Kendra is the cutest child--she goes from observant, wide-eyed, complacency to...
the biggest ear-to-ear grin you've ever seen! I think she smiles much more readily than either of the other girls did. She is a happy baby and smiles all day long with little provocation.
Example #2: From this, to...
this! I rest my case.
We are all enjoying having church at 11:30 now. The girls have time to pick out their own dresses, come up with their own hairdstyles, and take pictures before church.
This was the "Ode to Valentine's Day" week.
In order to get them to take pictures now, I have to trade them one silly pic for one good pic!
How cute are these dolls?! Aunti Keltie got the girls dolls for their birthdays last year and new clothes for the dolls for Christmas. They are so cute and the clothes are to die for! Here they are playing "bus ride" with the dolls.
Walking from the bus to school...
back on the bus to go home... The girls come up with all kinds of places to go with their dolls.
Such a stinkin' cute outfit!
If you've never made German Pancakes, you're missing out! Totally quick, totally easy, totally yummy! It looks crazy and never turns out the same, it's always cratered differently, but you serve it up with some syrup and it's de-lish!
Mikayla likes having her bed made nicely and doesn't want to spend time each day re-making it. So, she's asked to sleep on top each night with a blanket, but I got tired of that after a few days and said 'no more blanket.' So, with that rather stubborn streak of hers, she decided to still sleep on top of the bed, but to use the pillow sham to keep her legs warm.
It was so funny to walk in and see her like this!
Trent's parents came down for a week and it was so good to see them and for the girls to spend time with them. They got to meet Kendra, we went to Churck E. Cheese, played at the park, fed the ducks, went to dinner, and played tons of games at home.
We all love those baby K smiles
AND..... this is the house crew out at Leatherby's, which means.... IT's ALL DONE!!! That's right, the final inspection's over, everything's painted and carpeted and being lived in and lovely, and just plain done. We love the house addition and all these great people who worked so hard on it.
Here is Little Miss Kendra on her blessing day. She looked so adorable in a new dress made by Grandma. It is such a beautiful little dress with tiny flowers on the back to cover the closures.
I can't kiss those cheeks enough!
All dolled up and ready to go!
With great-grandpa Allen and Satomi.
With Grandma and Grandpa Dudley, who were able to come down from Canada to visit.
4 generations: Great-grandma Brown, Grandma Carr, Mom, and baby Kendra
Grandpa and Grandma Carr
Uncle Josh and Aunt Chloe. We somehow didn't get a picture with Uncle Dusty and all of the other friends and family that came, but there were several more great-uncles and aunts and lots of my cousins there too.
"I'm pooped from all those pictures! Thank goodness it's over!"
Kendra's first Christmas! She got a little help opening her gift.
Mikayla got the "brown teddy bear with a pink bow tied around its neck" from Santa--the one thing she asked the big guy for.
I--er, Santa and the elves made tutus with leotards and crowns for the dancing princess ballerinas.
Chloe and I got Twilight socks from Mom! "I'm a sucker for vampires!" and "I love vampires!" Love it, right?! Holy hannah we look tired--too many late night games!
Megan had fun playing with Satomi and doing some Starfall.
Megs played with lots of toys with Magaw.
Mikayla sang all kinds of Christmas songs while Magaw accompanied her on piano.
Megs also played with Great Grandpa Allen.
Papa got all kinds of smiles from Kendra.
And don't get me wrong, I am ecstatic to use my new sewing maching I got for Christmas from my parents, but THIS sweet thing is my favorite gift of all this year.
This is a house in Chico that has about 3 million bulbs and 17 displays. IDK the real amount of everything but it is crazy! They have 3 trains on tracks that go throughout the displays and dancing Santas, and all kinds of merry madness.
When you shine a flashlight on the bear's tummy, the bear and the penguins dance and sing! 
This family had a little boy who LOVED Christmas. When he passed away, they decided to remember him by adding a new display to the yard each year. I don't have a clue how many they have now, but the pictures don't even nearly show half of what they have! We love driving around to look at the lights, but this is DEFINITELY, BY FAR the best display!
We went caroling with a group of friends for FHE, the Monday before Christmas. We visited some elderly and dropped off homemade bread and kid-drawn pictures. I was worried the girls would get bored quickly or scared of the older people that they didn't know. To my delight, the opposite was true. The girls LOVED singing Jingle Bells and Rudolph and showing off their smiles. At one house, an older gentleman was crying tears of joy at hearing their sweet voices. It hit Mikayla hard and she said, "I think we are doing something nice, because that man was crying happy tears and we made him really happy." It was such a great teaching moment/night for us on service and doing something nice for others. We are grateful to have started a new family Christmas tradition!
Afterwards, we gathered back at our friend's house for hot chocolate, treats, and lots of silly kids running around and being stinkin' cute.
And a night with the boys is never complete without a dog pile for Mikayla to join in on! Too much fun!
We went out to dinner with my parents, Dusty, Josh, and Chloe to celebrate Josh graduating from college. He got a bachelor's in Geography and will be working soon for the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.
Trent also graduated from Sac State the same day with a bachelor's in Kinesiology. He will be starting a 12 month accelerated second bachelor's degree and this time next year will have a real job! He didn't want too much fuss over the bachelor's degree since it's really just a means to an end, but I'm proud of him anyway!
Kendra started smiling a few weeks ago.
Then she did a little more....
and now does huge smiling laughs! So funny!
