We Are Thankful For The Thanksgiving Season

November was a fantastic month as well. For the first time in a while we did not have plans to go to Utah, instead Utah was coming to us. Oma and Opa came for Thanksgiving, and after a logical discussion with Uncle Chris we talked him and Kara into tagging along. Mark, Kimmi and Spencer also came with alterier motives, but we got them nonetheless and loved it! Alan's bathroom reno was in high gear in hopes of finishing prior to the guest arrival, however we were delayed waiting for the countertop. I continued loving my time with Amelia who continued to astonish us with new words and skills (she climbs now). It was a great month to be thankful for friends, family, jobs and what still feels like a new life in Arizona.

We attended the AZ State Fair with Alan's cousin and his family. Amelia enjoyed the butterfly house where we were able to feed butterflies with cotton swabs.

Our up close and personal encounter with the monarch.

There was also a crazy petting zoo at the fair. One giant pen with all kinds of animals running amok with all the children that wanted in. Amelia initially liked it, but many of the animals were bigger than her and that intimidated her after awhile. Here she is with the goat.

And the black "baa-baa".

And the potbelly pigs.

While Alan has been working a lot on the bathroom, Amelia has wanted to help out. Her main job is to pull all the plastic gloves out of the box.

She also helps Mom in the kitchen with the mopping.

It has cooled down to a pleasant temperature to be outside. We enjoyed our Arizona living with a little Sunday hike.

Amelia claimed this mountain as her own!

The joys of self-feeding. She was preparing herself for the Thanksgiving feast!

She continues to love shoes, her own and other peoples. Here she is modeling Dad's shoes.

We loved having family in for Thanksgiving and hope they felt at home. Now that the bathroom is truly complete we hope they will come on back...as well as any of the rest of you who want to escape for a time to sunny AZ.

October 2011

The month of October was busy! Alan continued to work on the guest bathroom renovations. We flew to Utah for General Conference. Lindsay settled into her new calling in the Primary. Amelia continued to get bigger and smarter. She is a true joy!

Amelia modeling a pumpkin mask of Grandma Hill's.

Halloween weekend was packed with parties. But for the actual night of Halloween, Alan sat in the driveway with his new fire pit and passed out candy to the kids while I took Amelia trick-or-treating around the block. Unfortunately Alan took the pictures so you can't see him in his element.

We had multiple Halloween events requiring us to dress up. We decided to go as Peace and Quiet. Amelia is our little lamb!

We attended a Birthday Halloween party for Amelia's good friend across the street who turned 2. The grandparents came in and made amazing Mexican food for the event. Additionally they had a bouncy house and this life-size pinata of Snow White. It felt wrong to encourage the kids to beat Snow White. Alan even agreed and he is usually anti-princess.

The ward Trunk-Or-Treat. They served root beer floats, delicious. Amelia gave up here headband ears about half way into it and this was a convenient place to keep track of them.

Ah, our little sheep.She was not sure about the costume at first, but it grew on her. As we went around the block trick-or-treating and she realized she got candy, she even started baa-ing at people.

Amelia's Everyday Cuteness!

Sometime it seems so hard to get on here to post something and that I just don't have the energy/patience.  On top of that, I know that Lindsay does such a better job with the post than I do.  But I had some time and these pictures of Amelia don't require comment.  Enjoy, because we sure do. 

Growing and Learning!

Amelia is a continual surprise. She is keen on observing and learning and fortunately/unfortunately she is very good at it. Most things she comes up with, I don't ever remember teaching her. Like this for instance:

Utah Trip

We had a wonderful trip to Utah for the Hill family reunion and loved everyone we got to see while there. Here are a few pictures. We look forward to going back for a wedding in just a 2 weeks! We are sorry that we will not get to see Sarah and kids while there.

Alan and Amelia on our hike with Mike and Heidi (Alan's friend from High School)

Amelia snacking on the trail

The Vista

She would have made a great gatherer in times gone by.

Tuckered out

The reunion

Henry is so patient.

Exploring the Tepee

Our hike!

Cairns!

Awe, cousins.

The treacherous river crossing.

So treacherous.

Climb Every Mountain!

The Welsh's

Resting on the Decent

.

Loving the ride.

A flower among the flowers.

Amelia with Spencer at the grandparents.

An Exciting Day and Other Moments to Remember!

Two weekends ago, we had the opportunity to attend the groundbreaking of the Phoenix Temple which is going to be built about 1 mile from our home. It will be great to be so close to a temple. We were really privileged because Mom and Dad Dibb came down to attend with us..actually we got to attend because they came, otherwise we would have watched it in another meetinghouse as a broadcast. We also were able to go up and turn the dirt with the golden shovels. Roger put Amelia on a shovel and it was great. One day when she gets married in the Phoenix Temple, we can proudly display her turning the dirt!

A rendering of the Phoenix Temple.

Here are all of us posing, right before we ceremoniously turned the dirt.



This picture made it onto the Church News website. Her 15 minutes of fame!



Alan was in charge of Boy Scout day camp on his birthday. This is a picture of the boys and leaders after the water fight and snow cones.



Alan's cousin Sterling and his family came over for a barbecue Saturday in honor of Alan's birthday. Sterling had all the kids mesmerized here.



Sterling is storing some stuff at our house until he buys a house. This horse is one of Amelia's favorite temporary acquisitions.

Celebrating Alan's birthday and Amelia's post, non-sick birthday.

She loved the candle.

And she liked the sprinkles on top which she gingerly picked off before throwing the cupcake off the tray onto the floor.  She would never think of throwing peas on the floor. 

Amelia, feeding Alan her cupcake after we picked it up off the floor.

And now for a few of my favorite pictures of her in the last week: