Thanksgiving weekend

So the great photographer that I am, I didn't get any pictures of our actual Thanksgiving dinner. This year we went to Chad's grandma Marble's house. The food was great!! After dinner we headed to my parents where I actually remembered that I had a camera. Mom's basement is full of toys and

Kali could be occupied for hours! (she isn't wearing pants because they kept falling off. I promise my child does wear pants 90% of the time!!!)

Chad wanted to sport his fancy new hat

Chad, Shannon and Dad

Martin and Mom

John and Sherstin, who live in Arizona...thus the fleece blanket

Kali got to play with her cousin Corwin for a couple days. This is as close as they interacted with each other though. Maybe only seeing each other 2 times a year hinders the relationship...?

Mom bought a slide for the kids which has been a huge hit for Kali!

Even Corwin got in on the slide action

Friday we put our measly Christmas decorations up. Chad and Kali were in charge of these stupid trees I bought for five dollars. I think they did a pretty good job.

I was in charge of the main event tree. Thanks to the help of Ben Franklin's 60% off going out of business sale I was able to make the tree look pretty decent this year. It looks better in person and I admit I am pretty proud of it!

Saturday night we celebrated Mom's birthday (which was on Thanksgiving day) and Corwin's second birthday which is Dec. 8th. No party is complete without food right?

Dad helping himself to the fried onions and bacon. (Don't tell his cardiologist!!!)

Nathan, Shannon and Rheanna enjoying their dinner.

Corwin loved opening his gifts this year. He was a pro at tearing off the paper and even helped Grandma with a couple of her presents too.

All Kali cared about was the cake!

Shannon doesn't ever get a chair to herself anymore. At one point Kali was sitting there too! Who doesn't love Shannon?

Halloween 2009

We had a great Halloween this year. Kali was so much fun and loved being a duck. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a really good shot of her costume. Maybe with the combination of all these you'll get the idea.

I loved the feet! On the actual trick-or-treating night she had white pants on which looked much better than levi's.

Chad and I had a really small, really unorganized Halloween party Friday night. These are the people who dressed up...Dad as Sherlock Holmes (maybe?), Kali as a duck, Shannon as pretty in pink, Martin as himself (haha!!) and Nathan as an alien in a teenager's clothes.

Kali carved her fist pumpkin that night. It was green which made it even

more special!

Perhaps this could be a permanent look? It's tempting to use this as our Christmas card picture.

Sad that this looks so real...

Saturday night Chad's aunt had a Halloween Party and was so nice to invite us! It was a blast and Kali loved it so much. This is Chad and Kali with Chad's mom, his brother Cary and wife Lori.

My super cute niece Carly getting a few good hits on the pinyadda (Chad's spelling)

Loading up on the treats. So maybe I helped Kali a little... and maybe I got the treats that I like...one perk of having children!

Heading out for the trick-or-treating.

My newphew Garrett was a transformer this year. He starts as a car

(yes he's in there)...

and then...

transforms to a robot! Lori made this all by herself. Amazing talent!!

Kali loved running from house to house and mostly loved getting smarties. She had so much fun that the second we put her in the car (at 8 pm) she was out!!

Last cabin trip of 2009

Part of my family spent the weekend at the cabin for the last time this year. We all decided that the end of September is the PERFECT time of year to go. The weather was fantastic, there were no mosquitoes and my ice cream store was still open! Right after we arrived Kali ran to the front and found these little red chairs. They became her favorite toys for the whole weekend.

Kali might be little but she definitely likes being where the people are and doing what everyone else is doing.

She's such a funny girl!

She liked playing Connect 4. What this picture doesn't show is that Shannon, who was red, already had 4 in a row. Kali lost.

Some funny bull made out of hay. The perfect photo opp!

I was sitting where Kali is but she moved me out of the way so she could sit there. She loved eating everyone's ice cream.

Ok so this really wasn't her sundae, but I didn't want to admit that it was mine. And oh man it was delicious!!

Old Faithful Inn waiting to eat lunch in the dining room.

A first for me but hopefully not a last!

Kali likes rocks

and big bears

and sightseeing!

Midway Geyser Basin. It was really windy.

We took a little drive across the lake to this look out point. It was cool to see the lake from the other side and put in perspective how big it is!

This is the Madison Arm and our cabin is on the arm to the back left.

It was super windy here (Notice how much hair Shannon has and how much Kali doesn't have.)

so Kali decided she'd rather play in the car instead.

After going to the lookout point we drove towards Quake Lake and stopped at Cabin Creek Campground. The 1959 earthquake caused this 21 foot scarp right in the campground. Shannon tried hiking up to the top. Kali tried following her.

But they both fell down at the same time!

A small snack at the campground.

Kali loved sitting by grandma and looking out the window to see the boats

Mama and Kali

New toy

Trek, Cannondale, Kona, Felt...thry all got nothin' on this bad boy.

Needless to say Kali love it.

Recent discoveries...

Recently Kali and I discovered Disney.com and Mickey Mouse Playhouse. She loves it and I don't mind it. The combination of the 2 means we watch Mickey Mouse pretty much daily. Now when she sees the computer she thinks it's Mickey Mouse time. Oh, and did I mention that by watching it this way it's free?!?

I know I've said it before but she really doesn't wander around without pants very often. But sometimes she just doesn't want to wear them! I guess it was fitting here because her diapers have Mickey Mouse on them and that is what she was watching...

Kali discovered the sliding glass door. She did this all by herself without any promptings from her parents.

I love this picture!

She also discovered water bottles so we are now introducting Kali's new sippy cup. We've pretty much given up on the real things.

It works pretty well...except when she tips it upside down and spills water everywhere.

Kali's discovered her belly button and how to lift up her shirt. Apparently modesty is not an important virtue.

She's also discovered how to crawl up on furniture now. Chairs, couches any of them. And it's quite entertaining to her. Except when she can't quite make it...and then it results in temper tantrums.

And Kali's biggest discovery is animal sounds. So far she's got snakes, lions, kittycats, sheep, ducks and dogs down. Here is a sampling.

Lava Hot Springs...sort of

Over the weekend Chad's company held its annual work party at Lava Hot Springs. Since it rained and was only 50 degrees the whole weekend we really didn't end up doing a whole lot...in fact we left early. Saturday we took a little drive to Grace, Idaho to check out the Bear River so Chad could show me the way to his family's "secret" fishing spot. Kali loved being outside and walking all over.

It really is a beautiful area and I'm sure in nicer weather conditions we could have spent quite a bit of time there.

Kali was only happy if she was walking on the gravel trails. Maybe she's an

outdoors girl!

More gravel walking

She would wander over to the car every once in a while for some cheese and strawberries.

All snuggled in the car seat ready to head back to exciting Lava. We didn't get any pictures but we did stop by the Caribou County Fair on the way back. That was as exciting as Lava! I guess we did get some cotton candy so the weekend wasn't an entire waste...

Kali

Kali figured out a few days ago how to start climbing up on things. Her latest acheivement has been the fireplace. She's learned to climb up, stand up then sit down and scoot off. She really could do this for hours every day! And honestly, I had just changed her diaper. She doesn't generally run around in just a diaper and pj top!

We've gotten her little pool out a few times lately too. Really she like to run all around it...maybe not actually swim and play in it. But it keeps her happy for a while!

She does play in it for a few seconds at a time...

but mostly she likes running on the grass and around the side of the house to the front yard. I can understand why people like having fenced backyards!!

Maybe she was just trying to get a tan...?