MommyBriniKali Go to the Pumpkin Patch

This weekend I took the girls to Cottonwood Farms (by myself because Brent was off mountain biking in Fruita/Moab) and we managed to take some photos with the good camera, AND buy 4 pumpkins, 2 squash, 2 small pumpkins...and an apple to feed the starving children. It was comical at times, very sweet and bonding at times, and extremely crowded which made everything that much more...exciting. Example: finding a wagon to pull along is difficult when it's crowded, especially when you already picked out the pumpkins and the girls are dead set on the exact ones we chose! Scramble back to the entrance to get a wagon, run back to find people taking pictures with the pumpkins you just stacked up and put off to the side, assuring the girls that "those other people" weren't taking them from us, then realizing that you really needed two wagons because you chose big pumpkins...at least I could laugh at myself). All in all, we had a fun morning, scored some great pumpkins, and got some even better photos. I really love these girls. Sabrina took several of these - she found the "big" camera pretty fun!

Cottonwood Farms 2014

Happy Birthday to me, Jill and Natalie!

Lots of Libra birthdays to celebrate this week!

The girls and Brent made a wonderful breakfast and dinner for me on Wednesday to celebrate my birthday. Sabrina was most proud of the pink mashed potatoes, made with puréed roasted beets along with the potatoes. They (ok Brent) also made creme brûlée. My favorite. It was perfect. In fact, it was so good that we had to eat it again two days later to celebrate Jill's birthday. 

Then we had a big milestone in our extended family with Natalie turning 40 today!  We celebrated grown-up style in a fancy penthouse in Vail. Fourteen of us (plus three babies who snuck in) went for the night and had a hired chef for the evening who made a four course meal and a fabulous dessert for us. 

The kids stayed with a teacher from BMS named Janina. She was wonderful with them. She even hung in there when our fall weather turned into a complete blizzard in Vail this morning and they closed I-70 for several hours and we were stuck on the other side!! Doh!  We got home several hours late but to two very happy and well cared-for girls. (We really miss Nana and Poppy, and yes, we realize how spoiled we are!).  Here are some photos from the drive up and the cool sculpture in the square below our penthouse. The ski hill is just behind me taking this photo. We were on the top floor. It was fairly amazing really. 

(And one of sweet baby Emma who got to tag along to the grown up party)

Happy birthday Libras!

Singing Ladies

Last night at dinner, both girls were in a very adorable singing mood.  With my fancy new iPhone 6 (thanks for my early birthday present, Brent!), I actually have the memory again to take videos, so here goes.  Sabrina is still obsessed with Frozen (after a bit of a hiatus over the summer...understandable, I suppose) so after her debut of Do you Want to Build a Snowman back in May (video below), here is the next installment of "Let It Go."  Kali just learned Mary Had a Little Lamb.

  (note: she was also watching herself in the video as she was singing so she was making super funny faces like she does in the mirror!)