Miss Charlie & Miss Marley

While we were in Phoenix, Chantae was kind enough to humor me (thank you Chantae) & go take pictures of Charlie & Marley in their cute pettiskirts at the Mesa Temple (I know I have sooo many pictures of Marley in this pettiskirt but I just loooove it so very much & one day she won't be able to wear it anymore!) And, of course, I have the hardest time picking out pictures, so I posted quite a few of them. I must admit that I can't take all the credit for these photos as I managed to get Chantae to let me have some of the really cute ones she took! The weather was so perfectly wonderful & the girls looked like little gems! In fact, we had a few people mistake them for twins! Mostly likely because they were wearing the same outfit, but still what compliment for Marley! Charlie must have left a wonderful impression of Marley because she still talks about Charlie, even though it's almost been a month since she's seen Charlie!

Per usual, it was very hard to get Marley to cooperate. She rarely looked at the camera, & if she did, it wasn't with a smile! I'm hoping that if I take enough pictures, that one day she'll learn to smile (or maybe because I'm taking so many pictures she'll resent me & never want to smile!)

Love this profile of Charlie. She's so beautiful!

One thing the girls did really well was lean in to give each other "hugs & kisses" which turned out so cute! It looks like they are sharing sweet little girl secrets!

I really like this one Chantae took.

I love the top middle on of Charlie...she has the most perfectly precious smile! SO CUTE! Chantae managed to get pictures of Charlie in a tree, but Marley wouldn't even think about sitting up there! She freaked out about it!

I love the one Chantae took of Marley sitting down & the one with the railing & Charlie at the top of the stairs.

These, again, are a Chantae special. Just love these!

I like the one of Marley sitting on the ground looking up & the one where she's holding the lamp post...I just wish she would crack a bit of a smile!

I don't know why, but I love Charlie's body movement in this one. The shoes she was wearing were insanely adorable!

As a way to "bribe" the girls to cooperate, I gave them Lifesaver mints. I tried to get them to look at me by asking me where there mints were. This technique got them to look at me, but with their mouths wide open. I wish I would've gotten a picture of both of them with their mouths open in the same picture!

I tried to get some action shots of Marley doing her twirl that she calls a "circle" but they didn't turn out as well as I would've liked (but when do they ever?)

The only time during this whole photo shoot I got Marley to smile was to let her play in the water.

It stinks because the one's where she is actually smiling, the light wasn't very accommodating & so my pictures didn't look as good as they could have.

I love the one that shows the back of Charlie & Marley's skirts! They just look so cute!

I ended up taking Marley's pettiskirt off because it was getting soaked from the water. Charlie's pettiskirt was too far behind in coming off!

Chantae tried to get them to pose together, but by this time, no amount of bribery or mints was working & they both started to turn for the worse! But I thought it was fun & I will forever be attempting to find that smile of Marley's!

Halloween in Phoenix

Over Halloween we went to Phoenix to visit some friends. Can I just say going back there made us homesick? I have always felt that Phoenix is my home & going to visit is bitter-sweet! We had a fantastic time & have to give much thanks to Karl & Chantae for putting up with us & our sometimes inappropriate behavior for the few days we were there!

Nothing says friends like bath time! Will Charlie & Marley despise us when they are older & we have bootie pictures of them together in the bathtub? But me oh my, they were cute in the tub!

So we carved some pumpkins just before Halloween. Karl had an Elders Quorum emergency but did not allow it to cut (no pun intended ha ha) in to his pumpkin carving time. Looks like Kevin & I take our pumpkin carving pretty darn seriously! Look at that concentration...that steady hand movement...

Attempts to take pictures of the pumpkins in the dark...I said attempts!

Miss Charlie & Miss Marley LOVED to sit in this chair together. As you look through these pictures, you will notice Marley RARELY smiles for the camera, and of course, Charlie always does because she's a complete gem!

Awwhhh!! We miss Phoenix so VERY, VERY, VERY much! We drove by our old house & it induced fits of depression! Maybe we can move back someday!!!!

We had a list of several places to eat from "Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives" & only managed to hit two of them. I must say they were fantastic! Over Easy had these insanely wonderful Banana Walnut French Toast (& a super friendly owner, who chatted with us about the show). Joe's Farm Grill had the best seared Ahi tuna sandwich I have ever eaten!

Miss Marley wore her Dorothy outfit again...check out those kicks! Lovely red slippers!

Oink! Oink! Miss Charlie was the cutest pig ever! Oh my heavens was she adorable!!

The most precious family in Phoenix, Chantae, Karl, & Charlie!! We were lucky enough to go to TWO, that's right, I said, TWO, ward Halloween parties! YE-AH!

Miss Marley loved the candy...she wasn't too sure about the lady hiding behind the cauldron, but with a bit of encouragement, she took the bait & snagged some candy!

Hey if you don't have a costume, duct tape seems like a good alternative...seriously? Will this kid die because he can't sweat? How does this come off with out taking pieces of skin with it?

Two little Missy's with sacks full of candy!

Ouch! Charlie really wanted to sit in her shopping cart so we ended up putting a blanket in there to give her some padding!

Whoa! It's sugar rush time! This is right after the Halloween shindig & this is what a sugar high looks like in a couple of cute little girls! Nuts!

Oh my stars! These have to be the cutest PJs ever! When you turn off the lights, the little skeleton bones glow. An attempt to take a picture of it turned out WORSE than the pumpkins!

Here we are with our wonderful friend Eileen. We managed to meet up with her for brunch & were sad that we didn't get to spend more time with her!

We also got a chance to meet up with my good friend Suzy! She has the cutest little "grandbaby" ever! And Kevin was so totally impressed with her son, Jake! Kevin used to take him to scouts when we lived in Phoenix. Jake's huge & a fantastic football player! It's so crazy what a difference 3 years makes! But he's still a fantastic kid! It was LOVELY to see them & we definitely miss them!

So I had to get pictures of of Marley on this awesome bike. It doesn't have pedals, which helps children learn to balance on the bike, so then they can go right to riding a bike without training wheels! I had to throw in that picture of Charlie with the hat on! Just adorable!

Cooke Family Halloween

For the Cooke Family Halloween party we followed more of the Wizard of Oz theme & Kevin even matched this time! Grandma Ruth actually painted her face green & Papa Jerry perspired in the Cowardly Lion outfit. Kevin wore the most uncomfortable outfit of all! The Scarecrow outfit had all this stiff straw which greatly limited his movement! He couldn't even sit down! We had such a great time. Grandma Ruth had a few cute little games & Halloween treat bags for the kids, as well delicious soup, treats, & potables!

Ackroyd Halloween Party

I had my family over for a little Halloween get together & I asked Kevin to get some pictures & I got head shots! But we had a fabulous time & I appreciate everyone coming up to hang out!

Halloween Carnival

The youth group at church put together a Halloween Carnival, which gave us a good excuse to dress Marley up as Dorothy. Her Grandma Ruth found these adorable shoes that looked just like Ruby Slippers & matched her outfit perfectly. We tried to do the Wizard of Oz theme & I dressed up as a witch (there was no way I painting myself green...it would have been smeared everywhere by the end of the night) and Kevin, well, I guess he could have been a motorcycle version of the Cowardly Lion...

Josh & Maren's cute little boy, Mack, was Max from Where the Wild Things Are. He looked so cute & Maren did a fantastic job converting his one-piece outfit into a costume!!