Hooray for Halloween!

Unlike last year...the weather has totally cooperated for Halloween this year...Hooray! The kids did their school parade and parties, I went and read Halloween stories to Karlee's class, Spencer had a pre-school party...it has just been a super fun day! Karlee and Rylee have been really excited because we told them that this year they could go with a group of friends instead of Dad. We set some strict ground rules, and since we know all of our neighbors we feel pretty safe(if there are any we don't know...they can't go there!). Anyways, it should be an exciting night!

Karlee wanted to be something beautiful...of course...so she is Miss America! Rylee wanted to be something spooky, of course...so she's a zombie. Audree wanted to be something sweet ...of course, so she's a bunny! Spencer just wanted to be a Monster Truck...so boyish! We had fun creating all of their costumes and I think they were all happy! Jake and I went with the "Jersey Shore" theme and transformed ourselves into Snooki and "The Situation"...we've never even seen the show they are on, but we have seen them on Late Night shows and felt inspired! Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving

Jake and I are like big kids when it comes to carving pumpkins...we love it and get right down into the thick of it with the kiddos! Rylee was the trooper who got the messiest this time around and Audree was the one who wouldn't get near the goopey stuff...anyone surprised??? Nope...sounds just about right! Rylee just kept saying," Halloween is my favorite holiday!" while she scooped out the goop! Anyways, Karlee and Spencer helped out too and we think we have a pretty spooky set of pumpkins to greet our trick-or-treaters this year!

Pumpkinland- part 3

So, this is the 3rd and last time that I have gone to "Pumpkinland" with Mrs. Wall's preschool(I can't believe Spencer will be in kindergarten next year!). It's always good times and somehow we always manage to have great weather! Spencer, his buddy Caleb and I had a great time with his class exploring the corn maze, playing at the playground, seeing the animals and visiting the spooky alley (not so spooky, really). Anyways, I feel so blessed that I can do these things with the kids and I just love seeing them with their little school-mates!

Octoberish!

October is ALWAYS a crazy month for us...photography business is busting at the seams! I have 6 weddings in 6 weeks...including bridals and engagements for most of them, plus 5 family sessions and 1 corporate event! That's just on top of Booster Club meetings, PTA meetings (I'm the PR rep for the school this year!), gymnastics for all the kids, Audree's choir class, Young Women's activities (I'm the Beehive advisor), helping at school in the kid's classes, and I currently have 5 little boys over at my house for Spencer's weekly playgroup (I can hear them having a blast on the trampoline as I type!). Laundry, dishes, cooking, decorating for Halloween, making Halloween costumes and actual mothering activities happen somewhere in there too. Did Jake want me to be a wife too??! Anyways, now that I have verbally vomited my calendar to you...I feel much better!

What I really wanted to share was our trip to the pumpkin patch! It's an annual visit to the pumpkin patch here in Springville and the kids watch the pumpkins grow all summer and look forward to picking their's in the fall! We got some great ones this year and had a fabulous time hanging out...what you can't see in the pictures is the giant booger on Spencer's shirt...yep, as soon as we got there he did a huge sneeze and apparently thought his shirt would double as a tissue. It was pretty gross...so we just zipped up the hoodie and continued on! When we were done at the pumpkin patch we headed out to go ice skating for the evening (we've gone like 3 times since Karlee's birthday because we had so much fun there and our Pass-of-All-Passes gets us in free!). It was a nice evening to just hang out together as a family!

My Big Girl is Big!!

Karlee turned 10 years old this week...seriously I have a 10 year old kid...how in the world did this happen??? I remember when I had all these babies, I didn't think they would REALLY grow up!! She is growing up though...and she is growing up to be such a fabulous young lady! For even numbered birthdays we do "friend parties"...so this was something she was very excited about. She wanted to do a tea party, a late-night party or go ice skating...so we sort of just combined all those ideas into one!

Karlee made butterfly placemats that they could decorate at the party and she folded fancy napkins and placed them in cups. Then we made fancy raspberry punch and appetizers for everyone when they arrived. (tea party- check!) Then, after cupcakes and presents we headed out to go ice skating (ice skating- check!) and the skate session was from 7-9:30 (late night- check!). We packed all those crazy girls into the van, rolled down the windows, blasted the radio and sang at the top of our lungs till we got there! The ice skating was a blast and they even had the BYU vs. Utah State game playing on a big screen...so even Jake and I got to do everything we wanted!
AND...BYU won...so I will be getting a foot massage tonight (that's me and Jake's favorite type of bet!)

Anyways, when the party finally ended and everyone was back home, Karlee said it was the "best party ever!"...so, mission accomplished! It really was a fun evening and it was so reassuring to see how sweet and fun her friends are...what a great bunch of girls! Karlee you make us proud everyday and we couldn't love you more!