The Big Purge

Time for another picture purge!

Here's a beautiful princess taking a minute to talk on her phone. And another beautiful snow princess. My sister gave me this dress for Lilly and I was excited to use it again!

Here's our girls raking/shoveling the leaves a few weeks ago. This was the same day the plane crashed by our house.

Too bad we acutally have to shovel for snow now.

A few weekends ago we went with some friends/old roomies down to the Wales house. It was crazy to think that we were there 10 years ago with no kids or spouses (Doug and I were there I guess. Just not married yet)!

The kids had fun going on a Gator ride.

Random shot fo the Mabes. I think Sophia may have taken this one. I don't remember taking it anyway.

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving! We went to Doug's mom's for lunch. She had such a beautiful table set up.

Here's my three cuties in their fun baby legs! I was so glad to finally get a smiling picture of Lilly!

Doug's mom also had the kids make some cute crafts. They put cloves in oranges and dipped pretzels. It was really fun! After that we headed to my brother's house for more feasting. He's a pathologist by day and a gourmet chef by night. He serriously makes the best food and I was so looking forward to this!

This was the piece de resistance. He made sweet potatoes like they do at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. They had this amazing brown sugary crust on top. They were seriously TO.DIE.FOR!

Yummy! Look how the cute clementines are ever arranged perfectly.

After that we headed up to Park City for our anniversary! Happy 7 years Douglas! He actually had arranged for us to get away on Tuesday but we both came down with the stomach flu so bad. It was seriously awful! We decided to wait a few days and luckily they let us switch our reservation. We stayed at a place called the Newpark Hotel and it was pretty awesome. There was a hot tub on the balcony which was pretty cool but the best part was the radiant heating in the bathroom. I loved it! Here's a few shots from our stay. The hallway was ridiculously long.

Our bedroom. It had these sliding doors that shut the whole thing off from the rest of the place. It was nice for the second night when our kids joined us. We didn't have to hear them!

This table/chest thing was pretty awesome. It was a coffee table that looked like a chest but the top part lifted off and up so you could use it as a table top. It was pretty cool. The window over my head looked into the bathroom. Kind of weird.

Best part of the trip. The first morning we were there we discoved the ceiling in the bathroom was leaking. Right on the toilet. Pretty cool. I kept laughing at how ironic it was. It really was such a nice place but then to have something like this happen? Not so nice. We think the people above us may have flooded their bathroom or something. We never really heard. Unfortunately we only got a bucket out of the deal. I told Doug I really wanted to complain so that we could at least get a free meal or something (the hotel was right above Cafe Rio). Too bad I'm not a good complainer.

We stayed one night along (with Mabes) and then picked up our kids the next morning and brought them up for one more day. They had a blast doing fun things like swimming in the bathtub

and the pool.

And yes these pictures are crappy. I accidentally left my camera at my brothers so I had to the best I could with my phone. Now you're all caught up. Bring on the December craziness!

Come run with me!

If you have nothing to do at 9:30 tomorrow (and you live around here) come run for the Teemants! They were in our Provo ward and that are absolutely the nicest and best people ever! Leo has been diagnosed with Stage IV melanoma and some friends put together a race and craft sale to help pay for treatments. It's going to be at Kiwanis Park in Provo at 9:30 am. Go to Five to Fight Cancer for more info. See you there!

Sophia's Piano Recital

Sophia had her very first piano recital last night. I was a little worried about starting her so young but she seems to be doing great and she loves going every week.

She was pretty nervous before hand but we were positive about it and told her she was going to do great. Right before she left she said, "It will be a little scary but not that scary and I'll be brave".

When we got there she saw the crowd and wouldn't even go in the door. Her teacher is amazing and spent some time with her getting her ready. She came and sat by me but when it was her turn she completely grabbed onto my leg and her teacher dragged her up there. She at least was brave enough to sit on the bench but this is how it went (an no that's not her playing - that would be her teacher accompanying silence)

During the rest of the recital she pretty much bawled (while Mabel cried and Lilly fell face first off of her chair - where was Doug? Young Men Campout. Hooray)

After a little coaxing, bribing (she got to pick out a Zhu Zhu pet after because they were out of mermaid barbies) and tough love. She decided she wanted to try again. Luckily her teacher was nice enough to let her and her reprise was much better. She said she only wanted to play one time instead of two but that was fine with me! I was just proud of her for doing it.

So there she is playing "Fuzzy Wuzzy" - they play a lot of classics. After she was done she kept saying things like, "I'm just so glad I did that" and " so many people just kept telling me I did a great job" and "I was just a little scared but then I just believed in myself and I did it!" We really were proud and she did awesome.

Here she is with her AMAZING teacher after. She's also our Primary President and she really is the best! Sophia's lucky to be taking from her and I'm so glad she let her start so young.
One more side note: If you notice she took off her sweater for the second performance (to dry her eyes). I didn't realize until we were at the store after that I never buttoned up her dress in the back! Sorry for all of you who not only had to witness the tears but got to witness the exposed back too! I'm a little embarassed. Oh well. It's pretty typical.

The latest of Mabes

Oh how we love sweet Mabel in our home! She does such funny things.

Like making gang signs in the bath. And playing with the slipcovers.

This is seriously her favorite thing to play with. She scoots/rolls until she's close enough to them and then she pulls them over her face or sucks on them. She seriously loves it. It's so cute!

Peek a boo!

She also likes to go for stroller rides in the doll stroller.
And most of all, she loves her sisters.
One last picture. Does the look on this little face just say it all?

Way to go dad!

Hats off to my dad! We knew a democrat could never win in Utah county. 38% of the votes sure says a lot! He really tried his hardest!! It sure wasn't from lack of effort. I'm sure proud! Way to go dad!

Vote for Hal Miller!

If you're in the Provo area (District 64 to be exact) vote for my dad tomorrow! He sent a sweet e-mail today that included this: " I phoned an elderly man who had requested my personal contact during a canvasser's visit to his home. He asked me to help him decide whom and what to vote for. As I had voted earlier that day, I described the ballot and each of the items it contained, offering my recommendation at each step and providing a brief rationale. At the end, he thanked me--'I've lived here a long time, and I've never had a call from a candidate before. Glad I could do this before I run out of chances.'"

Go to votehalmiller.org for more info! Go dad!