Ira's blessing

So we blessed Ira on Sunday at the drop of a hat, so much so that on Sunday morning I woke up an thought, "What on earth is he going to wear?" I did not have a blessing outfit for him and obviously did not put much thought into getting one for him. Now I'm kind of glad I didn't get one because I really hate toting around extra stuff, especially where we like to move every freakin' year.

Appalousa Museum

Our ward does a play group and this week we went to the Appalousa Museum. It was a lot of fun and free, which is even better. Appalousa horses, I learned, are bred in this area and were originally bred by the Nez Perce IniansThis picture looks posed, but they all just hopped up on that bench. All the kids on the bench are roughly the same age, plus or minus a few months. I didn't think Gwen was really THAT small until I looked at this picture.

Random Pictures

So these pictures are mostly for Grandma Murray and Aunt Shannon.

Gwen's Birthday

I'm pretty slow with my postings--Gwen's birthday was almost two weeks ago, but I just wanted to post some pictures from the blessed day. I was going to throw a fab birthday party for her, but I was pretty burned out after Thanksgiving. So it wasn't anything spectacular, but she was none the wiser. She got to eat cake, play with friends and cousins, and got lots of cool new loot--who could complain about that?

Ann and Justin and kids came out from Washington to hang out with Dave and Holly and the rest of us cool people. It was the most family we'd seen since we'd moved up and was a lot of fun. The Nakayas also came over for the party, so Gwen was in heaven with so many kids to play with.

Nate was awesome and decorated their gift to Gwen.

At the end of the evening we were all talking in the living room and kept hearing profuse giggling coming from the bathroom. Gwen and Ella were in hysterics playing in the bathroom curtains. Turns out having good buddies to play with is way better than brand new toys any day.

Thanksgiving

This was the first year we've ever hosted Thanksgiving. It was great. Jake's brother Dave and his wife Holly came up from Provo and we invited our friends the Nakaya's and the Kirkham's. The Kirkham's couldn't make it because they were in the hospital having a baby girl! We still had a pretty packed house--it doesn't take much to pack a tiny two-bedroom apartment. Anyway, the food was great and so was the company. We're lucky to have good friends close by and family that doesn't mind traveling.Gwen adored Dave while he was here (even though she kept calling him Zach) and insisted on having her bedtime milk and storytime from him--a privilege even Jake rarely enjoys.

The Nakaya's brought Guitar Hero for us all to play which was a blast despite the fact that I really sucked at it.
Ira: You will confiscate one slice of pumpkin pie, then report back to me at 1700 hours.
Gwen: Aye, Aye Cap'n

No toy was left unturned by the end of the night.