Halloween Week

Monday: Crane family party.

i was out catching bugs (more specifically ladybugs)

millers could only stand that costume for so long

jill got a new bff (the pumpkin has a cute little panted face).

she is still (yes, even today) carrying it around and treating it like a baby.

tues: carving party and pizza with the fryer fam

wed: roasting fresh seeds

jills new fav snack

thurs: ward trunk-or-treat

jeff and a few of his best buds

todd: paul bunion

jeff: nasty mexian wrestler

jordan: joker (the best of the night)

jill could be caught all week with a sucker in her mouth.
i caught a snarl toward the greasy man trying to get a picture with her



Halloween: Schnepfs Farm
Gma netty meet us for fun at this country gem by my house.



my little Tabby cat

jill had a blast on the carousal,

at the pig races,

at the petting zoo,

and on the pony rides.

on a side note:

Halloween day is also Nevada Day

here's to my home state, home of my alma mater,

and having Halloween day off of school growing up.

note to self:

don't make this face ever, i mean NEVER EVER, again.

(especially in-front of people.)

oh, and don't do drugs.

birthday love

dearest sweet jill,

today you are two years old.

i can't remember life without. i do however remember the day your father

and i knew it was time to start a family. we were sitting at stake

conference and the regional representative was speaking of

temporal possessions vs spiritual desires. jeff and i were both impressed

that our possessions could wait. a new and excited life as parents

was about to begin. i am so happy that we heeded the prompting

of the spirit and received you. i love you my sweet jillian. love, momma

p.s.

i especially love:

the way you come to wake me up every morning.

the way you fold your arms, close your eyes, and bow your head.

when you pet camille's head and help me change her diaper.

when you copy everything (i mean everything) i do.

when you put your arms up and say "mommy"

a few jillian words:

jillian= dede

one= non

um= yes

controller= con

run=go

balloon= loons

please= mommy pepe

water= tata

i love you= lala

leaf= aleafs

tree= atrees

the moon= tamoo

we started two new family birthday traditions today:

1. balloon launch

a balloon for each year with one-word wishes (obedience, happiness, etc.) written on them by those celebrating with you. (thanks nienie for the idea and hayley for refinement) the kiddos enjoyed watching the balloons float away.

2. a family picture

camille is pulling jill's hair but it's the best one we got. (stole this tradition from nettie)

SYTYCD

my bff hayley got us tickets to SYTYCD.

jeff sold ol' blackie. since SYTYCD was 2 hours away (with traffic)

i thought i could use one last outing with her (the car).

this was the first car i bought with my own money.

it's a stick and i LOVE driving it.

it got me through college and my newly wed years.

we've had some good times together.

my bro jon gets a lot of credit for keeping her running while in nv.

it's been broken into twice. note the missing lock on door.

the other side has at LEAST one dent on each panel.

the a/c hasn't worked for...who knows.

last year we changed the battery once a week. az heat.

jeff said the other day: " when we were dating, i thought

am i really dating a girl that drives this piece?"

well jeff, you married her! lol.

so long ol' blackie.

hayley and i felt a little silly walking around with all the tweens

getting ready for the show. the more we looked around though

we realized that the place was swarming with "girls night"ers.

here's the group after the first number:

the only dance they didn't do that i was hoping for

was the one with chelsie in the white dress.

otherwise, SYTYCD was awesome...

besides all the in-between numbers dialogue.

hayley and i let them know what we thought about that.

we stayed after the show and ran though the bleachers

for a sneak peek behind the stage.

lucky for us we saw chelsie (my fav), screamed her name

and asked to meet her.

she was so nice and i offered one of my brothers after she

said she didn't have a boyfriend.

then i realized that all my brothers are married now.

weird.

i guess i got caught-up in the moment.

no kids, no hubby. just me and my bff acting crazy.

i forgot how old we really are.

anyway, hales and i then tried to get into the intimate after-show

by taking some back-stage passes from a chick that was leaving.

too bad we got caught by going in through the exit door.

oops. that's what you get for being dishonest and not so sneaky.

so, we waiting outside until we got to see the whole group and get more pics.

quick confidence booster: kerrington is a normal human.

don't get me wrong. she is dang pretty, but the camera loves her.

oh, and they are all soooo short. especially will. weird.

even more weird that i care.

a tid-bit

i got a new do' after seeing my ginormous forehead

overtaking all the pics from SYTYCD (more on that later).

how about this little gem i stole from val's facebook?

do you love it as much as me?

and then you think to yourself...

last weekend jeff got his hands on this little dingy:

he thought it would be fun to go camping here:

blue ridge reservoir.

the fishing was suppose to be good.

you have to boat to the camping spot. sweet.

we (us, gardiners, fryers) were so excited for the adventure.

that is until the night came.

cold set in and so did our rude camping neighbor's.

all night cussing and then loudly making-up.

oh, and who can forget the fog horn they hooted at midnight.

at this point you think to yourself,

"now why did camping sound like a good idea?".

needless to say we all felt like this in the morning:

after breakfast clean-up

the rain started and we all had to find something to do in our tents.

like put a diaper on the bunny over and over

(for about 1 hr. non-stop).(ocd much?)

we wanted to wait out the rain but our kiddos were getting really cold

and our camping neighbors weren't leaving.

we called it.

we were lucky enough to save the trip by going to my

favorite arizona spot.

conference seemed extra sweet watching it at the cabin.

the next best thing to watching it live.

my fav: pres monson sunday morning

"Let us relish life as we live it,

find joy in the journey,

and share our love with friends and family."

#1

jillian gets curls for church now-a-days.

jill LOVES drinking from water bottles now

and often times i find her sitting in the hat box during nap-time.

somersault from Alisha on Vimeo.

this is the day she learned how. she's much better now.

no handed and all.

4 down

this sweet face is 4 months old (last sun).

she's 75% in head and 60% in height and weight.

her car seat is decorated appropriately.

jeff named her "monkey" for the cute way she grabs a hold of

us and just latches on like a baby monkey to her momma.

she's learned a lot in the last few weeks.

she giggles more and more everyday.

she can roll too!

rollie-polie from Alisha on Vimeo.

Texas fun

san angelo has the coolest public park i've ever seen.

this is the family posing by one of the BIG texas trees at the park.

jeff went mountain-biking at the state park in san angleo.

he only fell once.

the wildlife in san angelo is abundant.

do you know these are there?

san angelo has a big 'ol river called the Concho.

ducks are all around it and jill loved feeding them.

however, jill and i got attacked by some aggressive geese.

we both got bit by them.

i hate birds. always have, always will.

this ranch is right by the church building.

we had to go see the goats, horse, llama etc.

this is my dream house/land.

part of jeff's high school reunion was to attend a

CENTRAL BOBCAT football game.

we had a great time and jill loved the mascot.

the reunion consisted of a round of golf, family picnic and dinner/dancing on saturday night.

it was a blast!

here's some of our texas favorite friends.

chelsea (jeff's hs gf and who also caught the bouquet at our wedding) and ryan (her hubby).

this is our hostess ashley (colin's gf)

and host colin (jeff's best "let's get into mischief friend"),

cory (jeff s. wife that is also an ER nurse)

and jeff stewart (a football buddy and local celebrity).




jeff got his hands on a tambourine somehow.

you know you're really having a good time if your

eyes are closed and your singing to the music.

on the way out-of-town we hit up a legendary texas BBQ joint Coopers.

hopefully the next time we go to texas it will be to stay.

GTT

"GTT"

(Gone To Texas: a common posting nailed into the door of plantations in New England by those who left to settle TEXAS)

on wed. we took a two hour flight with two babies under two years old to san antonio. jillians expression pretty much sums up how we all felt.

we were running late out the door, jeff got a ticket on the way for an illegal u-turn, you have to buy the snacks and drinks on the flights now (no more free peanuts), and jeff got in the wrong car at the rental place so they wouldn't let us out of the lot.

we were so happy to see our sweet hotel:
it was right across the street from the alamo.

jill LOVES texas birds. there are more than one at once.



we toured the Alamo

and went on the river walk. we all LOVED the sight of green and BIG trees.



now we're in san angelo gearing up for jeff's stroll down memory lane


jeff's 10 year high school reunion coming right up.

cabin fever

i've been dying to go to the CABIN and Fossil Creek. we packed up the path and headed up.

the weather was perfect, the pines were tall, and the wild flowers were many. jillian had the time of her life and cam did well too. Fossil Creek was as beautiful as ever to snorkel and now has one less fish (thanks to stan and the spear gun). jeff and i broke in my new bike and ventured to the rim of the mountain. the front porch swing is our fav spot.
can't wait to go back...(may-be i'll remember to take more pics).