2011 Family Pictures

 One of Ashton's classmates took some family pictures for us yesterday.  We had a fun time, and I think they turned out great! Here are a few of our favorites:

Thanks Ashlee!

Picture Perfect

I had a friend in our ward take Juliette's pictures.  She did a phenomenal job.





To see more go here:   http://sweetenphoto.blogspot.com/2011/10/8th-week.html

2 months old

Time needs to slow down just a little bit.  Juliette is already 2 months old!  She is as old as Dex was when we moved to Iowa!  It is hard to believe it some days.

She may be as old as Dex was when we moved here, but she is as big as he was at 4 months!  Jules had her 2 month check up and came in at a whopping 12 pounds 2 ounces (81%) and 23 1/2 inches long (87%).  Who would have thought that one of my babies would be in the 80% of anything!?!

She is a social bug, loves to look at faces, loves her brother, likes to look at what is behind her so much so, that during tummy time, she can roll herself over because she cranks that head back so far.  She can roll up onto her side as well--eeek!  We just can't get enough of our little chubbster!

Corn Maze

We took advantage of the beautiful weather we have been having and thanks to a Groupon, we went to a corn maze and pumpkin patch.  This year we tried out Camp Fontanelle.  It was pretty fun.  All the proceeds at the pumpkin patch go towards all the camps that held there during the summer.  Dexter did a good job navigating us through the corn maze.  It wasn't until Ashton and I took over that we got lost.  He also enjoyed picking the corn kernels off of the dried corn husks, and had fun running around.  They have a jumping pillow that we tried, but Dex was a little too nervous to actually do it.  They also have a petting zoo, pony rides, jumping castle, but our pass didn't get us into those.  They also do a lazer tag corn maze.  It would have been fun, but kinda hard to do with the kiddos.  We had a fun time.  It was a beautiful drive too.

 Juliette wasn't so sure about the bumpy ride she had during the corn maze, but she didn't complain to much.

 I love him!

 The path on the cub scout themed corn maze.

 Once he got tired of walking, Dex sat in the stroller eating grapes and holding his dried ear of corn like this for the rest of the maze.

View from the top of a bridge in the maze.

 They also had the world's largest camp chair.  

 This is part of the pumpkin patch.  Dexter wasn't that interested in walking through the patch and finding a pumpkin. He just wanted to play with these and run around.

Juliette's Blessing Day

Last Sunday was Juliette's Blessing Day.  She looked absolutely gorgeous in her dress.  She was accessorized by the sweetest little bracelet that DeeAnn made, and yellow flower made by her Aunt McKenzie.  The blessing was beautiful.  Ashton did a wonderful job.  We were joined by Ashton's parents and 2 youngest brothers, our friends Kevin and Karen and their boys, and Ashlee (and let's not forget our ward family as well).  

It was a beautiful day.

Here are a couple pictures taken by Dex (Ash may have helped a little)  :

Quiet Time

Dexter goes down for quiet time instead of nap time.  The same things still happen, he gets in bed, reads some stories to himself, and listens to his classical music cd (his choice of music actually), and eventually falls asleep.  We just had to change the name so he would go.

A while ago, we found him asleep like this:

He must have been exhausted if he didn't finish reading his "Cookie Mouse" book.  

Juliette

Juliette has such a strong neck.  I finally got it on video. It's just a little harder to do with Dex around...

Gotta love him (and her!)

Butterfly Tagging

Last weekend we went to Hitchcock Nature Center to participate in their butterfly tagging event.  It was pretty fun.  We were tagging monarch butterflies for research.  The apparently migrate to Mexico for the winter and this helps them know where the butterflies came from.  

Tagging involves catching the butterfly, determining it's sex, and putting on a little tag (a round sticker with numbers and stuff on it) on the outside of it's wing, record the info, and then let go.  We caught one butterfly in a last ditch effort on our way to the lodge. Dexter loved it!

When we let go of the butterfly, we had to say Adios! to send it on its way

Dexter's Photography

Dexter has become quite the photographer.  Enjoy his first portfolio:

What a Beauty

All dressed up and ready for church.