It's beginning to look a lot like...

Happiness is...

...looking into these two faces every day!!!

Family Pictures

A few weeks ago, we had the wonderful opportunity to have my fabulous friend, Amanda, take pictures of our little family. Here are a few of our favorites. Don't worry, I kept our #1 pic a secret as ya'll will get to see it on our Christmas Cards!! Anyways, enjoy...we're so happy with how they turned out. Thanks again Amanda for your friendship, your time and your amazing talent!

And here are a few of Payton's 6 month shots! Oh how I love this sweet girl!

Daddy's Girls!!

These pictures are so special...I love the relationship my girls have with their daddy!

And here's Alexa's 3 year shots!! I can't believe my sweet girl is THREE!! She's turning into such a lovely little lady! We just love and adore her too!

Happy Birthday Princess Alexa!!

Today our baby girl turns THREE!! We decorated last night to surprise Alexa this morning but Kevin had to leave early for school so he didn't get to see Alexa's reaction. Thankfully I remembered to pull out the camera to catch a little bit of it!

The Birthday Girl got to open one present first thing this morning...princess beads. She loves necklaces, really any jewelry actually, so she was quite excited.

We went to the doctor this morning for her three year check-up. We've been fighting a fever all week and so I was worried that my girl wasn't going to get to have a fun birthday. BUT, we've been fever free for over 24 hours now so we were good to go. And Alexa was sooooooo excited to go to the doctor for her VERY own appointment. (She's been quite jealous of all Payton's routine well checks!!) Alexa's stats at 3 years old:

Weight: 31.8 lbs (50th percentile)

Height: 38 " (75th percentile)

Our baby girl has slimmed down and sprouted up!!! She's perfectly healthy and developing as she should, well beyond her age group in some areas even!!

We are so grateful for a healthy, happy little girl!

Once Alexa went down for her nap, Kevin and I got all her party preparations under way.

And then the party began!

Alexa had a great time with all her friends: Karter G., Nathan I., Syndey T., Brielle K. and Zach R. We missed Olan & Quincy C. and Jonny B. - we sure missed you!! Wish I would have gotten a picture of all the kiddos together, but didn't think of it until it was too late. Here's one of the Birthday Girl's sister though! Payton had so much fun celebrating her sister's big day!!!

And here's the Birthday Girl in all her Princess Glory!!!

And we can't forget the singing and blowing out of candles!! Alexa definitely didn't like someone else stealing her thunder so we had to light the candles again!!! :-)

Happy Birthday Miss Alexa.

We sure love you to pieces and hope you had a super special Princess Day!!!

Look who's THREE!!!

It's amazing how fast the time goes! It seems like just yesterday that Alexa joined our family!

So sweet, so tiny!

Before we knew it, she was this cute little baby...not quite walking yet!

And then out of no where she was this adorable toddler, talking all the time and keeping us very entertained!

And NOW...she's is such a big girl! She's no longer my little baby. It's bittersweet. But I love watching her grow and learn new things. Even when she tells me I'm doing things wrong!! :-)

Anyways, HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY our sweet Alexa. We love you tooooooo much!!

(I have more to update...I just haven't had the time lately AND I wanted to get this up right away since this is such a big day in my little girl's life!!)

It won't be long now...

...until lil' Miss Payton is crawling all over the place!! She's now up on all fours, rocking back and forth. She's just itchin' to crawl! I guess it's time to go over the baby-proofing to make sure all is up to speed AND to educate Alexa on what can and canNOT go/stay on the floor!!

The following video is more for the grandparents/family who don't get to see our kiddos on a regular basis. If you want to watch it though, here's fair warning that it's a bit long and the last part really isn't that exciting!!! But Payton does show off some of her recent skillz!! Enjoy!

{Sleepy Cheeks}

I can't even begin to express the joy this sweet girl brings to me!! She had just woken up from a nap and I just had to snap a picture of her rosy cheeks!

I hope it's always like this...

Our girls have the sweetest relationship already and I LOVE it! Alexa adores Payton or "Taypon" as she still calls her!! And Payton gets a kick out of her big sister. Alexa can make Payton giggle and squeal in delight like nothing else. It's so fun to see them really starting to interact with each other. I really hope these two will always stay the best of friends!

Leaves are falling all around...

...On the housetops, on the ground.

Leaves are falling on my nose,

On my head and hands and toes.

Who doesn't love playing in piles of leaves??? Alexa & Jonny sure do!

Miss Alexa looked like a LION when all was said and done!!

Earlier in the day, we ventured to the zoo as we've been enjoying some unseasonably warm weather! As always, we enjoyed looking at the animals and Payton even got to experience her first swing ride! She loved it. You can't really tell from the video, but she was laughing and having a great time! Anyways, we hope this weather lasts so we can enjoy more fun outings!!

For Gramma Jenny!!

Happy Birthday Gramma Jenny!

We love and miss you too much!

Love,

Alexa & Payton

Picture Fun

As you've probably noticed lately on my blog...I've been having fun playing around with my photos. This is no exception. We took the first photo after Alexa's first Boo at the Zoo, so we repeated it again last year. But we didn't park in the same spot this year and it was a cloudy day the day we went to the zoo and so it just didn't happen. But on the morning of Halloween, my wonderful friend, Amanda, took our family pictures downtown. As we wrapped it up and were walking back to the car, I snapped the last picture as Alexa and Kevin had walked on ahead. I thought it showed the transition though...first she can't walk, then she's still pretty little and tuckered out after walking through the zoo, and finally, she's such a big girl now! I can't believe my baby is almost THREE!

Halloween Finale

I got this cute idea from my niece, Brianna...aren't these pizzas so fun??!!! Alexa made hers all by herself and was soooo proud of it. We were invited over to some friends' house for dinner last night after trick-or-treating, so we made these pizzas for our dinner today to complete our Halloween festivities. What a fun way to top things off!! Thanks Bri for the idea!

Halloween 2009

We've had a lot of Halloween fun this year! Boo at the Zoo, our ward Trunk'r'Treat...and now actual Halloween! Alexa was so excited to show our neighbor, Jonny, her costume. Here she is knocking on her first door! Aren't our little ladybug and football player so cute??? And we can't leave out the baby ladybug and the baby lion! Adorable!! We love having such fun neighbors!

And we concluded another fun family tradition...trick'or'treating down Hillcrest Avenue. Everyone on this street, both sides, go ALL out for Halloween. Thousands of people head here for their Halloween fun...and it just happens to be in our neck of the woods, so we don't have to go far. It's sad to think that it's our last time....sniff, sniff!!

Our fun little family! Everyone LOVED our ladybugs...their costumes were a hit!

And of course, couldn't resist seeing how things have changed. From a lion, to a chicken, to this year's ladybug...what a cute girl we have! Halloween is so much more fun with kids!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Trunk'r'Treat

We had our Trunk'r'Treat at our church tonight. Alexa wanted to wear a "princess dress" this morning when we went to the Y and I knew she wouldn't want to change into her ladybug costume for the party. So...I quickly fashioned a crown out of cardboard and tinfoil and voila...we had ourselves a princess. Once upon a time we had an actual cute little crown...but it met its maker not too long ago...thus the homemade version!!! Alexa didn't seem to mind. She really loves this whole candy thing...we're going to have to ration it after Halloween tomorrow!

Anyways, we had a great time.

And the best part...

Bishop Lee got Kevin to wear this fabulous wig for their part of the trunk'r'treat. Not exactly sure what they were supposed to be...but I laughed pretty hard when I saw this picture, so I had to share!! I love you babe, this is a great look on you!! :-)

{Jack'o'lantern Fun}

One of our favorite fall/Halloween activities is carving our pumpkins! We don't quite trust Alexa with a long sharp object as of yet...so she gets to paint her pumpkin. Anyways, Kevin and I collaborate on what design we want, he cleans out the pumpkin and I carve it. We make a great team!!

I'm not a big fan of spiders...but I thought this little guy turned out quite nicely!!