Big 5 Ella

When my parents gave Ella a Cinderella dress-up costume for Christmas three years ago, we began anticipating the day it would actually fit her. Well that day is finally here and we had a fun time getting little Cinderella all spruced up for her five-year-old shots. We laughed that some of them reminded us of bridals...but won't she be a beautiful bride one day?! Happy birthday to Ella in two and a half weeks.
Thanks Heather for sharing your photographer Val with us!

And I don't mean $5 footlong

We picked a random weekday and got permits to hike the SUBWAY on Wednesday, hoping that the back-to-school-ness of the season and the weekday-ness of the choice would help our chances for getting permits. We've been meaning to get back to this hike since we first did it four years ago.

We loaded up a car with Glen and his granddaughter Alexandra, Bryson's friend Brent from work, and Avery. Ella didn't make the cut--too big to carry. Avery now fits that category as well. Our revised parenting policy will include one free ride on the subway tracks, but after that our kids are going to have to earn it.

Can you tell it was the most beautiful day to tackle this? Because it was gorgeous: high temps, lots of sun, lots of water flowing through the canyon.

We hiked it from the bottom up to the subway and back, and it took us the full day.

Goin' down the tracks, clickety clack. All aboard!

And at long last, the Subway tunnel...


Hopefully it won't be four more years till we hike this again!

New Ride

Baby #3 is expensive, and here's why. We picked up our new Chevy Traverse LS AWD in Colorado this weekend, so we had to stop here on our way home:

Goblin Valley. Since our kids love rocks, it was basically better than Disney.

If you hadn't yet heard...

...it's a girl.

Truly, my maternal instincts for predicting gender are not functioning properly. From here on out I will just know to bet on the opposite of what I think. Which could get confusing.

I left the ultrasound in shock; not that I wasn't excited, but I was just so sure it was a boy and the paradigm shift was slow coming. Since the placenta is a little low, I will get to have another ultrasound in about 10 weeks. It's always fun to take a peek at how things are shaping up inside.

Now for girly things galore... and we shouldn't have to look too far for that!

July Treasures

Ella brought this little beauty home from library storytime a few months ago as a seed and it is the now the tallest thing we've ever had on our porch. It opened its eyes this weekend.

Robyn made this elaborate princess cake for Avery's second birthday when we were up north. Wow. I mean, what else do you say for a cake like that? Other than--I want one!

Avery can't figure out how to make two with the fingers on one hand, so this is how she compromises.

Teddy Bear Picnic

Celebrating 2 years, the Green way...

The invite.

The decor.

The dress-up element.

The gals.

The story.

The basket lunch: string cheese, teddy bear PB & honey sandwiches, watermelon, juice, and chips.

The goods.

From mom and dad.

The cake, bear-stamped with approval.

The tradition.

Wait. My baby is 2???????

p.s. After singing Happy Birthday (which most of the kids only marginally knew the words to), Avery asked us to sing the temple song. Which we then did. And everyone knew every word.

p.p.s. I can't say for certain how many cupcakes Avery consumed, but if it's any indication--she spent an hour in her bed past normal naptime singing Tiana songs at the top of her lungs and ripping her clothes off while yelling "Nakie!!!". At least one too many.

Announcing...

I can't wait any longer!!! We are expecting some wild all-nighters starting somewhere around Jan. 10. Mark your calendars; the parents here are about to become outnumbered!
p.s. Check out my new ticker at the bottom of the page too :)

Picking Cherries

Last night we picked cherries at a farm in Hurricane with some friends. We had a very pleasant evening enjoying the treat of someone else's backyard extraordinaire. Someday I would love to have fruit trees of my very own...