General Conference weekend.

Saturday morning cinnamon rolls.  This was my first time making cinnamon rolls and they turned out pretty well, but I want to play around them a little more and try a few more recipes.  Yummy!

Sunday afternoon between session of General Conference, we went to the Portland Temple.  This was Elna’s first time, and she LOVED it! 

She loved walking around the pretty pools.  It was a hard concept for her to understand that she can’t swim in them, but luckily she never got in!  She had a great time walking around them and the rest of the beautiful temple grounds!

I had hoped to get some cute family pictures of us all, but these are the best we got.

Some of these pictures of Harriet are kind of blurry, but they are still pretty cute, so I’m including them anyway.

This grin is so funny, but it’s totally her smile right now—so gummy!

We encouraged Elna to fold her arms to teach her how important the temple is and to help her be reverent, so I kind of love these pictures.

Before we left we stopped by the temple’s new visitor’s center.  It’s the smallest temple visitor’s center the church has and it was great—very hands-on for children and adults!  They encourage children to touch the Savior, which I loved.  We could have spent so much more time there, but had to get the girls back for naps.  I hope to make it a tradition to go each Sunday during General Conference, so that the girls start seeing the temple at least twice a year. 

September phone pictures.

Papa loves his girls and they love him!

We added a little color to this painting every day.  It was a fun project!

Most days they wear their pajamas on our walks since it’s starting to get pretty chilly out and they are warm.

And always after our walks, Elna wants to ding the doorbell.

This girl loves eating flour while I make bread.

Right after I took this picture and I was about to pull out of the driveway, Elna said “Who’s ready for this?”  The things she says lately crack me up!  I actually took this picture because of how Hattie has her hands on her carseat—propped up and ready to go.  She’s been doing this all the time and it makes me laugh.

I love cuddling this girl—nothing better!

And watching her sleep.

And her too.

This girl had her hand in her mouth a lot while that first tooth was coming in.

Elna, walking around the stake center parking lot without panties on.  Her Papa took her for the afternoon and she had a little accident, but I forgot to leave a change of clothes.  We were all going to the adult session of Stake Conference, so we picked her up there and brought some clothes.  Then we stood in the foyer with the girls and  listened to Chris sing at Stake Conference, then took off to put the girls to bed.

Braced for impact.  I love her smiling eyes in the picture on the right—she has the best smiling eyes ever!

Very serious about her coloring!

Helping me dry my tomatoes and eating a lot at the same time.  One step forward, two steps back.

In the spirit of fall we made some hot pumpkin spice milk and banana cookies that basically only had 2 ingredients: bananas and oats.  They weren’t as bad as they sound.

We were listening to the Children’s Primary songs—she wanted to watch the playlist at the same time.  Not much happening on that screen.

All bundled up and ready for a cold walk with Momma.

She deserved a close-up.  Fancy hat and Christmas pajamas.  I couldn’t find another hat and the jammies were warm.

Wearing Papa’s glasses and playing on his computer.  These two have a great time together!

Every first Saturday of the month we go as a family to get frozen yogurt.  It’s becoming a tradition because we’ve now done it for 3 months.  We talk about what we are going to fast for the next day.  I like the idea of creating traditions that help our children want to be close to their family and to God.  I really feel that through traditions our children can feel that they a part of something bigger than them.  I’m willing to do a lot to help our children want to be with our family!  Yay for fun traditions!

This was the first day Harriet started sitting up all by herself (9/29/2013).  This is my favorite stage!!

Wearing my heals and just being cute.

My baby and her baby.  Such a good little mamma.

I know the picture on the right is a little blurry, but it’s so Elna, so I had to include it!  And can I tell you how much I love when Elna’s shirts are tucked into her pants?  It just makes me want to squeeze her!  And somehow it preserves (the cute part of) her two-ness

Our independent little girl who loves to sit up!  She is having so much fun!  I can’t get over how happy this girl is!  She is an absolute delight!