Family Pics 2015

In November we got family pictures taken :)









Family pictures sure have a way of forcing you to realize your kids are looking bigger! In fact, the #1 comment I got from everyone about our Christmas Cards this year was: Emma's looking so grown up!


Editing software helps to ease the blow that you, yourself are also looking older :)

It's always hard to decide on "the" Christmas card photo.

A scenic view...


A little closer up...


But the one that looks the most like we love each other always wins.

Whether or not we did at that moment is debatable :)
The love is there but taking family pictures doesn't always inspire it to come forth.

Glad we could force it to shine through anyway because these are my very favorite people.

Halloween 2015

Halloween was simple and fun this year! I didn't buy a single costume which was pretty nice. I even offered to buy costumes and everyone just said they were good with stuff we already had.

Emma was a little indecisive. She wanted to be something creative but that wouldn't take too much work. She ended up choosing to be "Life" and handing out lemons and Lemonheads to people at school. Get it??

Of course she didn't want her picture taken, so this is what I got...


At the Jr High they aren't allowed to dress up so Eli just helped us in our "haunted porch" we brought back this year, dressed like this...

He had an air compressor that he shot air at people out that hole in the box. He had fun startling the heck out of everyone.

Holly was a pirate. This is her in the HP parade...

Halloween night she ran around trick or treating with this group of girls and had an awesome time...


Sadie was Cleopatra. This is her and her friend Anna (who was also Cleopatra) in her class.


She trick or treated with the group of girls Holly was with until she met up with Campbell.


The after party... 

Pumpkin carving earlier in the day. (Can Halloween fall on a Saturday every year please?)

A couple seeds had opened and started sprouting inside one of the pumpkins!



Our jack-o-lanterns Halloween night


Possibly my favorite part of Halloween :) YUM!


Every year I feel so grateful for our awesome neighborhood and all the great families walking around as we're trick-or-treating! Such a fun night!

Fall Break, Beach Camping 2015, and Camera Death by Drowning

Over fall break we were so excited to go beach camping with some members of our ward. We went to Carlsbad, which was a new campground for us.
As always, we had a great time!

We had one of the "premium" sites-which means it's closest to the ocean. But all the campsites at this campground are up on a bluff and you walk down to the water. Kind of a pain, but it made for some beautiful views!


Once we were set up the kids didn't waste any time getting down to the water.



It was fun to have good friends there.




Sally came down and met us there for the day.


Love that little Lu-Lu.


James and Sadie always have a lot of fun playing.



It was beautiful out- cloudy with the sun peeking through at times.






The kids found some treasures. Eli found like 4 intact sand dollars!


Sadie loved this pretty white rock.


There was a lot of seaweed there.


Pretty soon Emma because a sea-princess. With Holly the crazy photobomber!


Day 1 ended with a breathtaking sunset. Does it get any better than the beach!!?


Day two started off great. This was our view in the morning...

Eli eating breakfast and watching the surfers :)


After we went down to the water the tide was pretty high at the beach. We were all sitting back away from the water when suddenly we were surrounded by it! Clothes, shoes, and MY CAMERA BAG (which was partially unzipped) started floating away. Holly grabbed it for me but alas, my camera has never turned on since. Luckily I was able to retrieve pictures I had already taken off the memory card, but it so sad :(

This is the last picture I took...


So the rest of the trip (and since) all I had was my phone. Definitely took the wind out of my photography sail.
But we still had a great time.



Dana led a group on a successful crab-catching hunt...


Fun and relaxing! My kind of vacation!