hospitality!

Halloween

We had a great Halloween, the kids had fun parties at school and the weather was fairly decent for trick or treating. Cade went around the neighborhood with friends this year, sniff sniff. He had lots of fun. He loved his Lego costume (thank you pinterest) but it kept getting in his way. The box was so long he couldn't run very fast. He ended up taking a little tumble and that was the end of the Lego costume. He came home for glasses and called himself a rock star. Annie was Ariel for her school party and then decided to be Giselle from Enchanted at the last minute. She hung with Molly for this first hour and then went with one of her friends. Molly the strawberry had the time of her life! She loved going door to door and she loved her loot! She was frozen by the time it was over with! It was a great day!

Molly is 3!

I don't know how it happened! Three years went way to fast, in my mind this is how the kids all still look.......

Baby Molly

Happy to be 3!

What a change in just 3 short years!

Really, I can't imagine that my baby is no longer a baby! Molly was so excited to be three. She had been talking about her birthday for weeks! She wanted to have a Dora party and told me numerous times she needed to have Dora party hats. It was a Dora day for sure, party hats included! She had some of her little friends over for a birthday breakfast. I have no photos, not sure what I was doing! She was so happy to blow out her candles and open presents. She loved her Dora scooter and her own little indoor sandbox. The next day she wanted to know if she could have a party again, but this time a Minnie Mouse party. Molly is our little spit-fire and we adore her!

Heritage Park

Hands down the most favorite thing about our trip to Canada was visiting Heritage Park. A huge park that makes you feel like you have stepped back in time. All sorts of great history and fabulous people to tell you all about it. We ended up buying seasons passes and went 3 times. Seriously. Taylors haven't been back since we left so we pretty much wore them out!

My favorite pic! Sitting outside the first Jewish synagogue in Calgary

Making a project at the lumber yard

Outside the schoolhouse

At the train depot

With the projects from the lumber yard. Doesn't Molly look thrilled!

Part 2

Our vacation continued with a trip to Waterton, famous for the many bears roaming free. Guess how many we saw? None. That's right, not a bear in sight! We still made good memories hiking with the kids and swimming at the hotel. It is a fun little town, think Menan, Idaho as a resort town. We loved it! We did see lots and lots of deer. They must have scared the bears off. The Taylor's went back 3 weeks later and saw 11 of them. Not fair, guess we will have to go back!

Meadow where bears "usually" are

hiking

the one and only bear we saw, nice of him to stand still for the photo

Oh Canada! Part 1

We had a fantastic summer and were able to do lots of fun things but the highlight was our trip to Canada to visit the Taylor's. We left Boise on a Thursday after work and were able to spend the night with Grandpa and Grandma Randall. They left the next week to start their mission at the Washington DC temple so it was our last visit with them for a whole year! On Friday we left bright and early for our long day of driving. The kids did very well in the car, it wasn't pure torture like we all thought it would be!

Saturday morning the Calgary Stampede was still in full swing so we had a fun breakfast in Okatoks and the kids enjoyed lots of free cotton candy, face painting, fishing pond and meeting a real live Canadian Mountie. We spent that afternoon at the Heritage Isle neighborhood lake. It became a favorite spot! Sunday morning we headed to Banff National Park. It was so beautiful! We enjoyed a 5 star breakfast at the Banff Springs Hotel and then toured the hotel grounds.

Cala and Cade

Chelsea and Annie

Connor and Molly

Cousins

Living it up at the lake.

Cala and Cade's sandcastle creation

*note the ribs on that kid

The Graduate

I realize I am about 4 months behind but, better late than never! Annie had a fantastic year in kindergarten with Mrs. DeForest. Out of 21 students only 4 were girls! She reached a huge milestone and learned to read, and hasn't stopped since! Love you Annie!