Colorado

Rachelle is home!  Luke took the Provo way to Brazil, and we miss him already. We had an awesome trip to Colorado a few weeks ago.   All of my siblings except Mark who is still on his mission were at my parents house for the weekend.  I'm so glad we were able to be there.

We were lucky to have a great babysitter (thanks Nat!) so that we could go to the temple with all the family that had arrived so far.  Our trips have been scarce since we had Ellie so we were so grateful for the opportunity and had a wonderful time.

 Gramie was so nice and had a little birthday party for Brynlee and Aliyah.  They were spoiled rotten with some cute wood dolls and a book.  Brynlee loves them both.

Jordan was able to bless Ellie during sacrament meeting before Rachelle and Luke spoke for there pre and post mission talks.  The blessing was beautiful and the talks were awesome.  I have an awesome family and I love them all!  It was awesome to have Jordan's sisters Melissa and ShaRee there!  We miss his siblings and their families so much!  It makes me so glad for the time we spent in Utah.  It was also nice of Jordan's dad and his wife to be there for the blessing as well. 

We loved seeing Amy and Gunnar too :)

It was also great for Brynlee to get to know her Great-Grandma and Grandpa Winkel and we were glad to have Grandpa, cousin Manuel, and cousin Dan in the circle with Jordan, my brothers, and mine and Jordan's dads.

 Brynlee, Ellie, and I got to spend an extra week.  Jordan had to get back to work.  We enjoyed being there to finish getting Luke ready to go.  It was so sad, but we are so proud of him. 

It was so fun to get to hang out with my sisters and parents. Brynlee has added a new aunt to her favorite list.  I LOVE having Chelle home.  We are getting so excited for Mark to come home in just a few weeks.  I got to do my first solo + 2 kids plane trip.  It was interesting, especially since I got paired with the guy sitting next to me and the attendants kept treating us like a family...awkward.  The girls did really well and I have to brag that I got two checked bags, an umbrella stroller, a carseat, two carry-on bags and two little girls (not in the stroller or carseat) from baggage claim to passenger pick-up in one trip.  I'm sure I looked completely ridiculous.

Missouri continues to be an adventure!  I sometimes still wonder why this is where we ended up, but I'm confident we are where we are supposed to be.  I recently got called to Young Womens and I'm thrilled about it!  I'm still toying with the idea of picking up some part-time work.  I love just being able to focus on my girls.  The longer I go without working the scarier it is to go back. It is weird to think that we will be packing up once again in 8 months to move to St. Louis.  We have been so blessed that I have no room to complain...unfortunately I still do!  I'm so grateful for the great friends we've made here.

During our trip our camera decided to die so we only have our phones for cameras until I can come up with a good deal for a new camera.  That's my excuse for a lack of new pictures.  Brynlee has gotten dressed up for Halloween a few times.  She is Cinderella (mostly because I'm cheap...or poor is more like it ;)) so we made good use of her dress-up dress she got for her birthday.  She does make a lovely Cinderella and has gotten pretty good and the whole trick-or-treat thing.  Jordan really wanted to dress up this year and I do really think it would be fun.  We toyed around with a lot of ideas, but it was taking way to much time and our ideas were out of our budget (dang budget)....so alas we are halloween hum-bugs.  Oh well. 

Oh, and it looks like we will have new tenants for our silly house in Iowa!  The mysterious odor appears to be gone.  This deserves a smiley :)

Brynlee had been saying some pretty funny things lately.  I need to be better at writing them down.  Here's a few I remember.
 "For the record Mom, I didn't get into Gramie's makeup." 
 "When Daddy saw you he was really impressed and he made you get married in the temple." 
"Last night, when I was a mom, I went for a run and my tears went lipity, lipity" (don't ask me what this means...I just thought it was funny). 
When my mom was trying to get her to go to the bathroom before bed she was refusing.  My mom asked why she wouldn't go and she said, "It's complicated." 
She has also been singing primary songs constantly.  She is too much fun.  Ellie is continuing to grow and be so sweet.  She even slept through the night for me last night which I was clearly thrilled about.  She has such a sweet smile and giggle and I love to hear her coo.

I'm already getting so excited for the holidays!  This is the warmest fall we have ever experienced.  I really love it.  It has made for some awesome afternoon/evenings at the park.  I'm rambling now...have a happy Halloween!