Halloween fun...

Tonight was Halloween and the kids were super excited. We had several last minute costume switcharoos but it all worked out just fine.

My boys. Em the naughty cowboy (naughty was his own stipulation) and Rugs the firefighter. Rugby was pretty sick with a fever and soar throat but he really didn't want to miss out so I let him go.
The whole crowd with grandpa. Rugby, Emerson, Chloe, Grandpa, Zoey (dressed as Grandpa the dentist), Max, Caleb, Breckyn, and Maddie.
Our cute little crowd. We had a lot of fun and a really lot of candy. Happy Halloween!!

my cowboy...

baby squirt...

good night my pretty pretty candy...

Halloween Parties...

Both of the girlies had a Halloween party to go to today. The parties were a little sketchy but they enjoyed dressing up.

Zoey went as a cat...
...she scored tons of loot at her party...
Breckyn wanted to go as "not and ugly witch."
She is a pretty pretty witch. She wouldn't even let me give her a wart-- go figure....

further explination...

OK, I'm not that cruel. A few Halloweens ago I had him be Paul Hamm after he won gold. (all the other years he was a super hero of some sort) It wasn't all that bad-- he already had the sweat suit and he looked super cute in a headband. He had the matching red hair and a fake gold metal. See.... no tights involved at all. I'm sure he won't have therapy about this one.... maybe...

Pumpkin fun...

It's Monday night family night!!! Tonight we did a great lesson about uniting our family and our activity was carving pumpkins. We had a great night and so did the kids.

Em's was the first one done because he opted to have Mom do all of the grunt work. Smart kid!
Breckyn decided to use Mr.Potato Head pieces to give hers a little bit of character. Rugby wanted his to look sad because he just got his brains scooped out and holes carved in his head-- that'd make me sad too.... Z wanted hers to be winking and Em didn't care.
Here are my big school girlies...

a little taste of our crazy family fun. I think at one point everyone is talking at the same time.

sneak peek....

Rugby has decided that anything from Aunt Jodi is the coolest no matter what. Jodi offered him a few of Caleb's old costumes for Halloween and Rugs thought it was super cool. Jodi suggested that he should be Darth Vader. He didn't need a whole lot of pushing because all things cool come from the Barlows. So Zoey says, "You don't even know who that guy is!" He says, "Yeah, I do... Mom who is that guy?" I told him he was a naughty guy from an old movie and he was all about being him for Halloween. He still has no clue who he is but he knows two things-- Darth Vader is naughty and Jodi gave it to him to use-- Done! That's all he needed to know. So here is your sneak peak to yet another Halloween of fun.

Football...

We all got a chance to see Caleb in action last night. He had a game and we all came to see him-- not even the rain could stop us.

The gang was all there (the men were down the field to get a better view).
Barlow (on his birthday) proudly watching his little man from the sidelines.
Caleb looking pretty cool on the field-- ready for anything.
Here he is stopping to get refueled. I told him I'm so glad his shirt says Elkhorn and not Shannon Park.... it's so nice to have the Barlows here. Go Caleb!!!

muscles...

Here are the much anticipated pictures of my underoo boys...

Those are some nice lookin' pits huh?!?
Rugby's explosion muscles... his latest of many super cool tricks.

This guy is his Dad's younger clone. They are so much a like it's scarey! Can you see a hint of T-Bone in him?!?
Emerson's attempt at muscles-- but it's mostly elbows. (still way tough though)

Underoos!

Yesterday I found some amazing sales at Target. They were clearancing all of their underwear. It was down to $1.28 for whole packs of undershirts, underwear, and my personal favorite-- underoos. I never buy underoos because they are always 8 or 9 dollars a pair!!! (for something they might pee on--- no thank you) But these clearance ones were so worth it. Underoos come with a pair of superhero underwear and a matching undershirt with the same guy on it. I brought them home and washed them up-- the boys could hardly contain themselves. They showered and put on their jammies at 4:30 so they could put on the new undies. In the mean time I'm downstairs making dinner and they come racing down in the undies, shorts, and just the undershirt. (uh, not what I was thinking but doable) The undershirt happens to be in the "wife beater" style which is super cool to the boys. Rugby yells, "Hey Mom, look at this!!! When I put my arms up everyone can see my pits! Isn't that awesome?" (yeah, awesome was just what I was thinking-- yeah right) So the rest of the evening was spent with the girls and I seeing nothing but pits every time we looked in the boys direction. Lucky us! (stupid sale)

dog days...

Jodi and her baby Owen after a quick bath...
what a face...
Zoey and Yaya taking cover from the rain...
Mom bought the girls fuzzy slipper socks... they don't go too well with shoes...
Here is my little puppy-- woof!

a few videos...

Here are the boys doing a little hsm2. (high school musical 2) If you've seen it, you'll appreciate their rendition. If not-- it's still pretty funny...

Breckyn and her newest friend...

Zoey saying hi to her baby Cam...

garbage guy...

I leave Tim alone with him for a few minutes and he puts this little one right to work. (Although, I think Em was pretty excited about helping out)

Zo-Zo

Here is a little clip of my bubbling little girl...

just a thought...

I know it's been a little while since I've blogged-- sorry. I've been a little overwhelmed with my current position. (you know, mom, first lady, vice president of the home office, ... whatever you like to call it...) I got a chance to watch general conference this weekend. (for those of you who aren't familiar with this, it's a conference put on by our church twice a year to help us become better people. We have several speakers over the course of the weekend, including our prophet, to help motivate us to more closely align our lives with Christ.) Anyway, a few of the talks got me thinking about my current position. I want to do better. I was hoping that's where you all would come in.... I want to know what you do to make your kids feel loved. I want to know some good ideas for family nights, date nights, and other things that you do to help your kids feel special. Do you ever feel like you are just making it through the day checking off the list but not really connecting with your kids? I want more of the good stuff and less of the fluff stuff. Tell me about your good stuff... no getting embarrassed. I just want your best ideas...

my funny boys...

The boys are dancing to one of their favorite songs for Cam. Cars Rules!

They both miss little Rex so much! Here's one for you too Rex...