We've been up to a lot lately...

So I know it's been a while since I blogged.  But we've been pretty busy and have been having fun.  So with that said I will spare you all the many details of everything and just let you enjoy some fun photos of what we've been up to the last few weeks (and I guess some details :)

Warning:  lots of pictures ahead!

On labor day Noelle, myself, sisters and mom spent part of the day at Gardner Village in West Jordan.  Noelle got to ride a horse.  She loved it!

Noelle likes to dress up Mikey.  Michael however does not find it very funny.  Looks like I need to get some "boy dress-ups"

At the end of September there was a really warm day.  So we took advantage of being at my parent's home with a yard and the kids actually ran through the sprinklers.  Mikey isn't very hesitant and loved it.

Noelle loved it too.  But she is usually my cautious little girl so it took a little pushing from me.

Mikey loves my new little dirt devil.

I started a chore/routine chart with Noelle.  One of her chores is using the little vacuum to get crumbs.  She doesn't mind :).  She has the silliest faces

My new favorite picture of the kids.  At one of our many walking to park adventures.

After the very long walk I had some very tired kids.

She wanted me to take a picture of her on the slide

Mikey gets into EVERYTHING.  So opposite of Noelle.  Here he is trying to get into a soot filled barbeque, of course, why not?

Another walk picture.  Between the end of September and about early November is prime walking time for us.  Without a second car we all go crazy being inside all day and NEED to get out when we can.  So we go on lots of walks.  We try to get others to go with us but I don't think anyone is as into as we are.  Our friends that were moved away :(.  When they were here we went on probably 3-4 walks a week.

Last week the kids and I headed to the zoo.  It was a great day for the animals.  The elephants were very friendly and it was so cute to see the baby with her mama.  However it was SUPER crowded, it was ridiculous.  People would not move out of the way to let my little girl get up to the glass.  Adult, big people would not move!  It really frustrated me.  But we had lots of fun.  Well Noelle and I did.  Mikey hated being in a stroller all day.  But that's what he gets until I can have another adult with me.

Can you see the polar bear in the distance?  This polar bear is awesome.  They were feeding him while Noelle was at the glass and the fish literally came right in front of her which meant so did the bear.  It shook the glass a little and startled Noelle.  But to my surprise it didn't upset her and she kept watching him swim around. 

Noelle really was a good girl that day.  Usually when one kid is fussy so is the other but that was not the case this time.  She got a little souvenir for being so good.  She was tired though.  As she is getting older I'm noticing her little "emotional breakdowns" are diminishing.  She is so fun to talk to and is so smart.  She remembers ALL the details and is my silly sweetheart who is always making me smile!  I do have to add that lately she has been saying things like "Oh, you are my best mommy."  or "I love you so much mommy." or "Thank you for taking care of me."   Every time she says these things I'm almost brought to tears.  It always makes my day!

Cute silly little girl

Snuggling up on Damin's floor waiting for daddy to get back from priesthood.  These kids rarely sleep anywhere else besides their bed.  Kind of drives me crazy when we are out later than expected.

This boy is not shy when it comes to messy food.  He loves it.  And loves to put it everywhere and loves to put it in his hair.  Which means an automatic trip to the bath.  Maybe he does it on purpose?

On Sunday we went up to the mountains with some of my family.  There was this cool cave there.  Kind of creeped me out.  Tay is always playing and keeping Noelle entertained.  Such a good little auntie :)

Mikey had to have his feet in the water apparently.  It was freezing

Sunday dinner in the canyon:  Peanut butter sandwhich.  Next time I think we will try roasting hotdogs and marshmallows.

Aly took Noelle to a little steeper part of the mountain.  What a fun aunt!

I don't have many pictures with my kids.  I feel bad about this after reading an article about how as mothers we need to take more pictures with our kids.  I think it's true.  So I'm going to try and do that more.  I do love to see them with ME.

It was so hard to get a family picture with everyone focusing at the same time.

We pulled out "the leash" finally.  I should have thought of it earlier.  With Noelle we didn't need it until she was 2.  Mikey is a totally different story.  He really liked it.  It allowed him to walk around the apartment complex without mom holding him or having to be in the stroller the whole time.  He did well with it.  I think we will be using it more often.

The tennis court.  Looks like a large cage.  We often go here and just let the kids run around and chase a ball or each other.  They love it.  And even though the ground is hard I don't have to worry about Mikey going somewhere I don't want him to or putting sand in his mouth.  Noelle rides her bike in here too sometimes.

A scene from our walk.  In the fall the weeds, bushes and trees get to be really tall and long.  And sometimes I swear I hear something lurking about out there.  So we usually hurry through this part.

This cracks me up!  Noelle has gotten really good at making her own little turban/head scarf.  She does this quite often :)

A recent craft.  Repainted a frame and added some plastic quilt stuff (sorry I don't know the name), ribbon and cork board and voila!  You have an earring, ring, and necklace holder.  It was my own adaptation of a tutorial I found here.  I love everything glue gun.  Sadly I really don't know how to sew and don't have a sewing machine so I'm always looking for projects that don't require that.  I would absolutely love one and would love to learn.  I guess it's just not in my plans right now.  Anyway,  I got a whole lot of earrings for my birthday that I have been wanting for a while and I needed somewhere else to put them all.  I had lots of fun doing it.

This is my halloween ribbon wreath that me and two other friends worked on together.  Michael gets his uniforms from work dry cleaned through a company that his job hires.  So he literally has hundreds of wire hangers.  I hate them and a want to get rid of them.  But he insists that we will need them for something and usually I just roll my eyes.  And then I saw a similar wreath at a friends house and thought "I can make a wreath out of a wire hanger."  And then I was really excited.  It took lots and lots and lots of ribbon.  But we finished and it was a lot of fun to have a girls/craft night.  I've been missing them.