Trunk-or-Treat #1

 Our ward's trunk-or-treat was tonight.  We had a potluck dinner, a parade of the kids in their costumes on the stage, and trick-or-treating outside.  The girls had lots of fun- especially since their cousins, Isaiah and Gabe, came too!

And I have to say that these girls had the absolute best costumes of all- so thank you to Lindsay for letting me borrow these great costumes!  Lindsay made the Dorothy dress and my mom made the Minnie dress.  I don't sew, so I love that I have people to do it for me!!!  (And I know that they love it too!)

 This was when Ashlyn saw Cesar, Isaiah, and Gabe walk in the door- 

she was so happy!

Rylee and Isaiah

 Rylee's turn on the stage- not a very good picture though!

 This is the best I could get of Ashlyn- 

that's Gabe on stage with her and Isaiah in front.

Watching the rest of the kids in their costumes

Trunk-or-treat #2 will be Monday at my parents' church.  

So the girls are already looking forward to that!

Ready for Halloween

 It seems like we have been getting ready for Halloween for a long time.  We've pretty much been ready since Rylee's birthday almost a month ago!  The girls have loved everything Halloween- pumpkins, candy, movies, and decorations.  They colored pumpkins that Oma grew in her garden.  We were going to paint or carve them, but they couldn't wait so they just used markers!  It was probably easier that way for them and me.  The top is Rylee's pumpkin of course.  She is so much better at posing for pictures than Ashlyn!  Rylee also made a spider hat in preschool.  Ashlyn's is the bottom. 

 This is not related to Halloween, but I thought it was cute so I threw it in!  These girls sure have fun together- I love it!  (But they also fight like sisters- as Matt would say!)

 Rylee with her pumpkins- the one she colored and the little one she decorated in preschool.  (Except the decorations fell off by the time we got home!)  She also loved the foam stickers that Grandma let her use at her house.  She thought that was the greatest thing ever- a box of those stickers could keep her busy for hours!

 Ashlyn with her pumpkin and Rylee's preschool pumpkin.  She made the picture on the bottom.  She liked the stickers too, but I don't think as much as Rylee!

 Then they decorated the window with gel cling things.  They saw these where I got my hair cut and they had to have them when we saw them in the store. 

Grandpa's Birthday Celebration

 My dad had already left for Erin's wedding on his birthday so we didn't get to see him.  And he didn't get to have a cake while they were gone, so my mom made one when we got back.  So this is over a week ago, but I thought the pictures were cute.  Ashlyn's shirt says, "Grandpa's Girl," and she sure is!  It was Rylee's shirt and she is too!  They sure love their Grandpa!!!

Lions, Tigers, and Dolphins- Oh My!

 At about 4:45 while Ashlyn was taking her nap, Rylee and I decided to go down to the hotel computer and check out when the dolphin thing was at the Mirage- I didn't really know what it was, but I knew Rylee would love to see the dolphins and the white tigers.  It said that it closed at 6:30 and the last admission was at 5:30.  So we ran up to our room and woke up Ashlyn and grabbed our stuff so we could make it in time. We knew from the day before that it took a long time to get to the Mirage from our hotel with all the traffic, park, and walk through the casino.  (Erin was staying there and I did her hair for the wedding.)  We took both strollers with us this time(SO glad we had both!) and ran through the parking garage and walked as fast as we could through the casino.  We got there at about 5:20 or close to that so we made it!

And it was worth it- we saw the dolphins first- there were a lot of them and even a couple of babies.  I think we all could have just watched them forever!  Then we saw the white tigers and lions.  We also saw a leopard and a panther.  It was like a zoo and it was so cool!  They were pretty playful and we got to see them move around a little bit.  It was a little crazy with my camera though- it was right between light and dark so it didn't know whether to use the flash or not.  So the pictures don't do the animals justice, but just take my word.  If you ever go there, this is one place to go!

 These things are huge!

And absolutely beautiful!

 Feeding time

 And they did a few tricks.  There is also a place that you can watch them under the water.  We didn't really see them jump out the the water- only when we were underneath which didn't do us much good!  But they were just so fun to watch!

 Ashlyn didn't want to get out of her stroller much- I don't know if she was scared or what.

 Oh yeah, there were also Rylee monkeys there!

 The lion was calling his friend over to play.

 When Ashlyn wasn't in the stroller, she wanted to push it!

After the tigers and dolphins, we went out to watch the volcano.  Both girls were scared of it!

After that we ate at In-n-Out and went back to the hotel.  We got up (early morning Sunday is a busy time for the Las Vegas Airport!), ate breakfast at the hotel, and drove all the way home.  It took about 10 hours total- so it was a long drive!  But it was so fun- we all had a great time!  The wedding, family, and Las Vegas- what a great weekend!