Brooks family pics.

We got family pictures taken out at Lake Lowell this November.  They turned out great, and we got a perfect shot for our Christmas card!  Goofy Clara!

Thanks Janet for arranging this!  We treasure family pictures!

Happy Halloween!

For Halloween, we decided to trick or treat in our new neighborhood.  Since we got back from the Garth Brooks concert ON HALLOWEEN, we had to move quickly to get the kids dressed and ready to go!  They dressed as woodland creatures: Ben was a skunk, Will a hedgehog, and Clara was a fox! They looked adorable!  Teenie and I dressed as trees to extend the woodland theme!
Our neighborhood was fabulous for trick or treating!  About half the houses had their lights off, but the people who were home decorated and LOVED having little ones come to their door.  Clara came home with 5 full-sized candy bars (every kid's dream) and over 100 pieces of candy.  And we weren't out for very long at all.  The sweet neighbors threw handfuls of candy in their bags, and the kids had a blast!

a new cousin.

Brad and Angie welcomed a new baby to their family on August 21, 2015.  Clara is so happy to have another cousin!  We got these cute pics of the cousins when Ava was about a week old!

Garth Brooks concert 2.0.

My sisters and I traveled to Salt Lake City the weekend of Halloween to see Garth for the 2nd time this year.  It was a fabulous trip, and thankfully, Oma watched the kids while we were away!  Thanks Oma!  Where will we see him next?  Our next concert will be the Dixie Chicks outside of Vancouver, WA this summer!  Can't wait!

Clara's first piano recital.

Clara performed in her first piano recital this fall.  It was the Halloween recital, and she played a spooky piece called Spooky Secret.  She was so brave!  When it was her turn, she got right up there and went for it.  It helped that we got there early enough for her to practice on the big piano.  The little fox just rocked it, and had quite the cheering section there on her behalf!

Her proud run back to her seat after the performance!

Preschool field trip to Linder Farms.

Back in mid-October, I had the chance to go to a local pumpkin patch with the preschoolers!  It is so fun for me to watch Clara and her classmates, especially since I don't get to be there often!  We had such fun seeing animals, playing with friends, and picking a pumpkin to bring home.

Camping over Labor Day.

We spent Labor Day camping with the Waldon side of the family at Cascade Lake in a campground called Huckleberry Campground.  It was super rainy for the first 24 hours, so we were a little cooped up!  However, by the end of the weekend, it was beautiful and cool, just as fall camping should be!

The adults even had their own bartender for the weekend!

After this trip, we only needed to repair two beds in our camp trailer!  Not bad for having ALL of us stuffed inside it for a good portion of the weekend!