October Family Birthday

In October we celebrate my MIL's birthday and my BIL Brad's birthday.

Since there are only adult birthdays in October we always go out to eat and leave the kiddos at home. A lovely tradition if you ask me! This year we went to the Mayan.

The guys were making cheesy grins because we wanted to take their picture. I'm pretty sure they were making fun of us. RUDE!

They added some new acts to the show, which was pretty fun to see.

It was a fun night for all!

Springville Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday we met up with Ange, Yoho, Reggie, Mom, Dad,

and Yoho's family at a fun pumpkin patch in Springville.

DH and Papa with the pumpkin for we will use for dinner.

Me and cute little Reggie.
I can't believe how big he is getting.

I realized that I don't have very many pix of DH and I. So, even though I HATE being in pictures I thought I better post one of us.

The kids all loved this corn box.

I think it's way better than a sand box.

The kiddos on top of the hay maze.

After we left the pumpkin patch we went to the park for a picnic.

The weather was great, the food was good, and the company was wonderful!

The Red Barn & Other Stuff

Friday, early evening we went to The Red Barn. They have a fun hay ride that drops you off in a pumpkin patch where you can pick out your "perfect" pumpkin!

The boys getting all loaded up for the ride.

Out in the pumpkin patch there is also a maze made out of giant crates and a few fun places to stop and take pictures.

Grandma and the grandkids minus S and Wyatt who went MIA.

Right before we went to the Red Barn, I dropped T off at the church to go to a Scout overnighter. He has a really fun scout troop that goes on a lot of campouts and does a lot of fun things. Saturday morning they woke up and went on a 20 mile hike as part of their hiking merit badge. Everyone was exhausted, but they all made it and I'm sure feel very proud of their accomplishment.

When we left the pumpkin patch the kids and I met up with some friends and grabbed a bite to eat. Then, we all came back to our house with some more friends and we let the kids play while we sat around and talked. At 10:00 the kids and I loaded up in the car and went to the airport to pick DH up. He was in Ohio all week at a training for work. I was SO glad to have him home. Our home just feels incomplete when he is not there. We were so happy to have him back!

Sierra's Science Project

My cute niece Sierra needed some help with a science project, so we all went over to my SIL's house to help out. She made macaroni and cheese using 4 different kinds of milk and then had all the cousins be the taste testers. She used skim milk, canned milk, goat's milk, and powdered milk. The favorite was the skim milk and the rest of the results were kind of mixed. S loved all of them. I thought it was a great idea, and she did such a good job!

Hikes

We went on our annual Grotto Trail hike this summer. The kids always enjoy this one because it's easy and they get to play in the waterfall at the end. We love going!

On Labor Day we hiked up to the Timpanogos Caves. This one was much harder (at least for me it was). But, we all made it to the top. It was a beautiful hike.

We went on a tour of the caves. It was quite a bit cooler inside the caves, about 40 degrees.

There were a lot of cool formations to see and everyone really enjoyed it.

A view from the top of the mountain. That small line going across the bottom of the picture is the road. I'm not sure how high up we were, but it was pretty high. We had a great time!

Pueblo Indians

S had to do a project on the Pueblo Indians. He had to do some research and then create a pyramid that told about and displayed some of the things he learned. In one section he talked about hunting and made a little hunting scene. Then next section was about food that the Pueblo Indians ate. He made squash out of clay and put them in a clay pot, and glued some corn to show what the Indians ate. In the other two sections he talked about the clothing they wore and the type of homes they lived in. He did a great job on it, and was very proud of his work!

Harvest Moon Hurrah 2011

Once again we had fun at this years' Harvest Moon Hurrah! There were lots of activities for kids to do. M & Morgan, and J had fun taking Tal around to all the different booths.

Dani, Tate, and Sierra met up with us also. The kids played, we took some pictures, ate some yummy food, watched the performers, and got balloon animals. Fun times were had by all!

August/September Family Party (and some July)

We had our family party in September and celebrated birthdays from August, September, and a few from July. There were a lot of birthdays and we had a lot of fun celebrating! I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family. We love getting together and spending time together!

Nightly Reading

This is J's new favorite spot to read to me. What a crazy girl! It actually works well because she is away from all other distractions and she can read to me while I am cooking or cleaning the kitchen or what have you. Whatever works to get her to read:)

Monopoly Deal

Our friends introduced us to this game and it is a blast!

We've had a lot of fun playing it with them.

Fashionista Parade

Last night we were playing games with some friends, when these 3 cuties announced that they were going to give us a "fashionista parade"!

Then, of course they had to pose for pictures.

Lots of poses, giggles, smiles, and good times!

Halloween Candy Jars

I made these cute Halloween candy jars with two of my cute SIL's.

We always have so much fun together and make the cutest things! I love it!

My Little Chef

My cute J LOVES to cook!

Family Party

We had a little party to celebrate the birthdays of J, Michael, and Dani.

What a good looking family, don't you think?

Sierra and Tate

I feel so blessed to live by so many family members. And even though I don't see them all the time, it is so nice when we are all together. It's always so much fun! I just love them!

Jakob Asher

S and baby Jakob Asher!

T has always loved babies!

We all love him!

M with Jakob and Tal!

We were so excited that Jakob Asher was born and that all went well. He is such a cute guy and we are so glad that he is part of our family:)

Flag Burning Ceremony (from July)

The Scouts were invited to participate in a Flag Burning Ceremony.

It was a pretty neat experience. They each got to carry a flag and give it to a soldier to be thrown into the fire.

T & his friend carrying their flags.

The flag S carried was huge.

There were hundreds of flags burned that day. Very cool.

First Day of Scool

4th Grade

My baby is in 4th grade. CRAZY! She is definitely full of life, she is a little chatterbox. She loves to play with friends. She is growing up too fast, she thinks we should treat her like a teenager, we are in trouble with that one! We are excited about this year and think she will grow and learn a lot. She's dancing 4 hours a week and also keeps busy with activity days. She loves to play with babies and is always excited when her little cousins come over. She's got a spunky little attitude and I love everything about her!

5th Grade

This guy was not super excited to start school this year, but after a few days decided that it won't be that bad. He has an awesome teacher who S is really enjoying. He's been staying after school a few days a week to help clean up. They recently went on a field trip and he was in charge of finding parent volunteers to go with the class. I think it made him feel very important to have that responsibility. He is really enjoying scouts and has just earned several scout pins. He made a personal goal to run more to stay in shape, and has done a really good job at trying to do this every day. He is always full of energy, and I love him SO much!

7th Grade!

This was M's first year of Jr. High. She was so excited to start. T was very helpful with walking her around the school and showing her where all of her classes were. The first couple days were an adjustment for her, but she is doing great now. She likes most of her classes. She is super dependable and always gets her work done without being asked. She loves to babysit and has gotten quite a few babysitting jobs lately. She is dancing A LOT. She practices 11 hours a week. . But, it's her love. And she's super good at it. I love watching her learn and grow. I love watching her dance. I just love her!

8th Grade

T thinks he's big bad stuff now that he's in 8th grade. He thinks he should get to stay up later than everyone. Only problem is that he doesn't want to get up in the mornings. He keeps busy with homework, scouts, and cross country. The other day they ran 4 1/2 miles for practice. I don't know how he does it. He is super athletic. He is the Deacon's Quorum President and the Sr. Patrol Leader for Scouts. He's a good kid when he wants to be, and I love him:)

I can't believe school has already been in for 4 weeks. CRAZY! I wasn't sure I was ready for it to even start, but we are getting the hang of things. The switch from carefree summer days-late nights-sleeping in to homework-bed times-schedules has been a big adjustment for us this year. But, we are making it all work.

Court of Honor

(Horrible picture quality, I know.)

T was elected Sr. Patrol Leader for his troop.

At the court of honor last month T earned several awards.

First, he earned his First Class! He's worked very hard for this advancement, and I'm so proud of him. He also earned the Camping merit badge, some kind of patch for the camp out they went on, and a few others. He's really enjoying scouting and has some great leaders. He's one step closer to getting to his Eagle!

Braces

Before

After

Welcome to the world of braces. They go their braces on almost a month ago and we've already been to the orthodontist 5 times. Such fun!