Thanksgiving Francis Style

My whole family was in the same state for Thanksgiving, so we were almost all here for Thanksgiving.  First time since before my mission.  It was a TON of fun, especially for the kids.  I had a photo of all of the girls in the tub but decided not to put it in - too many perverts out there and I didn't crop good enough - a few boobies were showing :)  So here they are in the giant girl bed.  Gracie didn't last too long with all the talking, but I think it was still fun for them to start out like this.

I think they were all a LITTLE excited to be together!

Gramma and the babies.  Although 6 months apart, Ezzie is almost as big as Sora...My brother makes BIG kids, but then again, we make 'em pretty small :)

Party of the dinner party.  We had about 21 people and LOADS of food.  It was a lot of work and planning, but believe it or not, I didn't even have my "master schedule" like I did last year.  Everyone chipped in and helped.  Aside from the Francis family, we had Vern, Dave & Sharon and Kevin.  Good times and almost enough fancy dishes to go around

Some of the rest of us and a tiny bit of the food, funny that it's all the potato dishes in the picture (2 sweet potato dishes and mashed potatoes)...not sure why I didn't get any pics of the pies, we only had about a million...Jimminy, I totally overestimated how much pie people would eat - wimps! :)

Vern enticing Sora to the bottle - sparkling cider.  I think he may have gotten her lips a little too close to the bottle since she just kept licking them and crying for more :)

Uncle Mark bringing the kids back from the park just in time for Uncle Brian to show us how to make rockets.

The kids LOVED shooting off these rockets.  Gordon (Brian's Father-in-law) let him borrow the rocket launcher.  As you can see in the background the boys were also putting up the Christmas lights :)  Yeah for family to help!  While waiting turns for rockets, the kids also made necklaces.

It was sure a lot of fun.  I tried to spend my time in the kitchen cooking and cleaning to make it a break for all of the families that had to travel to our house, but they still managed to chip in and do a lot which, makes makes me a little sad for them.  I am so grateful for my siblings.  I love them to pieces and feel grateful we could coax our parents into coming :)  The only thing any of wished (well besides Anne wishing she was going shopping like a maniac on Black Friday) was a nice family viewing of the Lynn Francis Family Vacation - oh, I mean National Lampoons Christmas Vacation.  Other than that, it was a weekend full of fun and family and a TON of food, although we did run out of turkey since I forgot to pull the little one out of the freezer - sorry guys.

Laeni Bug's Pony Party

My little Laeni is 3!  As full of spunk and sass as ever, but when you catch her is a good mood, she's the kindest little person I have ever met, so thoughtful and loving.  What a cutie!

We celebrated her b-day early so Bry could be there.  It was a Friday evening and had snowed all day long, hence the snow pants!

Friends that came to the pony party (older friend not pictured: gma and gpa Shirley, Sis Brown Kim & Emily Miller  and Jo).  I started them out with some dollar store ponies to decorate, then Laeni kinda ran the show from there.

We played pin the tail on the "pony" then ate cake (the present opening is out of order :)  )Notice how many helpers Laeni has. I had a few videos I wanted to post but I keep getting an error, so no videos again.  :(

Laeni's cake for the pony party - colors selected by the b-day girl.

As an after thought, I threw some "hay" on for the pony to eat...not my best idea ever.  But oh well.
Happy Birthday Laeni Loo!

I Fall for This Season

The month began with a special "ladies lunch" tea party to celebrate Salix and her decision to be baptized.  I wanted it to be a big deal because being baptized is a big deal and I wanted my girls to see that.  We couldn't go down for the baptism so this was the next best thing.

Tori and Laeni getting ready for the ladies lunch - complete with "princess hair".

Main course at the ladies lunch.

Ladies Lunch attendees (all wearing princess attire - with the exception of Jan and me)

Cuties

Desserts
(assorted chocolates, key lime tartletts, strawberry cream tartletts)
 

 In the middle of the month (Oct 18th to be exact), we traveled to Roy for Grandma Weaver's funeral.  It was beautiful weather and an uplifting service dedicated to a wonderful woman.

Tori and Laeni were able to select a flower from Grandma's casket arrangement.

 Other happenings in October and the beginnings of Nov:

Between army crawling and rolling, Sora is making her way around the house pretty quickly.  I love it when she sticks her tongue out - I think she may be getting more teeth.  She has 2 on the bottom so far.

Bry, Jan and Grandma Shirley took the kids to a country fair and they had a blast.

Sora's first Halloween, which means first pumpkin carving.  She didn't last long as she was WAY too tired.

Carving pumpkins



Bry and the girls peeking out of their fort.  They slept downstairs in the fort all night long.  The trees and giant rock (bean bag) were supposed to be blocking entrance to the fort to throw off intruders.

Halloween dinner - right before trick-or-treating.

Right as we were leaving to go trick-or-treating, our friend Kim happened by and took our picture.  2 Fairies and Mary had a Little Lamb.  Little Lamb wasn't wearing her black hood/ears since it was the warmest Halloween in Utah history - or so i was told.

The big girls were fairies.

And of course my birthday!  Celebrated early before Bryan's trip.  Bry and his mom gave me a new tea set.  LOVE IT!  Bry had me blindfolded and had this mini tea party set up to ccelebrate!

And last but certainly not least - the pinewood derby.  Bry is the one in charge of pack nights so he ran the show.  His car is the 2nd from the left - the mouse driving the cheese.  This was the only picture I took, but it was cute.  Luckily Mr. Mouse wore his walnut shell helmet for protection since some of the cars were jumping off the track!

Happy Fall everyone!  Love this season!!

 

Goin' to the zoo, zoo, zoo, how about you, you you...

Yesterday we went to the zoo to see the new Polar Bear Exhibit, "Rocky Shores" and we LOVED it.  The funny thing is that I didn't get one picture this time of any of the animals - besides these cute ones...

The Shirley Girls hangin' out on the Rhino.

Mama bird and her babies.

Sora sucking the juice out of Bryan's apple :)  She would grab his hand to put the apple in her mouth.  I think she liked it. :)

Daddy Bear and cubs.  We had a good time at the zoo - the girls were out before we got to the freeway!

Special Delivery.  I love to kiss and squeeze and suck on those cheeks!  Sora has 2 teeth now and can sit up all by herself (although sometimes I think she falls on purpose).

Chillin' at the local splash pad.  The funny thing is that the girls would only run through the middle of the water...trying hard NOT to get wet.

First Day at Smarty Pants Preschool

Tori is a preschooler now, and she is so excited to go  - she helps pick her clothes out the night before.  Look at this smilin' mug ready to go on her 1st day!

Breakfast of Champions - no, not Wheaties this time...Cheerios!  She was SOOOOOOOOOOO excited for preschool.  I called her from work to see how it was and she LOVED it!

Heading out the door with her backpack and everything.

Laeni posing for Tori's 1st day of preschool.  Cute lil' stinker.

Getting ready to walk in to Smarty Pants Preschool!

 

Just throwing this one in there although it wasn't taken on the 1st day of preschool.
This is the progress on the Payson Temple.  Oh yeah baby, the elevator shafts are almost ready!

Good Bye Summer

In no particular order (just the order the computer and I happened to pick the pics and accidently moved them around)...here are the goings on this summer  - very briefly.  Next post will show Tori's first day of pre-school, but that will be for another day.

 

This Labor Day, the girls and I loaded up the car to watch Tori dance in a parade and young people's talent show for her dance class.  The children's parade was calcelled due to lightening (and a LOT of rain, but the weather cleared up for the talent show and carnival rides.  This is a photo of Laeni screaming her head off on the first ride.  I can't help but laugh.  All the other kids are having a blast...she has informed me that she is never going on another ride again - E-V-E-R!

 

Bryan and I went on a date to the Melting Pot and then to the musical Wicked.  It was a LOT of fun to dress up and go on a date.  Can't remember the last time that happened - maybe right after we got married and we went to the Nutcracker (almost 5 years ago)?

Sora is getting SOOOO big.  She can almost sit up by herself - actually she can all by herself for a couple of minutes before she starts to topple over.

Tori before the Labor Day parade.
(She was in one other parade, but didn't post those pics)

Father's Day we made Bry breakfast in bed and the girls were having so much fun!  They really wanted breakfast in bed too, so I suprised them and brought them a tray of food as well...they were in heaven.

LOTS of summer days with friends and popsicles.  The girls (both sets of sisters) just wait for the other pair to get home so they can play. 

Cami and her family came through town and we let the girls have a sleepover in the same bedroom - they LOVED it...maybe until we turned off the lights, then Kaylin probably didn't like it so much, but she never complained.  My girls were in heaven with their cousins.  Here they are in the cottage loft watching "girl" movie.

Our GIANT holly hocks this year.  Our friend told me she would just drive past the fence to see their beautiful blossoms stretching over the fence.

Tori's first day of dance class this year

Our trip to Washington, just for fun...and it was FUN!  Can't go home without a trip on a ferry.  Tori and Laeni didn't want a "fairy" ride, they wanted a "princess" ride.  Here is pop with all but one of the girls - Kaylin was on the other side of WA.

Bryan's first trip to Sequim and the wild game animal farm.  Here he is feeding the buffalo a slice of bread and trying to film the whole thing.

The Peninsula.  The best day we had on our WA trip...but of course the weather has been beautiful every day since we left.

Good bye summer.  We had a blast with you this year.  See you on the flip side.