Merry Christmas and Happy NEW YEAR!

Happy Halloween

Way overdue Halloween Pictures

But first, let's look at the boys at similar ages.  They look similar, don't you think.

Dalton

Luke

Jacob

Life is crazy

And we like it.

Jane's new Do

We went from this

to this

using these really cool scissors.  see how excited she is!

Thanks Karla for fixing it!

And then she cut it again.  This picture sums up her  attitude these days.

She didn't like the hair on her forehead.  Or on the sides.

Family Pictures

Here are some of my favorites:

Thank you Holly!

Jane cut her hair this weekend (SHORT) so it's a good thing we got pictures first.

DC Trip!

We went on Vacation!  My sister lives in Arlington, VA and she facebooked one day in late August that plane tickets were on sale.  So, what was I to do but book some flights to go see her.  (I should preface that with the fact that we have been saving for 2 years now to go see her so it wasn't totally out of the blue.)  We went late Sept and had the most wonderful and perfect trip.  My goal was to just have fun being together and to not need a vacation after our vacation and I'd say we succeeded.  

Keeping with tradition, Jane and I got the stomach flu the night before we left.  Adam had to pack but we did make it onto the plane with no episodes.  And then, also keeping with tradition, passed the flu on to at least 6 people including my sister.  Just so you get a real feeling for the trip.  :)

Day One.  Visit D.C.

World War II Memorial

And we visited the Air and Space Museum which is a must see if you have kids.  They have a room full of science and learning centers.  

Day 2

Visit the old ward (I grew up in Maryland and moved when I was 15.)

The Harrisons.  Our home teachers.  The most lively and entertaining family
 you might ever come across.  We just love them!

The Inmans.  Such a great family!  Miss them.

We drove around and saw the home where I grew up.  If you've never been to the East coast, the homes are a real treat.  Utah doesn't have homes that can even compare.  The homes out there have a presence.  And a front door that you don't have to search for.  And lots have porches.  People don't have big fences and curbs.  It's a much more open country and I love the feel.  And I haven't even mentioned the trees or greenery.  I'd better stop or I'll make myself want to move.

The rest of the days were somewhat of a blur but I have lots of pictures.

At the Chesapeake Bay looking for shark teeth.  We found about 15  and were so excited to show the kids' classes but they were not in the suitcases when we got home.  So sad.

Jane swimming in the Chesapeake.  Really warm.   Warmer than the air that day.  

Cooking with Kim to prepare for the tea party

The much anticipated tea party.  Next time, boys are not allowed.  Luke and Jacob didn't understand that manners are a must at a tea party and much to my chagrin, I'm not sure they have any.

They have a park by Kim's house where the planes fly over for landing.
 Dalton was very scared by them being so close.  

We got our nails done.

And this is how we felt at the end of a long day.

We also:

• Went to the National Zoo
• Arlington Cemetary and tomb of the unknown soldier
• Rode a boat on the Potomac to see the sights
• Saw the Star Spangled Banner and Lincoln's hat in the Museum of American History
• Went to the DC Temple
• Saw lots of Dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum
• Monuments in DC
• Toured the Bureau of Engraving where we saw bills being printed.
• 
  

And a special thanks to Kim who took the whole week off and was an amazing tour guide and hostess :)

Yipee!  School started.  I have a 1st grader and a Kindergardener.  It's so wonderful to have them busily engaged with other kids their own age during the day.  I didn't cry.  They started at a charter school and I think it's going to be really great.  They focus on in-depth learning instead of breadth and they have the kids do and redo their work until it is their best work possible.

Dalton loves his binky

Luke has such an awesome sense of style.  But if you mention
anything like that to him, he'll never wear it again. Luke doesn't like attention.

Jane practicing her ballet moves.  She want to be the "best ballerina".  I told
her she's going to have to practice a lot.  So she does.

I have some of the cutest kids.  They make me smile every day.
Not the whole day, but every day.

Our latest family self-timer picture.  Not bad.  Glad I'm
sealed to them for eternity.

Summer part 2

The annual Coccio reunion was a blast.  Here are the 3 sisters and they even got a cake with their picture on it.  My Grandma is on the left and I've been working on that itialian family history line.  It would be helpful if I knew Italian :)

Dalton spends a lot of time like this.  If we leave the back door open, he climbs up here and
does who knows what for a long time.

Bear Lake.  A really great place for families.  The perfect beach!  

Adam's family moved to Parowan and bought and started a dairy.  It is AWESOME!  I went to work one day with them and helped deliver this calf.  It was really messy.  And really cool to be there. And so great that his family is closer. Yeah!

We had an amazing summer

We had so much fun this summer.  We crammed it with lots of fun activities.  And lots of at-home stuff.  And a little vacationing and a few birthdays.

Here we are at the zoo with the coolest face painting I've ever seen.
Leopard,  Elephant, peacock, polar bear, butterly.    

Dalton got his first haircut.  I just couldn't wait any longer.  We almost made it to his first birthday.  It looks lighter now that it's been cut.

My mom came and she was a super good sport when I suggest we cut apart
this feather bed to make 10 hugh down pillows.  The pillows are awesome.  There
were feathers everywhere!

Dalton's 1st birthday!

We celebrated Dalton's birthday Whittle-style. We had mac-n-cheese and banana muffins since bananas are his favorite food.  Dalton is the funniest little guy.  He has lots of tricks to do.  He changes it up all the time.  Right now when you say "trick" he sticks out his tongue.  We went to the dr. and he was in the 19lbs so in the 9th percentile.  He is my smallest baby.  And so funny and cute.  He's finally learning to walk.  At 14 months now.  And . . . sometimes we call him toothless.  Since he still has no pearly whites.