Temple Square

Over Thanksgiving my parents and little sister, Kristen came out to visit!  We had a great time trying to cram everything we wanted to do into 4 days.  My mom and I decided to take Kristen and the kids to Temple Square to see the lights.  Boy, was it crowded.  But it was a beautiful night and not too freezing cold.

Grandma, Jonah, Amanda, Jacob, Sarah & Kristen

This was my favorite tree!  The picture doesn't do it justice.  Too bad I can't be a fabulous photographer like Jennifer!

Road Construction

Is is just me or is it that every time you see one of these on the roadside:

Do you also see a lot of this?

If you live where I live and frequent Main Street, you feel my frustration!  I'm just thinkin' my frustration could have been over a long time ago if a little more WORK was getting done!

Halloween

We had another great Halloween!  I think every year it gets better as the kids get older, understand more what's going on, and can remember from last year and anticpate the upcoming events!

Daddy did a great job yet again carving pumpkins from the patterns given to him by the kids drawn out on paper!  Lots of little fingers make light work for picking out the pumpkin seeds from the pumpkin guts to roast for a  yummy snack!  Thanks, kids!

Another year at Nanny's and Papa's with all the grandkids in their costumes!

Sarah was Cinderella, Jonah was a duck, and Jacob was Woody from Toy Story.  What cute kids I have!  I have to say, Jonah really got into the trick-or-treating.  My other kids didn't get it so much at this age.  But it didn't take long for him to realize that if he went up to a door, he got a treat to put in his bucket.  Boy, did he have "the death grip" on that bucket!  He wasn't about to let it out of his sight!

And this picture I just have to add becasue it's SO DANG CUTE!!!

Pumpkin Patch

Here are some pictures of our annual trip to the pumpkin patch with Brett's family!  It's kind of sad because every year this pumpkin patch cuts more and more out.  First, we lost the pony rides.  Then we lost the scarecrows and straw hats to take pictures with.  I guess that's what we get for going to a FREE pumpkin patch!  But the kids are still little enough that they don't know any better!  We had a great time!  But check out the very ominous clouds in the background.  It was a quick trip of taking all the necessary pictures, a few rounds in the maze, and then we jumped in the car before a twister came and swept us up!

Here are all the kids in the wagon!

Jonah and Mommy in the maze!

Jonah, Sarah, and Jacob sitting on pumpkins!

Sarah and Jacob are trying to recreate the story of the witch and her scary friends that pulled and pulled to get the pumpkin off the vine!  It's been one of Sarah's favorite Halloween stories!

Our family on a tractor!  Ah . . . do you think we could get struck by lightening soon?

While the Daddy Is Away, We Will Play!!!

Brandon went on the deer hunt with his brother, dad, uncle and cousins!  They had a great time and even got 3 deer!  Good job, guys!  Of course, my kids were devestated that Dad would want to go do something without them.  After all, in their little minds, what could be more fun than being with your cute kids?  Well, it was up to the moms to make it a special "mommy weekend!"  Friday night we grabbed some take-out and actually rented a children's movie!  Ohhh!  The only kids' movies we get around here are from the library!  Then we ate in the FRONT ROOM while we watched the movie!  Can you believe how exciting this mom is?

Saturday morning we met up with Kimber and her crew to go to Gardner Village to see the witches!  Kimber found this great treasure hunt for the witches online, that once filled out, made you eligible for a cookie from the bakery for only 25 cents!  Yum!  Here are some pictures of the kids with their favorite witches!

Jacob, of course HAD to choose THIS "Witchy Poo" witch in the latrine!  Gross!

Sarah is my well-trained chocoholic and chose this witch!

The truth is, Jonah really didn't like any of the witches.  He started screaming and crying whenever we approached any of them!  But I put his back to these cute witches playing baseball and took his picture anyway since he loves balls!

Here's the whole group with this witch giving them a hug on the bench!

And here we are eating our yummy cookies!  It was such a fun day and we had PERFECT weather!  We missed you, Daddy! 

Christmas Gifts

I absolutely love what my in-law's do for their grandchildren's Christmas gifts!  They give each child a gift certificate for a date with their Nanny and Papa!  Kids get enough toys and STUFF these days!  By the time they get toys from Santa, their parents, their siblings, and other family, they have enough!  For their date my kids get their grandparents' undivided attention for that afternoon or evening.  What a blessing for my children to have grandparents that value the relationship with each grandchild!  And with 15 grandchildren living close by, it's quite a scheduling feet for them to accomplish this yearly.  This year Jacob got to choose his date and went to dinner and a rodeo with Nanny and Papa!  He's been talking about that rodeo for months now, and will continue to for many months to come.  I hope Nanny and Papa are geared up for another rodeo next year :)!

Jonah got to go to the zoo!  I don't know how much he got out of it this year, but I still appreciate the effort that Nanny and Papa made to spend time with him!

And Sarah got to go to dinner and the circus!  Here's a picture of Sarah with Nanny and Papa after the circus.  She even got to choose a toy, and chose this circus horse to remember the occasion with.  She loves that horse and plays with it often.  But most important, she still talks about the circus and the wonderful time she had being loved by her grandparents!

I'm so grateful to have grandparents close by to my children that realized the importance of these family relationships.  My own parents live far away, and they have their own traditions for maintaining relationships with their grandchildren.  What a blessing it is for my children to know there are so many people that love them.  After all, relationships, family and friends are a big part of what this life is all about!

Retreat

In September we celebrated Brandon's birthday by going away on a little retreat! Lucky for us, we had a gift certificate to a fantastic bed and breakfast from last Christmas from Brandon's great boss at work (ahem . . . his parents). We got to stay in our very own little cabin! We even had the breakfast of our choice brought to our cabin door in the morning. We had a wonderful and very relaxing time just being together without the sweet little interruptions of our children. Thanks Mom and Dad for providing us with this perfect get-away. And a HUGE thanks goes to Justin and Amy for braving the kids at home. The kids were all alive and happy when we got home, and what more could you ask for than that?

Here's Brandon and I in front of our little cabin!

Our breakfast was SO yummy!