Violet walking

Thanksgiving, Birthday, and Christmas fun!

We were really excited to have Ray, Catherine, and Mia come visit us for Thanksgiving! The weather was not in their favor and they made it here in two days safe and sound, thank goodness. We mostly relaxed on Thanksgiving day. We went to IHOP for breakfast, watched football, and made dinner. My first turkey turned out really moist and tasty. We enjoyed having family come and visit us and showing them a little bit of Boise. Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera out once, but Ray and Cath took lots of pictures so maybe they can send me some.

We celebrated my birthday last week with a no school snow day! McKenna and Ryleigh had a lot of fun with the 8 inches of snow we received. Dan made me a cake, which didn't turn out the way he wanted, because Ryleigh took a few bites out of each layer while the cakes were cooling and no one was looking! :) Dan and the girls took me to Chilis and then we went home and had cake. It was a nice low key day.

We put up the Christmas tree last weekend and the girls helped me put up the ornaments. I should have taken a picture before I moved all the ornaments from the bottom half of the tree. Ryleigh had stacked two to three ornaments on each branch. She and McKenna had a blast and Violet was just enjoying the sparkling ornaments. We will be heading to Salt Lake for a Patton reunion this Christmas. Hopefully Violet will show off her new skill. That's right! She is finally walking! She took her time just like Ryleigh did and waited until she was almost 16 months to walk. No reason to rush because she has two older sisters to do everything for her. We are excited for Christmas and McKenna is really excited for two weeks off of school. I think she is feeling a little burnt out already. She is doing very well in school and received high marks in reading, language, and math for her first trimester.

I am having trouble loading the video of Violet walking so I will have to try again later.

Halloween!

I am a few months behind on blogging. Things have been a little crazy with Dan getting laid off and looking for a new job. I have been working a lot of extra hours this last month and haven't really had time for blogging. We have been doing ok and the girls really like having their daddy home more. Dan has been applying and interviewing in SLC and CA. We hope to have something happen soon.

We took a quick trip to SLC for Halloween weekend. Our neighbors were really bummed that we wouldn't be here to make doughnuts on Halloween. We took the girls trick-or-treating Saturday night in Bountiful. It was raining pretty hard so we just went up and down one street. They still got plenty of candy and had a blast. Ryleigh wouldn't stay under the umbrella so she was soaked! They had fun with Grandma and Grandpa and the family.

After getting home Sunday night, we prepared for another trip to CA on Tuesday. We had a blast visiting with family and eating a lot. The weather was a beautiful 80 to 90 degrees the first few days. I was not thrilled when we came home to 40 degree weather. Too cold for me! I will post pictures of the CA trip soon.

Violet's 1st Birthday!

"My baby Violet" (Ryleigh's name for Violet) turned one yesterday! She REALLY enjoyed the cake and presents! She even licked the plate clean! We had a small party with just us and PoPo. Albertsons gives you a free cake when you baby turns one so that makes things easy for me. She is growing up so fast! Yay... no more formula!

Target Photo Shoot

Violet Crawling

Violet has started crawling finally. She is doing a pretty fast army crawl, but hasn't quite figured out how to use her knees. This video is about a month old but she is still doing the same movements just a little faster.

If you want to see pictures of Hawaii, you'll have to check out my facebook profile because there are so many pictures it would take a week to download all of them on my blog.

Summer fun!

McKenna is out of school for the summer so we have been finding activities to keep us busy and not bored. The girls made binoculars or opera glasses out of toilet paper rolls and chopsticks. A local bowling alley is allowing kids to bowl for free for the summer and give parents a discounted summer pass so we will be bowling this summer. Next week we will drive to CA to visit my mom and the girls will stay with PoPo while Dan and I go to Hawaii for our 10 year anniversary, which isn't until August but who cares! We will be gone for one week and the girls will enjoy the week at the pool and with cousins. Violet has been army crawling backwards and in circles so one of these days she will crawl forward, I hope. She has learned to clap and eat. She loves any food we feed her. She may turn into another Ryleigh (a cookie monster!). Ryleigh is doing great potty training. Stays dry all day and only occasionally wets the bed at night. She's a trooper. McKenna had an insect project due at the end of the school year. She chose Katydids. Did you know that Katydids can come in pink, too! Crazy!

Haircuts and other stuff

Ryleigh got her first haircut last month. She looks so cute with short hair. She even lets me curl it on Sundays for church.
Chocolate covered strawberries for my Activity Days girls and their moms.

Hail in the middle of April! Boo!

So ready for sun and warm weather.

Violet learned to sit up without help and is now army crawling in circles on her tummy.

I think she will be moving forward soon.

Violet's first bubble bath with her big sisters. She loved it.

Our California Adventure!

Actually we went to Disneyland! Our spring break California trip went really well. We left Friday afternoon and drove to SLC and stayed overnight at Grandpa David and Grandma Wendy's house. The girls love their Grandma and Papa. Saturday morning we left to drive to So. Cal to visit Popo and the Aus and Wongs. The drive was uneventful (which is a good thing) and we arrived in Ontario to visit with cousins and aunts and uncle from the Au side. The girls had a blast getting reacquainted with cousins and it was so much fun seeing how big all the little ones have gotten. Sunday we visited my mom's Chinese branch and listened to three hours of church in Mandarin. McKenna and Ryleigh were able to go to the other ward's primary and nursery so they enjoyed the last two hours of church. It was an interesting experience and everyone was so nice. I was asked to give the closing prayer in Sunday School and I said "but I don't speak Chinese!" They didn't care and I gave it in English, thank goodness! Sunday night we had a Wong gathering and family pictures. Monday was a day of rest and letting the girls catch up on some sleep. They woke up early anyway but it was nice to relax and not have to go anywhere. The weather was in the 80s so we went swimming and Ryleigh loves swimming! She kept getting out to dry off and warm up and then would head back in even if no one else was in the water. She is my water baby. Tuesday Dan and I took McKenna and Ryleigh to Disneyland. We had a blast and ate and ate and ate. Ryleigh had to learn the concept of waiting in lines to go on rides. She wanted instant gratification. One time we reached the front of the line and the worker closed the gate on us before we could get on. Boy was she mad! I thought it was going to be a long few minutes to wait for the next turn, but luckily there ended up being one spaceship left and we were able to go on. Whew! We rode the carousel four times and McKenna and Dan or I rode Thunder Railroad twice and Space Mountain. Thanks goodness for fastpass. Ray and Catherine joined us in the evening to ride the train and Winne the Pooh and have dinner. It was nice of them to take time from their busy schedule to come play with us! Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we ate and ate more! I am pretty sure I gained five pounds on this trip. GongGong came home Friday to see us and then went with my mom to China on Saturday. We drove back to SLC on Saturday and home on Sunday. Dan and I were even able to squeeze in a trip to the Conference Center for the afternoon session of Sunday Conference. Seeing the prophet is amazing! What a trip! I need a vacation from my vacation!

Since we have been home, it has been back to normal. I am working lots of extra hours in April so it will be crazy, but thank goodness I have Dan to help me out.