Halloween=FUN!!!

So Halloween is over and secretly I'm kind of glad. We have been celebrating for a long time now. Even though it was a lot of fun, I'm glad to be done putting the kids in their costumes for party after party. I've decided that holidays are kind of exhausting for the mom (and I don't do nearly as much as my mom did!). But like I said, we had a lot of fun and made lots of memories- so I guess it's worth it!

Here are a few pictures of the different festivities (I'm realizing that I didn't take pictures at many of the things we went to. OOPS!)

We went to Frightmares a few different times. I didn't realize before that Lagoon does so many different things in October. The kids' favorite activity was the Spook-a-boo. It's kind of like Trick-or-treating, but they set up several different rooms (pirate room, mad scientist, astronaut on moon, castle, etc.) I was really impressed with it. They also give out really good candy. We probably got what we spent on our season passes worth in candy. Well, maybe not- but pretty darn close!
There are also several fun shows at Frightmares. Our favorite was Monster Classics. After the show they let people come take pictures with the monsters. Tanner loved it! He was so excited to meet the monsters. He informed us that he is going to be a nurse and a monster singer when he grows up.

Here are a few other pictures from Lagoon. I'm feeling kind of bad that I complained about the weather the first part of October. As you'll notice in this picture, Mickell is in a short-sleeved shirt at 10:00 PM on November 1st. The weather has been unusually beautiful!



We had a really fun Halloween day. The kids didn't have school, and so we took advantage of the warm weather and went to Layton Park with the Parkers.

Later on we carved pumpkins. The kids weren't too hip on removing the guts, but we had fun designing the pumpkins. Ashlyn would stick her hand in her pumpkin and say "EEW, gross!" Here is the end result...
That night Baylen took the kids trick or treating. Then my family came over for dinner. We had jack-o-lantern pizza, witches brew and lots of SUGAR!!! It was a lot of fun!
Here are pics of our little clown, cheer leader, storm trooper, and Tinkerbell...

4:4:4 Tag

1. Go to your pictures.
2. Upload 4th picture of 4th folder.
3. Post and explain picture.
4. Tag 4 friends.

Okay, so what are the odds that out of literally thousands of pictures, it would happen to be this ugly one! I do have lots of special memories of this day, though. This is at Davis Hospital, as they are prepping me to go in for my c-section to have Ashlyn. Our camera was brand new, so Baylen was just playing around and getting a feel for it before the big moment. This was an amazing day that I will never forget!

Since my blog is not all that public, I'm not even sure who will look at this. I tag whoever wants an easy, fun tag!

Not on a Sundae!

Not all our Family Home Evenings end up as successful as Baylen and I hope. However, tonight I think that the lesson sunk in with all the kids. Amazing! It was actually really fun, too. I found the idea on the internet (what would we do without it?!). We started by having everyone sit up to the table. On the table I had already placed ice cream, hot fudge, carmel, sprinkles, ketchup, spaghetti sauce, and ranch dressing. I then told the kids that we were going to have sundaes. I told Tanner we would make his first and asked what he wanted on it. When he told me he wanted chocolate I said, "You mean you don't want ketchup? You love ketchup." His response was perfect. He said, "Not on a Sundae." We played this up a little more with the spaghetti sauce and ranch dressing. We then talked about how there are lots of good things out there that we like. But sometimes they are things that aren't good (to do) on Sundays. We talked about what the sabbath day is and some things that are good to do on that day- and then made everyone a sundae with appropriate toppings. I was really surprised at how the kids took to this idea! I decided that the best way to keep my kids' attention is to center the lesson around sugary food!

Escaping to Paradise

Last weekend was UEA. It is said that UEA stands for Utahns Escape to Anaheim. However, we decided to head the opposite direction- up to what I consider Paradise... our cabin.

It was kind of a short trip (we were only there for three full days). But, we had so much fun. It was beautiful weather. In fact, I think it was warmer than some of the times we've been there in June.

It was a unique trip because we were ALL able to go. I love it when every one's there. It's starting to get a little tight as the family grows, but I LOVE IT THAT WAY (except for feeling bad that Ashlyn kept people up at night- sorry fam)!!!

So what does paradise look like? Here are some pictures of the fun! Be prepared- I took over 200 pictures!

Of course, we always have fun on the ATV's. The kids love going on long rides up in the mountains.

The tire swing is always a favorite! On this trip they decided it's lots of fun to swing together.
We got to go on our traditional Sunday walk...
When Mickell put Ashlyn on her back, Ashlyn said "Backpack!"
Tanner picking a "corn dog" (cat tail)...
Looking at a cool bird...

Leslie was sweet to play the traditional game of Ghost in the Graveyard with the kids...
We also did a lot of really fun new things.
Grandpa set up an awesome mountain miniature golf course that we all had a great time with...

We got the pellet guns out one afternoon...
The guys spent lots of time paint balling with their new sling shots. It's hunting season right now and so they had to wear orange while they were out playing. They didn't have enough orange vests on one of their trips (the vests were on ATV riders), so Jared got creative. It's a good look, huh!
The butterscotch tree smelt so strong this time. We could smell it as soon as we stepped out of the cabin. Mmmmmm!
Dave built the kids a fort one night. Ashlyn had so much fun in it...
Another fun thing that we played was capture the flag. We played it at night in the field. The flags were glow sticks. Tanner said that it was his very favorite thing on this trip. During one of the games, I heard someone behind me in the forest. They were being so loud. I couldn't figure out what was going on. I thought the other team was trying to distract me. However, after a few seconds, Baylen came back with a tree. It was so funny. Leslie and I couldn't stop laughing. He used it as a camouflage by standing behind it and moving a little closer to the other flag every few seconds. What a great idea!

Grandma reading the kids a bedtime story...

The kids were very patient during all my photo shoots... I love taking pictures at the cabin (you'd think I'd be a little better at it by now)!

Fall Fun

Last week our neighbors invited Hailey, Ashlyn, and I to go out to Black Island Farm with their co-op preschool. Our family went to this a few years ago and it is a blast! The only problem is that it costs $70.00 for a family the size of ours. So, when they said it would only be $4.00 total, I was totally in! It was A LOT of fun. In fact, I felt bad that I didn't keep Tanner and Mickell home from school to go with us. Hailey and Ashlyn could have stayed all day. We ended up staying over an hour longer than everyone else and they still weren't ready to leave. The day started with a fun hayride out to the pumpkin patch. The farmer that took us out stopped at each crop along the way. He picked one of each thing and let the kids look at it. Then, they got to choose their own pumpkin.

They also had a blast going on the slides... the train... the "corn" sandbox... and the pumpkin bounce house... We were able to witness a few pig races. They were actually quite entertaining!

Happy Fall!!!

We woke up this morning to snow! I can't help thinking back 3 day to when we were wearing Capri's and t-shirts. I'm just scratching my head wondering where fall went. I don't remember having it yet. I am not ready for cold, snowy weather.

The kids were more than excited to play outside. Here's a picture of them working on a snow fort. Notice my frozen tomatoes in the background. I was sick yesterday and so I didn't get them picked before the frost.

Five

A few months ago my neighbor approached me asking if I would be interested in watching her son for a week at the end of September while she was in Mexico. I was a little nervous to take on another kid. But, I couldn't turn her down since opportunities for me to make a little extra money don't come up very often. It ended up being a lot easier than I thought it would be. It was still another kid, but he was so good. In fact, homework time was a lot easier since Hailey had someone to play with. One of the days I decided to take Hailey, Ashlyn, and Kai to the Treehouse Museum. Here are a few pictures of the afternoon...