Family pictures 2008

We got our family pictures taken in early November at Kathryn Albertson Park by J.A. Blake Photography. Marissa always gets so serious whenever she sees a camera so I am glad we got at least one with a smile! Here are my favorites:

Halloween 2008

Every year, Ash and Xander make a scary guy to sit on our porch

Ward Trunk or Treat: We all brought different kinds of chili for dinner, then the kids played lots of fun games like musical chairs (see below), cupcake walk (Xander and I made some cupcakes), fishing game, and a costume parade before we all went outside to the trunk or treat.
MOMS Club party: We had snacks, did crafts, colored, played games and had a costume parade where all the kids went up on the mini stage and said into the microphone what they were. Surprisingly, Xander was all quiet and you could barely hear him say that he was an army guy.

Our cute little ladybugXander's school party: The kindergarteners got to wear their costumes to school. They started the day with a parade around the school, watched a fun movie with the other class, had treats and a class party where they made classmates into a mummy with toilet paper, listened to a Halloween story, and painted a candy corn cup (look at how hard Xander is concentrating!)Halloween night: It was sooo warm we didn't even have to wear a jacket! (I remember the year before we were all bundled up and still I was freezing!) Xander decided that he didn't want to be an army guy again so he wore the Power Ranger costume I bought last year at an after Halloween sale). We wanted to all go together, so we filled up a bowl of candy and left it on our "scary guy" with a sign that said "Please take one!" Marissa with her "stash"

Marissa is 8 months old!

This month Marissa can finally roll over both ways! And she is crawling...but just backward! Her personality is developing more now and she is VERY sensitive! If we yell at Xander or something else that startles her, she will get upset. Sometimes she will even start crying for a second if she hears another baby cry! But she is seriously the best baby in the world. She is such a happy baby and so good! She will play on her own, go to sleep by herself, and rarely cries!(now if we could get Xander to do the same thing!)

Here is a picture showing her teeth she got last month
One day Ash put her down and walked into the kitchen to do something and when he came back he heard her crying but couldn't find her. Since she only crawls backward, she had gone behind the couch and was upset that she couldn't get out! It was so funny!

San Antonio, TX

In October, Ash and I went to San Antonio for the American Dental Association convention while my mom stayed home with the kids. It was a good break and the first vacation Ash and I have taken alone without kids in a loooong time! We were able to do a ton of fun things while we were there. First, we took a ghost tour downtown. Here is our tour guide under an old tree where they did a lot of hangings, so supposedly we may be able to detect ghosts with our ghost hunting equipment (laser gun that detects changes in temperature...if you saw a more than 6 degree drop in temperature while focusing it on one spot it was likely a ghost/spirit was present)

Becky hunting for ghosts with one of the laser temperature guns
Ash using a dousing rod to follow "energies" If you held it and weren't thinking of anything specifically, it would swing around in circles, but once you thought of a person or thing to point at, it would automatically point to it. It was a lot of fun to play with so we bought one and brought it home and Xander was even able to make it work!

During one of Ash's lunch breaks, we went on a tour of the Alamo. It was actually really small! I thought it would be bigger.
We went on a riverboat tour. It was really cool. The river was lined with restaurants, hotels and stores. We ate at a couple of places down there.
On the riverwalk
Eating at Hard Rock Cafe
On our last night there we went to Ripley's Haunted Adventure, Guinness World Records Museum (see pictures below), on the Tomb Raider 3-D adventure ride, and made a wax model of our hands held together.

Becky in front of the record for the loudest burp....hmmm, maybe one to beat!

Ash modeling how he would look as the world's fattest man! He better not beat this one!

Zoo Boise's new African exhibit

Boise's Zoo just opened a new African section with lions and giraffes. We are happy to see our small zoo expanding!

goofing off with some animal masks...

Xander, Ash and Marissa on our favorite giraffe slide!

Boise State games

Ash got season tickets to Boise State football games this year and we were able to go to several of the games. Xander went to two of the games before I was able to go and he gave me instructions on what to do when it was my turn to go. He told me what color I needed to wear (each section of the stadium wears a specific color), what to say to cheer, etc. He wanted to make sure I did it just right!

Xander all decked out in his Boise State gear!

No he is NOT photoshopped in! Several people on facebook commented on this picture and said we faked it! It does kind of look like it though! But, this picture has not been altered in any way, this is really where our seats were!

Marissa is 7 months old!

Marissa got her bottom two teeth (she wouldn't open her mouth to show them) this month and started sitting up by herself. She also babbles and shrieks all the time and can even say "mama." This month she can get up on her hands and knees, but is not quite crawling yet.

Adoption Finalized!!

On September 11th, we finalized Marissa's adoption! Xander was excited because he thought we were going to the temple to get sealed that day (since we had talked a lot about it!) But he still thought it was pretty cool to go inside a courtroom and our case worker gave him a bear that he loves!

With our judge after it was finalized
Picture with our caseworker, Holly outside the courthouse.

Cake for a friend...

One of my friends finally reached puberty...via surgery that is! So she had a party to celebrate and I made a cake for it!

Me with my friends Jenny and Leslie, showing off bikini tops that Jenny can actually wear now!

Xander and Marissa sleeping

One day we found the two of them sleeping on the couch and had to take a picture! Marissa has two handfuls of Xander's hair and they are both sound asleep! So cute!

Eagle Island State Park

Over labor day weekend we went to Eagle Island State Park with a bunch of Ash's coworkers to have a BBQ and swim. It is a really nice park, with a beach area, kids playgrounds and even a waterslide! We had lots of fun and Marissa slept most of the time.

Boise Hawks Game

We made it to one baseball game this year. It is a pretty small stadium so pretty much anywhere you sit is a good seat. Unfortunately Ash was on call and of course, someone called right in the middle of the game! But after finding a quiet place to take the call, he found out it was for the Twin Falls area and our friend Justin was the one on call there, so all he had to do was call Justin and he could come back to the game.

Marissa all dressed up in her baseball outfit!

Xander running the bases after the game (he ran around them twice!)
All tired out and ready for fireworks after running the bases!

Hopefully we will make it to more games next year. They have a really good kids club with lots of cool things for the kids that Xander would probably really like.