Halloween

This year for Halloween, Reece was dying to dress up as Tinkerbell. I found her a Tinkerbell costume and I made her some Tinkerbell shoes. I think the shoes were her favorite part. She was so thrilled with her costume! And, in my opinion, she made the cutest Tinkerbell ever.

We went to the ward's Trunk-or-Treat, and then went trick-or-treating on Halloween night. Reece was usually brave enough to say, "trick or treat", but she said it very quietly. It was cute to see her get excited about going to each house, because she knew she was going to get candy.

I'm not going to lie, most of Reece's candy disappeared after she went to bed each night, until it slowly but surely got eaten. My excuse is that I was just trying to limit the amount of candy and sugar my child has. That works, right?

Reece Turns Two!

Reece is two! She is such a happy, sweet, and smart little girl. She loves, loves, LOVES Tinkerbell and Curious George. I think George is slowly but surely getting pushed out of the picture by Tinkerbell, though. Every morning when I was her what she'd like to watch while I work out, her response is always, "Tinkabell!"

Her birthday was on a Sunday this year, which was General Conference. We got up in the morning, watched conference, had a yummy brunch, watched the next session, and then got ready for dinner! Derek and I had picked up some pizza (one of Reece's favorite foods and one of the few foods we can count on her eating), and I had made her a cake. The presents were wrapped, some of Derek's family came over, and we were ready to have a party!

Reece got tired of opening presents after four or five, so Derek and I were doing a lot of the unwrapping. But she was completely spoiled and got lots of fun presents.

She actually blew out her candle, which I was impressed with. Reece has never been much of a cake fan, so she didn't eat much of her cake. But she ate all of her ice cream, plus some of mine. (She has me to thank for that particular food preference.)

Reece is putting together full sentences, and it's so fun to hear her speak in complete thoughts. She still has those adorable toddler grammar errors, like, "Mom, be careful fall me?" Translation: "Mom, if I'm not careful I will fall?" She double checks the rules with me all the time, whether it be no standing on chairs, no shaking the baby gates, or no running in the house. "Mom, no run Wama's house me?" Translation: "Mom, no running in Grandma's house?" It's darling. She loves her daddy to pieces, and when he's home, she is definitely a daddy's girl. But Derek has been so busy with work and now school at night-time, that we don't get to see him nearly as much as we want to.

I can't believe that two years ago I had this tiny, precious, perfect newborn. Now she seems like such a big, grown-up girl. We love you to pieces Reece!

Thetford Family Reunion 2014

I know, I'm so behind on my blogging that it seems almost useless to try and catch up. But try I will! This last summer my family's reunion was in Seaside, Oregon. We rented a house which was just a block away from the promenade, and the best part is that it fit our entire family! We all got to stay under one roof. We had breakfasts together in the morning, lunch was usually "eat it when you can", and we had dinners together. Other than that, our days were incredibly laid back and relaxing! After breakfast, we would eventually make our way down to the beach and spend the majority of the day playing in the water and the sand.

I love the beach. It has to be one of my very favorite places to be. Reece, however, was not such a fan at first. She was a little over-tired, which probably contributed to her grumpiness, but she also wasn't sure what to think of the feeling of sand all over her feet. She warmed up to it after a while and then she had a great time!

After our days on the beach we would come back to the house, have dinner, put kids to bed, and play games! That's one of my very favorite parts. My family loves games, and while we play the conversation is always flowing and laughter always seems to follow.

We spent the first three days of our family reunion in Seaside, and then we all made our way back to Graham to spend the next couple of nights at my parent's house. We had a day on the lake and a day together up on Mount Rainier.

It was so good to be all together. Our family is getting so big now that when we are all together, we naturally fall into little groups. It makes it difficult to spend time with everybody, but it's so fun that my family is growing and getting so big!