Panoramic

I came across this pic on my computer...I was trying out the panoramic setting on my phone.  So fun!  My dad is sitting over by the fireplace so this pic is from September I think.  It is our great room over to the kitchen...

Monster Trucks

Geoff took the boys out one night for a surprise.  It was so cute how fast they rushed around to get ready and how they started asking a bunch of questions.  I wish I could have seen them in person when they showed up at the fairgrounds for the Monster Truck race.  They came home waving their checkered flags and telling me about their favorite trucks.  I LOVE W's expression in this picture.

Jack's favorite truck was "The Destroyer" and Wyatt's favorite truck was "Patriot" which he called "Patriuh"

F-15

Geoff was the SOF-supervisor of flying (at least I think that is what the acronym stands for) at the beginning of the month during a night flying week.  So we took our friends Melody and Joe out to see the take-offs.  It was freezing but we had so much fun.  I had never stood outside right next to the runway during a night take-off.  The entire ground shakes...it makes your body shake.  It is awesome!  My pictures are crazy-grainy...too bad bc they were cute.  We were trying to get pics in the truck with the three kids crawling and jumping all over us.  Believe it or not, this is the best shot we got (at least we caught J's face and A is crying).  

Let's go Cut a Tree...

I love getting our Christmas tree!  This year was fun but the rain (RAIN!) was a bit of a challenge.  I only managed to get a couple of pictures before I started to worry about my camera.  It was getting soaked.  Here is a pic of Avery and I with our hooded friend Kathryn!  We met Kathryn and her husband Jay in Okinawa 11 years ago! 

My new friend Kristen and her daughter...who moved here from Okinawa this past summer.

Pic with Carrie, Kathryn (w/o the hood) and the babies!  OK, the rain was getting worse...time to get a tree.

 The guys fueling up on hamburgers and hot dogs before heading into the woods.  

After a nice walk on the trail, Geoff and our friend Dave left the trail while Carrie and I jumped ship with the kids.  After what seemed like a long time...Geoff arrived with a winner!

I really wanted a family pic by the tree but again...the rain, the cold, and not to mention the kids didn't even want to get out of the van.  It didn't matter, by the time I even thought about grabbing the camera, Geoff had already taken walked the tree to our friend's truck to load it up.  I did get a quick pic with him holding a tape measure.  He borrowed it and the thought of a tape measure in the woods just seems silly but we are glad someone brought one!  Although it is kind of late to check after we cut down the tree.  :) The tree was a biggie, Geoff had to take some inches off the bottom.

 Just like last year, the boys were passed out on the drive home and for awhile after....Merry Christmas!

Just Us...Just Stuff

Just wanted to post some pictures from November and December.  Before cutting down our Christmas tree we stopped in at the local ski/boarding store in town during their ski swap.  The kids were running wild...the boys tried to grab and contain A for a quick pic.

 Avery riding around Fred Meyer... 

 Jack holding Avery while she drinks her soy-free, dairy-free (and not-nice smelling) formula since she can't have cow's milk.

 These two are the most recent pictures on this post.  I took them yesterday.

She has been into walking fast then laying down on her belly...and sometimes rolling over onto her back and just waiting for someone to come and tickle her belly.

 Her suspicious expression.

 I posted on FB that the boys had paired up some of our snowmen ornaments and created some twins for the tree....

 A is into everything right now.  She unloads drawers, she unloads cabinets, she drags clothes all over the house.  She climbs.  She explores.  She squeals.  She shrieks.  She laughs.  She is doing just what an-almost-15-month-old should be doing.

  We have had a ton of deer sightings this year.  There is a group of ten deer that have become regulars in the "hood."

But it was the first time we saw one with antlers near our house.

 She loves the windows.

 Before Thanksgiving, the boys had homework instructions to create a costume to hide a turkey.  The boys knew right away that they wanted to disguise the turkey as a dinosaur.  W disguised his as a T-Rex:

 J disguised his as a triceratops.  If you can't quite see a triceratops...ask Geoff.  :)

 Running around crazy happy before bed and holding onto the phone.

 Rascal.

 I LOVE this expression on her face.

  The boys still surprise me with their creativity and imagination.  They pulled out the megabloks and         built a battleship.

 Sorry for the random out of order pics on this post.  Most of the time, I just go through my pictures and start loading them up.  This is from my birthday in November.  Geoff and the kids surprised me on my birthday (after my yoga class) with a cake and an island addition to our kitchen!   So sweet!

airport video

this is what made our long travel day do-able.  the kids had fun even in the rough moments-like finding out they wouldn't let us on the plane....

avery is obsessed with the boys when they "crash"...or jump off of something and make a giant presentation of their "fall".  she thinks it is hilarious.  this vid is after she had been making huge belly laughs - then we realize we should take a video and try to catch part of it.

OKC

OKC here we come!  This is the first time since we moved here that we braved traveling for the holidays.  We went to visit Aunt JJ, Grandpa and Grammy.  Our first day was a little rough.  When we arrived at the airport, we saw quickly that the line for our flight was not moving.  There was a mechanical problem (the two words I don't like to hear in the same sentence as airplane) on our airplane and they were waiting for a piece to be flown in from Portland.  Not a good sign when the airline agent was already re-booking each person's tickets to find new connections.  They didn't change ours bc we had a chance of making our next flight.  On a happy note, the kids had a blast running around the terminal...entertaining us and everyone waiting in line.

Fast forward a few hours.  We were able to get on our first flight without too much of a delay but we still missed our connecting flight by minutes.  The plane was even still sitting on the ground but they wouldn't open the door to let us on.  I could tell the agent regretted telling Geoff she couldn't open the doors especially when I walked up with our three kids.  She had to stay late to re-book us in some way to get us to OKC and get us vouchers.  Fast forward a few more hours.  We were supposed to connect through SLC but ended up in Minnesota for the night instead of Oklahoma.  Just a little out of the way...but the only way to get us to OKC the next day.  The boys while we waited for the hotel shuttle to pick us up.

A fell asleep (the deep kind-of-sleep) on the shuttle on the way to the hotel - we know she is tired when a. we can transfer her and b. she sleeps on her back.  Poor thing is used to drinking a big bottle of formula in the middle of the night and it was in our suitcase.  Along with zyrtec and her eczema creams.  (I know, not very smart on my part).  She woke up three hours later and cried and scratched and cried and crawled at her skin for about two hours.  Poor guests in the neighboring rooms.  

We had to wake up the kids early to get to the airport.  Check out A's crazy hair after her rough night!

Thankfully, the rest of the day was great.  We made it to OKC, the weather was awesome and the kids were happy.   Hanging out with Aunt JJ while we made some car seat adjustments.

We unloaded at Aunt JJ's house and went straight to the zoo.  The weather was amazing and the zoo was empty.  The local kids were in school.  Little sweet feet loving the zoo.

 I knew one thing for sure, we wouldn't get lost.  Three boys...three maps.  

The elephant section was brand new and awesome.  Especially fun when there is a baby elephant!  A baby elephant snuggling with her mama and aunt and even trumpeting (is that what you call it)....we stayed there awhile...I could have stayed all day.

Avery managed to stay awake the entire day with no nap.  Then she gave it up right before we left the zoo.

The boys fell asleep on our way home from dinner.

We saw Christmas lights.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal and then went to the park to burn off energy (and stuffing).

The wishbone.

We loved the science center...

...we all rode a Segway.

This picture makes me laugh...everyone watching the science show.

 Super fun trip and a wonderful Thanksgiving!