Beth's Harry Potter Party

Beth had a Harry Potter 7 themed birthday party, and we were very grateful to Marolynn who watched the kids so we could go! Everyone dressed up, and it was so fun to see all the different costumes. The decorations and food were fantastic. Beth had set up a big tent in her studio, and had an elaborately decorated table inside for us to eat on - to go with the "camping" theme in the 7th Harry Potter book. She and her friends had made little box lunches with meat pies, "gillyweed" salad, vegetable crisps, and lightening bolt cookies (that Kate and Nick made). Another friend had made butter beer for us to drink, and it was really good! After lunch, the group split into two teams for a Harry Potter trivia game. I was very impressed by how much some people knew! The winning team got little prizes that represented the Horcruxes in the book (a ring, a locket, a diary, a snake, glasses (for Harry), a diadem). The other team got prizes that represented the Deathly Hallows (a cloak, a ring, dipped pretzels to represent the elder wand). After lunch, we all went to the movie, while still dressed in our costumes. It was a really good movie, although pretty intense and emotional. I am very excited for the second part, which is coming out in July. After the movie, we went back to Beth's house for cake.

Sam dressed up like Crookshanks, I was Luna Lovegood, and Mike was Neville Longbottom

This was the cake that one of Beth's friends made for her. It was a coconut layer cake with very detailed meringue mushrooms.

Nick was Sirius Black and Kate was Tonks

Beth was Bellatrix and Reece was Mad Eye Moody - standing in the lunch tent

It was a little funny - no one dressed up as Harry! I loved the variety of characters that everyone chose for their costumes - Hagrid, Trelawney, Narcissa Malfoy, Remus Lupin, Mrs. Norris, Scabbers, Moaning Myrtle, a dementor, Delores Umbridge, Ron, Hermione, Hedwig, Bellatrix, Mad Eye Moody, Sirius Black, Tonks, Luna, Neville, and Crookshanks.

These are the little radish earrings I made to go with my Luna costume. Hehe.

Family Picture Shoot

These pictures were taken by my fantastically talented sister, Beth. Reece also helped. We went up the canyon in October, and Beth and Reece were able to find this really beautiful spot for our backdrop. I am so happy with how they all turned out!

The girls and me - we were throwing leaves into the air

I love Evie in this one!

Big hug!

Group hug

The boys

Aww, Mike and Jenny walking in the woods, so peaceful...

Hehe, this is a zoomed out one so you can see the crazy kids running around us

29!

Well, this was my last birthday of my 20's. Whew! On my actual birthday, Beth and Kate took me to get "glitter toes", then we went to Noodles for dinner, got some yummy cupcakes at a place in Provo, then went back to my house to watch the 6th Harry Potter movie, so it would be fresh in our minds when the 7th one came out! It was a very fun evening. Mike gave me the first season of "Modern Family" and we have been having a lot of fun watching that.

My very sparkly toenails - Nora loved them when she saw them!

Mmmm, cupcakes. (Beth took these pictures with her phone)

The next sunday, we had a birthday dinner at Mom's and Dad's. It was great.

It's always a challenge to keep little hands from picking at the cake

Nora and Evie got to do a coloring craft, and really enjoyed that

November Fun

Here are a few pictures from the beginning of the month. Even though their birthdays are in October, we celebrated Kate's and Dad's birthdays the first Sunday in November since we had the Halloween party the week before. Happy Birthday!

Sam with Daddy

We gave Dad an apron that we had decorated with an owl patch

We started Evie on a gluten-free diet this week. The results from her biopsies from her endoscopy showed no damage from Celiac yet, so she is considered to have latent Celiac disease. She seems to be doing really well on the new diet, though. It is definitely a learning experience for Mike and me.

Such a sweet little bug!

Sam has been doing his "cabbage patch face" a lot

Nora loves to play with Sam. She also is very into horses right now. She loves to play with my big stuffed horse, which she named "Muffinsdale". I have no idea where she got that name from.

This is a picture that Nora drew. She said it's a monster slipping on a banana. I love it!

Mike and I started a weight loss challenge in August, and we both met our goals this month! Yay! Here is the chart of our progress that was in our bathroom.

One morning the girls got me up, and said they wanted me to take a picture of them in this chair, and then posed themselves.

Nora is becoming very good at making her bed, all by herself!

Nora is always asking me to take pictures of her with Sam. We have a lot of them, but they are all so cute!