Thanksgiving was just Beachy!

This year we decided to do something a little different for our Thanksgiving and we rented a beach house in Newport. We stayed there with Grandma GiGi and Grandpa...but we lucked out even more when Travis, Blair and their families came to hang out with us. The weather was beautiful, sunny and 70 degrees...not bad for November. The beach was like a ghost town and we had things all to ourselves. We just hung out on the beach, walked along the boardwalk to the pier (it was a good thing we brought out scooters along!), looked at the seals and dolphins and enjoyed the great company. Karlee and Rylee tried out a wetsuit that we rented along with a boogie board and loved surfing and swimming in the ocean. We all had a blast playing a wiffle game together too. We spent the last couple days at Grandma's house and enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Nancy's, a bit of shopping, going in Travis & Katie's hot tub and taking family photos. Thanksgiving Day we started out at the annual Turkey Trot. Travis and Jake ran the 10K and rocked it...so awesome! Karlee & Rylee ran the 5K in 34 minutes...wow, you go girls! Spencer, Audree & Bristol ran the kids 1K...Spencer came in 5th out of like 150 kids...speedy! We were so grateful for the opportunity to meet and snuggle with the newest Nemrow too...welcome to the family Brielle...we love you so much already. The week went by so fast and suddenly it was time to go back home. We are so grateful for our family and the fun times we get to have with all of them...we truly are so blessed.

Basketball boy!

Spencer surprised me this year when he came home one day excited about the chance to play basketball. He had never mentioned it before...but what really surprised me is how good he is at it! He loves his basketball games! He is aggressive and loves to shoot the ball. He now walks around the house dribbling a basketball and getting ready for his next game. The games are hilarious...the kids don't dribble half the time and there really are no rules except that they can only guard the kid with the matching wrist band on the other team. We love to go as a family and cheer on our favorite boy!

Happy Halloween

I am not sure why, but we have adopted Halloween as one of our family's favorite holidays...it's just so much fun! Jake and I were able to get to the school to see Rylee, Audree and Spencer in the big Halloween Parade (it was so wierd that Karlee wasn't there this year). This year the weather was beautiful and Jake and I had fun decorating the yard for our trick-or-treat visitors. I made some glowing jars to hang in the trees, Jake made a spooky guy out of a mask and cape (he was creepy and just stood there in the dark corner of the porch) and we had "What Does the Fox Say" playing on the radio...which made our porch a bit of a dance party station too. The kids had fun trick-or-treating with friends and Dad and the evening ended with hot cocoa and digging through the treasure. Another great one goes down on the books.

This year Karlee wanted to be something that wears a skirt and has curly hair...we decided on a 50's girl...so cute! Rylee wanted to be something related to soccer...an adorable ref was the perfect choice! Audree wanted to be "Pajama Girl", her own creative invention...I even made her the cape to match her pajamas (Auree was quite annoyed with all the people who couldn't figure out that she was "obviously" pajama girl and not a princess...she is so funny)! Spencer was going to be Harry Potter, but when we found this spooky dragon costume at the DI he quickly changed his mind...it was warm and made him happy, an easy choice. Jake and I went with the terribly annoying and yet addictive pop culture hit "What Does the Fox Say"...a fun costume that also keeps your head warm!

Pumpkin Fun!

We love to carve pumpkins! It's a great Halloween tradition...some of us (Spencer, Rylee, Karlee & Daddy) like it more than others (Audree). We always have fun scooping out the goop...Daddy got creative this year and actually "carved" his pumpkin (it got lots of comments on Halloween night!). After helping all the kids with their pumpkins, Mommy just ended up painting polka-dots on hers. Good times!

Alice in Zombieland

Karlee is really enjoying Jr. High this year and has wanted to be involved in everything! Ain't nobody got time for that...but we were able to squeeze in the Jr. High play. She is in the drama class this term and was excited for the chance to be in the play. She did try-outs and was cast as a zombie (which is the part she wanted). She went to all the practices (which meant some long days of school, play practice and then off to cheer practice...what a busy girl!) and had 3 performances. Our family was excited to go see her and we all went together to watch. She was an excellent zombie and her big blonde ratted hair was eye-catching on stage. She even got to do the play with her best friend, Makayla, and some other friends from our ward...including Anton Moss (such a funny kid!). We sure do love our Karlee!

Deer Hunt

Spencer has only been waiting all of his 6 long years to go on the deer hunt with the "men". We decided that he could go this year and he has been waiting and anticipating it for months...we got nervous that the weather might not cooperate and dash all his plans...but it all turned out perfectly. He loved every second...the horse ride, the hiking, the pocket knife, the fire, the dirt, the friends, the candy, the tent, the time with daddy. I missed him while he was gone and apparently he missed me too (although he'd never admit it), because when he returned I got a LOT of hugs for the next 2 days. The girls had fun too...we had sleepovers in mom's room, went to the movies, went out to dinner with Aunt Jenny, Aunt Megan and Grandma at Red Robin, had a girls night out at Aunt Sarah's making cards and sang real loud in the car together. A fun weekend for everyone!

The girls also had fun picking the boys up from the trip! We got to ride horses and enjoy the sunshine on the mountain. Karlee loved riding the horses, Rylee was old pro and Audree and Mom took a turn too!

Fall Break

This year we had grand plans to take Boaty out on one last adventure before the winter. We wanted to go camp at Lake Powell during fall break! Unfortunately, Mother Nature and the great old US Government got in the way of those plans (bad weather and a government shut down that closed national parks). So, we decided to make it a fun-tastic stay-cation instead! We made fun plans for everyday. We went bowling and got in Grandma Clark's hot tub, we went to the movies to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, we went to the pumpkin patch, we went to Nickelmania (Spencer's personal favorite)and we just had a lot of fun relaxing, sleeping in and hanging out together. Lake Powell would have been fun, but all that really matters is that we're together! Here are some photos of some of our fun!