Good Times

One of my most favorite activities is hiking - desert or mountains. I love it! We don't go nearly often enough (hardly ever), but last Saturday we broke out of the house and went exploring around Sombrero Mtn. a few miles away. The weather was beautiful, the kids were great, and we had a wonderful time. I hope my kids remember these afternoons when they're older. I know I always will!

Whoa! Whoa!

Ian is a furniture cruisin' baby these days (since the end of September). It took him awhile to master the art of pulling up, but now you can't keep him down. Some of his first attempts left him feeling a little nervous, but the prize was always worth the effort. He can hang on for dear life with the best of them.

He's been a busy baby since he was born, so we've always feared mobility. Our fears were well founded. As with most babies, unloading the dishwasher has become a near impossible task. It's definitely no longer done at my convenience.

The most annoying one, however, is the trashcan. The kid can't seem to leave it alone. Even when he's in his walker he'll ram the kitchen trash until it falls over. He has incredible radar for open doors of any kind. He highly favors the toilet, toilet brush, pantry, and the refrigerator. The honey with the loose lid that he pulled out of the pantry was not a joy to clean up although he seemed to really enjoy playing in it!

I caught him with his first sucker back in the boys' room and was on my way to throw it away and wash him up when I had to stop and get a picture. Looks pretty innocent, doesn't he?

He never gets in trouble, though. He smiles his charming little smile, and now claps for himself, and all is forgiven....I can't help it. We sure do love this boy - his messes and all!

Halloween

This year's parade of characters....

Ian the fierce Dragon

Ashlyn the Prissy Witch

Carter the confused Harry Potter

Isaac the mighty Ninja

We began this year's dressing up with Ashlyn's preschool party.

Then we were on to Carter's Kindergarten parade and party.

Pretty cute spectators!

Waaaayyy too much junk food!

Saturday night we had a four ward trunk or treat at the church house.

We joined trunks with the Jones'. We each had our own candy bowl, but most people thought we came as a package and would get candy from one or the other of us and then move on. It actually worked out great because there were so many people our bowls were running out fast. Combining them helped us last through the night. Carter pulled a first. After a few cars he said he thought he had enough candy and stopped collecting. Dream kid!

Isaac and Caleb - watch out!

Sunday night we invited the Jones' over for dinner, caramel apples and pumpkin carving. The kids had such a great time handing out candy and enjoying the rest of the night I may have to make it a Halloween tradition instead of trick or treating. I'm sure they won't let it fly every year, but I'll give it a try!

The pumpkins turned out fantastically of course.

All the kiddos minus Ian and Katie, plus Jake of course!

Happy Halloween!

Birthday Celebration

I hit the big 30 this year. Ahhhh! Just a few weeks ago Cari and I were wondering if some college guys would try to flirt with us as we were leaving the post office in Thatcher, then caught our reflection in the glass as we were walking out the door and realized we were way past our prime. So sad!

My parents and sibs threw me a birthday party (Thanks Stacie for putting it all together!) down in the valley and we had a super duper time. We missed you, Kimberly! Jordynn watched all the kiddos while we went to dinner, stopped by my cousin Cameron's 30th birthday party, and then went to Steven's for a little more adult time before we headed home.

Stacie had us all gather around to enjoy the best movie ever - all about me! When we were growing up and would watch old movie reels I'd always complain because I was usually missing - most of them being made before my time. She wanted to end the suffering, so she spent hours editing a video of me throughout my life, mostly highlighting times and seasons that I'd rather nobody but family saw! She thought she was hilarious starting it off with a little monkey footage. It was a lot of fun. Thank you so much!

My birthday itself was a great day, too. Natalie took me to lunch (thanks Jake for babysitting!)and I had several birthday treats and wishes from friends. The kids decorated the house beautifully and made me cards. Eric was working that night, so me and the kids had some Nicos and picked up my free dozen at Crispy Cremes. Hooray for a new decade!

Schnepf Farms

I love pumpkin patches and fall festivals. Fall is definitely my favorite season. If only we could do with Halloween.... Anywho, my VT told me about a pumpkin patch in Queen Creek called Schnepf Farms. It sounded like a ton of fun to me, so we took the kids and played all afternoon.


On the hayride they let us off to look at a herd of deer they had. Ian LOVED them! If Isaac tried to move away, he would pull on the fence and force him back.

Cutest family on the hayride.

Halfway through our ride we got dropped off at the corn maze. We were lost, so Ian helped us find our way.

He was pretty proud of himself for getting us out.

The kids' highlights were the carnival rides. All of them were included in the admission price. Who needs Disneyland?

The ride they looked most forward to was the rollercoaster.

Even Ashlyn wanted to ride. She was excited right up until we were buckled in and then she started screaming. The man asked if we wanted off and I told him no. He looked at me like I was the worst parent in the world, but I decided she needed the experience. She was terrified the whole time. The boys loved it, though!

The airplanes were Carter's favorite. Isaac was too big to ride and Ashlyn was still traumatized by the rollercoaster, so he enjoyed this one all to himself.

My favorite was the swings. Eric opted to sit out with Ian and Ashlyn on this one. The swings always make him sick. I think it's in his head!

Eric has promised to build me one of these four person bikes. We'll see if he comes through!

Ashlyn had no fear of the goats. I was really surprised.

The boys really liked them, too. Eric tried to wrestle one of them and lost. Wish I had gotten that picture!

It was a very near perfect day. I'm so glad we went!