halloween fun

Reese and I had a few friends over this week to celebrate Halloween.  We had some cupcakes and sugar cookies for decorating and all the kids came in their costumes.  You cannot believe the cuteness!  Naturally, not all the kids wanted to wear their costumes for the party--especially since it was at least 75 degrees that day--but we did manage to get everyone in their costumes for a picture.  (you can imagine how that turned out)  On the other side of this picture are about 10 mommies all with her own camera trying to get the best shot.

I had to give Reese candy corns for her to sit still...and that still didn't last long.

The super-hero is tipping, the frog is about to lose it and the dalmatian is on her feet.

oh, boy...the wheels are coming off...

...and everyone is melting down.  But, it does make for a priceless picture!

reese in georgetown

Reese and I had some new pictures taken by my amazingly talented friend Andrea a couple weeks ago and, as always, Andrea's work is fabulous!!!!  We went to a couple of Andrea's favorite shoot sites in Georgetown and Reese was a champ!  Passers-by were stopping left and right to say how beautiful Reese is, if I do say so myself.  Reese loves the camera...as soon as Andrea brought it out in our first spot, Reese froze and just started smiling at the camera!  I don't know where she learned that, I swear.  Reese was a real trooper for about the first hour and a half, with all the wardrobe changes and direction, but the last ten minutes were a little rough--not even M&Ms could help us then.

After the shoot, Andrea posted the proofs for me to choose my favorites, so I got a piece of paper and pen to write down the shots I liked best.  After one time through the entire list, I had written down 85 numbers--and I thought I was being selective!  But, after about a hundred more times through the list, I had it narrowed down.  Here are a few of my favorites:  

These are also the pictures I also submitted to the Gap Casting Call. (what have we got to lose, right?)  If you would like to vote for Reese so she can be the Fan Favorite, go here.

See more of Reese's photo shoot here.

Granny's party

After our trip to Montana, we stopped in Utah for Granny's 90th birthday party. Reese was a champ for the entire 9-hour drive and we got to Utah just in time to see Granny play the organ at the Tabernacle! We heard a brief concert by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with the full orchestra after their rehearsal, and when they finished Granny got to play the organ! It was really exciting and so special that we could be there to see it!


Family flew in from all over to celebrate with Granny and the rest of the weekend was full of golf, swimming, lunch at Sundance, BYU football, pool basketball, delicious brunches and desserts (and, of course, a trip to Cafe Rio), and catching up with cousins, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles, and of course, Granny!


Here are a couple pics from the weekend:


This is what happens when you go swimming without a swim diaper. Her diaper was just getting bigger and bigger...until I was worried it would explode in the pool and changed her into another non-swim diaper. We only had to go through about 4 diapers before she was ready to get out of the pool.
Aunt Kelly/Mommacat was everybody's favorite in the pool...can you tell? Reese loved playing with her cousins, Ava and Eliza, and followed them all weekend long!

Naturally, Reese's aunts couldn't get enough of her and she can't get enough of them. I mean, can you blame her? Look how high they can throw her in the pool!

How's this for an action shot?!

It was such a fun weekend! It was so special to be able to celebrate Granny's birthday with so much family for the weekend. We need to have family reunions a lot more often! I love that Reese (and I!) have gotten to see so much of my sisters and brother and parents this summer. It is so much fun for me to see the relationships that they are each forming with her and how much Reese loves them.

Happy Birthday, Granny!

Dean turns 18!

...and I can hardly believe it!  We celebrated his birthday while I was in Montana last month and I had a blast trying lots of new cupcake recipes.

my two sous chefs hard at work.  Tessa is on the whipped cream and my mom is following with the sprinkles.

this is the finished product of the swirly cupcakes: chocolate cake discs with a mini scoop of ice cream, topped with swirly whipped cream and finished with colorful nonpareils--delicious!

Dean is an all-star baseball player, so naturally, we had to have baseball cupcakes.

these might have been my favorite: snickerdoodle cupcakes with the most delicious 7-minute frosting sprinkled with cinnamon sugar...my mouth is watering
We pulled off a surprise party for Dean, despite the fact that Tessa, my mom and I were in the kitchen all afternoon making enough cupcakes to feed an army.  I guess we do that enough anyway that he wasn't too suspicious.  Dean is the best and we are all so proud of the man he has turned into!  Happy Birthday, Dean!

(Since we have been home, Reese randomly says "Surprise!" and then starts singing happy birthday to Dean.  It is pretty cute.)