Family Pics and Em's Birthday!

We went up to Jon's family cabin in Oakley over Conference weekend and took some family pictures in the beautiful fall surroundings. It was a lot of fun. Joe, Jon's dad and our photographer, was very patient with all my pose requests! Enjoy!!!





















I am in love with my kids! (This picture was actually taken when we got home up MP canyon)









































































































































































































































And I love my Hubby! We are coming up on 5 years in December :)




























































































Emmie's BIRTHDAY! She turned 4 on October 12th. Both she and Luke love to wear these monster shirts from their friend, Noah. It fits their personalities perfectly!!






















Here's my girl ready for her birthday party! Her family party was on October 11th so she had two days of celebrating.



















The pinata was a big hit!...no pun intended.
Go B!




















Emmie has so much family that love her!
















































"Big Luke" as Lukie calls his Uncle
































































Everyone spoiled Emmie with all the fun gifts. Emmie has had so much fun with her new stuff :) Thank you everyone!!






















































































Kate made the darling birthday sign below. I love it and I'm saving it for every year!!



























































Getting fierce with the balloon....grrrr

















Puff the Magic Dragon Cake. This was her favorite ride at Lagoon this year--and in fact, every year. She insisted this year on riding it BY HERSELF! And as usual, I made a whole event of cake making and had a lot of fun!






























































Charley Chew...also celebrated her bday that week. Big 5 year old!!



















Emmie surprised me this year with being able to blow up a balloon by herself. That is the first big change I saw from age 3 to age 4...monumental I know.
























When Emmie woke up on her birthday, her favorite meal was waiting for her...PANCAKES. Yes, they are waffles, but Emmie calls pancakes, waffles and french toast the same thing...pancakes!



















CTR ring!




















We love Dora around here :)






















On her actual birthday, we went to McDonalds with Noah, Jenna and Curtis. What an American way to celebrate, right?!


























































Later that night, we had a wedding reception. Afterward we stopped by temple square and gave Em one of her birthday gifts--a model of the SL temple. Emmie has always said since her aunt "Kako" got married in this temple, that she would too.
























We love you Emmie Doo! Happy Birthday :)

New Baby, New Missionary, New Haircut

Henry Kimball Alexander was born this week! We already love him so much.






















The proud, beautiful mama (for those of you who haven't caught up on our family lately this is not me having a new baby---it is my sister)






















Emmie adores him so much. Isn't he so beautiful??



























My little brother Parker left for his mission this week! (He did get to meet baby Henry).






















We went to Denny's for his last meal with us. Pretty classic.






















He is going to be the best missionary. It is always hard for me to send my brothers on missions. I love it because missions are amazing and mine changed me and made me a better person, but it is always hard to let go.

























Here Parks is with the grandkids that live in town. Lukie with all the girls. But now Henry will join the Bountiful crew!





























Little sweetie...get one last glimpse of his awesome hair (more to come on that)




















My wonderful parents. I can't believe Parker has grown up this much! He used to share a room with me when he was 2.






















Saying our goodbyes...





















This was a sweet moment as Luke doesn't always give out hugs. We love you Parker and will miss you. We will pray for you and write you letters so we can be a part of your mission and hopefully a strength to you too!




















And now for the new haircut. As you notice, my last post was about Luke's first haircut. It practically grew back in a couple of weeks. So we decided to go shorter. See if you can guess what device Lukie was looking at and questioning in this picture....


























Emmie was excited to help her daddy with the first shave






















Oh my! We love this dude's hair. This is what Daddy could look like if he wanted to!!
























The final result....two bald buddies! We shaved Jon's head tonight too. He doesn't normally walk around with his shirt off :)























My little boy. No longer a baby and the buzz put an exclamation on that one. I think he is darling with his new cut. It did take come convincing from Jon but I finally came around!




























Luke was checking himself out in the mirror and couldn't really figure out who he was seeing. His blue eyes stand out even more. What a sweetie



















our little happy buzz boy






















He does this face every once in awhile!





















He's our happy lil man and we love him!

Hair Stories

Okay so first of all, my boy is BIG. He will be 18 months at the end of this month. I still call him my baby. But there have been 3 things lately that have made me realize he is no longer a baby (tears)























1) He sits forward facing now next to big sister
2) Me, Emmie and Luke now walk into the grocery store holding hands....for some reason that was a HUGE change for me! It is way fun too.
3) I was watching a couple neighbor girls--ages 5 and 3. I told them that the "baby" woke up from his nap. I went to get Luke and brought him back out to the family room. The little 3 year old looked up at Luke with a puzzled expression. She turned to me and said matter-of-factly in her Cindy Lou Who high-pitched voice "That is NOT a baby!" I was shocked.






















So, let's all be honest about Luke's hair. It is amazing. It is everywhere. It floats above his head and creates an illusion that his head is really big. His hairdresser (yes he already has one) says she has NEVER seen that many hair "growth patterns" on any ONE person. It will always be something to talk about. It will always look like this in the morning if it hasn't been cut in 6 weeks.


























Then by 8 weeks he looks like Donald Trump and Jon reminds me it is time for a cut. This time Jon said "BUZZ". I thought about it for a week (while the Donald Trump hair floated even higher) and I said "NOPE." Not ready. I am already in denial that he is not a baby anymore and a buzz would make him look like he's in the 6th grade.


























Nonetheless it was time for a cut. These next two pics were taken a few hours ago, before the big cut.




















Did I mention that I promised Jon to have it cut SHORT....like as close to a buzz as possible without using clippers.





















I think he's used to getting his haircut now. Kind of like how baby girls do not like wearing headbands. But if you start them young enough and keep putting those headbands on, they just get used to it and don't even notice it anymore. Well, I think Luke will always sit still and act like cutting his hair is as perfectly normal as taking a bath since he has done it a lot. And it always involves a sucker (for Emmie of course too)





















Did I create enough anticipation and suspense for this picture?!! Isn't he DARLING? I love his new spiky hair (still flying in every direction) Sucker in the same position staring at himself in the mirror. Love it.

























He does look like he's about in the 6th grade doesn't he?


























Smiling behind some balloons Em found. I am very happy this little boy is in our family and I love his wacky hair!!


























On to the next hair story.....





















Em was playing beauty school and rolled a comb up in my hair. Two hours later, after my mom and I worked on it, and giving up, I set up an appt to get my haircut. After I knew I was getting it cut, I just started pulling it out harder than before. Em said a prayer for me because she felt bad about it. It was really sweet.





















Her prayer was answered.....and I looked like this!

























After several washes with shampoo and lots of conditioner, my hair was all intact....at least most of it






























Oh and when Emmie is not rolling combs up in my hair, she is eating blue markers.






















But I love my two toddlers and I get excited thinking about the new adventures we will have tomorrow!! And tomorrow is Aunt Kate's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We love you. My kids adore their aunt KAKO!