Wrapping up 2019 | FALL

Dance Class

First day of dance class (on the right)

 Dance Recital Night! 

 I have the pleasure of taking dance class photos for the little Dance Studio that Annie goes to. Here are her semester dance pictures and her buddy pictures:

 (on the right) Annie with her friend/neighbor, Blaire. 

Annie and her cousin, Elizabeth

My 27th Birthday 

 For my birthday, Tyler took the day off work and we went kayaking down the river! It was so perfect. We had fun swimming around and had the river to ourselves. It was gorgeous, perfect weather, and he's perfect company. It was a good start to the day!

 That evening, we had a little birthday party with my family. You know me, and that I had to be extra, so I wore my wedding dress. Annie saw me and decided to dress up too. It was fun to put it on again (it's kind of sad that it's a dress that you only get to wear once, so I'm glad to give it more life!)

 Tyler was happily surprised when I walked out in it :D 

My family rocks! 

Half Ironman Triathlon

We had a training ride with Jared a few weeks before. It was freaking killer. 

Pre-race Jitters! 

Before hopping into the starting line.

We had to take matching suit pictures, even though we had no clue who each other were. hah!

Completion Picture! 

The experience was crazy. It was a good crazy, but still crazy! I had been most nervous about the swim, but they ended up being my favorite part. The bike was long and the hardest section, but the run was good. Tyler and I got to complete my first lap/his second together, which was amazing. At the end, I totally cried when I crossed the finish line. My whole goal, this entire process, was to just beat the cut off, and I did. Maybe I'll do it again sometime with a time goal, but for having two kids and a full life, I'm proud of what I accomplished.

Our post race meal - Texas Roadhouse. Probably the lamest date we've ever had. We were both SO tired and falling asleep at the table. We went back to our AirBNB and passed out hard! 

 After our race in Augusta, GA - we headed down to South Carolina and spent a couple days on the beach! It was SO pretty down there!

Silver Dollar City in the FALL

Halloween 

 We love annually visiting this place called "Farmland Adventures" in the fall. The kids love the pony rides, petting zoo, corn buckets, mazes and activities.

 We also had a church halloween party that was fun too!

 Annie was a Unicorn and Laura was a Flamingo. Cuties! And Max was a Lion again :)

Oregon/Seattle Jensen Trip 

Before Church - Annie's poor hardcore bangs 

Before Christmas, we went up Northwest to visit Tyler's family in Portland and Seattle. Here are some pictures from our visit to the zoo with the girls and their cutie pie cousin, Peter. 

Christmas

Meeting Santa - Max was the most* excited, and then Annie and then Laura. 

Opening their Christmas Eve PJ's from Grandma Susan. 

 So, if I'm being completely honest, Christmas morning was ROUGH. The kids must have been crazy overstimulated from the whole season building up to that day, because we had to have a few time out sessions Christmas morning. It got to the point that after they opened their gifts, we ended up waiting 40+ minutes to open ours just because we didn't want to open presents in a bad mood. But, the day shaped up and got much better after we had breakfast. The girls are mini-Tyler's. He doesn't do well pre-breakfast either. hah!

Laura's loving her new princess dress that she got for Christmas. 

Random Sweetness 

 (right) Laura had her hearing tested a few months ago to rule out hearing loss as a reason that she isn't talking. The tests came back clear, so she has a speech therapist that comes to our house 2x/week to help her with her speech. There's already been a lot of progress!

 My siblings, parents and I went to Mississippi for my Great Uncle Bills funeral. It was tender to hear all the amazing stories about his life and to spend time celebrating him with family.

 My brother moved houses and gave us his trampoline. The girls jump on it everyday for hours when the weather is good, and especially now that we have a net on it. But a week after we got it, tornado winds threw it over the fence. So we ordered replacement netting parts and got it fixed back up.

Thunderstorms = Annie roommate

 (left) Laura fell on the fire pit (according to Annie, she was the only witness) and broke her two front teeth. The dentist kept an eye on it, and said that in a few years we can easily fix it. (right) Annie's first dental cleaning. She did great!

Date Night! 

 Lets play music class! The girls really enjoyed it this semester!

 (left) Annie's bang grow out progression - (right) me trying to just shape up the grow out to be full on bangs, rather than the side sweep bangs that weren't working. Tyler hated the haircut (eek!) but it's already grown out a lot since then and we're excited for it to grow out all the way.

 Grandpa watched the girls for a bit while we used the truck to pull my brother's van out of the mud. They love playing with Grandpa!

 This past Christmas season, I learned how, and made a million loaves of bread to pass out and for us!

 Annie and Laura got new sleeping bags for Christmas - Annie's new nap time spot is in the Teepee.

 Annie's learning her bike! She's starting to get really good and more confident! She also loves her new Toy Story Piggy Bank.

 Grandma Blackwell came to town earlier in the fall when I went to Florida with my Sister. My girls ADORE her. And so do I! When I got home, we made Macarons together.