Monday, December 5, 2011

Oh what fun.....

It's been an eventful week to say the least.  It started off with a bang with lots of sickness of the entire family, then dry hurricane 2011, Rachel got sent home from school on Thursday after being there for only a half hour (so I had to risk my life AGAIN to go get her).  School was cancelled on Friday so we decided to go to the Festival of Trees.  So that's where we'll start.  I hadn't been there in years and it was actually a lot of fun.  The trees are absolutely amazing, the kids loved it and you know it's all for a good cause.  Win-win.  I'm glad Rach could come with us!

 
Can you tell which movie this tree was based off of?  I had to take a picture.  All the trees were so clever. 
 They had a great kid section where the kids could do crafts, or step into the bubble machine like Rach wanted to do.  It's hard to tell but she's standing inside a giant bubble and trying to blow bubbles out of it.  She loved that.
 We were very fortunate during the storm.  I know everyone in Davis county has some sort of story.  We just had one tree snap off.  Luckily for us it landed nicely in our neighbors yard, and didn't crush anything.  Considering it was the tree right next to the tree house Trav's been working so hard on this could have been a disaster.  But the tree house went unscathed.  There must have been a good architect for that thing.  I couldn't get a very good picture of the tree but it was a big one....probably 25 feet tall.  Our bishop said that there were only 2 houses in the ward that didn't have anything happen to it.  Everyone else....trees, shingles, siding, fences...you name it....It was destroyed.
 We were fortunate there wasn't a fence there for the tree to crush, but there was a fence post that wasn't so lucky.  Trav tried and tried and couldn't get it off....so now we have a new decoration.
 So cute but so much trouble this one is........
Merry Christmas!
 (It's hard to tell but the kids are all jumping in this picture....that's the only way to get sincere smiles, not posey ones...)  They are cute though in their Sunday clothes.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Quietly playing....

At least that's what I thought when Kate and Josh were in the other room hardly making a peep with an 
 occasional giggle.  I should know better by now when they both proudly came in to show me this...

 And then there's those days when you get a box in the mail with packing peanuts!  That leads to an entire day of entertainment.
 At least they are cute all dressed up for church (and a little snack).  Where is Rachel when I pull the camera out?
 And one last one for a little Thanksgiving spirit to brighten your day.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

The rest of Halloween

Well you can't have Halloween time without a giant pile of leaves....just ask Charlie Brown (but never jump in with a wet lollipop)

 Wait a minute.....
 And then of course you need to carve some scary pumpkins.....


 
And when Halloween night comes around you better find some totally awesome costumes (as Josh would say).

 Here's a shot of our Rapunzel
 
We had a cowgirl that couldn't get enough candy, and totally got into trick-or-treating.
 And a  super-tough cool knight that can practically slay any dragon anywhere.
 Halloween was awesome (thanks to amazing weather) but that's not all the fun we had.  We also went to Discovery Gateway with my mom and sister a few days later.  Kate liked driving the car.
 Josh's favorite part by far was the farm.  This is one of those rare moments he let Kate on the horse too.  Luckily it wasn't very crowded because he spent the majority of his time on that horse.


 I think the onion top is trying to find the other onions.
Now we've got to start thinking of Thanksgiving and Christmas.  That is insane.

Friday, October 28, 2011

October in a nutshell

But this will be a coconut because I have A LOT to post about.  I guess I didn't realize how many pictures I had on my camera when I sat down at the computer today (205 pictures).  Don't worry, you don't have to see them all.

Well Rach is done with soccer.  Her collarbone finally healed so she got to play her first and last game of soccer this season.  (Yeah, we should get our money back)  She did have fun though.  They kept changing their team name so I think they finally ended up being the "Smurf Flying Dragons."  Let's cross our fingers for next season...

 
Then a couple weeks ago we went to the fire station open house.  We got to see the helicopter land (FYI if you have the chance to do this...wait inside and look out the windows....it was SO WINDY!)  It was really cool though.
 
Then we took a drive up Bountiful canyon to see the leaves. They were the most amazing leaves I've ever seen.  Pictures never do it justice.  It was gorgeous!

 Of course you have to take time out for a twinkie break..
 We kept saying that it felt like we were in some dream world. Awesome.
 The playhouse is coming along nicely  These 3 have been working hard.
 And this little one has been potty training.  I know.  The only time I've had to change a poopy diaper in the past 3 months is when she goes during a nap.  Even then...it's only been a few times.  You can say it, she's a genius.  She gets that from me. (This is Emily, not Travis...I know he claims he's the genius of the family but I just want you to know the truth)She doesn't even turn 2 until February.
 Here's mini genius on spaghetti night.
 
Then last week over UEA we went up to my parents cabin.  Again, it was so gorgeous.  Love this weather.

 Three little monkeys playing in the forest.

 Josh's pre-school went to Black Island Farms and I got to go along.  First we went out to the pumpkin patch and once they found the perfect pumpkin they had to raise their hand so the farmer would come cut it off.  I thought that was cute.
 
And here's the perfect pumpkin.
 They had a giant slide which I really wanted to go down but thought the other parents would think I'm weird.  Not the first time that's happened...
 He got to ride in the little train.  Again they wouldn't let me go. Total bummer.
 Then last night we had our annual Schick Halloween party.  It's good it's annual and not semi-annual right?  Here's the costumes.  A night and his squire.....
 The whole family....
 
The cowgirls....I just realized I didn't get a single shot of Rachel Rapunzel uploaded.  That's okay, I'm sure I'll have a Halloween post soon.  (No I am not done and will post Halloween.....you thought I'd get it out of my system now?  Hah!)
 My mom the graduate and that scary guy is Edward Cullen.
 My sister, Aimee, and her cute family.
 Kate was terrified of Grandpa for the first 20 minutes and wouldn't go near him (or leave my lap) until he washed his face.
 Then by Rachel's request we bobbed for apples.
 Kate even got into it.

 We also decided to do a "Haunted Forest" this year.  We had so much fun putting it together for the family party we decided to invite half the neighborhood to come over tonight.  This will be our 4th party in 2 days and I've been "in charge" of 3 of them.  Whew!  Here's a little taste of the forest.  Rach and Josh helped with the decorations.  I hope you don't get too scared!


 And this morning I was thinking how quiet my kids were being.  I go into the office to find this....
Kate's Halloween costume is done.  Happy Halloween!