Julia Ruth

 Aaron Joseph, Anna, and Esther eating grilled cheese and tomato dip at the kitchen table - Aaron Joseph decided he was tired of the high chair and wanted to eat at the table with the big girls :)

 Esther asked me to take a picture of them with their dolls - Aaron Joseph just jumped in.

 Corn maze pictures! This is Esther and Anna on top of the bale mountain with Abby.

 Aaron Joseph was fascinated by the duck races - He also loved the animals and the tractor.

 Esther and Anna and JoAnna in the tower -

 A. Joseph and Anna on the bale mountain - We tried to hang out at the maze at least a little bit every weekend :)

 We put straw on our garden this year and it really helped keep the weeds down. In the trailer is a new kind of squash we planted (or at least, new to us) called Carnival squash. It had a good taste and kept really well - we're still eating it in February!

 The children absolutely loved helping Aaron dig potatoes! They made a regular treasure hunt out of it :)

 We're were pretty excited about how well the potatoes did.

 I loved the fall colors on this tree -

 We were able to make it to Isaac and Aimee's wedding -

 I took a few pictures before because I knew I'd be too busy afterwards - her sister-in-law made the cake and it was really yummy!

 The girls waiting with their aunties and Grandma -

 Isaac and Aimee -

 Esther wanted to give them a hug good-bye before they left.

 Esther turned 5! We had given her all but one little gift early, but she wanted us to put them all in a bag anyway so she could open them :)

 I just brought a cake over to the farm Sunday night and she blew out her candles there.

 We have a few nice oak trees in our yard which make great leaf piles to play in. Esther is in there somewhere too :)

 Aaron's mom gave Esther these decals a while back and we finally had a place and time to put them up - with Miriam's help!

 The first snow  - it was kind of a new experience for Aaron Joseph and he wasn't too excited...

 Julia Ruth meeting her big sister Anna! I had been preparing for an all-day delivery, like A. Joseph, but was only in labor with her for 5 or 6 hours - the time change was that night, so I can never remember - but everything went well and we're very grateful to the Lord for her!

 Esther with Julia-

 She was 8 lb. 5 oz. - our biggest baby by over a pound.

 Right before we left the hospital -

 Cowboy Aaron!

 Aaron has started to enjoy coloring too - and although he knows that he should only color on paper, he is still learning self-control in that area!

 Julia has a really sweet personality and is pretty easy-going.

 Esther is a good big-sister and usually can make Julia happy :)

 I really have to watch Aaron because he loves to grab and poke at Julia -

 Esther with Julia again -

 Anna and Julia again -

 We went over to Grandpa and Grandma's for a Christmas meal and opened gifts.

 The girls latest thing is jewelry - they collect it wherever they can and put it in their treasure box!

The children with Grandpa and Grandma -

Alaska

 In August, Aaron was able to take a trip to visit his brother in Alaska -

 Aaron in front of some of the beautiful mountains. He took a lot of pictures, and the scenery is so different from here that every one seems amazing to me :)

 Aaron's parents went on a trip to Alaska as well and they overlapped with part of Aaron's visit.

 This is a glacier  -

 They went on a boat ride to look at some of the glaciers around a lake.

 Fish in the water - I believe some of them were salmon.

 This was at a wildlife refuge - we watched a documentary on grizzly bears last year and the girls were afraid for Aaron to go camping in Alaska. They thought maybe he and Josh should put up a tent in the living room instead :)

 More animals at the wildlife refuge -

 More mountains -

 and lakes -

 and rivers -

 Elijah and Josh at Elijah's birthday party - He turned 3!

 Aaron, Dad, and Josh after church on Sunday -

 Big bugs!

 A chocolate fountain at a store -

 Aaron by a mounted bear -

 I like the scenery pictures with Aaron better than the ones without :)

 Aaron and Josh went on a couple short camping/hiking trips - here they walked out on a glacier -

 I'm not sure how safe that is....

 Josh -

 Even though it was still August, some of the leaves were starting to change colors!

 They visited the port town of Valdez.

 A mounted moose at a museum -

 I love all the waterfall pictures too!

 The Alaskan oil pipeline -

 They hiked up by this waterfall -

See the parking lot down below? This was near Anchorage -