Being 1 is just s’more fun…and so are family pictures ;)

 SO…delayed (as usual) but better late than never: Bryar had her 1^st birthday and we celebrated with a fun little party! We decided on a s’mores theme since it’s fall and that seemed like a fun activity. Of course on the day of her party it was about 70 degrees out, which doesn’t really lend itself to sitting around a firepit, but hey, who can complain about nice weather in November!? Not this girl! So we just went with it and it turned out really fun! We had an assortment of s’more making options (classic, mini, berries and cream, pb cup, and mint) and all in all it was delicious. Peanut butter cup seemed to be the most popular of the non-traditional options, but I wouldn’t know because by the time I went to make myself one the whole bag of Reese’s were gone! Bryar seemed to have a blast and got nice and messy with her melty chocolate and gooey marshmallow, just the way it should be (plus I got Grandma Ashby to clean her up which was a fantastic bonus!)

Our friends Dan and Courtney

The super cute mini S'mores...which I did in fact roast...bite size and delicious!

Grandma Ashby and Hayden

            Also, we got our family pictures done! A guy in our ward did them for us and we were really happy with them. The girls weren’t the most cooperative subjects (at least not at the same time…of course!) but there are still some awesome shots. We did some with baby girl and some without, that way I would have some to post! Here’s just a few of them:

The girls don't look too enthused but the concept was good!

Gorgeous Bryar Mckinley

My beautiful little "big girl" Hayden

HAHAHAHA look at Bryar's face...priceless!

Sweet sisters

Walking together

AWW :)

Sweet kisses

 

 

 

Me and Ben ;)

Halloween (a slightly belated post...)

We had a lot of fun this Halloween! We had first, second and third Halloweens amongst our kids and there was some definite craziness trying to keep all the pieces and parts of costumes on long enough for pictures, but it WAS fun. We started a few days before Halloween with our 3^rd annual pumpkin carving and caramel apple extravaganza with our friends Katie and Mark Barrera (and baby Cohen!) and our other friend Jenna. It was fantastic and we had lots of awesome pumpkins in the end (plus, who doesn’t love a caramel apple?! YUM!)

We made a quick round at our building’s trunk or treat and for some reason didn’t think to get the stroller out for Bryar and baby girl….bad decision! Ben and my arms were dying! Hayden had fun collecting candy though! Then we ran to the stake center and saw my family at their chili feed and then headed home. The surprise of the night was that Hayden threw a really big fit when we tried to put her to bed because she wanted her candy! I definitely turned into “that mom” because I told her I was going to throw it away and she wouldn’t get any if she didn’t cut it out! Luckily she got over it because there was obviously no way I was going to give her any candy after that! 2 years old and already candy obsessed…she really is a mini-me! Scary!

On Sunday our friends Courtney and Dan come over to see the girls in their costumes and we had lots of fun. They brought 2 hilarious wigs that ended up being very entertaining (see the pictures!) and it was fun getting the girls all dressed up again J They looked so cute in their costumes! Then we went “trick or treating”…but only over to the Barrera’s so we could see Cohen in his costume! Then they came over and played games and relaxed. All in all an excellent Halloween! (Of course we won't be posting any pictures of baby girl but rest assured she looked adorable...she was a bee!)