Halloween 2009

This was a busy Halloween! Friday night we had the school carnival as well as the ward chili cook off/Trunk-or-Treat. I made my friend Amy's Creamy Chicken White Chili. She won best Chili last year, and since she just had a baby and I figured she wouldn't be making a big bath of chili, I used her recipe, with permission, and took home Best White Chili. Guess I don't have Amy's magic touch, but at least I got an award. Friday night Blake was Spiderman. That had to switch on Halloween since he couldn't find where he had taken it off the night before. Thanks to Aunt Kathy, who gave all the kids skeleton t-shirts a few years ago, Halloween was saved. Caleb wore Blake's old shirt, and Blake wore Rachel's old one. They actually looked cute as matching skeletons. Emily is a rock star, because in her words, "I am a really good singer." Rachel was brave and let me come up with a cupcake costume. Got most of our ideas from www.coolest-homemade-costumes.com. She loves all things cupcakes and wants to own her own bakery some day. She got tons of compliments, even if she was a bit uncomfortable. Poor girl couldn't put her arms down. Jon teased that I was passing along the curse of this costume from the past... At least Rachel could see.

This is why...

This is why we put up with days over 110. It is called October and it is beautiful. Warm days and cool mornings. We can open the windows and air out the house from being shut all summer. The sun not getting up so early and my kids starting to sleep in a little (well, for my kids it's sleeping in). Not having to wear a big winter coat over your Halloween costume. Kids still wearing their shorts to school. Laughing at your swimming kids when they say they are freezing, and it's 88 degrees outside. Thanks mom and dad for one last summer swim for a fun
Family Home Evening!

Disneyland 2009

Everyone at the Magic Kingdom
1st up... Tea Cups. You can see all the other cups are empty. We walked on to several rides. September was a fantastic time to go!
The kids finally get to meet Mickey!
Pixie Hollow heaven for one 6 year old girl who LOVES fairies.
The classic shot.
Three very tired kids at the end of the 3rd day. Thank goodness Kathy and Dave made it up that day since they "couldn't take another step."
Dave and Emmy take on the Evil Zurg
New 3-D Toy Story ride was a blast, even though it had the longest line of all.
The best way to spot other Mormons at Disneyland...wear something that says BYU. We got all sorts of shout outs and Go Cougars!
Rachel, Blake, and Emily dancing in the parade. Rachel said, "Mom I just wasn't feeling any of that Disney magic until the parade, and then I thought, 'There's the magic!!"
California Adventure - Emily was bummed there was no E in California
Girls meet Belle - Jon took the boys to Toon Town

Blake meets Mater and Lightning McQueen. I had a hard time getting Caleb to leave the area!
Caleb meets Jessie - Then everyone got to meet Woody!

Happy Birthday to Emily

Happy 6th birthday to our sweet Emily. Emily makes me smile and has a great sense of humor. I think Emily is a bit of a sneak but a horrible liar so I think we're ok. She'll try to pull stuff, but won't get away with it. She is a smarty and loves her siblings (when she's not in a fight with them). I love to her her explain things to Blake that she has learned in school or Primary. Emily is in love with all things Pixie Hollow, and having just met several of her fairy friends, it seemed perfect for her b-day cake.


Emily making a grand arrival at 10 pounds!!2 years old

Lucky girl got to go to Disneyland for her b-day. (We were planning on going anyway, just made sure it was during her b-day) Since Disney is having a get in free on your b-day special, and we already had our passes, she got the equivalent of the price of a one day admission in the form of a gift card - $62!!! She got a pass to get our entire family to the front of any line - Thank you! And she wore her big badge all day, so EVERYONE wished her happy birthday.

With Emily turning 6 our family is now officially 2, 4, 6, 8 - The girls think that is way cool.

We celebrated at Aunt Kathy's and her cousins Andy and Ashley came. She took her new scooter out for a spin.

September

I am loving the girls being in school and having time to hang with just the boys. So nice to go somewhere with just 2 kids. Here we are waiting for the music store to open. Rachel just started piano (which she loves) so we were out getting her books.
Amazing clouds in our back yard tonight - nothing came of it, but what an incredible sunset!
This storm was last Saturday morning - we got 1.25 inches in 2 hours. There was a lightning and thunder show to go along with it. I think the kids sat outside for 30 minutes straight. They had to have towels on because it was cold - 69 degrees! The best was that when I took the picture they all got excited because they thought the flash was more lightning!
Blake's 1st day of pre-school...finally. He has been putting on his back pack and asking everyday if it was time for school.
Here's Blake with his classmates - all boys. This is going to be fun!
Blake really needs pre-school as he hates to color so he never does it. Here is his first picture ever (besides scribbling). It is a jungle and the big yellow things are bananas. He is so very proud of it and made a 2nd jungle picture again today (with even bigger bananas)
Rise and shout the Cougars are out!!! We had a great time at my mom's watching BYU beat 3rd ranked Oklahoma! We donned our shirts again on Monday for free chicken sandwiches at Chick-Fil-A
I took some time to take the 3rd Wilton Cake class. I wasn't about to do the final cake in the book that had 30 hand made roses, but I didn't want to do the other one either as it seemed like something I could do on my own without help. I wanted to get some help while I had an instructor available, so I did everything else from the class. It's a little busy, but I knew the kids would love it.
Never give a 2 year old a fudge-cicle in the AZ heat, unsupervised ...unless you go swimming after to wash up. (The shirt is ruined)Caleb with 2 of his favorite things - cars and his dad. Who knew they went so well together.

Rachel's Baptism

Can't believe my baby girl is eight and was baptized. She is such a great girl and a good example to Emily, Blake and Caleb. She always tries to do what is right, and worries so much about doing something wrong. And because of that, and understanding the importance of what baptism is, she was a little nervous. It was a fantastic day with lots of family and friends. She was the only kid in our ward this month so she got to have the whole program all to her self, which made it very personal. She had lots of family participate in the program. That afternoon I had her write down her feelings in her new journal. She said, "I felt good in side and I felt I was doing the rite thing. I flet happy, importan, and that Hemenly Father loves me."

My mom and sister made Rachel's dress with left over fabric from when they made my weeding dress. She looked so beautiful and grown up!

Rachel and her dad

We had everyone over for lunch afterwards. There's a place in Mesa that make "8" sub sandwiches. Very cool!!

1st Day of School - 2009

School started last Monday, when it was 114. (Doesn't sound like summer is over, does it?) I'm really pleased with the teachers and classes that the girls have (other than the size of Rachel's class). With Rachel's 2 best friends gone, I was really hoping for a lot of friends to be in her class. She has a TON! - Four or five girls from the ward, and several from her class last year. What a blessing. She also got her cast off just before school started, but no PE or playground until September. Emily will have 2 teachers this year. They both just had babies and are sharing a contract. They are both fantastic teachers and I think Emmy will do ok with the switching. All the ward kids she knows are in other classes and not very many kids from her class last year are in her class this year - but who wouldn't want to be friends with Emily :) And I am really enjoying have just the boys home ALL day!!!