Four Trick-or-Treaters on Halloween Night

A total brag blog here....I can't help showing off how cute my 4 trick-or-treaters looked! Abbie decided she wanted to be a She-Devil, Annie is our pretty Cinderella, Parker was a handsome little bat & Connor was a puppy (who refused to wear his puppy hat, but was still darn cute anyway!!

Here is Abbie, Annie & Parks posing for a picture!! :)


I know I'm a bit biased, but Abbie was a stunning She-Devil!!

Could Annie look anymore like Cinderella?

Our Bat-boy again...

And, cute little Connor-man enjoying his Halloween candy before we even get started on the trick-or-treating!

We hope all of you had as Happy Halloween as we did!! :)

Fall Fun (Part 2) aka Our Trips to the Pumpkin Patch

This October, we took were able to visit the pumpkin patch 2 different times....I took the boys one morning with all of Parker's preschool friends and then we went again with some of our good friends, the Knox's, for FHE....we had a fabulous time at both of the visits!

The morning that we went with all our preschool friends, it was SO, SO cold...but we had loads of fun as well!

Here's a picture of most of the kids after making their way through the straw bale maze...I think they liked running through it because it helped them stay warmer! :)

I loved this picture of all the kids on top of the wagon after going for a hay ride...it was picture perfect! Aren't they a cute bunch of kids?

And, of course, one of Parks with his prized pumpkin! He spent a lot of time searching for just the right one!

When we went with Knox's, we had the chance to see all the animals in the petting zoo. Boy, was that a hit! All the kids (9 between both families) loved seeing the horses, donkey, dogs, camel, and sheep! All our kids got a kick out of being able to feed all the animals, and Parker didn't even cry very hard when one of the sheep got a little bit of his finger!

As always, the hayride is a big hit! I love how happy all these girls look! :) Could they be any cuter?


And, the final ride before heading how was a trip around the pumpkin patch in the "cow train"...Parker & Connor had been waiting the whole night for this! Annie was a great big sister to sit with Connor & keep him safe!

Thanks to the Knox's for being such great friends & sharing your FHE with us!

Fall Fun (part 1) aka Abbie's Halloween Party

Well, we have had a busy October...after a quick trip to Utah, we got back & the next weekend had Abbie's 9th Birthday Party...we went with a Halloween theme & I think all the girls had a blast!! We sent out 12 invitations, thinking there are always a few that can't make it to the party...well, not this time! So, we ended up 14 girls (adding Abbie & Annie) at our house...it was wild, busy, a little bit crazy, quite a lot of laughs & loads of fun!! :) Here are most of the girls...I took the picture before the last few arrived....

We started off with the classic "pin the tail on the donkey", but changed it to pinning the nose on the jack-o-lantern.....talk about the girls laughing like crazy....it was hilarious. After that, we had a crazy scavenger hunt....I loved watching a pack of girls running around outside, in the snow, no less...having the time of their life. After that, we came back inside to play bobbing for apples...which was definitely the hit game of the party...every single girl played at least twice....

And a picture with all the girls with an apple in their mouth! If you're ever having a halloween party with a bunch of 9 year old kids, definitely think about bobbing for apples...what a blast!

Before sitting down to watch Monster House, we had "dirt cake" for dessert, complete with worms (gummy of course) sticking out!

I had a great time & I think our birthday girl too!! We love you, Abbie!!

Random Pictures from Conference Weekend

This weekend we took a trip down to Utah...we spent some time with my family, then spent some time in Park City with Matt's family. Here's a few fun pictures from our weekend...I wish I can been better & snapping pictures, but oh well.....

My little brother, Nate is playing tackle football right now. Parker found his pads & tried them on....pretty handsome, huh?

Here's Nate....he was being cool doing the "peace" sign, but in this picture it looks like his finger is up his nose...LOL!

Grandma Judy made homemade Mac & Cheese for dinner...Connor totally digged it! I thought this was a cute picture of him... :)

My cute "little" brother (he's 8 yrs younger than me, but towers over me by about 6 inches...or more!) and his son, Jefferson! Jefferson totally loved the Mac & Cheese too! I love Jefferson's curls & smile!

While we were in Park City, Connor was so cute. He took every chance he could, to walk around in Abbie's slippers! Notice the truck too...Connor found it at Grandma Judy's house and HAD to have it ALL.THE.TIME!

Here's another picture of Parker....he was building a "fort" for his Rocky-dog....you can't see much of the fort or Rocky underneath, but you can tell Parks was having fun!

Here is Matt's brother, Kyle, with his cute wife Christy & daughter Gabbie! The weekend wasn't nearly long enough to hang out & visit with them, but we sure enjoyed seeing their family!!

And, finally....a view out of our room in Park City. The weather was cool & rainy, but I loved watching the clouds move in over the mountains as the day went on....you can't see the mountains, but they are there, hiding behind the clouds!

We had a fun weekend & are already looking forward to the next time we'll be able to get together with our families!!

First Day of School Pictures!

Yeah, yeah, yeah...I'm know I'm a month behind on these...but, hopefully you'll enjoy them just the same! :)

Abbie and Annie LOVE school! They have great friends, great teachers & a fun time learning. So, there were no tears shed when school started again!! Here was our "group" picture before the girls headed off...

Abbie (wanting to not just smile for the camera, but show off her Hannah Montana backpack as well...LOL)!!

Annie....adorable, as always...

Here are the girls getting off the bus after school...did I mention they love riding the bus?!!? They do! And, I love that the bus stop is just 2 doors down from our house!! If you look close, you can see the back of Parker on the left side of the picture...he was way excited to see the girls come home!

And Parker smiling cute right before he heads off to his first day of preschool!

Corrupting Connor

As I was making lunch today, I accidently left the fridge open while I placed some items on the counter. Before I had the chance to turn around & close it, I notice that Connor had taken the liberty of getting stuff out for himself....actually, not stuff, just one item in particular....a can of Moutian Dew!! Apparently, he knows what to do with the can, because this is what he started doing...

I tried taking the can away from Connor, but he wasn't too happy about that, so I let him just carry it around for a bit before we had lunch...this is how I found him a few minutes later...

...still carrying around the can & playing on the trampoline! :) He's one cute kid, huh?

Funny enough, as of June 1st, I decided to stop drinking soda. Now, I've done this on a few different occassions, but I'm REALLY serious about it this time...as long as I don't give in to "social drinking"...that seems to be when it's the hardest. Wish me luck! :)

For Karyn...

So, my sister asked me to take some pictures of some of the birthday cards I have...(I've been in several different card clubs & have quite the assortment)...to help her get some ideas. Actually, she asked for a picture of "my favorite birthday card"...she probably knew that there was NO possible way for me to narrow it down to JUST one...LOL. So, Karyn, for you, here are SEVERAL different cards...hope the pictures help!! :) I'd love to see what you end up doing/making!


This first one I got from my ward exchange. The girl who did it is super crafty & sells Stampin' Up! stuff, so I'm not sure how helpful it is, but I love the colors & layout!




This one is so easy...I went through an "orange" stage, and needed something simple...




This one is fairly easy too...just a lot of layering, plus a bit of ribbon & a brad...





I thought this one looked fairly simple too, round the corners & staple a ribbon on the top. In case you can't read the saying..."True friendship isn't seen with the eyes...it's felt with the heart. Happy Birthday!" I love the colors black, white & red together...

Here's another really simple one that I got from my ward exchange...

This is a "Congratulations" card, but could easily use the layout & find some cute embellishment for the top...

Now...here is one of my favorite layouts ever. I originally received this card in my ward exchange & I thought it was adorable! Sorry it's so blurry...the picture doesn't do it justice...

So, I copied the layout & made this card (sorry, it's blurry again) for one of my exchanges with Matt's family...

And...I liked it so much still, that now this is the card I'm making to exchange with my sisters next month...all the same layout, just different colored ribbon, paper & brad, obviously! :)

Happy Card Making!!

Dandelions

I've never been fond of dandelions.

I've always thought that they were a weed and in need of getting rid of. How many nice lawns do you look at & see dandelions....um, none! Some of our neighbor's have a lot...like a whole backyard (unfenced, so you see them all) full. Another neighbor has quite a collection of them in their front yard. In our yard...they are growing in full force too. Over the past few weeks, Matt & I have been trying several different methods of "killing" them. I wouldn't say our lawn looks horrible, but the dandelions definitely doesn't make it the nicest yard on the block, either. Even last week, I was even grumbling to my mom about all the dandelions & what I could do to get rid of them.

Then, on Wednesday, that all changed. Dandelions make me happy, especially when a 3 year old boy(namely Parker), picks a few dandelions & brings them to me...handing them to me with a huge smile on his face, accompanied by a big hug and an "I love you, Mom!" How could one not love dandelions?

Frankly, I don't remember giving my mom dandelions as a kid (hopefully I did!) and I really don't remember making dandelions necklaces for myself or anybody else....but, now, every time I look out into our front yard, I smile at the dandelions that I see. Now, don't go thinking that I'll stop all efforts to help them disappear. But, for now, dandelions remind me of the love that my little boy has for me. They remind me of how grateful I am to be a mother. And, when Parks handed me those few dandelions, I knew that he loved me, regardless of my insecurities, faults & occasional (ok, more than occasional) failings of a mother. He (and all my kids) love me for me. And, I love them! I'm the luckiest girl in the world because I have 4 beautiful kids that call me "mommy" and I get to look into their darling blue eyes & know that they are mine!

Bring on the dandelions!

Abbie our Avid Reader!

This is totally a brag blog today.... Abbie loves to read! Almost anybody who knows her, knows she loves to settle down with a good book & hang out either on the couch or snuggled up in her bed. Right now her current favorites are any mystery (A to Z Mystery books, Bailey School Kids, etc) or books about twins (she has really gotten into the Sweet Valley Twins series -- do you remember those? and also the Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen books). Matt & are trying to talk her into reading the Nancy Drew mystery books right now... we think she'll really like those!

Anyway, for the month of March, the girl's school had a read-a-thon. They were giving out prizes to the top 3 students who brought in the most donations & also the top 3 readers (most minutes read) in the ENTIRE school. So, here's where the brag comes in......Abbie read 4350 minutes in March...that's over 72 hrs (outside of school) reading! She was THRILLED and so were we!! We found out a few weeks ago that Abbie was indeed one of 3rd highest readers in the WHOLE school...she placed 3rd! (The 1st & 2nd place readers were both 5th graders.) I think what makes me happy about all of this, is just seeing how excited Abbie gets about reading. If she was still reading Dick & Jane books, that would be okay too....I just want to instill in my kids a sense of enjoyment from reading...something I didn't develop for myself until a lot later! At the same time, I can't take all the credit for her love of reading...if anybody knows her Daddy, then it's easy to guess where it came from! :)

So...that's my brag...and here's a cute picture of Abbie reading away on the couch (she couldn't stop giggling when she discovered I was gonna take her picture...LOL)!

It's My Party....oh, Annie's Party!!

So...Annie turned the big 6 years old two weeks ago! She started asking for a "friend party" at least 6 months ago, so we talked about it a lot. Annie decided to have a Hannah Montana (big surprise...) party!! It was a gorgeous day, so we did most of the party stuff outside....we painted finger nails & added the cute little stickers on them, we played musical chairs, played games on the trampoline & then had cake! I think she had a fun time!! Here's some pictures...

The birthday cake...

Getting ready to blow out the candles...

The adorable group of girls!!...they all had SO much fun together!!

Playing musical chairs...I think girls this age are so much fun!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNIE...WE LOVE YOU!!