Happy Halloween!!

Halloween was on a Friday this year and it was so nice to have the weekend to recover from the candy coma! We left shortly after the afternoon parade and made our way up to Joey's work. His work has an annual Halloween party and the kids love getting all the candy. We picked up pizza for dinner on our way home and it really could not get dark fast enough! Finally 5:30pm came and we dropped Luke off at his friend Tyson's house. They were going to trick or treat alone! I could not believe that I have a child old enough to spend Halloween without adult supervision. He took my phone and was so responsible. He called often to check in and proved to me that he will get to go without us again next year. Harlee invited her friend Addie to go with us. We went all together around our street. Tag was so excited to walk up and get candy. He was so good to only take one. He refused to let me help him up or down the stairs at each house. He is an independent boy! He was done after about 20 houses so we came home to pass out candy. The kids made it to about 8pm and Luke came home at nine! We turned the porch light off and ended our night all warm in our beautiful home together. I would call that a success! Costumes this year: Luke- A Pug Human Harlee- A Nerd Nash- Electro from Amazing Spiderman 2 Gray- A Robot Tag- A Skeleton- after a failed attempt at getting him to wear the pumpkin costume we bought him, we borrowed these skeleton sweats and he loved them!!

School Parade

It is that time again!! Just as in year's passed, I was a little apprehensive about the school parade. It is so hard to get the three littles to sit still while all the kids parade by in their costumes. When the parade finally started. 25 minutes late, the naughty behavior subsided and the kids were excited to see all the fun costumes. Grandma and Grandpa came also and in the words of Grandpa "This is a once in a lifetime experience!" Not thinking I could talk him into coming again next year! The kids were so cute! Nash and Gray had their parade/ performance in the afternoon. So fun to watch them sing their songs! Nash was surrounded by girls and he told me on the way out that he was "girl blocked!" So funny! *The last picture I took of the wall outside of Gray's preschool classroom. Such a funny picture of our funny kid!

8 years is too long!!

After eight years too many, one of my best friends came to visit. My roommate Kelly from my college days came from Colorado to Utah and we were able to spend some time together. We went to Chili's and were there for 4 hours! Not sure the waiter was a fan of us. It was so great to catch up! So grateful for a true friend! We can go eight years without seeing each other and then we pick up right where we left off! Such a fun night that I will never forget! We made a promise to not let that much time pass before the next visit!

Pumpkin Painting

We brought it back!! After a year off from the pumpkin painting we decided that it was time to give it a go again! After a delicious soup dinner we cleared the table and got ready to paint. Each one of us had our own pumpkin and plate of paints in a variety of colors. It was such a fun time. Even Tag got into it, painting his own pumpkin and trying to help Joey paint his! So grateful for family time! So blessed to get to enjoy fun times with the people I love the most! *Luke took the picture of Joey and I and right as he went to take it he said "Think mysterious!" We could not stop laughing!

Mimi's Halloween Party

On Saturday we went to a Halloween Party planned by Mimi! The kids were so excited to go! Mimi planned some fun games like eating marshmellows off a string and red light green light. It was so fun to watch the kids play. Tag caught on really quick and played the games with the big kids! We ate pizza and then GP read all of the kids a scary story. It was such a nice night. Cory, Holly, and Holly's family had flown in to find Holly's wedding dress. It was so great to have them at the party also and get to visit with them. As the kids left, my mom gave each one a witch hat treat full of candy. What lucky kids!

Luke's First Swim Meet

After months of 4-day a week practice, Luke was ready to show off his skills at his first swim meet! Luke participated in the 50 backstroke, the 50 freestyle, and the 50 butterfly. He did so good! Since this is his first meet he is setting the time that he will need to beat for the upcoming meets. In backstroke he got 1:03.9 and on his freestyle he got 53:84. His butterfly he got 1:40. That is such a hard stroke. We went with my friend Nickell and her son Conner. Nickell commented on how Luke has such great form! I am so proud of you Luke. You are doing amazing and I love that you found something you love! Next meet is November 21!!

Star Student

This week Gray was the star student at Preschool. On Tuesday he brought in a poster that we had worked on describing all of his favorite things. He said that he favorite color is red. His favorite food is toast. If he had one wish he would wish for a pony! When he grows up he wants to be a firefighter! His favorite place is the trampoline place in St. George. His favorite thing to do is swim! On Wednesday he had to bring his favorite toy to show the class and he chose to bring his spiderman action figure. On Thursday I was invited to come to his classroom and spotlight him. Once I have said my part then the kids all get to ask him questions about himself. It was so cute. Then he brought a treat to share with the class. His choice was swedish fish and halloween fruit snacks. It was so fun to watch him pass out his treats to his friends and practice his manners. Then today he took his favorite book and it was read to the class. So grateful for our Star Student. We love Gray and he brings such fun and humor to our family. *This first picture is one I took for his poster. Love his expression in the last one!

School Pictures

On Wednesday the kids received their school pictures. I think that they all turned out so cute. I just cannot believe how old they are all getting! I had to laugh a little when I saw Gray's picture. You can tell that he was not loving the experience. I think that smile is a little forced! Such darling kids and so lucky that they are mine!

Movie Date

It is Fall Break and we are actually in Lehi! So weird for us! Joey took the day off and I took the four oldest to see "Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day". It was really a cute movie. They are all at such a good age. I cannot believe that Gray even sat through the whole thing. Give it a couple more years and we will be able to go to the movies as a family. It will probably cost us $100 but it will be worth it. Sure love these cute kids of mine!

Blessed to have each other

This morning Luke was giving Tag a ride on his shoulders and he was in heaven. They have such a special relationship. Tag will always be able to look up to Luke and I pray Luke continues to love him and be a great example to our Tag. Love this picture- LOVE these boys!

My audience...

I have been going to the Legacy Center for the 5am aerobics class. Due to Fall Break and my work out partner being out of town, I decided to run on Thursday morning. I did not get a chance to get started until about 9am and so the kids wanted to be right by me. In this gigantic house they three youngest wanted to sit on the other treadmill and be next to me while I ran. They make me laugh. I guess if I want privacy I need to work out before they wake up. At least I had some cute scenery to enjoy during my run!

They are Home!!

On Thursday Grandma and Grandpa returned home after completing a successful mission in St. George. We did not know what time they would be there but decided it would be nice to decorate their yard to greet them when they returned. Mindi ordered the perfect sign and we put balloons up all around the yard. I am sure Grandpa cleaned those up quickly upon arriving! We are so grateful to have them home and so grateful for their examples!

Hee Haw Farms Field Trip

Last week Nash had the chance to go to Hee Haw Farms on his kindergarten field trip. He was so excited to get to go and pick out a pumpkin. My friend Alison sent me a few pictures and commented that Nash is sure liked by the ladies! So when I picked him up I asked him about this. I said "Nash, I heard that the girls really like you!" He said "Yes. They like to chase me. They also like to chase Brox and I know why!" He said this so matter of factly! When I asked him why he replied, "Because he has handsome hair!" I was dying! Handsome hair huh? So cute! Nash has been pretty aware of his cool hair lately and has requested that we part it to the other side since Brox parts his hair that way! He is going to be on hip and on trend kid! *The boy with the handsome hair is in the picture with Nash and the goat!

She said Yes!!

Tonight Cory took Holly on a geocache at the beach. Holly was about to be asked an important question! Cory asked Holly to marry him and she said Yes! We love Holly and we are so excited for her to be part of our family. Cory is such an amazing guy and we are so happy for the both of them. They hope to get married in February or March of next year!

Our favorite guy is getting old!!

On Friday we had the opportunity to celebrate Joey's 43rd birthday. 43?? Really? When did we get so old? We woke up and gave him all his presents. I took a risk by buying him things this year rather than giving him money! I am 90% sure he will be keeping all the gifts. We have come a long way since the first years of celebrating birthdays together! We got him a big bottle of his favorite cologne, some pants for work, a couple of sweaters, a hoodie, and some treats. After the presents we went to Fractured Prune for some birthday donuts. Around 2pm Joey's parents came to watch the kids so we could go grab a late lunch. We tried a new place in Hurricane called Sonny Boys. It is a bbq place and it was so so good. It was so nice to have a little alone time. The rest of the day was spent relaxing! I felt bad that we did not get to do a ton for his birthday but it is Joey we are talking about. I told him my biggest gift was holding back and not making a big deal about his special day! You are welcome Joe! Happy birthday!