Our Halloween 2009

This was how we started the day- pumpkin jack-o-lantern pancakes. Be impressed. Be very impressed.

And they were really good, too.

Later, after several hours of hard labor on the kids' part, we went to Rebekah's volleyball game. She did an awesome job, and they won in two games.

Then it was FINALLY time to trick-or-treat.

Rebekah declined the childish ritual of going door-t0-door for the more adult role of candy dispenser. Doesn't she make a good Vanna?

Annie the princess. She started in the wagon, having complained of a hurt leg, but soon overcame the pain for the promise of candy. We ditched the wagon after only a few houses.

Emma the fairy princess. The coat detracts a little, but what can I say- she stayed warm.

My three vikings. I MADE those costumes. I can just hear the stories now... "When I was a kid, my Mom slaved over the duct tape and papier mache to make me the most awesome Viking costume ever. That was when I knew how much she really loved me." Yeah. Nice dream, huh?

Well, it was fun, but I'm ever-so-glad it's over.

On to the real holidays.

Dress-up Night!

For Young Women in Excellence this year, they had the girls all dress up and based the evening around a princess theme. Rebekah borrowed a dress and looked beautiful... and way too grown up. I was very impressed with how poised she was. I have to stop and remind myself frequently that she is still only 13.

Rebekah with her presentation- she made a slide show about her service projects from this summer.

Tim was her escort for the evening. I'm just glad she's got awhile before the real dates start!


It's so nice to come home to scenes like this one!

Flu Season

It's that time of year, I guess. I'm not even sure that what we've had is actually the flu, but we've had some pretty miserable kids around here. Emma missed three days of school this week, and Annie got sick Friday- and she'll miss the Primary program tomorrow. She's pretty sad about that, but I'm really trying not to get anyone else sick! I'm hopeful that the rest of the kids will dodge the bullet, but Rebekah fell asleep at 9:00 tonight (totally unusual for her), and Josh just told me he has a headache. This may be a long few weeks.

On the bright side, no bodily fluids have been involved so far- just fevers and a few coughs and body aches. To me, fevers are the best kind of sick- they keep the kids quiet and resting, but involve no clean-up. Still, though, I'll be glad to see all of our kiddos up and running around again.

End of the Season

I have loved this fall sports season... but I admit I'm a little glad to see it coming to an end. Soccer ended two weeks ago, and the football tournament was today. We've only got volleyball left now- and at least that one is indoors. No freezing on the sidelines!

The boys took second place in their tournament today- they had a fun team.

I am constantly amazed by these two- they are a head taller than anyone else on their team, and are starting to look so old to me. I'm not sure I'm ready for the next few years, as we descend into teenagerhood. I'm pretty sure that's not a word. Oh well- live with it.

Falling Leaves and Funny Kids

I'm sparkling... and no, I'm not a vampire.

This is a public apology to whoever in the 4th ward sat on our bench at church after we did yesterday. You are, doubtless, covered in blue glitter.

Why can't I think of these things before I check out at the store?

Last week, at church, I could see Emma's underwear when she was sitting normally- all of her dresses are suddenly too short. I had seen some beautiful, velvety dresses at Costco for $18, so I decided this was good timing- and I bought her a gorgeous, sparkly black and turquoise dress. She is in love with it. She hung it in her closet reluctantly, reassured only by my promise that she could wear it to church this week.

Yesterday morning, she dressed enthusiastically, even letting me curl her hair (not an easy concession for her), and she looked beautiful. All was well until just before church started. I was up on the stand (subbing for Dad, the chorister), when Tim walked up laughing and saying, "Look at me!" I couldn't tell what he was talking about until he got really close, but then it became obvious... he was blue and glittery. Emma had sat on his lap, and apparently the glitter on her dress is not permanent.

It only got worse from there- blue glitter everywhere. All of us were covered. When we got up after the meeting ended, we left a legacy behind. Tim stayed to brush off the bench, but textured cushion + glitter = not coming off. It may be permanent. I guess we'll see when we get back next week.

Baby Day at the Zoo!

We have taken this same picture quite a few times over this last year. We bought a zoo membership on Annie's birthday a year ago, and have been back about 6 times. We decided to go one last time before it expired, especially so we could see all the new babies. We were not disappointed!

I think we were the first ones in the zoo in the morning- and for good reason. It was freezing! Pretty nice to have the zoo to ourselves for the first hour, though. We loved our one-on-one time with these cute babies:

1- Baby giraffe. Taller than me already. Trying to eat the fence. Extremely cute.

2- Baby tiger cubs. This was the only one awake and alert- isn't he a cutie?

This is the best picture I could get of all three cubs. Pretty much just looks like a puddle of tiger (reminds me of "Lil' Sambo" from when I was a kid- they don't tell that story anymore!)

3- Baby Meercats. Nothing unusual here- there are almost always baby meercats. But they're fun to watch, anyway.

There was also a baby snow leopard, a baby siamese crocodile, and a baby colubus monkey. The definite star of the show, though, was Zuri, the new baby elephant. Seriously, if you haven't been to the zoo to see her yet, GO! She was just about the cutest thing I have ever seen. Tiny, compared to her mother (although she weighs 330 pounds already), and so curious- she reminded me lots of a human baby.

We were glad we went- even though our fingers were frozen by the end. Now we're trying to decide if we want to get another zoo membership, or if we should branch out and try something different this year. Any suggestions?

Toothless Em

Just had to show off Emma's cute new smile. She is pretty adorable.

Annie Turns 5!!

Unbelievably, our cute little baby Annie turned 5 this week. Okay, so she's not a baby. But I still think she should be. Annie is the perfect youngest child- she loves her older brothers and sisters, gets along with all of them, doesn't mind being bossed around a little, and is an amazing worker around the house- she LIKES organizing and cleaning. How did I get so lucky? I'm not sure what I'm going to do when she starts kindergarten next year- I'm just glad she missed the deadline for this year!

With her preschool poster- she got to bring treats, too. Is it bad that I counted that as her friend party?

In her Sunday dress for her birthday. Annie was born the morning after General Conference 5 years ago- her birthday was on Conference Sunday this year. She's just destined to have lots of birthdays in between sessions, I think.

Opening presents. We had our family, and both sets of grandparents there to make a fuss. What a lucky kid.

Awesome cd player/cassette player from G&G Steele. I'm not sure what's up with the smile (or lack thereof), Lately, when I tell her to smile for a picture, that's what I get. It's her "mature" version of a smile, I guess.

I lucked out in the cake department this year- she wanted a flat cake with writing and sprinkles on it. That, I can do.


Another present- the sleeping beauty costume. I think I need to get her a bodysuit to go under it.

Annie is a sweetheart- we all enjoy her in our family. It is a little hard for me to see her getting so big, but it is also fun to see her learning and growing. I love you, Annie!

What we've been up to.

Visiting the duck pond- this was a bid to get the kids away from t.v./video games/computer on a beautiful day after school. It's nice that there are places to get away even in the middle of everything.

This is part of Emma's soccer team- notice that she is fixing her hair. Not unusual.

Ethan's soccer game. Yes, I've been spending a lot of time in a folding chair lately. At least the weather's been nice up until now.

Emma's creation! The blocks were part of a bag that the girls checked out from the library. We even managed to take it back without losing pieces!

Flag football- I love the look of concentration on Josh's face.

The boys have been doing well this year- they're starting to have the whole idea of football figured out now- it wasn't quite there last year.

On a Sunday afternoon drive to see the colors. It was beautiful. Unfortunately, everyone else in the county had the same idea, and it was bumper to bumper most of the way around the Alpine Loop. As a result, we didn't ever stop and get out of the car. These are taken from the window.

This is our own special brand of forced togetherness. This trip was particularly successful. Tim didn't have to sit in the back between fighting kids, and no one threw up. Amazing.

And finally, snow! This isn't a great picture, but isn't the snow on Timp pretty? If it could only stay up there all winter....

I love fall.