Birthdays and More

Rory and I have both had birthdays this month. Rory made himself another Baked Alaska. This one consisted of a lime ice cream and a pineapple/coconut ice cream on a white cake base. It was delicious. Rory bought himself a blowtorch and had fun browning the meringue.

June had her first donut and was in baby heaven.

We've been getting snow occasionally and the girls learned how to make snowmen. Littly teeny ones. 

I made myself a chocolate Swiss Roll with dark chocolate ganache for my birthday cake. We were all sad when it was gone.

We took the girls ice skating. Look at that happy face!

Even June got a turn. Rory says she was quietly laughing to herself the whole time.

What a nice Dad. He helped Lily the whole time even though it hurt his back.

June and I froze our toes off but enjoyed watching everyone.

Sister snuggle time.

Between the snow storms we've had some decent days and spent them at the park. June loved swinging and wearing her sister's hat.

The older girls played horses.

We went on a few bike rides too. It was exhausting for June.

Merry Christmas

We had a very quiet Christmas. 

Here are the girls eagerly awaiting the signal that they can start opening presents. 

June cared more about the wrapping paper than the presents.

They both got scooters this year and had to try them out immediately.

June got a phone. Har har. No phones in this family until you're sixteen.

I got the back end of a dinosaur! (I got the front end too. They're book ends.)

I think everyone was well pleased with what was under the tree.

After presents we had a yummy breakfast of cinnamon rolls. June devoured hers. She is our bread baby.

Then the girls had to go out and scoot for a while.

I took a nap while June surfed the web.

In the afternoon we went out to Konza. There were quite a few people out there. I was surprised.

We forded a small stream. Madelyn chose the widest spot to jump.

And in true Lily fashion, Lily found the narrowest spot to jump. Rory wanted her to jump from where he's standing but she found a rock to make her crossing even easier. Hop! (Of the two girls, Lily was the one that ended the hike with dry feet.)

We finished the hike as the sun was setting. The prairie was gorgeously golden.

And here's a picture of us meeting Santa at the ward Christmas party.

Lately

We spent an afternoon raking our front yard. It's quite the undertaking because we have two massive oak trees. June was moral support.

She also ate her first Oreo. She snuck it out of Madelyn's lunch box when I wasn't looking. Sneaky little thing. I think it was the best day of her life so far.

The girls and I ran a 5K on Thanksgiving. They were pretty proud of themselves. And I was proud of them too.

Rory was a race bandit. He walked/shuffled with Lily but wasn't actually registered. Luckily no one seemed to care.

Lily the trooper. She ran pretty much the whole thing.

Madelyn and I finished in about 48 minutes. Lily and Rory/June came in at 52. We were not the last people to finish! That's always my goal.

June loves to practice standing.

We participated in our third year of Manhattan's Red Cedar harvest. This year was very wet. It rained on us the whole time. But we still got a great tree for free.

And donuts!

June didn't care about the rain because she had her spiffy shade cover up.

Rory about to fell the tree.

Madelyn had her 1st grade music performance. She got to play the boomwhackers. They're plastic tubes that you hit on the ground to make noise. All her favorite people were there.