We had an eventful day getting Rylee to smile on cue. She is in the phase of where you say, "Now say cheese", and she does the overly dramatic "cheese" face.
We had such a great time trying to get it just perfect!! We look forward to this wonderful xmas season and wish everyone all the best!!!!!
Merry Christmas Everyone!!!This had to be the "Thanksgiving to Remember"...without pictures, thankfully. To start the holiday off, Oma burned the sweet potatoes over night, because sleep deprivation took over. The hard working woman forgot to turn the oven timer "on". We all awoke to a wonderful aroma of burnt-ness!!! 
Aimee and Mat forgot the vegetable but remembered the salad.
I guess they have an excuse: Aimee is 35 weeks pregnant with another girl, not to mention they have 1.5 year old twin girls already.
Grandpa Little forgot to bring the pies. "No pumpkin pie?", Jon said, "This can't be Thanksgiving!". So to improvize, Grandpa went to McDonald's to get the $1.00 apple pies. One for each one of us. McDonald's and a fire extingisher on hand saved the day!!!! Thanks for all your hard work in the kitchen...everyone!!! Thank goodness we all have a great sense of humor or we wouldn't have been laughing as hard as we did!!! Soon after we ate the majority departed for Utah for Brittany's second bridal shower put on by her in-laws. Brittany (the baby sister) had a bridal/lingerie shower at Oma's house and we had such a great laugh! Too bad I didn't get any pictures of her in her dress-up outfit. The Washington crew were able to attend and that made the event even more...eventful! 
(Aunt Becky & Aunt Kim) - 2 wild and crazy girls!
(The Family...minus Tommy - still in Uruguay)
(Girls will be girls!!!)
The ceremony concluded with "Yes Sir, I do" from Brittany. There was food and dancing. Thank goodness the grooms cake wasn't a "bleeding armadillo" (Steel Magnolias) because we were a bit worried. The little grand-girls had a fabulous time dancing the night away. Rylee didn't want to leave. By the way, what would I have done without a hot glue gun!! 
If any of you have heard Blake drum, you'd be impressed!!! For such a little guy he has a lot of power in those hands. This is one thing that definitely brings Blake to life!!! He can drum with the best of the celebrities!!! 
Here we are in Berkely at one of his concerts. He did a fab job and even tried his hand on the bass guitar. Though it was loud, Rylee loved dancing to all the songs!!! Good job BLAKE!!!! 
So if any of you know Jon, he has been dying to get tattooed sleeves up both arms. I tell him I love him just the way he is, but who listens to me. So one day when Jon was on the computer and studying hard for his engineers test, Rylee and I decided to get a bit creative with her washable markers. I then asked him if he liked tattoos on his daughter. He said he LOVED THEM!!!! We had a great laugh!!!!
Well, it was Jon's 29th birthday and boy he is almost over the hill. His family decided to come up for the day and celebrate with him. Blake and Rylee had a great time chasing each other and kicking around the balls in the backyard. 
Here she is pictured as "One Eyed Willie" from Goonies!!!
Soon after Rylee was serenading us with her singing and dancing. "Once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman, snowman....". She loves to do all the hand motions especailly to Jon's favorite song, We started off the celebration by going to a Trunk or Treat with our ward the weekend previous. There was a chili and cornbread cook off!!! I brought cornbread, which was fabulous I might add!!! I didn't end up winning because they only did prizes for the chili, bummer. So I got Rylee all dolled up with make-up and glitter, the works!!! She loved puting on make-up especially the lipstick!!!! Such a girl. She was a pink fairy for the evening. After eating all the various chili's and cornbreads, the kids played games and then as it got dark, the adults opened the back of their decorated trunks and handed out candy to all the passer-bys.
Rylee had a great time with all the other kids...watching them eat the cake. She suprising was not interested in eating the cake at all. 
After a long afternoon nap, Rylee was ready for the night. Again she got all dolled up with pigtails, bows, glitter, wand, make-up and costume!!! She looked so cute in person. She didn't mind the outfit except for the fact that it was a little itchy. 
Here I am getting more and more pregnant. Moving around isn't as easy as it used to be!!!
She loved going from house to house to see what she could fill her bucket up with. She refused to let either Jon or I hold her bucket full of candy because she thought she'd never get it back...despite the fact she could bearly lift the thing.
Here she is pictured with her heavy bucket of candy. Proud halloweener!!!!! 
Some people were not home and just left out a bucket of candy for the kids to take. Rylee didn't want to listen when we said, "Take just one". She interpreted it to mean a couple handfuls. 
Since it was getting cold and late, we decided to venture back home and inventory her candy. We let her have 2 pieces. She chose a butterfinger and a sucker. She loved the butterfinger better. The next day I took her remaining candy to work. She never knew and still hasn't asked for it. Thank heavens!!!!
In honor of the holiday coming up, we decided to go on a search for the perfect pumpkin. We decided to start up at Apple Hill at Ables Acres. 
Rylee picked out one just her size. 
We then had a chocolate and carmel dipped apple and carmel marshmellows topped with nuts. They were quite good!!! 
Rylee had a blast and was able to stick her head through the big apple. 
So while I'm at work Jon watches Rylee and they have some crazy times together. Here are some pics of Rylee dumping her water bottle into her lap during a car ride. 
Here is the end product of that messiness. Rylee wakes up every morning and asks for, "Da-Da". I sadly have to tell her he's at work. She misses him so much she wants to be in his shoes!!!!
