Fall Fun

We had such a great time tagging along with my parents a couple of weeks ago at the Marriott Ranch Family Western Picnic -- a yearly missionary event sponsored by the church to which they invite various foreign dignitaries to become acquainted with the church. It was a magnificent Fall day and the ranch was beautiful surrounded by the green rolling hills of Western Virginia. We had such a great time (poor Mark was at home in Charlottesville busy with finals) watching the BYU folk dancers and Living Legends (while watching the cloggers Abby giggled and said, "This is so fun!"), eating good food, going for rides in the pony cart, decorating pumpkins, and doing crafts. Abby seemed to be most excited about getting her picture with any folk dancer in costume she could find (apparently she remembered our quest to get our pictures taken with as many characters as possible at Disneyland).

Dancing Millie

Lately Millie has been taking ballet with one of her good friends, Mae, who recently moved here from our ward in Boston. I took these pics at a parent observation day last week and it was so fun to see all of the little girl ballerinas! (Things not shown: Jane trying to run out onto the floor to join the dancers at the every opportunity and me getting reprimanded by the very lovely, very proper ballet teacher for forgetting to remove my street shoes)

Abby Turns 3, Grandma Visits, and Millie is 5 going on 15

It's hard to believe that Abby is already three! She has eagerly been looking forward to her birthday and all week, kept calling down each morning, "Mom, what day is it today? How many more days until Saturday?" Saturday finally arrived and we had a great day!

Abby celebrating her birthday at preschool.

Let's eat cake!
The party princesses show off their booty from the treasure hunt.



We had a fun visit with Grandma McLaughlin. We enjoyed going apple picking at Carter's Mountain Orchard, shopping at the mall in Short Pump, and just hanging out.

Millie is 5 and apparently going on 15. She has discovered the power of language as evidenced by this sign she recently wrote for her door (I was hoping that "Keep out" signs wouldn't appear until the teenage years, if at all). She was frustrated with people (namely sisters Abby and Jane and Abby's playdates) messing up the room she so meticulously keeps clean (about 80% of the time) so she took it upon herself to write this sign. Unfortunately, since she happens to share that room with Abby, it hasn't had much of an effect.



Millie is relishing her status as Kindergartener and Bus Rider. I finally took a couple of pictures.

"Hello! Hello! Hello!"

This is Jane, here. I thought it was high time I made a blog entry. I am almost 11 months, but I like to think that I'm every bit as big as my sisters . They adore me, by the way, as does everyone (at least that's what they're always telling me). I must confess, with utmost humility of course, that I am adorable. I can't help it. It just comes with the territory of being a baby. I am who I am.

Lately, I have been perfecting the art of walking and am slowly working my way into the world of talking. Walking is fun. I would prefer running and I am doing my darnedest to run, but I guess I'm a little over-ambitious. Yesterday I fell and gave myself a fat lip (scared Mommy half to death -- she's rather dramatic by nature), but I'm a fast healer and don't let anything slow me down.

As for talking, I've got "uh oh" down pat and have added "Hello!" to my lexicon. One of my favorite things to do is walk/run through the house with my arms outstretched yelling, "Hello! Hello! Hello!" with a big (and very cute, I might add) smile. I wish I could share it with you all, but although my Mommy was able to get it on video, she is unfortunately too technologically illiterate to figure out how to post it on the blog.

I have a lot of things I'm interested in these days. I'm fascinated with the cats, Woody and Oliver, who live under our deck outside. I love to stand at the back door and watch them. I love noodles and trying new people food. I love books and like to turn the pages. I get very frustrated when doors are shut in my face or gates are put up in front of me. They say it's just for safety, but I know that they just want to keep me away from something exciting. I love getting into whatever my sisters are playing with. My favorite person in the world is Daddy! I can't take my eyes off of him when he is in the room (Mommy often seems to have a similar problem).

Anyway, life is good. People are always around to take care of my every whim. Occasionally, my sisters accidentally trip over me or bump into me, but overall things are great.