I Love Christmas!

I know I say this every year, but Christmas is sooo much more fun with little kids. The thing that I get the most excited about is seeing the girls faces when they see what Santa brought them. I LOVE IT! We've been dealing with some stress about Brett's job lately, but it didn't stop us from having a wonderful Christmas this year.
On Christmas Eve we had our friend Katie over to celebrate with us. Her husband was out on alert, and there was no way we were going to let her be alone on Christmas. On Christmas Eve we have a smorgasboard of food and watch Christmas movies; its a Maxfield tradition that we've adopted. Afterward we decorated Christmas cookies and read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and "The Nativity". We always open one present on Christmas Eve. This year we all got Hoodies, which are seriously one of my favorite things. The girls also really loved the cute presents that Katie brought them.



I really appreciated that McKinley let us sleep until 8am on Christmas Day. When she woke us up she told us that she saw Santa going up the chimney...what an imagination!!! The girls, like always, recieved a lot of wonderful presents. Santa did not disappoint!



That evening Bretts parents came up to visit, and it was fun having them come. After dinner we had a Birthday Party for Jesus. McKinley was so excited to help me make the Birthday cake. We had a great weekend with the Maxfields, even though everyone was sick. The Maxfields brought us so many fun presents that it felt like we were having Christmas all over again. We appreciated them making the drive to come see us, even though they weren't all feeling well. My parents are coming up to visit for New Years and I can't wait. It sure is nice living closer to family, especially during the holiday season.
I hope everyone had a Wonderful and safe Christmas!

Role Reversal

Our little McKinley is growing up WAY to fast! Recently I've heard my words coming out of her mouth a lot. Usually its aimed at Annabelle, but not always. Yesterday while we were in town I had a moment of road rage at the car in front of me. Apparently I was saying "Oh My Heck", because I heard that phrase coming from the back seat a few times during this event. Then I let my frustration get the better of me and I called the person in front of me a "Stupid Idiot". Whoops!!! Of course the 3 year old in the back seat heard... and she was horrified. She immediately reminded me that I said a "Naughty Word." She then started telling me the good words I could have said instead. Such as: "Hello", "Silly", or "Oh Frostbite". This cute little girl makes me laugh. How funny that my 3 year old had to be the grown-up and explain to her mommy that we don't say "Naughty Words". I think my life would be sooo boring without my "Little Mommy."

Disney World Pictures

As I mentioned in my last post, I took over 400 pictures while we were at Disney World. It was difficult to pick which ones to inclued, but here are some more of my fav pics from our trip.

If anyone is planning on taking a trip to Disney and wants some pointers let me know. With some advance planning you can schedule some really fun things. :O)

Disney World Vacation

About 3 years ago we took a family vacation to Disney World, and we began planning our next trip to Disney World as soon as we got home. The last time we went McKinley was 10 months old and she was almost 4 for this trip, which I've decided is the perfect age. Disney World truly is the most magical place on earth for a little girl.

I think my favorite part of the entire trip was watching McKinley's face when we met all of her favorite Disney characters. Brett made fun of me because I didn't cry when we got married or when we had our girls, but I was getting teary watching McKinley when she met Cinderella for the first time.

Our trip actually started at Nickelodeon hotel. That is where we stayed for the first few days. They had a really fun Waterpark that the girls loved. We were also able to have breakfast with Spongebob, Dora, Patrick, and a bunch of other Nickelodeon characters.



We spent the rest of the time at a condo with Bretts family. It was really fun and the girls loved spending time with their cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents that we don't get to see enough.
We spent 8 days at the disney parks and I think we could have easily spent another 8 days there. There is so much to do and see, especially at Magic Kingdom. We scheduled two Princess lunches while we were there. One was at Cinderella's castle and the other was at the Norway castle in epcot. During these lunches McKinley was able meet 5-6 of the different Disney princesses.



The day of the Cinderella lunch we took her to this place called Bippodi Boppidi boutique. She had her own Fairy Godmother who fixed her hair, put make-up on her, and painted her fingernails. She was able to get all dressed up like a princess, and it was soooo fun!



We were also able to have Breakfast at a place in Animal Kingdom with all of the Mickey Mouse Characters/Friends. We had Bretts entire family at this meal. Periodically throughout our meal Goofy would come in and dance with all of the kids. Not only were these character meals really fun, but I think I had some of the best food I'd ever tasted at these meals.

I think this was the most fun vacation I've ever been on. I loved watching the girls as they met all of there favorite disney characters, and we met A LOT! There were so many fun shows, parades, and rides. I can't wait until our next trip, who knows when that will be, but I look forward to taking both of our girls back to Disney World.
If you aren't totally sick of seeing pics of our kids with disney characters then check back. I took over 400 pictures while we were there, so there will definately be a Disney World slide show coming.

Happy Halloween

When I was a little kid I loved dressing up and going trick-or-treating, mainly because I loved all the candy. Now as a mom I think I love Halloween even more. I get so excited dressing up the girls and taking them to Halloween parties. This year we had another wonderful Halloween, and like always we have WAY to much candy in our house now.
On Thursday McKinley had a Halloween party at preschool. McKinley LOVES preschool and her teacher. She was so excited to wear a costume to school.

Then on Friday our ward playgroup had another Halloween party. All the kids dressed up in costumes and we had a little parade and passed out treats.

By Halloween day McKinley already had a stash of candy, but thats what Halloween is for right...helping dentists afford next years cruise. :O) On Halloween night we had pizza movie night and watched Monsters vs Aliens. I LOVE pizza movie night, and so does Annabelle now that she gets to sit at the big girl table.

Afterward we went to our ward trunk-or-treat. This was our first time at one of theses and I was amazed that we went through as much candy as we did. We bought 4 HUGE bags of candy for Halloween. We went through 2 of them in 20minutes at the trunk-or-treat. Then after 2 hours of trick-or-treaters at our house we finally turned off our lights because we had run out of the rest of our candy. I'm glad we were able to get rid of all of it though, because I definately didn't need that much candy sitting around our house.

I made Annabelle sit in the car at the trunk-or-treat because it was cold and windy. She was totally ticked off about it so I handed her a wrapped candy bar to play with. I should have known something was up by how quiet she was the whole way home. When we got home we noticed she was covered in chocolate. She used the few teeth she has to puncture a hole in the wrapper and then sucked all the chocolate out. Apparently all girls find bliss through chocolate. She was so content, it was like the chocolate sedated her. I've decided I'm stashing one in the glove compartment for the next time we have an unpleasant 5 hour drive to Idaho.
I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween, and that you are all enjoying your diabetic comas as much as us. Our countdown is on for Disney World now. Only 12 more days, YEAH!!!

Halloween Costumes

I apoligize for the randomness of this post. I'm to lazy to break it into multiple different posts. So instead you are getting a variety of different events all compacted down into one confusing post, Sorry!
I spent the past week getting Halloween costumes ready for the girls. McKinley finally decided she wanted to be a cat, and I was able to make one for less than $5, YEAH! She wanted to dress up like her kitty "Scrat Plays Football."


I also worked on Annabelles Snow White Costume...no I didn't make the costume, just the bow. We got this costume for when we go to Disney World next month, I can't wait!
We went to Idaho a couple of weeks ago and were able to spend time with family...and Bretts horse. Brett was able to go riding up into Harriman for a day and loved it. He sure loves his horse. Now that its getting cold and we won't be able to go home as much I think Brett will go through horse withdrawls.
While we were in Idaho the last time we were able to see our friends the Karrens. They are our really good friends that went to Anesthesia school the same time as us. We hadn't seen them in over 2 years. We took all the kids to Blast off to play and the grown-ups were able to visit. McKinley and Levi are only a few months apart. When we left they were both almost one and now they are going on 4.


It was so much fun to see how their kids have grown, and to meet their new addition Benson. I love catching up with new friends, SOOOO FUN!
We love being close enough for our kids to be able to play with their cousins.

McKinley is always asking if she can go play with her cousins or swim with aunt Deidra What a blessing it has been to be near our family.
We've recently decided that its time to slow down on all the trips to IF and spend some time at our home. This past week we met a new family that lives down the street. They just bought a dental practice here and they have kids the same age as ours. We spent 4 of the past 7 days with them. McKinley loves playing with their daughter Eva.

They are such a wonderful family and we are so grateful to have made such wonderful friends. It sure makes moving to a new place easier when you have good friends and a great ward.
We are loving Montana and we are so excited to raise our family in such a great place. Here are some recent pics I took of our cute girls.


We hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween.

Conference Weekend

I love conference weekend, and not just because I get to enjoy church from the comfort of my own home in my pajamas...it is a nice perk though. After conference I feel like I'm on a spiritual high, and I really want to be a better person. Unfortunately by monday I've usually allowed myself to once again become consumed by my everyday life. I think I need conference once a month.
This past weekend we had our friends the Higbee's come out from Michigan. They were here interviewing at the hospital Brett just got hired at. It was soooo much fun having them here. During the day while the boys were at the hospital Maren and I got to do some shopping. It was so nice to have someone to hang out with. We've only been here a couple of weeks, so I really haven't made any friends yet. They brought their cute little son Isaac out with them and we were able to have him at our house while they were at there dinner meetings. He is sooo stinkin' cute, and the most polite little 1yr old I've ever met.
While they were out here we took them to Big Spings. Its a fun park that has a really huge spring that bubbles out of the ground and flows into the Missouri (I guess thats why they call it big springs). There is also a fish hatchery right next to it where you can feed the trout. These fish are huge. They looked pregnant, but I think they are just over fed.

On Saturday night we drove the Higbee's down to Helena. It is a really pretty little city and the drive is beautiful. While we were in Helena we ate at a restaraunt called the Staggering Ox. Apparently it was rated one of the top 20 places to eat by Maxim magazine, which actually made us kind of nervous about whether it was family appropriate. It was a fun little place to eat. They had the strangest sandwiches I'd ever seen. They hollow out these bread tubes and stick the meat, cheese, and toppings down inside.

Then you get to choose a sauce from their list, and they had some original choices. The food was pretty good and the company was great. The best part was that they let us eat in their private conference room, so we didn't have to feel guilty about our kids being disruptive.

Family Update
Annabelle has been growing up so fast. She has gotten really quick with her crawling and can even crawl up the stairs. She pulls herself up on furniture and will cruise around the room. We originally thought Annabelle was going to be our easy, mellow child; but we were very wrong. I have never seen so much attitude packed into such a small body. She definately lets us know whats on her mind. Its funny because she is such a petite little girl, but she has an attitude that is far beyond her years. I can't wait until she is a teenager.

McKinley is loving school and would go every day if we would let her. When she is at home all she wants to do is carry around her kittens. I'm amazed those cats don't run when they see her, but they will actually cry at the door for her to come out.
Brett was finally able to start working last week and he really likes all of the people he works with. It was really nice having him home for so long, but it has been a blessing to have him start working.
We are going to Idaho this weekend to see family and so that Brett can go horseback riding into Harriman park. Hope everyone had a great conference weekend, inspite of the "yucky" weather.

All Moved In

It has been awhile since I last posted anything. We are finally all moved in to our new home and we were able to get our internet set up a few days ago. This post will catch us up on everything that has happened in the past month...Warning: it will be long, with lots of pictures.
We were very eager for Brett to finish school so we could move on, but I don't think we realized how hard it would be to say goodbye to all of our Michigan friends. We had the best friend out in Michigan and we are going to miss them like crazy. I wish we could have brought all of them with us.

We had a big party with our friends the night before me and the girls left. We visited, had snacks, and we even rented a big bounce house for all of the kids. It was a really fun night.



The girls and I left for Idaho 2 weeks before Brett so that he could study for his final board exam without any interruption. We stayed with our family in Idaho and the girls were able to spend some time with their cousins.


We went to the zoo,

celebrated my dads birthday,

and spent a day swimming at Green Canyon.

Annabelle had fun with her cousin Riley. She kept giving her hugs and kisses...until Riley decided she'd had enough.

After Brett took his test, which he passed, we met him in Great Falls. We've had Brett home for the past few weeks, which made getting moved in much easier. McKinley has transitioned very well to our new home. Her new kitties have definately made the move easier.

McKinley also started preschool when we got here and she has loved it.

So far we have loved Montana, and it has been really nice having Brett at home while we get settled. We are excited about all Montana has to offer, and we are so glad that we can live closer to our families.