Snow and Santa Claus

Last Week we went up to Cda for Thanksgiving to visit my family. We had a really good time and for the first time ever we had Thanksgiving dinner with just my immediate family and my grandpa. I had my first experience of waking up early Thanksgiving morning and actually preparing half of the food myself... not to mention figuring out how to make all or most of it Gluten-Free. Not to brag or anything, but I made the most fabulous homemade gluten-free stuffing that my entire family loved and no-one could tell it was gf!

It pretty much snowed the entire time we were there. Lexi absolutely loves playing in the snow! Here she is out in it with Will...



We made sure to take the kids to see Santa Claus one day... Lexi was so excited to see Santa all the way up till the part where we tried to set her on his lap. I have never had her squeeze so tightly around my neck! Are we mean for forcing her to sit there while we got a picture? It was so funny to me because she was so excited to see him and she's normally a pretty social little girl.


I think the highlight of our trip was definitely the time Lexi spent with her cousin Brookie. Back at home Lexi talks about Brookie all the time. Anytime we tell her we are going to see someone, she looks at us and asks "Brookie?", like "is Brookie going to be there?" The last time she asked before our trip we said... "No, No Brookie" and Lexi's lip started trembling and she started tearing up and saying "Pees Brookie! Pees!" It was so cute and sad!
These two are just so cute and play so well together! They were inseparable the entire time. Every morning while we were there, Lexi would wake up super early and the first thing out of her mouth was "Brookie?" I would ask "You want to go see Brookie?" She would say "Ok!" and proceed to run all the way up the stairs calling Brookie's name until she found her and woke her up.

Here they are in their matching white coats that grandma got them!


So cute!

And its....

ANOTHER GIRL!

We are so excited! We already have so much fun with Lexi, it will be so much fun to have another little girl! I am so excited for Lexi to have a sister that is close to her age!

I love fall!

\I really do love it. I love when the leaves start to change colors. I love putting on a cozy sweater and being outside in the crisp clean air. Its cool enough to wear a jacket, but you can still take your kids to the park and not freeze. I just wish it would last longer... Fall always seems to come and go too quickly... I will just have to enjoy it while it lasts I guess. We've had a pretty enjoyable fall so far. I can't believe its November already! I can't seem to keep up! Anyways... here is a little of what we've been up to...

In September I got to go visit my family in Cda. While we were there we made our annual trip up to Greenbluff, which is a bunch of farms up in north Spokane. It was fun... My Mom, Abbey, and I took Austin, Brookie, and Lexi and we actually went out in the orchard for the first time to pick apples. It was a great time!

Here is Lexi with an apple! This was more fun for her than I thought. One thing thats kind of funny about Lexi is she learned how to say apple a while ago and now she calls everything from pumpkins, to peaches, to grapes..... apples.

I couldn't resist the scrunchy nose picture! I love it!

And Brookies scrunchy, eyes squished shut picture... so cute

Here's grandma with all 3 grandkids

Cute cousins...

Another cute picture with aunt Abbey


We decided to drive out to Heritage farms one day so Lexi could see some horses. Anytime we see a horse while driving around she starts saying "nay!nay", then "bye, bye horsees!"





In October we went on a little trip down to Vegas with Phil and Sandi.
Here we are at the MGM outside the lion exhibit.

Lexi trying to get a better look at the lions.



After Vegas we drove down to Fontana, Ca so that Will and Phil could do the Nascar Racing Experience that Phil had won. Here they are all suited up, waiting for their name to get called. Sadly, they never got their chance. A bunch of people before them were there to drive Indy cars. They put the first group of people out on the track driving Indy cars and not too long into it we heard that someone had crashed their car on the opposite side of the track. They said they needed to do an investigation and that we would have to wait for awhile. We waited around all day to see if they could get a chance, but they finally told us that nobody else would be racing that day... but wouldn't tell us any details on the crash.The boys were a little bummed we drove all that way, but understood later when we read in the news that the young woman that crashed the car had died. It was really sad and shocking to hear.


I guess you could say the highlight of Fontana was taking Lexi to swim in the pool at our hotel. Grandma Sandi had gotten Lexi one of those suits with the built in floaty part. Then we went to Target and got just about everything else you can think of for Lexi to be all decked out in swim gear.

She thought it was really fun for a second...

Then she got pretty mad that we made her put on those goggles...
When we got down to the pool she had a blast, especially when she realized she could pretty much float in the pool all by herself..



The weekend before Halloween Sammy and Mike came up with Claire and Noble and stayed with us for a night. We decided to go check out the pumpkin walk. It was pretty neat!

Lexi and Claire

All of us together, ready to head home...



HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

We were excited this last weekend to take Lexi Trick or Treating for her first time! We decided to go with Papa Phil to his ward's Trunk or Treat.




We forgot Lexi's bucket, so we borrowed one of Grammy's bags for Lexi to use. At first, Lexi wasn't sure what was going on, but about 5 cars into it all the sudden the light bulb switched on and Lexi just took off running back and forth to random cars holding her bag up to people for candy. It was pretty funny, she wouldn't say anything though... she would just hold her bag out and stare.


Hope everyone else had fun this Halloween!

Our Crazy Summer

CONDOS
Our summer officially started when we made our trip up to Coeur d Alene for my family's annual vacation at our condo on lake Pend Orielle. We have been going there since we were kids and we always have looked forward to it in anticipation... As I've gotten older it has started to seem like not so big a deal, but for some reason this year.... maybe because I had moved away, I was sooo excited for condo time to be here. Its the one time a year where my whole family is together and we can just relax and enjoy one anothers company without any other obligations... not to mention it is beautiful up there on the lake. Here are some random pictures I got from up there....

Every year my sisters and I go on a little hike and take "sister" pictures....

Lexi and Brookie in their matching PJ's from grandma...

Both of these girls LOVE the bath!

This girl is fearless... here she is jumping off the mantle to my dad

Kai (sadie's fiance) and Jackson in the canoe

Sadie and Abbey

I love this picture of Lexi and Abbey...

Lexi on the swing...

family picture time...

back in cda... carson got lexi to sleep around the campfire....
only the best uncle ever!!!

HOOPFEST
The weekend after condos we got to go to Hoopfest in Spokane where Will played on a team with my dad and brothers....

Sadie taking Lexi on the big red wagon slide for the first time!

Will, Sam and cousin Jeremy


THE DODD REUNION
Less than a week after returning to Logan from Cda we had the Dodd family reunion over 4th of July! It was so much fun! All of Will's cousins had fun playing with Lexi and we got to relax and visit a lot.

We all took family pictures for the reunion...



That weekend we also got to attend the sealing of Will's cousin Chris and Annie. It was really neat to be there! Annie made an adorable wedding cake and also made this little smash cake for Lexi... she loved it!


The water at bear lake was pretty cold!

Cousins playing in the sand!

Lexi spent most of the time at the beach chasing all of the seagulls around...

splashing in the water...

Sam and cooper...



MOTT FAMILY REUNION

At the end of July we had our Mott family reunion which is my mom's side of the family. It was good to see some of my cousins that I hadn't seen for years! Our last reunion was 3 years ago! We were at this beautiful place about an hour up Provo canyon. Sadly, I was feeling pretty sick most of the time, but I still got to enjoy myself a lot. I know everyone else had a great time too!

Lexi and Uncle Jackson in the hammock

Daddy and Lexi on the swing...

Lexi and Grandma

Lexi and Mommy.....

Lexi thought it was so much fun when grandma would gallop around with her on her shoulders...

Lexi and cousin Lily...

Emi... hanging out in the tree

Harrison... what a cutie

Max... if you can't tell there is a grasshopper on his head

Addy.... she found a dead dragonfly... it was so cool

Talent night.... my mom and all of my aunts doing an abba song i think



HEATH'S BAPTISM

The last weekend in July we got to go to Boise and attend Will's little brother Heath's baptism! Way to go Heath!


birthday cupcakes...

Here is one of my new favorite pictures of Lexi at the piano with Will...

Here are some cute pictures of Will's brothers...

Max

Heath

Connor...


While we were in Boise we got to go over and see great-grandma Jody and great-grandpa Jim!


ENGAGEMENTS

Right when we got back into Logan my cousin Mikelle and her fiance Nate came to town for me to take their engagement pictures. It was really fun. I'm so excited for them to get married!


PERKE'S REUNION

About midway through August we made another quick trip to Boise for one night, and then continued our drive up to
Walla Walla, WA for the Perke's family reunion. It was a lot of fun hanging out and visiting and playing games with friends! Sadly by this time I was a little tired of snapping pictures... I did take a few though...

We had a 50's night and here is one of Lexi and Will...


Coeur d Alene once more...

After being at the reunion in Walla Walla, we figured it was only a couple more hours to Cda, so we may as well drive up for one last visit. We had a good time with my family as always.... here are some of the highlights....

We couldn't pass up on the Kootenai county fair!
Lexi's favorite part of course was all of the animals! Here she is with the pigs!


We came across this little blow-up house with a little climbing wall/obstacle course... This was right up Lexi's ally... she loved it. We paid $2 and they let her go through it over and over! Totally worth it!

Here she is on the pony ride! They wouldn't let us walk by her, but she didn't seem to care! She just had this grin on her face the entire time!

Sam and Angie met up with us part-way through!

Lexi hugging a baby cow...



I also got to take some senior pictures for Abbey.... isn't she gorgeous?


Lexi wanted to get in on the photo shoot too!


Well, I think I should win an award or something for having the busiest summer ever! I'm pretty sure I was gone way more than I was home. I've been finding myself quite exhausted from all the travel... sort of wanting to go home and just do nothing... I have no reason to complain though. I feel so lucky to have so many people in my family that love me and that I can spend time with. I don't know how many people that have four let alone one family reunion to attend every year! I feel incredibly blessed to have be a part of such a family! I look forward to the next time I can get together with my family... but for now, I think I want to just relax for a little while....

Oh ya! By the way... did I forget to mention that I'm PREGNANT? It must have slipped my mind:) Yes, sometime during our busy summer, we managed to find the time to conceive our second child! I don't know an exact due date yet, but its sometime in the last week of March I think! Until next time! -Jess