We rode the North Pole Express on Christmas Eve! It was such a fun day. We saw Santa, sang with elves, drank hot chocolate, and enjoyed the company with my side of the family. Holidays are SO much fun with kids!

They really liked the bells. :)

This girl looooooves her grandma!

Be still my heart! Complete with hot chocolate on her sweater and everything! 

So much sass it cannot be contained. 

Jace (my brother) and Bella were in town from Seattle. We sure love them! 

Max sure loved those elves!

Pure magic!

Family Pictures in San Diego

When we were in San Diego, Russ's super talented cousin Amanda took some family photos of Russ's side of the family. It was a fun, crazy photo shoot with lots of moving parts, but luckily we were able to get a handful of good shots. Thanks again Amanda!

She was obsessed with the ocean!

I love, love love this picture of Max. 

I love this shot of Max and his Grandpa Randal. He loves his grandpa so much!!

The whole group!

Russ and his siblings!

My babies! Love them more than words can express.

Family Pictures!

I am quickly learning that family pictures are a total crapshoot. How will they go!? Who knows! The babies have good naps? Doesn't matter. They are happy 5 seconds before the shoot starts? Oh well. Somehow we have managed to always get one "decent" shot, but it's still totally hit or miss. 

This photo shoot went about as expected - Clara cried for a lot of the time, but like I mentioned, we still managed to get some good shots (to the credit of the photographer, no doubt! Katie Perkes did an awesome job). We did this photo shoot with my side of the family. When I look through these pictures I am reminded, once again, how incredibly blessed I am to not only have my own little family, but to come from an amazing family full of love and laughter. I love these people so much!!

And I must mention the cool location! This photo shoot was already a reschedule due to a crazy windstorm a few weeks prior. And then, wouldn't you know it, the day of our reschedule had bitter cold temperatures! Luckily my sister knew of this awesome abandoned warehouse in Spanish Fork. It had the best light!

Our family has grown!

My parents and their grandbabies (aka the reason they moved from Spokane to Utah this past summer :)). This was just as Clara brought some real tears. haha!

Must. Distract. Keep. Moving. 

Aaaaaand a smile! I love my curly-haired girl.

Max is Mr. Cheese. We can always count on him. :) He warms my heart.

Checking out the scene with Grandpa!

The fab 5. 

I feel so lucky to have the best siblings. I love these two people so much.

 Life sure is good!

Leaves

I think one of the greatest joys of being a mother is watching your babies discover things for the first time. Like leaves, for instance. Such a basic, ordinary occurrence of life is a novelty for these babies who know only those things Russ and I have exposed them to. But boy, did they love leaves!

We drove up to the American Fork canyon today for a picnic and scenic drive. I love living here in Utah where the mountains are a short drive away. I feel so incredibly blessed to be surrounded by such beauty every day. The babies love being in the mountains. Every time we have gone they get so excited and just liven up. 

They were so excited, in fact, that it was pretty much near impossible to get them both to look away from those leaves! :)

I love, love, LOVE Max's face in this picture. 

My handsome boy! He looks like a kid. SOMEONE STOP TIME PLEASE!

And my beautiful, sweet and sassy girl! Those eyes kill me every time.

"Hi, mom!" 

I kind of have a thing for "throwing pictures." Luckily both of them love to be thrown! 

 We made sure to stay until both Max and Clara were nice and dirty.

 ... and sufficiently wet. No one can keep Max away from water!

Little Mill campground seriously was amazing! Look at those yellow leaves and that gorgeous river. 

And then we continued our drive through the other side of the canyon. Breathtaking is the only way to describe it! 

The quaking aspens...

... and an array of fall colors. 

And that was our day. I can't wait till our next "mini adventure" with the babies! They bring so much renewed excitement to life. 

Swingin'

Max and Clara had their first adventure at the playground this last weekend. This was the first of many playground adventures to come, so of course it had to be documented. I really love the picture below for some reason. It was a quick moment in time. I love their hats, their chubby legs and dimpled hands, the draped arms over the swing - all of it.

Sometimes Max will flash this smile at me and it cracks me up. It's like he's saying "hey mom! Just hangin' out on this swing with my twin sister. Life is pretty great, huh?

Yes, Max. Life is pretty great.

For some reason I couldn't quite capture Clara's smile on the swing, even though she was loving it. But who could miss those thunder thighs? Mmmm. I could just squeeze them.

Both Max and Clara have also been loving when we play the guitar or piano with them. I'm still loving the idea of a family band. 

Dads Are the Best!

We've had a busy and wonderful weekend of celebrating the Dads in our life. Without getting too mushy, I am so incredibly grateful for Russ and the amazing Dad he is to Max and Clara. I love watching him interact, take care of, and show his love for them. Watching Russ grow into the role of "Dad" has made me love him even more. He brings a smile to their little faces no one else can! It sure makes my heart melt.

Father's Day Sunday also happened to be Max and Clara's "8 month" birthday, so of course we had to attempt their monthly photo shoot. Unfortunately, Clara was not a huge fan of the grass. In fact, she pretty much cried the whole time. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. Either way, these babies are getting cuter by the day (if I do say so myself) and I am loving this 8 month stage! .... now only if we can make them good sleepers again. Yikes. 

This was pretty much the best we got. :)

... because this was how most of the other pictures looked. Although I do love this one and how Max is reaching out to her while she is crying. Twin love. It's a real thing, people.

Since Max was obliging we had a little solo photo shoot with Mister Smiles. :)

.... And back to the Father's Day weekend post. Both of our Dad's birthdays are within a few days of Father's Day, so we usually celebrate both Dad's birthdays and Fathers day in one weekend! Whew! My family came over Friday night to honor my wonderful father. I love you, Dad! I couldn't ask for a better dad. You have taught me so much by word and example. And plus, you know how to have some serious fun! :)

(We were missing Jace and Bella who are up in Seattle for an internship)

Saturday we had a fun barbecue in the American Fork canyon along the gorgeous, raging river. Well, sadly no photos were taken. Darn. It was a wonderful afternoon spent in nature and honoring Russ's father. :) 

Hope everyone else had a fantastic Father's Day! Aren't Dads the best?!?