Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

Halloween

Happy Halloween!!

As you all know Halloween is a big deal at our house. We get to celebrate 2 birthdays right before which makes it a non-stop party at our house starting a week before All Hallow's Eve. Since Halloween landed on a Sunday this year we enjoyed twice the trick or treating fun with Trunk or Treating at the church Saturday night, followed up by traditional door knocking Sunday night. Although sad to say we didn't have the zeal Sunday night we had the night before, so costumes were half done and makeup barely on but we still ventured out, eager to fill our bags even more! This year Andrew dressed up as a "Greedy Kid".

Samantha was a Cowgirl and then Sunday night she was so pretty with her hair curled and done for church that we glittered her and she went out as a "Model Cowgirl"...whatever that is. We figured it's a gorgeous girl who models cowgirl clothes. Or perhaps a beautiful gal who also rounds up cattle, either way don't we all wish we could still feel as carefree and beautiful as we did when we were children :).

Braeden was a Zombie with a nicely slit throat.

Westin was Darth Vader but wore the mask for like 5 whole minutes.

Gabe was a skeleton baby and made out like a bandit. He walked to the doors, opened his own bag, attempted to say "Trick or Treat", but said, "Thank you," clearly enough that people cooed and loaded him up with treats.

Mommy and Daddy were outlaws.

I actually dubbed us the "Make-Out Bandits" cuz I couldn't keep my hands off of Chad. My kids were almost as embarrassed by that as the time we danced in public, but other kids at the Trunk or Treating thought the "Make Out Bandits" was hilarious ;)

Here we are in the car heading to the Trunk or Treating at the church.





Samantha is a tall girl but looks even taller because of my boots she's wearing. She can wear my shoes now. She just turned 12 and is a young lady, and my best girl friend and a diva....she is soooo fun! Westin posed in all the pictures with his light saber and showing off his moves, all the pictures he took very seriously :)

Hope you all had a safe and fabulous holiday!!!

Pre-Halloween

Pre-Halloween fun at our house! Decorating, costume planning and making, scary movies at night, creepy Halloween music and sounds filling the air, all in preparation for the big event.



Westin posing with our scary witch. You can't tell in the picture but her cauldron is filled with eyeballs, severed fingers and rats. It's the little details that truly frighten us all :)

The kids posing next to my main attraction...the graveyard in the living room. We went with a graveyard theme this year to match the graveyard in the front yard. Braeden is doing a dead look :)

O come on now! The boys look like their hearts aren't into the pose!! Samantha, now that's my girl, she looks really scared.

Over the years we've aquired quite a collection of creepy decorations. Every year we add one more thing, this years purchase is the big, hairy spider in this picture. I love it!

The front yard is always a big hit with the neighborhood. Chad tries not to do it EVERY year but every year he is pestered into the tradition. We add the fog maker Halloween night and move our witch to an upstairs window with a strobe light on her and in another window a ghoul of some sort (we have many to chose from) also with a strobe. Add horrifying screams from the windows and we get little kids in tears at the front door...SUCCESS!!

HAPPY OCTOBER Y'All!!

House Family Reunion 2010

Every year for the last 10+ years we've enjoyed a House Family Reunion. Each year is a different family members turn to plan and host the event and activites. This year was Brianne and Casey's turn. They are big into camping and wanted to share their love of the outdoors with the rest of us.
We camped for 2 nights in Bryce Canyon, Utah. One of the most beautiful places in the state. We enjoyed a variety of games and activites. Soooo much food!! And soooo many laughs!! We were shushed the first night we were so loud! Thats the Houses for you, a bunch of really, really big mouths! :)

We went hiking in Fairyland. The scenery (as you can see in the background) was incredible! Unfortunately our rowdy, little monkey children played too close to the edge and slipped off. Chad was able to run to their rescue. Alas he didn't even bother to grab onto Miles and save him ;)

The trail in Fairyland was a tad narrow and precarious and Chad, Emerson and Miles all slipped, almost falling to their deaths.

As you can see, Miles and Emerson were able to use Chad to climb to safety. Phew!!! Next time I'll push harder ;)

Here's Wes with his 4 feet of licorice. Uncle Ron kept us on a constant sugar high with his abundance of treats....suckers, candy bars, tootsie rolls, licorice, gum balls and chocolate...oh my!

3 little boys posing between swinging sticks, hatchets, axes and apparently a pvc pipe? Where the heck did he find that?!?!?! Heard more that once around the campsite, "Put the axe down! Hey! Hey! That hatchet is for chopping wood only!" As Grandpa so keenly observed, "Man you give a kid a stick or an axe and they're entertained for hours." :)

Thanks Brianne and Casey! We had a blast!

Caribbean

Thanks to the wonderful kindness and generosity of my mom, Chad and I were able to take a vacation all to ourselves this year. We went to the Caribbean island of St. Martin/St. Maarten. Half of the island is French and the other half is Dutch that's

why there are two spellings for the island and both are correct.

We spent 7 days of heaven resting, playing, snorkling and eating. The water beautifully clear, we also Snubaed (a mix of snorling and scuba). The fish surrounded us at several points, which made for an amazing experience. We ended up not taking as many pictures as we thought and ended up with no video footage. We were in the water 90% of the time playing. One afternoon we took sea kayaks out into the ocean, paddling and jumping the waves.

That's me waving half way between the docking boat and the beach. Can you believe that water?!? 86' was the average temperature of the Caribbean Sea. You could walk chest deep in the water for a long time off of the beaches. Plenty of room for bobbing peacefully in the waves with a coloda in your hand. Ahhhhh...the vacation life....

And no tropical vacation is complete without dinner next to the ocean. BBQ ribs and chicken was a main staple on the island, of course so was the seafood.

Oh the plans we've hatched for next's years vacation ;)

Back to School

Time again to dress the kids in their finest jeans and tops, lace up their designer sneakers and send them back to school.

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Andrew and Samantha get to go to the same middle school this year. Every morning they get up without fuss, walk to the bus stop and ride the bus to school. Our middle school has a uniform dress code which limits their cute outfits but is kind on my budget and nerves.

Braeden is in 2nd grade this year. He's the only one I have to get ready and make lunches for and drop off to school in the morning. What a change for me.

Westin is in afternoon kindergarten. He's soooo excited to finally go to school and have homework like his older siblings. Unfortunately that excitment wears off within a week or so.

That leaves just Gabe and I at home for a couple hours. This is usually when Gabe naps, leaving me all alone to my thoughts, which I've discovered after 5 kids and not a moment of peace in 13 years, that I no longer have thoughts of any kind.

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Happy Back to School, y'all!

Camping in Utah

(Yes, sadly that is a picture of 3 boys gathered around 1 boy playing a DS...it is shameful).

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Camping with family, it is the best way to go. We got to camp one night with Chad's family; Relin, Eric, and Kenneth's families were all there. Bob and Beth joined us for hobo dinners and then went home to sleep in comfy beds. It got a little toasty during the day which tried our patience, but the bugs...oh the bugs!! Every fly that has ever hatched has hatched it Utah!! Flies and gnats all over our food! All over our faces, in our hair, in our tents. It was the cause for more than one melt down by our obsessive-compulsive daughter and her germ phobias. But we made it and she did not die from filth, as was her fear.

Braeden came up with a plan, every time a fly landed in his mop of hair, he caught it and killed it. Thanks to Braeden we are down a dozen obnoxious flies in the world.

Here he is with one of his victims.

We had s'mores and a raging campfire, (it's the only reason I bothered going). There was a stream nearby which entertained the kids for a while.

Chad had a birthday while we were with family. We got to sing happy birthday over his 4 birthday pies.
Here's Gabe enjoying the whipped cream from the pie, the best part.

On our way home we stopped at a Pizza Hut, where the waitress so graciously offered to take our picture so we never, ever forget eating in Richfield, Utah :)

Say, "RICHFIELD!"

*Summer Fun 2010!*

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!! We had so much fun hosting the Roundy's, Chad's parents and the Donald Simmons family. We BBQed, swam and visited. The party started Thursday and didn't end until Monday. It took me days to recover ;)
Here's a few bad pics of the 4th of July blck party. Almost every family in the neighborhood and their guests were out shooting off fireworks. Our neighbors totally showed us up with their awesome illegals. These same neighbors entertained us with their late night drunken antics. Beer and illegal fireworks, if that ain't Vegas I don't know what is!

HAPPY SUMMER Y'ALL!

Splish, Splash Summer!

We're back in the pool this summer. Hot hot days and summer break means hours in the pool. The water temp averages 90-92, perfect for feeling refreshed in 100+ degree weather. We've also gotten to enjoy neices and nephews visting and playing with us for weeks at a time. Have a safe and fun summer!!

Beach Days of Summer

Boogey boards, shovels, pails, towels, snacks, and spit goatees.....all the fun memories of an outing at the beach. We had our Grandparents and a dozen cousins with us to complete the fun. No near drownings or trying to doody in the ocean, the kids are getting older now and know better than to pull down their swim shorts and potty in the waves ;)

The water had to be in the 60's but no matter, the kids threw themselves into the water with zeal and no fear. We only live 4 hrs. from the ocean, we always mean to make more than one trip every couple summers but somehow time escapes us. Hope you all have fun plans for your summer!