THIS we will miss!

The beautiful Fall colors here are definitely a sight to see! I'm so grateful our last year here, that the colors were so vibrant. We had such a dry summer last year that it seemed once it got cold, the leaves just fell off the trees and no changing of the colors really happened. But this year...WOW! It's beautiful. I definitely will miss the blooming flowers in the Spring, the lush green in the Summer, and these beautiful colors in the Fall. (Won't miss for a second though the Winters here!!!)

We did our annual trek out to Huber Farms today to go pumpkin picking and these were the sights pretty much the whole way there. It was a beautiful drive!

Comparison

I sure hope the girls don't resent me in their teenage years for all the comparing I'm doing of them. Really, it's just in looks...they are both their own individual people, with their own individual personalities...they just look so much alike, and yet NOT alike at the same time. And when I put Payton in something that I so clearly remember Alexa wearing, it's all I can do to keep from immediately searching through the old pictures we have on the computer to find Alexa in the same thing. I really look forward to seeing how these beautiful girls of mine grow and change as the

years go by.

{Boo at the Zoo}

We took the girls to 'The Largest Halloween Party' at our local zoo tonight. It's a family tradition and we're going to miss it since this was our last. Hopefully our new zoo next year, wherever that might be, will do something just as fun. Anyways, this year both our girls are ladybugs for Halloween! And I have to say that they are the cutest ladybugs I've ever seen!!! We're looking forward to more Halloween festivities so we can dress them up some more!!

Seriously...I just can't get enough of these cheeks!! :-)

The Neighbor Boy

Honestly, what would we do without Jonny most days??? Alexa absolutely adores this little man! I had to add this picture because I stole it from Jonny's mommy's blog and I thought it was so cute of the two of them.

Homeward Bound

This past weekend, we were able to fly home to Arizona for two purposes: 1) to see Kevin's family (the last time we were there, Alexa was barely walking!!!) and 2) to start the job hunt process (yikes, can you believe graduation is JUST around the corner??!!!). It was a super busy and tiring trip but also a lot of fun and quite productive as well!! Here is our little miss on her very first plane ride! As you can tell, she was lovin' every minute of it!! :-)

Alexa had so much fun with her cousins this time. Two years makes a HUGE difference in the development of toddlers!!

The year Alexa was born, 2006, she also had two cousins born on the Mortenson side, Ainsley and Amelia. And it wasn't planned but they all were named with names starting with "A"....hence, the Triple A's!! It will be so much fun to see these three girly girls grow up together!

And 2009 was also a big year on the Mortenson side! FOUR babies joined the ranks! Hadley started things off back in March, then Payton made her appearance in April, followed by Eli in July, and Bryant wrapped things up nicely in August. What cuties they all are!

And we couldn't leave the hot mamas out!! I'm so blessed to have such wonderful sisters-in-law (you too Georganna!!)! Thanks ladies for all you bring into my life and the lives of my children! We look forward to living closer to all of you soon!!

Strike a Pose

Back in August, Alexa had the pleasure of being a model for my great friend, Rachael. And she was a great little model...posing like she was born to do it!! And boy did she love that umbrella - so much so that she thought she got to take it home with her! I had such a hard time choosing which ones I liked best so I included most of them. Enjoy!

And thanks Rach for some fabulous pictures of my sweet girl!

Leisure Suit anyone???

{A Fun Day}

A couple months ago, we had new neighbors move into the apartment directly beneath us...and to our wonderful surprise, they had two little kids very close in age to our own. I've become quite good friends with Becky and Alexa LOVES her new little friend, Johnny! They also have a little girl, Katelyn, who is a few months older than Payton. So today, we took Becky and her kiddos to the zoo. Alexa and Johnny had a blast. She's always asking if Johnny is outside and if she can play with him. What fun it is to have great neighbors!!

And this is how Payton enjoyed our day at the zoo!!

Payton: 5 Months Old!!

Our sweet Payton is 5 months old. With each passing month, I just can't believe how quickly the time goes. She's now trying to sit on her own. She laughs and talks ALL the time. She loves to watch her big sister. She's so aware of everything that is going on around her and she LOVES to smile at her daddy!! She's starting to sleep better which is wonderful for everyone and she really is a very happy baby.

Alexa didn't want to miss out on the photo op! She's very adamant about not being left out when it comes to her sister! Sorry about the open mouth shot, I tried getting her to smile...but she just wanted everyone to see her snack instead!! :-) Oh and you can see how her black eye got worse! Poor thing, it really did look nasty for a few days.

{Bedhead}

Hahahaha....I just love Payton's hair in the above picture! She'd had a little piggy tail in earlier in the day which resulted in this! The hair, combined with the cheeks....oh I love it!

Both the girls get some crazy bedhead. Alexa refuses to have anything done to her hair after nap time and so it's usually pretty crazy the rest of the day! I wonder if Payton's hair will lighten up like Alexa's since Alexa started out at least as dark as Payton's hair is in this picture???!!!

Accident Prone??

So today Alexa got her first major black eye (at least I THINK it's her first). She was playing with a friend and got bumped right next to her eye resulting in an immediate black eye. It doesn't look so bad in this picture but it definitely got worse (since I'm backdating this post and actually writing it from the future.....scary, I know!!!). But this incident started off a chain of accidents for our little lady. It seemed like every time she turned around, she was bumping into something or falling and scraping a knee.

Hopefully the stars will realign and soon move onto some other poor unfortunate soul!!

We are a happy fa-mi-ly!!

Once again, Alexa was playing out on the front porch while it was raining. I was inside folding laundry and heard her singing and couldn't believe I was successful in capturing some of it on video. At first, before I got the camera going, she was singing about waiting for daddy to come home. Then it switched to "happy family". What a cute girl we have!!

Rollin', Rollin'...almost!!!

Payton has been trying for a couple days now to roll from her back to her tummy. She's sooooo almost there, she just can't figure out how to get her little arm out from under her so she can fully complete the roll. It's pretty cute watching her try though.

**Rolling Update: The very next day, I went in to get her from her nap and her little head was peeking at me over her bumper pad in her crib!! Our little lady finally managed to complete the rolling over! Yay Payton!!

Singin' in the Rain!

Alexa LOVES the rain! We finally got her her very own little umbrella and to say she was excited was an understatement. After church today, she played outside in the rain for quite some time...loving every minute of it.

I just can't get enough...

...of her sweet smile, her beautiful eyes, her chubby rolls, those cheeks...ALL of it!!! We love this little girl sooooooo much and are so grateful she is a part of our family!