Family Pictures

So, I finally did it. This has been on my to do list so long that I actually had to change our outfits a couple of times, well since the season changed. It is so painful trying to get six people all dressed decently with haircuts and without any permanent marker anywhere noticeable or facial lacerations, but we did it and just in time.

Here are a few of the fun pictures we got.

Our pictures were taken by our friend Jodi Christensen Gallagher. (memoriesbyjodi.blogspot.com) She did such a great job! It was well worth all the stress and strain to get our family ready for pictures. Thanks Jodi for all your patience and hard work! Now if only the kids would stop growing then we wouldn't have to go through all this again next year.

Girl's Retreat 2008

I can't seem to keep up with anything these days, but I didn't want to let the pictures and fun we had this year at our retreat be forgotten. Every fall my girlfriends from highschool plan an overnight trip. This year we just went to Park City, ate, shopped, talked until the wee hours of the morning, slept a little and did it all again the next day. All the girls were able to make it this year, except Calee, she couldn't make the trip from New Mexico. We missed her.


Kelli, Natilee, Allyson (came all the way from Iowa), Diana (California), Lynette, Me.
Suzy, Jennifer, Dixie, and Melanie (Wyoming)


Here we are getting our picture taken with our cameras. I always try to get some pictures, but usually only get one or two and have to get the rest from my other more faithful picture taking friends.

I included this picture because my husband was so confused as to what we were doing in all these pictures. We are talking. What else would we be doing? I think it finally clicked for him that we spend most of the weekend just sitting around talking. I don't think he is any less confused, but now he knows.
It was lots of fun, as usual and a much needed break, so until next year....

Happy Birthday, on October 31st!

Since Don's birthday is on Halloween, yes I know what you are all thinking, "hmmm, that explains a lot." I have heard it all before. But really he doesn't get the attention he deserves. This year on top of all the Halloween festivities I made him dress up as Dracula. He resisted at first, but then he really got into it. He wouldn't talk to me because he couldn't hold his teeth in and talk at the same time. I promise pictures will eventually come, hopefully by Christmas. I did get him a pie, put Happy Birthday candles in it and sing to him at a neighborhood Halloween party. Anyhow, the point of this post is to wish him a Happy Birthday! He is such a good sport! He is a sweet husband and father. He has kindly given his birthday to the children for the last 10 years, maybe one day he will get to celebrate on his birthday. He is good at giving everyone a hard time, but he has such a big heart and will do anything to help anyone. I was laughing that one of my friend's recently got him to go get her car for her in the rain. He is always willing to help. If I were a really good wife I would list 43 things I love about him, but if he wanted me to do that much writing he should have come on a day other than Halloween because I'm still recovering.
Happy Birthday anyway, Sweetie! We love you!

Halloween Hangover

Am I the only one who has this day after Halloween experience? This year it was so much fun that I had to take pictures. It seems everywhere I turned there was a bucket of candy. Close by is usually a kid that has sticky drool running down their chin. When I got up this morning I kept stepping in something sticky. I demanded that all the kids put up their candy so that Jonah couldn't get anymore stuck to the floor. After they all put it up and he still came in with more candy I finally figured out he had his own bucket that he was getting in to. Uuuggghhh!


This is Jonah after I put up his bucket of candy. Yes, he is throwing a tantrum because he can't get to it.


And as if all the candy everywhere isn't enough we seem to have pieces of everyone's costumes strewn about. Here is Brynna posing with the mess. Yes, she slept in her costume, but she did get her teeth brushed before bed even if she never got around to pj's. This is totally Brynna!

I hope everyone recovers from their day after Halloween and if your day is just smooth sailing with no stepping in sticky or tantrums, please don't tell me....lie!

Halloween Fun

The kids were invited to a Rockstar Halloween Party this year. The girls posed for pictures, but Joshua protested and ran off before I could get one. Aren't they cute! Brynna loves her blue hair and has been looking for an excuse to use it. This was the perfect opportunity.


On Halloween day I got to go to school to help with Josh's class. His class got to frost cookies and watch the Sound of Music. I am not sure what the Sound of Music has to do with Halloween, but he has a really good teacher that doesn't want to do anything non-educational so since they have been reading a book that references the Sound of Music they got to watch that.
After the parties the kids had a costume parade.
I somehow ended up with a picture of Brynna and Josh, but none of Maleah. For Maleah just picture the same costume on a taller body with a bob hairdo. Maleah really looked super cute in this costume as did Brynna.

Joshua just went with the all black costume this year. He says he is organization 13. It is a guy on the Kingdom Hearts video game.

Here is our sweet baby vampire. He wasn't sure what was going on and in the middle of the parade he completely lost it and had to be rushed home for his nap.

Luckily he got the rest he needed and was back out for trick-or-treating. After trick-or-treating we went to a friend's house for food and fun. Don was dracula and I was a witch. We got a family picture taken of everyone in their costumes, but you'll have to wait for me to get those back. I will post them and soon as I have them! We hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving

For Family Night we got together with friends to carve pumpkins. We had a lot of carving to do and a limited amount of daylight so we had to get right to work.

Don doesn't like to carve pumpkins, but he sure worked hard anyway. What a good daddy!

Maleah chose a simple pumpkin face because she wanted to get done quickly so she could go play.

Here we all are hard at work.

Luckily my friend Sheri took over picture taking so we got a couple pictures of me. Brynna talked me into a cute pumpkin pattern with a mouth that said, "BOO!" See how happy Brynna is.

Joshua hard at work on the skull pumpkin pattern he picked.

After getting the pumpkins carved we had a delicious dinner of chili, ham chowder, and corn muffins. We then roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. Fall is the perfect time for roasting marshmallows. It was lots of fun. Thanks to everyone for their hard work so we could have a fun family night.

Fall Break, aaaaahhhh!

Notice I said, aaaahhh! That is the same aaaahhhh as when you sink into a warm bubble bath, not the screaming aaaahhhh like when you want to tear out your own hair or rip off your own arm and beat yourself with it. Yes, this fall break was like sinking into a warm bubble bath and not the kind where small children run in screaming, taking off their clothes and begging to get in with you either. It was a pleasant surprise to have such a fun and enjoyable fall break. I have a few people to thank for making it all possible. But first I will start with the events of the weekend. We did start the weekend with a little bit of fighting to get our chores done so we could go to the pumpkin patch, but chores wouldn't be chores without a little bit of resistance.

Heather and I took our kids to the Big Red Barn in Santaquin. Here is Jonah looking out at the fields and the hay wagon that we ride in to get to the pumpkin patch.


Josh, Garrett, Brynna, Hunter,Maleah, and Jonah all ready for their ride to pick out the perfect pumpkin. This was Jonah's first year to really get in on the fun. Note: I was not responsible for Josh's "faux" hawk or Brynna's gypsy attire. Those two definitely have fashion ideas of their own.


All of my kids happily posing with their pumpkins. This is possibly the longest amount of time Jonah held his pumpkin. He kept throwing it and saying "ball". Fortunately I was smart enough to get a very hard pumpkin. He has yet to break it even though he has thrown it many times. You might notice Brynna's legs are a little awkward because Brynna had her pose all set when Maleah sat down. Brynna was not changing her position for anyone.


This is how the pose was supposed to look, aaahhh Brynna.

After getting treats in the Red barn boutique and sending the girls to the cabin with Grammie and Grandfather the relaxing part of my weekend began. I was left with only two children and although the youngest is definitely the hardest he does nap and his older brother can do a limited amount of babysitting. I got to go to the scrapbook store and get a haircut.


On Friday the scrapbook weekend began,

many thanks to my good friend Brianna for inviting me. We scrapbooked, did a little shopping, went to dinner, scrapbooked some more, slept a little, went to the scrapbook store, and finished up with more scrapbooking. It was lots of fun and all I can say is, aaaahhhh. Thanks, I really needed that. Brianna is such a good little hostess, she gets everything all clean and ready for everyone to come. She even makes a big breakfast in the morning, which I am sorry to say I missed because of my getting out of bed issues, but she still saved me a plate. So, thanks Bri!

Special thanks also to my mom and dad for taking the girls, Josh for babysitting without much complaint and Don for always being so supportive of my girl time. He even brought me a dc while I scrapbooked.