Family Pictures

We were so excited to finally get family pictures. I wanted to share a few of our favorites.





We got some taken of just Maddie because Max got school pictures and we didn't have any portraits of Maddie.

Christmas is Coming!

My kids are so excited for Christmas this year. Maddie has been decorating and redecorating the bottom part of our Christmas tree everyday. Both of the kids love to see the Christmas lights on people's houses and they both love, love, love the snow. They were so excited to get some snow this week. Here is a picture I took today of Maddie in her snow suit. It is so puffy that she has to waddle around, it is so cute.


We had our Ward Christmas party tonight. I am on the activities committee so I was serving food and stuff while Bret got to take care of the kids. Maddie was not making it easy for him. She would not stay put in one place. He got some cute pictures of her though.


The highlight for the evening for the kids was that Santa and Mrs. Clause were there. They go to sit on Santa's lap and they got a candy cane from Mrs. Clause.

Funny Maddie!

It has been awhile since I posted last. We had a crazy busy week this week. I wanted to post this funny picture of Maddie but first I have to explain it a little. We had an appointment scheduled last night to get a family portrait from Max's school for a PTA fundraiser. They had a professional photographer come and for $10 you get a family picture taken and a 10 x 13. With the option to buy more pictures. I was so excited to finally get a new family picture because we haven't got one since Maddie was born. So we got all ready and went. The pictures they took were bad. There wasn't one picture where we were all looking at the camera with our eyes open.When we saw the pictures we asked if we could take more, they tried again with not success. The photographer didn't seem to care that he didn't get a good picture of us. So we came home and I started calling portrait studios. I found a coupon for JC Penny and called them. They couldn't fit us in last night so we went this morning. We got some really cute pictures that I will post when we get them in a week or so. Last night while I was trying to get us an appt while the kids were still in thier picture clothes. Maddie came out of Max's room dressed like this and said, "I'm Thomas the Train!"


She is so funny!

Our Week with William

We took William home last night and both of the kids have asked about him today. We had a great time with him last week. He played so cute with the kids. As those of you who know William know he does not usually like to get his picture taken but I did manage to snap a few shots of him playing with the kids.

William with baby Andy

William playing was playing with Maddie but hid when he saw the camera.

He read Maddie a lot of stories!

Max and William spent hours and hours playing with the train tracks and hot wheel tracks in the basement.

Just for Fun

Today is a pretty warm day for November. The kids were enjoying playing outside. Maddie loves to swing and Max loves to ride his scooter. He had a pretty bad crash on his scooter a couple weeks ago and I thought he might not want to ride it again, but it didn't seem to phase him at all.


This is the kids swinging with their cousin Charlie, who spends 2 days a week with us.

I also wanted to add this picture from last weekend. Max and Maddie were so excited to have their newest cousin, little Avery come for a visit. Max really loves babies, sometimes too much. He was so happy to be able to hold her....she looks a little nervous though. :)

Fun in the Leaves

I found these pictures in our album and realized that I forgot to post them. They are from the day after Halloween. We were in Manti and Max and his cousins (Gracie, Susie and Charlie) decided to rake all the leaves into a big pile and then jump in it. They had a great time.

I love these pictures because they remind me of how much fun it is to be a kid. Even something as simple as playing in leaves brings so much joy.

Welcome to our New Blog

We have decided to move our blog from bretnlaura.com to blogspot. We are glad you found us. Please let us know if you have a blog that we can visit.

First Place Photo

Bret (psst... he doesn't know I am posting this :-)) won first place in a photo contest at work with this picture that he took in his parents backyard a couple weeks ago.

I thought it turned out really cool so I decided to share.

Neuschanstein

We are back! We just got back from a really fun trip. We saw so much that I decided to write about our trip in increments. The first day we drove to Munich, Germany. This is the southeast area of Germany known as Bavaria. On Saturday we went to Hohenschwangua Castle and Neuschwanstein Castle.


Hohenschwangua Castle was a castle is where King Ludwig spent his summer as a child, then on the next hill over he built Neuschanstein Castle. To get to the castle it was a big hike up a hill. The castle is huge and very beautiful.




To see more pictures click here.

On Sunday we went to the English ward in Munich. It was so different to go to church in English again. They had a large primary and it was Max's first time every going to primary in English and he loved it.

Happy Halloween

We had a wonderful Halloween this year. Maddie was a pretty princess and Max was Thomas the Train. The kids were so excited because they got to get all dressed up twice. Last Sunday, Grandma and Grandpa had a Halloween party at their house. Everyone wore costumes, we ate soup and played games. We had a great time.







For Halloween we went to Manti for Trunk or Treat. In Manti, they block off Main Street and everyone comes with their cars and passes out candy from the trunks. The kids had so much time playing with their cousins and collecting lots and lots of candy!

School Pictures

Max got his pictures back today so I thought I would share them. I think they turned out very cute. He really loves school. Starting tomorrow, I am going to be helping out in his class once a week, I am excited to go and be there with him to see what his Kindergarten world is like.

Snow in October!

We looked out the window this morning to find snow! Max and Maddie were so excited. They couldn't wait to get out there and play in it. As soon as Maddie saw the snow she ran to get her coat. The kids had a great time, playing in the snow. Maddie thought it tasted pretty yummy and despite both Bret and I telling her not to eat snow she would sneak a bite whenever she could.



Bret and Max decided they wanted to build a snow man before all the snow melted.


We had a lot of fun rounding up things to decorate our snow man. I think he turned out pretty good.



We are really glad we build him when we did because now it is mid afternoon and all the snow is melted, but our snow man is still standing :).