CHRISTMAS PROGRAM

**Started this post a month ago, but got sidetracked...guess I better finish it**

J had his annual Christmas Program at school today. It was quite the show, you could tell the kids had worked very hard on it. :)

After the program, a very special visitor came, and all the kids got to sit on his lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas.

Here is J with one of his best friends - Porter after the program and Santa. And...of course, here is the video of the performance. J is the second kid in and sits on the far right of the front row. Sorry about the video quality, I was holding A at the same time, so it's a little shaky. Also, the memory was full right before they sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, so I taped that one with my camera, so it is next.

CHEERING ON OUR TEAMS

We have had a few BIG games to cheer on this month. First...our beloved REAL soccer team not only made it to the playoffs, but then amazingly beat 3 of the top teams in the league in 4 VERY excitin games to become the Eastern Conference and MLS Cup Champions!!!

A has joined right into all of our team obsessions, and is becoming quite the cheerleader. This is for those of you who know about J's obsession with my hair. As you can see, he likes to play with it. It always makes me laugh when it gets caught on film. One day he'll look back at that and laugh!!!

Mike was in Seattle at the game, but here is the rest of the family cheering on the team from back home!!
And then we have our Utes. We love them, and always root for them and anyone playing the Boo-YU Boo-gars. This is kind of a funny pic of both kids, but at least you can see how cute they both looked for the big game.

I took J to the final home Utah game with me. He looked so cute all bundled up in his red go Utes gear. He really has become quite the fan - he knows all the words to the fight song, and can often be heard singing it to himself - even when sitting on the potty. He even asks me to sing it to him before bed. What an awesome little guy!!!

YUCK-TOBER

We have been sick for almost the entire month of October. Except for a few days, this was the face I saw most of the time. :( There were a few good days, and on one of them we went for a hike with my friend S and her cute daughter K.

My little gentleman...we might have to move to AK in about 13 years so these two cuties can date!!!

A and I before the hike.

And some cute sibling snuggles in the front yard.

At least when you are sick you can still decorate halloween cookies. :)

J had to miss his Halloween party at school because he was sick, but seemed good to go on the actual holiday. So, we went to the RSL playoff game and here is J getting a lion sized hug from his favorite mascot, Leo!!

For the soccer game, Mike dressed J up as his favorite MLS player - Kyle Beckerman.

A was the cutest little duck I've ever seen!!!

And for trick-or-treating J was Spiderman - watch out - he's shooting his webs at you!!!

We are all still fighting off various illnesses, and are all sick of being sick. Any good health vibes that anyone has would be very welcomed to be sent our way. :)

BEEN A WHILE

My kiddos being happy together...AWWWWW!!!Riding the train to the U game with mom. VERY EXCITING!!!

At the Go Utes game with mom.

J's favorite passtime right now...legos, legos,

...and more legos.

A figured out that if she holds whichever toy she is playing with in her mouth, she can take it with her wherever she wants to go.

Little A trying and trying to learn how to crawl. She's getting close. :)

This is for my family...remember Cortney (my oldest niece who is now in college) doing something very similar to this when she was a baby??? When A started doing it, I had to capture it on video!!! Deja vu anyone?

WINDING DOWN SUMMER

For labor day weekend, we headed to CA for my lifelong best friend's wedding. Congrats to Autumn and Steve!!! Of course I left my camera in the diaper bag during ALL of the wedding events, so I'll have to wait to get some pictures from Autumn to post those.

After all of the wedding festivities, we took an extra day and headed to Ocean Beach for some R&R. Here's J and I chilling on the beach. J got hold of the camera and took a few pics. The hotel we stayed in in OB was awesome, small with a courtyard swimming pool. We spent lots of time in here, and since most of the guests had checked out, we had it mostly to ourselves. J even started saying it was his "own pool."


J's first self-photo. Pretty good I must say.

Then he told all of us to say cheese, and got a pretty good pic of Mike, Me, and Bri with the hotel in the background.

A had gone to bed, but here is the rest of us relaxing.

The view from the hotel - not too shabby.

J and Mike playing in the waves.

Building a sand castle with "uncle" Bri.

A's cute sun dress and matching hat.Playin' in the sand.

A's cute swimming suit.

What a cutie!!

J loves running away from the waves. Here is a small snip of the running he did down there. No wonder he was so tired.

J has started another soccer team - the Rusty Dawgs. This is with 4 and 5 year olds, so J has had to work a little harder to score goals. It has been a bit of a challenge for him to adjust to the higher level, but he's doing well. Yay for J!! (You might want to turn down the volume if you don't want to hear my shrill cheering - Sorry!!)

Autumn is trying really hard to crawl and sit up on her own. She's almost there, but figures that army crawling across the floor is much easier and faster. I'm sure she'll be there soon, though.

SITTING UP

A has started sitting up. No, I cannot yet just leave here there to chill, but at least she can do it for short amounts of time. As you can see, she is having fun playing with toys too!!

The other day we were playing "camping" in the front yard, and J kept saying "this is our tent" pointing to the blanket on the grass...so I obliged and went and grabbed the giraffe tent. It was much more FUN!!

We did another camping trip up above Alta, and stopped at Snowbird on the way there to ride the tram up and play around a bit. Here are Mike and the kids at the base.

The whole family at the top of the tram. That's the Heber area in the background...beautiful!!!

A thought the backpack was pretty comfy, and took a little snooze on the tram ride up. (Of course her tongue is still out mid nap!!)
Me and the kiddos sitting around the campfire.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

School has begun again...YAY!!! Jameson was so excited to start in his new school (the old one closed, so we had to transfer to another campus). Luckily his 3 closest friends from his old class are in his new class!! Here is our little guy ready to go to school!!

ALL STAR FUN

In July, the MLS All-Star Game was held here at our very own Rio Tinto stadium. In true Turpin fashion, we took the whole family to the game. Here's J helping Kramer show off his scarf!! "Uncle" K played with both kids for most of the game. (I think he was trying to get as much play time in as he could before moving!!) Notice A's monk hair...it's filling in a little more now.

Some great snuggle time for A and Kramer.

A with "Aunt" Laurie.

J and Laurie.

There were thundersticks on our seats when we walked in. Little did I know it would become one of A's FAVORITE toys!!! One nice thing about soccer games is...A can be as loud as she wants, and no one cares. :O)

FUN KIDS

Here are a few fun pics from our crazy life -

A and J riding the carousel at the zoo. Another future chef getting comfortable with cooking utensils.
Playing with her new toy from Great Grandma H.

A has discovered that she can suck on her toes. Yummy!!!

J got a new scooter and has been spending lots of time figuring out how to ride it. :) I'm sure he'll be ripping it up soon.