Daddy Daughter Dance

The girls school had their annual Parent Student Dance or as we like to call it the Daddy Daughter Dance tonight. When Lexi heard me talking about it with Ryan she insisted that she get to go too so we bought her a ticket. She was probably the most excited to go but the other girls were a little excited too. They had a great time dancing and Lexi got to do the Hokey Pokey and was singing it all night until we put her to bed.

Here they are right before the dance. I love that they want to get dressed up for it and do their hair down (which is not how I usually let them wear it). Don't they look great. I hope Ryan doesn't get sick of these dances because he has a lot more of them in the future.

Tea Party

The girls have been wanting to have a tea party for a couple of months now and it never worked out. So today we finally were able to have one. They invited their cousins Kate and Summer and they invited Grandma Cardon. They chose all of the decorations, food, and activities and worked on it for days. Here is what the room looked like before it started.

Hailey made chocolate chip cookies and a sign that said "Welcome" on it. Peyton made the cake and decorated it with a play tea set. She also made the place cards, napkin rings, a coaster, a poster saying "Tea Party"on it, and hung balloons from the ceiling. I made cinnamon muffins, sandwiches, and fruit. Alexis made pink lemonade.
Here are the lovely ladies about to start the party. They all came dressed up and were ready to have fun.
After they ate their food Summer decided to have a photo shoot outside. She loves taking pictures and the girls were excited to be the models. Here is Alexis loving being included with the big girls.
Peyton and Kate skipping to go out front.
Kate in the tree.
Hailey in the tree.
Peyton in the tree.
Grandma even got in on the action. Kate wanted her to wear her hat.
4 silly cousins.
Summer, the photographer posing for a picture.
All the cute girls in the tree.
The final activity of the party was coloring tea pots that Peyton had printed off. Each tea pot was different and they had the name of the person on it.

I'm so glad we were finally able to have the party because it was a lot of fun. I'm grateful for Summer who at the age of 14 played along really well and made it fun for her sister and younger cousins. She is such a good sport.

Christmas Break

We had a fantastic Christmas break this year. My whole family was in town and we really enjoyed spending every day together doing lots of fun stuff. I did the 24 days of Christmas with the girls again this year and they loved it once again. Here they are decorating their gingerbread houses.

We had our Ferrell family Christmas party about a week before Christmas this year. We had a great time eating, exchanging gifts, playing bells and singing, and putting on the nativity.
At our ward party Santa came to visit and Lexi wasn't too excited to sit on his lap but she did.
While my family was in town we did lots of fun things. We had a caramel apple making party, a gingerbread house party, trips to the park, we played at Bounce U, attended an adoption party for my cousin Kari, went swimming at a hotel, had Christmas Eve at my cousin Nicole's house, blessed my new nephew Braeden, had many family dinners, and hung out at night. I wish I had taken pictures of these things but I didn't. Hopefully at some point in time my brother Andrew will send us some of the pictures he took and then I will fill in with a few pictures.

Here are pictures of our Christmas morning. Alexis loved opening her gifts.

Hailey loved her brand new bike without training wheels.
Peyton loved her new Razor scooter she had been asking for.
Here is a picture of some of my family before church on Christmas morning.
After all of my family left back to Utah Ryan took the girls to Flagstaff to spend a few days in the snow. There wasn't much snow but they made the most of it and enjoyed an hour of sledding. Here is the best picture Ryan took. I guess he didn't realize the girls were squinting from the sun. Oh well, at least he took a picture.
The girls had a great time enjoying their time off from school and loved spending time with their family.

Peyton's Orchestra Concert and Hailey's Dance Recital

Peyton had her first Orchestra concert in December. This is her first time ever playing an instrument and she chose the viola. She practiced really hard and did a great job. She loves playing and has just recently started taking private lessons once a week so she can improve even more.

Hailey had a dance recital in December and did a dance to "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer". She looked adorable and did a great job. She really enjoys dance and can't wait for her next recital.

Thanksgiving and My Birthday

On Thanksgiving morning Ryan was invited to go shooting with some friends from the ward. He just had to go and he really enjoyed himself. Now he wants to buy lots of guns and go shooting all the time.

We went to my parent's house for a delicious Thanksgiving meal. We had a small crowd this year since most people were out of town but we still had a great time.
That weekend was also my birthday and Ryan and the girls spoiled me. They got me lots of great gifts including the second best gift I have ever been given (my engagement ring is number 1). Ryan had taken my Mita's (grandmother) jewelry stand that I had inherited when she passed away in January to get refurbished. It was falling apart and would not have been able to stand much longer if it wasn't fixed. This jewelry stand means so much to me. I use to play with it when I was a kid and I would go visit my Mita and Papa. She had a bunch of costume jewelry she kept in it and we would dress up and have a great time. Her father had given it to her as a present back in 1931. He bought it in a small village just outside of Paris (my Mita is from Switzerland). It is something I will cherish forever and look forward to passing it down to one of my daughters.
I had a great birthday and am so grateful for my family who made it so wonderful.

Oceanography

The 5th grade students at Peyton's school have the option of going on the Oceanography trip to San Diego. Peyton wanted to go so badly but it was expensive and I didn't want her to go without a parent. So Ryan's mom generously offered to help pay for Peyton to go so her hopes wouldn't be dashed. I was the chosen parent to accompany her so we set off on an 8 hour bus ride to San Diego. It was a very long ride especially being pregnant and not having a lot of leg room to stretch out but we made it there around midnight. The next day we got up very early and took the bus to the marina for a 3 hour boat ride. Here is the only picture I am in during the trip and of course we took it ourselves.

The boat ride was very educational and luckily I didn't get motion sickness. Peyton was able to help pull up the net that was dropped to see what sea creatures were at the bottom of the ocean.
We saw lots of dolphins swimming in the ocean and that was Peyton's favorite part. It is amazing watching them swim in their natural habitat.
We also saw lots of sea lions.
Later that day we went to Sea World to learn about sea animals and to ride on Journey to Atlantis.
Of course we went to the Shamu show and I made Peyton wear a poncho so she wouldn't get soaking wet if we got splashed. We really lucked out and everyone to the left of us got soaked and I didn't even get a drop on me.
The next day we went to the Scripps Aquarium. Here is a statue that is out in front. It was huge and amazing.
Here is Peyton's group getting eaten by a shark.
The beautiful view of the ocean we had at the aquarium.
Peyton learned about lots of animals and even got to touch a few. Here she is touching a star fish.
We left to go back home after the aquarium and luckily the drive back didn't take as long and wasn't as terrible because I got a whole row to myself. Peyton had a great time and was so grateful she got to go. Thanks Grandma Ferrell for making it possible.

Halloween

The girls had a great time celebrating Halloween this year. Peyton dressed up like Crest toothpaste (it was a costume we found in the storage area at his parent's house), Hailey was a witch, and so was Alexis.

We were able to go trick-or-treating with Christin and Becky's family this year. My parents even joined us for the fun. It was a perfect night to spend walking around outside.

October Break

We love going to Utah for October Break and this year we decided to go again. It worked out that it was BYU's Homecoming game during that first weekend so we were lucky to enjoy the festivities. The first thing was the Homecoming parade. It was absolutely freezing that morning especially for us since we live in Arizona and it was hot when we left there. But we still braved the weather to enjoy the parade. Michelle and Drew came down from South Jordan to join us and we had a great time watching with them.

Alexis loves the marching band and was so excited to see it up close.
She even got to pet a llama that was walking in the parade.
That night we went to the tailgate party and the kids had a great time walking around and doing some of the activities. Here they are on the back of a fire truck.
Alexis got her face painted with a cougar paw. We didn't actually go to the game but we watched it on the tv and enjoyed spending time with Andrew and Rachael.
Of course any trip to Utah would not be complete without going bowling at BYU.
We were lucky to get to spend some time with some of our friends in Utah. We got together and went to a fun bounce place with Stacey and Beth. This is the only picture I took because I was too busy talking and having fun.
We also met up with the triplets again and enjoyed playing at the park and going to Cameron's football practice.
We spent lots of time walking up to BYU's campus. We love being so close to campus that we can walk up there every day.
We even spent some time running around the outdoor track. The girls loved having races.
Peyton was nice enough to give Lexi a piggy back ride when she started getting tired.
After racing around the track the girls just had to get some Dairy Queen.
Another favorite of ours is the Earth Science Museum (or as we call it the Dinosaur museum). Andrew and his family joined us along with Rachael.
Here are the girls with their cousin Drew at the Cougar.
A fun pose with Aunt Rachael.
We also went to some Halloween Festival that was super fun. There were tons of witches all around and lots of people dressed up as witches.
We can't wait to go back and visit Utah again this summer.