End of September

Jonah was so proud of himself for doing these word puzzles and I was impressed too. He is one smart 4 year old. (please excuse the bad lighting. sometimes my phone camera isn't the best. 

Little Audra loves to drag chairs around and climb up to see whatever I am doing and "help". She is a good helper in her own way for sure. 

The kids were sooo excited for Audra's birthday this last week and picked out some presents from their own toys and wrapped them. She loved it all. 

This purse from Ava was especially exciting for her. 

Audra has just been a joy to us from the day she was born. We are so glad she is a part of our family:) She brings out the best in everyone she comes into contact with just by her smiles and cuteness. 

My 35 week baby belly bump. I can't believe we only have 5 weeks left to go! 

Hee hee. 

 One of my best friends, Aly, got married a few weeks ago. She got married at this beautiful bed & breakfast in rural Iowa. They were married on this cute little bridge by a small lake. The weather was perfect and she married a great guy with a wonderful family. I'm so happy for them. Plus my parents and I got to do this photo booth at the reception. :) hee hee.

August and September

Grandma Sarah took the kids to the park by our house and got some really cute pics. 

Audra at the Nauvoo visitor center checking out the beautiful statue.

I'm SO glad that our kids love to read. (Even when Audra dumps half the books off the shelf) This girl alone will spend at least an hour a day reading books to herself. 

These kids sure are cute and sure love each other. 

Ava is the horse pulling the pioneer wagon of course.

Silly faces.

Ava lost her first tooth a few weeks ago and boy was she excited about it. The tooth fairy left her some moolah and a nice note;)

After Ava's first day at school. She told me, "Mom, if there is one thing I know, it is that I love school." :)

Ava and Jonah went to a princess and knight party and had a ton of fun. The knights had a jousting tournament where the princesses gave them their award ribbons and then the knights rescued the princesses from the pinata dragon. Very exciting.

This guy and his son put together an amazing Halloween pirate ship in their front yard every year. We went by with some of our good friends to check the progress of it and the owner let the kids check it out. My favorite quote was, "Just so you know, your son is holding a real machete so you may want to take it away from him." Good to know. 

The kids had a grandpa date a few weeks ago and we ended up at the park eating pizza. It was great.

The view one evening outside my mom's 2nd story office. This picture doesn't do it justice but it was really beautiful. 

Our new apartment! It is nice and we like it a lot. 

Sweet little Audra girl. 

Ava Lou our oldest and best big sister. 

Jonah boy who is the best little and big brother. Just love these kids so much. 

Weren't these clouds just heavenly? Again, doesn't compare to the real thing but I had to take a pic. 

Congratulations to my sister on the arrival of her beautiful baby girl!! We love her SO much!! She is such a little darling.

This sunset took my breath away.

Late July and early August

Just some pictures to share! Aunt Liza and Cousin Nika have been here visiting and we have had sooo much fun with them. Also, our Grandma Sarah moved out here to Iowa with us! I don't have a picture of her but we are very grateful to have her here!

According to Ava the kids here dressed up like; a puma, an anteater, and a knight:)

Silly picture!

This was one of the last nights at our house on Todd Circle. It was such a wonderful house and we were so glad to of gotten a chance to live there for a little while. 

I love the clouds here:) They are usually very varied and beautiful.(You can tell we've had a drought this summer with the corn looking autumn like instead of summer.)

Recently my sister Cori and her super sweet little baby came for a visit. It was great to be together.

Thank you to my wonderful mother-in-law Sarah for taking these Kindred family pics!This was all of us except Es and her husband Brett and kids, and also we were missing Cori's fiance Jeremy. Can't wait til' Christmas when we'll all be together.

The kids always want to do a silly picture. I'm glad they do. 

Blurry picture but this is me at about 7 months. 

Caught this picture of the sunset out the car window. So pretty!

Our Ava lou loves life and shows it wherever we go or whatever we do. 

Audra loves to love life too. Caught her here enjoying the outdoors. And btw, Jonah reminds us of how beautiful and lovely life is too. Kids are such a blessing in so many ways.

Kiddos

 The kids kind of love cooking/baking with me. I love it too.

 The other day we went on a walk and they all wanted to wear a hat. They actually wore them for a solid hour too.

 Jonah and Audra really enjoy snuggling. It warms my mother heart:)

Ava likes to coordinate the kids clothes. Hee hee

 Me and the 6 month-ish baby belly.

The kids in our backyard the other day. The girls looked so cute so I had to choose the picture where Jonah looked a little goofy. Sorry buddy:)