Pictures!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was busy, loud, and chaotic, like usual. :) We spent Thanksgiving Day in Wendell with my family, which of course I have no pictures of. I really need to get better at that. Friday we drove over to Pocatello to Kurtis' family. Emmy's love/hate relationship continued with Aunt Katie. She was either running from her screaming or jumping on her laughing, begging her to play more. Xander and Lydia are starting to play really well together, and this trip Lydia taught him how to open the door on their entertainment center! Aren't cousins great?! It was great to see everyone there, but we really missed Krisy and David's family.





Helping put up and decorate the Christmas tree.

Powdered Doughnut

Need I say more?

Military Ball

The day after Beth's wedding was Kurtis' annual Military Ball. My amazing, wonderful parents came to Idaho Falls with me and got a room right next to ours that had a door connecting them in between so they could watch the girls for us. So instead of having the entire night stress me out worrying about leaving Lydia for 6+ hours with someone in Menan or Pocatello, they were right there in the same hotel as the ball and I was able to sneak up to feed Lydia every couple of hours. Plus, after the dinner was finally over, I went up and got Emmy and she was able to come down and dance with her daddy at the ball for a few songs before I took her back up to the room. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for allowing the night to be a treasured memory.

This was the only picture we took that night (I know, I wasn't thinking).



The next day driving home, we stopped for a couple of hours in Pocatello to see Kelsey, Chris and Xander.



Lydia wasn't to happy about the fact that Xander kept trying to get her ears.



When we left Pocatello for home, Emmy had a blue sucker grasped tightly in her fist. She soon fell asleep, though, and at some point during the drive, it ended up in Lydia's possession. So naturally when we got home, I took Lydia out of her carseat and took pictures before cleaning her stickiness up. Notice the blue hue to her mouth?

Beth's Wedding

Beth and Justin



My cousin, Elizabeth Bunn, whom I coincidentally share a birthday with, got married for time and all eternity to Justin Dascanio on November 6, 2009. Emmy was so excited to go to the temple grounds and see "the princess and her prince". She is so into princes and princesses right now and talks about how she is going to grow up, find her prince, and get married in the temple. So to actually go to the temple to see Beth and Justin come out all dressed up and glowing with happiness and excitement was a very big deal to Emmy. She's still talking about it, and added this morning that she's going to grow up and drive a car to go find her prince. :)




All of Beth's roommates (I think) lined up watching the bride and groom.





Beth and Emmy. It meant so much to Emmy to take a picture with you Beth! Thanks!




Lydia back at the hotel catching a quick nap before the luncheon.



Emmy, Audrey Vipperman, and Lydia playing at the luncheon.

Halloween-better late than never, right?

When we pulled out the butterfly costume from Emmy's first Halloween for Lydia to use this year, we soon learned that we had to find another one because Emmy wanted to be a butterfly like Lydia. I think they both turned out pretty darn cute. We had a busy day, starting with our ward Halloween party at 1:00 in the afternoon out at Bill Slade's barn with homemade chicken noodle soup, doughnut holes, horse-drawn wagon rides, and square dancing. So by the time we were supposed to take Donna out to the Trunk-or-Treat for my parents' ward, Lydia was worn out. She stayed with Grandma Bunn to take a nap while we took Donna, but was ready to party again when we got back and enjoyed getting in her costume to go see Great Grandma and Grandpa Bunn and then help the girls pass out candy back at my parents' house. Emmy and Donna loved when the doorbell rang, and raced each other to open it.

Trip to Yellowstone

The second weekend in October we took a much needed family vacation, short though it was, to Yellowstone National Park. Kurtis' parents met us in West Yellowstone since we hadn't seen them since June, and we had a great weekend together. Emmy loved seeing the animals, and especially liked hearing the bull elk we found at Mammoth bugle. He was just 20-30 feet from our van, and we had the windows rolled down so we could hear him really good. After he would bugle Emmy would giggle and yell out the window for him to do it again. The last day we were there we took the girls to the Bear and Wolf Discovery Center so Emmy could actually see a bear. Other than being incredibly cold (highs in the 20s with a wind chill one day in the negative numbers) it was a great trip!
Now for the pictures! There will be lots!

Emmy looking at the first elk we saw in the park.



Lydia playing peek-a-boo with Papa Hill's hat.




Bundled up to go see Old Faithful



Last smile from Lydia during this outing because it got a lot colder really fast!



Riding in the car.



Elk by the river.




Buffalo in front of hot springs. It was about 18 degrees.



West Thumb where we stopped to eat our picnic in the car. (too cold outside!)




The bull we heard bugle.



Watching the herd of buffalo. They were crossing the road and were all around us.




When traveling in Yellowstone, there is lots and lots of driving!



Bear and Wolf Discovery Center





On the ride home after the long weekend.



Emmy brushed her hair when she got bored and it got pretty poufy!