Making friends

Elizabeth loved hanging out with Uncle Mike and his girlfriend Sam. By the way the basket Elizabeth's standing in usually holds all of her shoes... She emptied the basket out and carried it into the living room just to show Sam! Every day I'm blown away by how complex her little mind is already!

Checking the mail...

Whenever Elizabeth sees the red key fab (i.e. the mailbox key) she immediately begins reaching for the key and heading for the door. She loves to check the mail! There must be some excitement about walking down the hall of our apartment and then being able to put the key in the lock... Look how proud she is!

Loving Grandma & Grandpa

Elizabeth loved spending time with her Grandma and Grandpa Maloney! She never hesitates crawling into their laps and giving them love!

Rocking the horse!

Minus boots and a hat, this cowgirl's ready to ride! Elizabeth had no hesitations riding my old rocking horse! We had a blast watching her go nuts on the horse. (...does this count Aunt Margaret?)

Festival of Lights

My dad's work put together a float for Rapid City's Festival of Lights. My dad and his friend Mick came up with the idea to have singing toilets and a faucet Christmas tree; fitting since Northwest Pipe is a plumbing distributor! My brother ran the sound and my dad drove the float. We're proud to announce they won the "Creative Sparkle" award!

Black Friday

As crazy as it sounds, I was up at 3am on Black Friday ready to shop! Sharon and I stood outside Target with her sister-in-law and friend until they opened the doors. (We were about 6th in line!) We had an absolute blast! I'm proud to say we got everything on our lists (which means we saved a ton of money) and no one got hurt! The best part of the day - I won the grand prize at the Rushmore Mall - a 2ct diamond 14k gold bracelet worth way too much money!! I had 90 seconds to claim my prize so I ran the entire way. I was in awe when they showed me what I won! After all the excitement at the mall, we went a few other places and ended up at Olive Garden. We had a ton of fun that day!

Thanksgiving weekend...

This weekend we headed home with Mike to spend Thanksgiving with my parents, cousin, and her son. Jace and Elizabeth had a good time playing together and "talking" to each other! It was so nice to relax and eat way too much good food.

Spending time at home...

Sugar 'n' spice and everything nice!

Elizabeth cannot stand when Andrew or I spend our time reading instead of giving her attention. She's quite good at making it impossible to read while she's around! I suppose maybe we're welcoming the distraction too...

Caught: Red-handed!

Apparently, Elizabeth decided to color herself instead of the paper! Thankfully they're non-toxic and wash-off! I'm afraid my white walls will be next...

The Andersons Visit

Mike, Sharon, Raedon, and Laeton made the trek across South Dakota to spend the long weekend with us. The guys went pheasant hunting, Sharon and I shopped 'til we dropped (literally, at Target, ha ha!), and Laeton learned the difference between primary, secondary, and tertiary! We had a wonderful time with them and can't wait until next year when we can hopefully do it again!

Peek-A-Boo

I see you!

Doll Crib

Elizabeth got a new doll bed from Grandpa & Grandma VanOsdol. She loves tucking her babies into bed with their blanket.

Group Picture!

Grandpa Dean and Grandma Irene VanOsdol have been such an amazing support to Andrew and I and we are so thankful for their love and kindness!

How much do you weigh?

We decided to creatively figure out how much Elizabeth weighs. According to our scientific measurements, she weighs 24#. How fun!

Visiting Iowa

Our family headed south to visit our family in Iowa for a weekend. We spent time with both the Horn's and the Van Osdol's. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera when we spent time with the Horn's. Elizabeth wasn't too sure of all the new faces and had problems sleeping/napping... Despite a sometimes fussy kid, we had a great time!

Puppy Love!

Here's Elizabeth playing with her big stuffed dog that her Grandma & Grandpa Maloney gave her when she was just a baby. She's so much fun right now - Andrew and I have a hard time getting anything done around the house because we always want to play with her!

Sour face...

Okay, so I realize I shouldn't be snapping photos of her while she does this but I couldn't get over how hilarious she looked! I'm not sure why she was crying now but at the time I'm sure she made it very evident!

Playing!

Trick or Treat!

Check out this darling little tomato! Elizabeth dressed up in an outfit my friend Rachel made and we headed to a USD Volleyball game to spend time with Rachel and her kids. My favorite part of her costume are the rosy cheeks! We both had too much chocolate but made sure to brush our teeth that night!