Claire's Birthday and Halloween

Claire turned 3 on October 20th. I can't believe she's already three years old. Where does the time go. We celebrated with my family on the Saturday before her birthday. She got a lot of really great presents. She was spoiled! 

On the next day, Sunday, we celebrated with Rusty's family. Our niece Alex had her birthday that day, so there was a double celebration.

Claire got this fairy barbie with matching dress from Rusty's parents. She was so excited to have her first barbie. Kristen gave her the pink light-up Minnie Mouse shoes. She said they match her barbie's shoes.

On her actual birthday I tried to get a picture of her, but Claire was being very goofy. She was playing with her birthday balloon. She got a very cute outfit that she wore from my parents.

She kept putting her foot forward for the picture and thought it was such a funny pose.

We went to the park that day since it was pretty nice weather.

Claire got to open her presents when Rusty got home from work.

I found this scooter at Kid-to-Kid. It was one of the best purchases I've ever made for Claire.

For Halloween Claire was a bee and Lily a frog. On Halloween we went up to my parents and had a little party. Claire and Makenna went trick-or-treating together in my parents' circle. After a few houses Claire was getting the hang of it, and kept saying, "let's go to the next house," as soon as we'd leave a house.

Rusty dressed up for work as Han Solo. All the Summit teachers dressed as Star Wars characters.

Claire, Makenna, and Lily on Halloween.

My parents and the girls.

We even made donuts. They were delicious.

Here are some other random pictures from the weeks before and after Claire's birthday and Halloween.

One night I found Claire like this. She secretly got off her bed to lie next to it.

Happy Lily loves the rocking chair.

Lily turned 11 months on October 17th.

Matching kitty jammies! As you can see from this picture, Lily thinks Claire is the greatest thing ever. She loves to follow her around and do what she does.

I got out the snow clothes one day to see if they still fit Claire. She then put them all on even though it wasn't snowy.

One day we noticed Lily and Big Bird matched.

These are Claire's favorite pajamas. It's now too cold to wear them, but I had to get a picture of her in them.

Staycation

During UEA, October 15-17, my family decided to have a little staycation. We were thinking of going somewhere, but with it being UEA it was hard to find someone to go since it's a popular vacation time. So we found a lot of fun things to do around here. My parents were kind and treated us to many different activities. On Thursday we went to the zoo. Claire and Makenna were old enough to enjoy seeing the animals. It was fun to watch them see the animals.

Claire and the monkeys.

Cara, Makenna, and my mom with the giraffes.

The girls in the strollers.

My dad and mom with the lions.

Me with the cute baby dinosaurs.

Kristen, me, and Cara with the lion drinking fountain. We were excited it was still there since we liked it as kids.

Claire on the lion.

Makenna, Lily, and Claire in the bird nest.

Our only family photo of the day. It wasn't the best though.

Kristen and me with the gorilla. You can barely see it between us. Makenna and Claire didn't want to smile for a picture.

At lunch time we stopped and had a lovely picnic. 

Then all the girls went and rode the carousel.

Claire rode an ostrich.

Kristen and Makenna rode too.

We all squeezed in one picture during our train ride.

On Friday we rode FrontRunner from South Jordan to Provo. When we got to Provo we walked around the new Provo Temple and had lunch at Two Jacks Pizza.

Makenna and Claire loved the little seat on the train.

The girls really liked the table on the train.

Kristen made Claire and Makenna dresses from blankets. They thought they were pretty fancy!

On Saturday morning we went to Gardener Village and saw the witches. It was a very festive time. After that we went swimming at the South Jordan Rec Center, but I didn't take any pictures there.

The Staycation was a big success. I think we probably did more during the staycation than if we would have gone somewhere. It was three days jam packed with fun.