Super Massive Recap Post

Wow.  So I'm almost a year behind on my blogging.  Bummer.

But  I  will. not. give. up.

Here's a massive recap starting with our Hawaii trip last July.

MUCH more on that one of these days.

Caroline becomes addicted to the binkie.

Good thing Dad's an Orthodontist.

Caroline learns how to draw on herself.

Jake starts taking guitar lessons.

And gets braces.

We got a bluish-purplish Mini Cooper for Marlee to drive.

Which comes in really handy during volleyball season.

She & Katie heading to the first game.

We call this her "velociraptor" stance.

Kill !!!

Caroline learns how to climb.

I SO dig those knee-socks.

And the diaper bum.

Lots of haircuts.

Lots of Suns games.

Lots of scout stuff.

Lots of Angry Birds.

Lots.

And lots of yard work.

In September we went to Seattle & Vancouver with the Garns.

More on that later.

Jake turned 14.

I put together a basket of some of his favorite things and now all the boys want me to do that for their birthdays too.

Gus does things like this on a regular basis.

Caroline could play in the tub for hours.

More volleyball.

Early in October, Brian & I escaped to Utah for a weekend.

Where it snowed.

Then spent October break at Lake Powell with friends.

Then we were carving pumpkins...

....and going to the school parade....

....and dressing up like Madonna and Billy Idol.

Brian was in charge of our ward Daddy-Daughter party & decided to do a Minute-to-Win-It competition.

The How-many-tortillas-can-you-throw-onto-your-partner's-plate-on-their-head-in-a-minute game.

The shake-all-the-ping-pong-balls-out-of-the-kleenex-box-in-a-minute game.

Among others.

And for the winners' trophies....

....spray-painted dollar store Barbies.

In ELP, Max was in a Lego Mindstorms robot building competition.

His ELP teacher was so into it.  He was great.

And speaking of being into it......

....Mrs. Reiter, the orchestra teacher.

The woman has some serious energy. I'm usually watching her during these concerts, she's so entertaining.  I think she's hearing the Boston Pops or something when these guys play.

I'm so glad Max wants to continue with the cello.

So then we were making our Thankful Tree....

....and learning about pilgrims....

...and then playing hard all Thanksgiving weekend with the Proctors.

Caroline's showing some promise as a pianist.  :)

One Sunday morning, we woke up to some pretty serious fog.

This was quite exciting to us Arizonans.

I have about 3 million pictures similar to this on my phone at any given time.  And video.

Brian, Mars & Jake hit a few Young the Giant concerts.

This is Caroline's morning happy place.

Watching Bubble Guppies.

Then, before we knew it, we were building gingerbread houses...

....and sending out Christmas cards....

front

back

...with another Christmas upon us.

Busy, magical, wonderful.

And more on that later.

Then we wrapped up 2011 by celebrating our 21st anniversary at St. Francis.  Yum.

See Part 2 on the next page....