Happy Halloween....

From a cop, little red riding hood, the blue man and a random chubby faced man. Kids are safely tucked away in bed now...which means that it’s time to rob a candy bag or two...👻👻👻

Popcorn balls...

Grace and Scarlett have been asking to learn new things to cook. For some reason popcorn balls has been the request this past week, Chris helped them today after church while I took a nap (and yes...it was heavenly) and guess what? So were their popcorn balls.

Grace and her picture taking skills...

Grace was up early taking pictures of this beautiful world we get to live in. If God didn’t create this than I’m a monkeys uncle (or aunt I guess.) I’m so grateful to see his hand in every good thing...

Is it really fall?

It was 67 degrees this weekend and almost felt like a cool summer day. The only difference is that the color of the leaves were completely breathtaking. The girls were determined to take lots of pictures and Connor even brought his unicycle. It was a beautiful and wonderful day...

Warmth...

It’s no secret that I freeze my rear end off if it’s less than 77 degrees in my house. Unfortunately for me, my husband doesn’t enjoy burning his buns off like I do. So where do I live? Right smack dab in front of the fireplace. It’s my very favorite place to be. 

P.S Grace gets full credit for the French braid. She’s simply amazing.

Sardines...

The best game ever...where one person hides and everyone else finds them. Once you find them you hide with them. I took the kids to our church today (as it was empty) and played this game. Imagine all the places to hide. It was perfect and it’s not the first time we’ve done this because it’s just plain awesome.

1970’s alert...

I found these little beauties tucked away in a church closet. They immediately brought back childhood memories of my mom in her glasses. It made me smile inside because she’s my mom and any and all memories of her bring me joy...even little ones like these.

P.S she rocked the glasses better than me...

Strength....

The girls have been taking gymnastics since the beginning of summer. Every time I watch them I’m simply amazed by their strength. Even when they are home it’s constant cartwheels, round offs, hand stands, back walkovers...you name it. They are truly determined and it makes me happy and even a little jealous because I wish I could be as strong as they are. I’m just so proud of these two for all their hard work.

Pumpkin time...

Because around here...traditions never get old.

Because he’s fantastic...

Do you see it? This handsome guy reading to his daughters? How’d I get so lucky to have married him. No one else can have him and even if someone else wanted him...he wouldn’t want them back because he loves me. I hope all of my girls find men as special

As him. One down...two to go.

Boys will be boys...and now and then they’ll be men.

I won’t lie. Sometimes I want to kill myself because there’s testosterone invading every possible space and filling my head up to my ears. There’s fighting and yelling and boys wanting to kill each other if provoked. So you can only imagine my relief and pure happiness when the boys played football together for an hour today without one single fight or argument breaking out. Normally an organized game where there’s competition involved results in hurt feelings and possibly hurt bodies. Not this time though...and I had to capture a photo or two so I could remember this moment forever....

White...

Today was a special day...at church we had our annual primary program where ages 3 to 12 sing the songs they have learned in church the past year and also bear testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and Jesus Christ.

Scarlett’s class wore white dresses and spoke about their baptisms because they were each baptized this year. It was absolutely beautiful to hear each of them speak about their own special experience. But what really struck me is that they all made mention of the fact that they “felt the spirit” when they came out of the water. I too felt that spirit at the age of 8 when I was baptized. I knew exactly what they meant and it touched my heart.

You never stop missing them....

When your children leave it eventually gets easier, after what seems like forever. But missing them? That will never cease.

I realized recently that my children miss their siblings too. Pictures like this are proof of that. Talking to Halee on the phone and grace or Scarlett asking me to tell her about how well they did on their handstand at gymnastics, or asking me to show her the dogs. Things like this prove that even though they seemed at times to despise each other...there’s really a whole lot of love deep down.

Bob Ross watch out...

Connor, Connor, Connor. I wonder if this child ever runs out of hobbies. He’s such a good artist. Right now he’s obsessed with vans. The lifted kind that look cool...although he’d never use the word “cool”...that’s a 90’s word, I’m sure. He spent a good hour drawing a van and of course it looked amazing. It almost made me want a van too...not quite though. Connors zest for trying new things in inspirational...

Something like pumpkins...

We decided to grow pumpkins this year, so yesterday evening some of the kids and I picked them from the garden. They ended up short and fat and a very pretty bright orange. I’m not even really sure they’re pumpkins at all...Chris is claiming we must have accidentally planted a weird squash variety but I don’t care. They shout out FALL and that’s what matters the most...

A little nurturing will do the trick...

Our little goose has been having sleeping troubles lately. She trotted in the kitchen around 10:30pm last night, frustrated. I made her a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich with a glass of milk...(you’re jealous reading that, aren’t you?) I’m talking to myself...because I am jealous. I want a sandwhich as I write this.

Anyway, there’s nothing like the comfort of a late night snack when you can’t sleep. I love Grace so much and would do anything to make her life more comfortable. 

P.S yes that’s WHITE wonder bread. White trash bread, to put it another way...and yes...it’s delicious and horrible for you.

Keep on trying..

This boy is in his second year of college at the tender age of seventeen. He studies his little heart out to get good grades. I’ve had people ask if he’s sad that he misses out on prom and other high school events that he’d be involved in had he not graduated early. I say this. He sure doesn’t seem sad. He seems happy to be accomplishing something that’s so difficult. It’s a road he’s chosen and he’s happy he did. We all have to choose which direction we go and thankfully we don’t all have to be from the same mold to be happy. Homeschool...high school...college....private school....we can be happy no matter where we are or what we do...

Sometimes you gotta just get out of town...

And that’s exactly what we did this weekend. We went away for two nights just to kiss the chaos goodbye. We went to the temple, ate good food, stayed up late watching movies and just chilled as a family. It was perfect.

P.S Connor wore this mask every time we got stuck in traffic and just stared out the window at people. It was pretty darn entertaining, to say the least....

The bug killers in my life...

It’s no secret. I hate bugs. I especially hate spiders. They are so fast and creepy and yucky and I have it in my head that if I go to kill it...it’ll either jump at me or maybe even eat me. You just never know. Every night before I go to bed I check under the covers for bugs. Here’s the blessing in it all...Chris used to be my only bug killer but now I have several teenage boys to help me kill bugs too...although, I think I passed down the scared Gene to Connor because he hates bugs too...

Passing down...

Tradition: the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation.

When Halee texted over general conference weekend to show us that her and Jared were making donuts (just as we have done on this special weekend for 15 years) I was more than thrilled. I told Chris “this is what makes traditions worth it.”

P.S we made donuts too...🍩🍩

When the boys are away...girls will play.

One last picture from our girls night. We ate pizza and came home to watch our movie. We also watched YouTube Makupe tutorials because it’s just plain fun. And we ate powdered donuts because who doesn’t love 50,000 calories once in a while? I also ended up having to chase a mosquito eater around the house with a towel and the girls seemed to find it hilarious how intense I got about it. I really missed Chris at that moment. He kills all living insects for me.