The Wilcox Family: 2011

November

November was kind of a busy month for us. We started off with all of Karys' birthday fun (see previous post), and then we decided to take a road trip back to Rexburg, ID for a cousin's wedding and my brother-in-law's first baby blessing.

We left Thursday night after Cameron got off work. We took the southern route because of the weather and we were glad we did (clear roads the whole way there), but man that was a looong drive. But it was really nice to go back and see all the family out that way, my sisters are both there for school too, and we have a number of friends who are still over there. Cameron and I also went for walk around campus and got to see the new auditorium. It really is a lot like a small version of the Conference Center in Salt Lake. I couldn't believe how big it was! It was so nice to go back where we have so many memories, friends, and family, but the weather there sure gave us a strong reminder of why we didn't want to live there permanently! Our drive back home was not so nice. We left Wednesday morning & I think in the end it took us about 20 hrs to get back. We had snow, wind, road closures due to semi accidents, got to clean up Karys when she exploded in both directions, and had to drive about 30mph to get across Snoqualmie (because of weather not traffic). But we did make it home safe and sound.

The Saturday after we got home Cameron's parents & youngest sister flew up to spend the week for Thanksgiving. That was a lot of fun. Karys absolutely loved it of course, and Cameron got to take his dad fishing a whole bunch. We also went for nice walk at one of the parks on the harbour and did a bit of Black Friday shopping while they were here. Oh, and of course we had a big Turkey dinner which my parents and one of my cousins (stationed at Whidbey Island) joined us for.

So between all of that, work, normal everyday life, and our Church callings (Elder's Quorum Secretary & Relief Society 2nd Counselor/Ward Organist/Choir) we've definitely been keeping busy. In fact December has been much less busy in comparison thank goodness.

*Sorry I didn't get any pictures of the the wedding reception. We ended up driving straight to it pretty much and I was just too exhausted. Everything was absolutely beautiful though! Karys kept calling Lydia (the bride) a princess. So cute!*

Brady & Brindy with our beautiful niece Lily

Proud Grandparents :)

Karys loved holding her Cousin Lily
she's actually named both her baby dolls "Cousin Lily"

GG & Karys

JoyJoy & Karys
(she always calls her JoyJoy, never just Joy)

Pops & Karys

Turkey Time

Pops taught Karys how to play with her food :)

Fishing Adventures:

Journey & Foreigner

Well this was actually back in October, but I realized that I'd never posted anything about it even though it was awesome! For my birthday my Dad had gotten us tickets to go to a concert in Seattle where Journey and Foreigner were playing. My Mom volunteered to stay and babysit Karys, and so Cameron and I went down to the concert with Dad and my Uncle Blair. It was was really fun. Oh and it was Cameron's first trip anywhere in Seattle and also the first concert he's been to.

I of course didn't think to bring my camera :( and so all you get is a couple I took with my phone.

2 years old!

Well our little girl is now 2 years old!

She has grown so much over the last year. It seems like she does something new every day.

Karys has been really into Finding Nemo lately and so we had an Undersea/Nemo party with all of her friends. It was a lot of fun :)

Decorations

Going Fishing

Putting the fish in the aquarium.

We also played Jellyfish Limbo, made their own underwater scenes with stickers, and played Fish, Fish, Turtle.

The cake.
(got the idea off of the internet)

And a few of the presents.

We got her Mega Bloks.

She got a Mini Pillow Pet.

And also a new baby doll. Cameron had been having her pretend her other baby was her new cousin Lilly (practicing being gentle). So when she opened this present up she went "Two Cousin Lilies!" It was cute.

Karys has also been really into hockey the last couple of months. We'd already got her a mini hockey stick and so her Grandpa Alan & Grandma Renee got her a little jersey to go with it. The funny thing is she still hasn't ever seen a real hockey game, even on tv.

Our Treasure :)

Cameron made this treasure chest and at the end of the party we had all of the kids do a little "treasure hunt" and they found their goody bags inside. It's now become Karys' new toy as well.

Trick or Treat!

Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, & Wendy

She wanted a picture of her "pretty sparklies"
(they did face paint at the Ward Halloween Party)

We let her have a few little bites of candy yesterday and she ran laps around our table for over an hour:

Pumpkin Patch and more

Well we've been keeping pretty busy. For a while I was watching a friend's daughter while they waited for her to get into a preschool which was really fun for Karys. Our ward also just got a new Relief Society presidency a few weeks ago and I'm the new 2nd Counsellor. Cameron is still the Elders Quorum Secretary. (oh and today our ward just had a new Bishopric put in...so lots of changes at church!) Anyways, here are some fun pictures from the last while. Enjoy!

Karys' first trip to a pumpkin patch! So fun!!

The place we went to has a huge apple orchard which you walk through to get to the pumpkin patch. They were so huge and perfect and they smelled amazing!

All our pumpkins in a row :)

And of course after carving our fabulous Jack-o-laterns what did Karys keep talking about?..."I put the goopies in the can!" haha

And here she is showing off some new stuff:

Tinkerbell sunglasses for in the car

And a tool set. The day after she got this she pulled out her princess car and said "I fix car like Daddy"

Karys really loves to make puzzles. Here's a video clip:

End of Summer....or is it still summer?

We took forever to really get into true summer weather up in the Northwest this year. And now, in the middle of September we had a whole week of 80°-88° weather. So here's what we've been up to over the last month or so:

Going to the beach as frequently as possible