Elves!

Check out the girls! Thanks Kyle for "reminding" me to it this year.http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/WlCnlwl5dvDzWy8gh57o

Morning Fun

Is it just me or is blogspot posting the pictures backwards? Ok, so here is our backwards morning. Kayla got a new cookbook the other day and found a recipe she wanted to try. We were supposed to make a bunch of individual trees, but since a 3 1/2 year old and an 18 month old can't quite make the triangles well, and I didn't want to make them all myself, we made one big tree. They had a great time decorating it. Macy probably ate more candy than she put on the tree.
Macy decided to have a seat in the baby stroller. Kayla MIGHT have tried this when she was younger, but after telling her once that she was too big and that is was for baby dolls she quit. Macy on the other hand is quite comfortable and sees no problem with it. At one point I Kayla called out and said "Mommy, I'm pushing Macy" and then here they came around the corner.

Christmas Sneak Peek

Here are a few of our Christmas pictures.

Thanksgiving

We had both of our families over to our house for Thanksgiving and were thankful to have some out-of-towners too. Everyone brought something and we had a ton of food, but isn't that a perk of Thanksgiving?

Somehow Macy picked up saying "cheese" for taking a picture. We don't really use that, so we aren't sure where she got it from, but it was too funny.
Helping momma make desserts.

Las Vegas

Marc and I went to Vegas for a few days to celebrate his 30th birthday. It was very much what I expected and very much what I didn't expect. The city definitely has it's reputation, but we enjoyed the nicer side of things. We spent a lot of time walking in the hotels/casinos (and didn't gamble a dime). Below is the Bellagio and fountains. We were amazed at how high the water shot up.

This is a view of the strip.
We passed over the Grand Canyon on our flight out there. We were on the right side of the plane to see it and it was amazing from the sky. I can only imagine how huge it looks from land. God has given us some wonderful, amazing things in this world.

These next 2 pictures are from our favorite hotel, the Wynn. It's one of the newest hotels and it cost the most to build (2.7 billion - I can't even get a grasp on that amount of money). Most of the hotels were themes, but this one was just elegant.

We drove out to Red Rock Canyon.

We spent some time at Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. The story behind the creation of this dam is incredible. The size of it is just incredible. Lake Mead is a gorgeous blue color. We only saw a small section of the lake and it was huge!

Quick Update

Well since the last post we've gone to a fall festival, celebrated Marc's big 3-0 birthday, Macy cut 2 more teeth, and who knows what else. This month is flying by. Every year I say I really want to take time to enjoy the holiday season, but every year I look back and say "where did the holidays go?". (I've forgotten all of my grammar on how to punctuate that last sentence.) Maybe this year will be different. The girls made turkey head pieces at Grammie's house last week. They are still wearing them around and lovin' it. I'll try to be better about posting. There is sure to be lots of exciting things happening at the Dutton house.

Marshmallows

For my classes that I teach, we do a service project each semester. Since our church was doing LoveLOUD, reaching out to people in our community - basically an at home mission trip, my classes created gift bags to take to pass out after a Kids Camp that we did at a local mobile home park. One thing we did in class was to mix up a trail mix to put in the bags. We ended up having so much leftover that I took it home to take with us to the cookout we were having after the Kids Camp. We made the mix on Tuesday, so by Friday the marshmallows were quite hard. Marc and I decided to get the marshmallows out, so for about half an hour we picked through about 3 gallons of trail mix. We tied the marshmallows up in a grocery bag, but for some reason didn't put it in the trash can. The next day (while I'm gone I might add), Marc walks into the playroom to find this. Macy had found the bag (she's a marshmallowaholic). Once Kayla saw the mess she went and grabbed a bowl and told Marc that she was going to get a snack of marshmallows. I still laugh when I see these pictures.

Weather

October 16th around 5pm

October 27 around 5pm
Enough said.

Pumpkin Patch

We had a wonderful day at the pumpkin patch. The weather was gorgeous and the girls had a great time. We took a picnic lunch and then walked around the most gigantic pumpkins I have ever seen. Nini and Grammie were able to join us on our adventure too. The girls loved the hay ride as well.

Weekend Getaway

We headed to Nashville for the weekend to use a couple of free hotel nights we had. We stayed at a wonderful hotel and spent the weekend relaxing and having fun. Friday night we took a picnic dinner to a local park. Kayla found this log cabin to play in and she really enjoyed sweeping and ringing the bell. We then took a short hike through the woods. Macy was fascinated with the trees all around.

Saturday we went to Opryland Hotel and walked around for a while. For those of you who have never been, it is a huge indoor garden with waterfalls and a river full of fish. It is absolutely gorgeous and it was so nice to stroll around.

After the Opryland Hotel we went over to OpryMills. It's a huge shopping mall/outlet. We ate lunch at the Aquarium which is a restaurant that is basically an aquarium that you eat in. We didn't get too many good pictures because Macy was pretty tired and cranky. After lunch we bought tickets to Stingray Reef. They have a carousel that you can ride as many times as you want. Score for Kayla!

After dinner at the Rainforest Cafe (again Macy was tired and cranky and a little frightened of the place) Marc and Kayla fed the stingrays. That was an adventure! I think the shrimp kept getting dropped in instead of hand-feeding the sting rays. Kayla got pretty brave and started touching them.
It was a great time to get away and enjoy our girls without errands or chores to do. I think we will all sleep well tonight in our own beds - instead of all 4 of us in a king-size bed. That's a whole 'nother story!

Festival

Today we went to local arts and crafts festival. It was beautiful weather and we enjoyed a change in activities. Kayla had a great time in the petting farm and even held a baby duck.

The girls painted pumpkins, and as I write this I realize that we left them at the festival. Macy's first little art project and we leave it there. :( Marc left them on the table to dry and we forgot to pick them up on the way out. I'm sure neither of the girls will remember (at least until Kayla sees this picture), but it's a tough loss for this sentimental mama. :)

Precious Girls

Macy watching the bubbles.

I wonder how much longer Macy will let her sister feed her dinner?
Our beautiful Kayla.

We've Almost Done It

The paci - it's gone. Well, sort of. Macy hasn't used it to fall asleep since Thursday night. All last week I'd take it out of her bed after she went to sleep at night and she managed to not need it in the middle of the night. On Friday she only had 1 nap and we knew she was really tired, so we thought we'd try to see if she could fall asleep without it. She did. Since she had only 1 nap she was really tired for bed that night, so we did the same. Since then she has only had 1 nap a day which means she is falling asleep really tired. She does fuss a little, but not too long. (She rarely cries when we put her in bed.) Well today she will have 2 naps and it took quite a while for her to get to sleep - a lot of crying, but she did it and I didn't give in. We still have it on hand for emergencies (car rides and church) but we're getting there. I was fearing the worst, especially since Kayla gave it up cold-turkey at 7 months old on her own. Hopefully by the end of the week I can throw them out!

Playtime

A few playtime pictures...

Little Tennessee Fans

Well, I doubt either of them will be interested in watching a football game, but at least they will look cute! These are the cutest tutus. A high-school friend of mine has her own business making these. Be sure to check it out: www.missprisstutus.com.