And a partridge in a pear tree...

Just wanted to type a quick post about holiday stuff. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Blackfoot this year with Justin's family. Thank you Babcocks for hosting, you did a fabulous job:) We went bowling on Wednesday night, and then relaxed and ate wonderful food on Thursday. Then late Thursday/early Friday I had my very first "black friday" shopping experience. We hit walmart and the mall in Idaho falls. I didn't buy much, but it was sure fun!

This will be mine and Justin's 7th Christmas together. Growing up my family always did the fake tree thing, and I was fine with that, but oh not Justin... he doesn't do the fake thing. So every year we have cut our own tree down, but last year I convinced him to buy one from the local grocery store. It was the prettiest tree we have had. So naturally I lost this year, and we had to go snowmobiling to find the perfect tree. Needless to say we were short on time, and ended up with a hideous tree. BUT we had a lot of fun snowmobiling to find it, and as Justin says "it's all about the experience." Whatever. Next year will be from the grocery lot :) We are looking forward to spending a week in Oregon with my family over Christmas.

Just checked on Lex, and she looked so cute, soI had to snap this shot...but anyway, here is holiday stuff:)

The cutting down tree experience

She was excited about her hat

Amber and I at Thanksgiving

Rozlyn checking out black Friday deals

Roz and Grandma at Thanksgiving

The Packard fam after bowling

My Girls

Rozlyn is our little sweetheart. She is always smiling, and loves having me or Lexi close by. She loves to play with Lexi's toys. She has quickly become a fast crawler, and loves to pull herself up on as much as possible. She is 8 1/2 months old, and has yet to sleep through the night. She longest she has ever slept is 6.5 hours. (I'm hoping that by the time she turns one, I will be getting more sleep..but I'm not really planning on it.) She also likes to wake up around 6 or 630. Lexi used to do the same thing at that age, but I would just bring her to my bed, and nurse her, and she would fall back asleep..but not Roz! She loves to touch our faces and jabber as loud as she can until she can get everyone awake. Both of the girls love to dance. If you turn on Just the way you are, or Single ladies, both of the girls go crazy. I have some really cute video, but the file is too large to upload.

Lexi enjoys having friends over to play, especially her cousins. She is always talking about Daniel, Jake, and Soleil.

Lexi's first day of preschool was September 9th, and she loves it! It's only two days a week, but she asks almost every morning if she has school that day. She is getting better at identifying her letters, showing more intererst in learning to read, and loves to craft. The kids in the class alternate bringing a snack to share with the class. On her day she really wanted to bring cupcakes. I brought 12 cupcakes for the 4 kids that showed up that day, and when I picked Lexi up at the end of the day, they were all gone. There are only 2 girls in her class, so Lex gets quite a bit of attention from the boys (I'm pretty sure she likes it that way). She also is still taking a gymnastics class twice a week. She has been doing it since she was14 months old, and she still loves it. (This makes Justin very happy) She will be 4 in February so she will be able to compete in 2014. We will see if she can keep up with the competitive team.

Lexi can be such a handful for me sometimes. She is such a picky eater, she is full of attitude, she loves to be entertained all the time, but she is also my little side kick, and I don't know what I would do without her! She is such an amazing big sister, I can't believe how good she is with Rozlyn, she always wants to help entertain, change diapers, and feed her treats and food. She keeps talking about having another baby, and is always asking me when we can have 2 babys..it's really sweet. We love this girl!

I can't believe how much fun it is having two kids. I was so nervous to have two, but sometimes I think it's easier than having one because they can entertain each other. I also thought I would have a hard time having two girls, but I love it. I love doing hair, and getting them dressed, and just doing girly things. I love being a mom, I have no clue what I ever did with my time before my girls.

Bursting at the seams

Wanting to blog about all of our summer adventures! There are a lot of pictures, but I promise Im going to be better about blogging so my posts are a little more organized :)

Idaho State Fair

Conner Back from his mission!

Family Reunions

We had all sorts of family reunions this summer. We had one at Wallowa Lake in Oregon with my family. We stayed at a huge cabin and enjoyed the small town charm :) Then we had one at west piney lodge in Idaho with Justins mom side of the family. It had a huge slide. Then we stayed in a cabin by green canyon with some of Justins family. We spent a ton of time with family this summer, and we love doing that.

Races

Last but not least, Justin and I have been busy with races this summer, from 10ks to half marathons, to triathlons. I ran two 10ks and one half marathon. Justin ran two half marathons, raced in two sprint triathlons, and one olympic triathlon. We are addicted to races, we love them! Actually let me rephrase that. I hate the night before (because Im nervous) I have the during (because it's hard) but I love crossing the finish line! Personally, I sign up for races, because it forces me to keep running, and trying to stay in decent shape. I don't race to run, Im actually really happy to place in the middle of the pack. Justin on the other hand, races to run. He took in the top ten in all of his races. He is so awesome. In his first olypmic triathlon he placed first in his age division.

Family Pictures

We had our pictures taken about a week ago from a girl in our ward who is a photographer. She did a great job, and we had a lot of fun. Her website is http://www.dash-photography.blogspot.com/ Justin and I felt like we were getting engagement pictures all over again :) The only thing that I was annoyed about was my hair! We took our pictures at 6pm, and it was still 90 degrees out. Believe it or not, i curled my hair for these pictures but it went flat the moment I got in the car!! lol Next year we are doing pictures in the fall!