Halloween

This Halloween was alittle complicated. But we did the best we could to remember those important traditions. Due to rainy weather we first went to a Trunk or Treat. It was a nice change of pace. Great people with bowls full of candy! Cati was so excited each time she got a new piece of candy in her bucket.

(Go Lions!)

After this we did some door to door knocking. This was so much fun. I loved hearing Lily say "Tweek or Tweet" I really need to remember this when I am old and gray. Mason and Hailey loved walking around the neighborhood and seeing people from church.

But the best part of Halloween was the next day. I was only going to allow the kids to eat a few pieces of candy and put the rest away for another time. But Mike wanted our kids to have a gorging day. He told me the story of when he was a kid and would trade candy pieces with his siblings and ate candy until his stomach couldn't hold it anymore. And Mike wanted our kids to have that experience as well. So in the church parking lot we told our kids the after-church-plans of the candy feast. And not one minute after church we kept hearing " It's Candy Time!!!" They ran in the house and changed their clothes (in Lily's case she came out only wearing her diaper) and they dug in. For 3 1/2 hours they ate candy after candy. I demanded that they brush their teeth 3 times before bed.

But after that crazy sugar high they haven't asked for any candy. It was a great memory.

( I posted photos of Cati since this is her first Halloween. Our other kids just ran like a bunch of crazies trying to gather more candy from the next house)

Lions go to Scouts

This year Mike and I made the choice to make our costumes instead of buying them. So this idea allowed us to be the BEST costume family ever- THE DETROIT LIONS!! Mike was excited since he is a die~hard fan. Lily is coach, Mason is Eli Manning (since we found the jersey for 50 cents) Hailey, Cati, and I were cheerleaders. Mike was at work but he was their in spirit being a fan.

Tonight at Mason's pack meeting the girls and I were given the OK to party with them and dress up. So of course we partied the superstars! Here's Mason giving his meanest football face. He's been practicing.

The games were great. Hailey and Mason couldn't stop laughing while playing this game.

 Here's Cati and I. We're both cheerleaders. GO LIONS!!!

This party was so much fun. The kids were so excited to finally wear their costumes that the next day, Friday, they wanted to wear them to Wal-Mart. Of course we gave the ok. :-)

1st time seeing snow

I love watching our kids experience new things. I love watching their eyes open with delight and have that special twinkle. (You know what I am talking about)
Today I seen it with Lily. This winter will be the first for her. Last year she could care less about snow and all the winter activities that come with it. But this year....it's going to be great.
The first snow fall she just stared out the window pointing and asking "What's that?" So I put on her boots and let her experience snow.

She had so much fun just running around outside in the sprinkle-flakes. But the next day when we went to Sat Lake City she seen this and I know I couldn't say "No" to her....

While Mason was getting some testing done these 2 winter-born babies played in the snow. For 2 hours straight. It was so adorable to watch them 2 play. Even though it was only a few small inches they had so much fun.

I was so glad to watch her excitement. I can't wait for a snow blizzard. :-)

Not According to Plan

This morning a friend and I went to the Ogden Temple. We were both tired from staying up late but we knew this was going to be a great experience. When we got to the temple I was taken away by how beautiful it is. Beautiful in ways that I can't even explain. But during our wonderful and spiritual experience we experienced something else more real. A man fell to the ground and most likely had a heart attack. There were alot of people in this room. Some people were helping, some were watching, some were crying, etc. My friend and I tried to help as much as possible. But we had to leave as well so EMT's could come help this man.

I don't post this story to remember this images I seen. I am not posting this story for questions or sympathy; I post this story because of a few lessons I learned. This man was at the temple with his family. His wife, son, niece, and probably a few more family members. When my friend and I got back into her van we said a prayer and called our husbands. We told them what had happened and couldn't stop telling them how much we love them. This lesson has taught me to be with my family in a more positive way. I don't want them to go 1 minute without knowing I love them. I don't want my children to feel that all Mom does is cook, clean, and do schoolwork with them. I am still going to be responsible but I feel like I need to do more with them. I need to make great memories. I need to tell them I love them and show them. What if this man had an argument with his wife earlier and they didn't resolve it? What if his son and him haven't spent much time together and today was the first day in a long time they spend time together? What if his wife felt bad for not forgiving him for forgetting she made him a special dinner? What if...what if....what if? I don't want anyone of my family members to think about this if something were to happen to me. There are so many things I am doing and there are so many things I could be doing. I could be giving bigger and longer hugs. I could be jumping on our couch with my kids. I could be making them laugh alittle bit longer. I could be sliding with them down the park slides instead of reading a book under a tree. I could be doing alot more.....and now I am.

I will probably delete this post later but for now I need to get this off my chest and share this experience. It has really opened my eyes to so many things. I pray for this man's family. I pray for Gary.

Rebound

Camo and Mike are 2 alpha males. And 2 alpha males can not get along. So today was the day we had to say goodbye to one. Of course we kept Mike. But after some tears, cuddles, and alot of compassion we sent Camo to the Humane Society. He will be missed. But of course 30 minutes after we dropped him off the kids were wanting McDonald's so.....we're not that sad about our decision.

Do you wanna s'more?

You're killing me Smalls! (I'm just joking)

On any given day this family can be doing 4-5 different activities and then there are other days where we don't pass our driveway. But those lazy days don't really happen on Saturday. Mike will fill up any empty time slots with some fun activity so on this Saturday we went to Farmington Canyon. It was really fun to have all 4 kids with us on an outing. This only happened since it's our holiday (custody stuff sucks) First Mike made a campfire while I did nothing but watch him. I would say I was supervising.  Then we cooked and  chowed on some hot dogs and chips and drank as much Kool-Aid as we could. So to work off those nice fattening calories we went on a hike. 4 awesome stars (****) were awarded this wonderful day......

*1-was for Lily. A 1 year old that enjoyed hiking. Even though she wore white (my fault), mary jane shoes, and she tripped over a few rocks she was a real trooper and still had fun.

2nd ** goes to Dad- he lead us down a trail where we had no idea where we were going but it landed

us at a beautiful creek. Everyone had so much fun there....even Camo. Plus we

seen this awesome rock recliner. It was just too awesome to pass up a photo-op.
So kudos for you dad.

                                                                                                  

3rd *** was given to S'mores- we have a secret recipe on how to make the most delicious smores you will ever eat in your life. (our opinion only :-))

If you do this to the marshmallow and put a___  then a ____ it taste so good.YUMMY!!!

 Even Ducati couldn't resist herself for asking for seconds.

4th **** goes to Mom- for taking some pretty awesome photos of our day trip to the Canyon.

( Can I point out that since this day trip was a quick decision I did not remember to change my shoes so I went hiking in flip flops...I should get an extra star just for that)

IN-N-OUT

 Some may agree and some might disagree but this family loves food. We love to try new and different food. We love to go places where a burger might be done on 100 different ways. But we also love old fashion burgers like the one's you get at IN-N-OUT. We have been waiting for his place to open for months. Since it's close to our home it's been teasing us so on the Grand Opening day we piled into our van and drove down there. At 10:20am we ate cheeseburgers, fries, and delicious milkshakes for breakfast. Everyone was so excited! (Especially Mike since he took the leftovers for work)

Pumpkin Patch x's 2

The next day after the tire was fixed and the everyone had a good night's sleep our family and Angela's family all headed back to out to continue our family fun at the pumpkin patch. First was the  

Hay Maze-  I'm so glad that this maze is short so -I would hate it if I got lost.(mostly due to embarrassment) 

 After a few times in the maze the cousins and their parents started their search for the perfect pumpkin. We just tagged along since we're great company. Here's Hailey and Aurora...again... enjoying a nice wagon ride from Mike. Hailey has really enjoyed her time with her cousin.

 Afterwards everyone came back to our house and painted pumpkins. Mike and I figured if we planned it correctly that we could get 2 activities from these pumpkins-paint them then later we can carve them. We shall see.

 Mason was the only kid who had a design. All 4 girls painted an abstract picture on their pumpkin.

 (smiling) Mason was so cute with Teagan. I had to take this photo of these 2 boys. Mason was making him laugh so much... and it was so adorable to hear Teagan's littlle baby laugh. But this was the last time we seen everyone. The cousins got sick and weren't able to hang out again before they left to see more family down south. But next time.....that stomach flu better not come around!

Logan+Cousins= :-)

Our kids love spending time with their cousins. I love watching them play, having fun and growing their relationship with their cousins. So today we all went on an outing to Willow Park Zoo. For $1 we couldn't pass it up. Highlights are much faster then giving a play-by-play....

Hailey and Aurora were best of friends. Hand holding....

and sharing life experiences over a good swing...It was so adorable to listen to Hailey talk to Aurora on how to swing properly. To explain the safety rules to her and talk with such comfort in her voice when Aurora fell off the swing. I have to remember that moment when they are in their 20's. (notice Hailey's shoes are on backwards)

Mason- he loved Teagan...Mason is so great with babies-it's when they grow up is where he has some troubles. There was some bully kids are the park so when 1 of those kids came close to Teagan Mason carried him away and said to me "I have to keep him safe" He's so great with babies.

Ducati and Lily kept to themselves.....Well actually they kept to Mike and I. Since our trip to Idaho they have been glued to our sides. We must of done some emotionally damaged or helped them develop some abandonment issues. Because they need to hear us, see us, and be within fingers reach or they freak out. No more long dates for Mike and I unless we want to scar our children.

 Then Lily and Aurora had a lovely conversation while swinging about a red balloon that was stuck in a nearby tree. They talked about who's daddy was going to climb up the tree to retrieve the balloon. They talked about the color of it, speculated how it got up there,and how sad it was they couldn't play with it. It made my heart smile to listen to them.

 Our kids loved spending time with their aunt, uncle, and 2 cousins. Well we all had fun spending time together.

 We were going to continue our fun into the evening but UN-kind forces changed our plans.

Although sad but all good things must come to an end. At least for a little while.

Duck's

Today we went to Farmington Pond. This is a place where we didn't even know about until a few months

ago. Nice scenery, peaceful waters and so much fun to watch our kids play with the ducks.

Lily wanted to feed the ducks Burger King fries. At least she's sharing.

"Look Poop!" The things kids are interested in. 

 This was really awesome to watch. Mike seen a fish swimming by the shore. The next thing I seen Mike took off his shoes and was watching the water. Seconds later he scooped a fish out of the water with his bare hand! It was crazy to see. We went to Idaho and he only caught 1 fish but in the pond he catch a fish with his hands. It slipped away before I was able to take a picture of the fish. Lily was standing next to him so he wasn't able to man-handle it.  Mike's truly amazing!

I really enjoy these days when nothing is on the calendar but we find something to do to strengthen our family's bond.