Carving Pumpkins

Our kids couldn't wait any longer to carve pumpkins, so today was the day.

Eeeeww! Getting out the insides is gross, but roasting the seeds is delicious!

We were so glad that Dan, Mikaela and Shad were able to stay with us this weekend. They are wonderful guests, and they were great to have around to help out with the carving.

Shad was one serious dude during the carving. I took a couple of pictures trying to get a smile, but he was wanting to be very serious. He is so cute!

Here is Aliza's creation. She drew on the face, and we did the cutting. Cute!

Abbie wanted to do a cat pumpkin which turned out well also. She did add ears and a tail after we took this picture. I'll have to take another one before Halloween is over.

Avery decided to go with a scar face this year. It looks very scary!

I found this cute list Avery wrote a few weeks ago, and had to take a picture of it. She of course had to fit in high heels and lipstick, or I wouldn't have believed it was actually written by Avery. She is quite my glamour girl.

Abbie has had these shark posters hanging on her door for quite some time. She really would like to be an oceanographer when she gets older, and I think that is fantastic.

She did a beluga whale report last year in school, and has that also hanging on her closet door. If you would like to "Save the Sharks" she is the right girl to talk to. You may be thinking "why do we need to save the sharks?" Abbie knows all about different species of sharks and what we can do to help. Just ask her the next time you see her and she would love to tell you all about them. She knows a lot more than I do.

I love it!

This Weekend

Micah's sister, Myndi, and her three kids were able to come spend a day with us yesterday. It was so fun to have family around, and we had a great time at Lake Las Vegas. Abbie has alway's wanted to rent paddle boats there, so she finally got her wish. Aliza couldn't wait to get in a boat. She had her lifejacket on ready to go long before it was her turn.

I love any opportunity to head over to Lake Las Vegas, because it is so beautiful. One of these day's Micah and I are going to have a date there at one of the fancy restaurants. We WILL make it there someday.

This was the first boat load to head out. Myndi, Zoee, Zayden and Abbie were the brave ones to try it first. It was funny to look out and see them going everywhere on the water, and then when they were headed back to shore they were using their arms to paddle because their legs were too tired.

I'm so sad this picture of Aliza and her cousin Zaylie didn't work out. I still posted it because these two just love being together. They patiently waited together for the next boat ride with Micah.

I was a little worried about my back, so I got to just sit in the shade and watch. With a view like this, it was wonderful.

With all the yucky fish you could see in the water, I felt like these three were brave to just dangle their feet in. I'm surprised they didn't get a sucker fish stuck to one of their toes. Yuck!

We ended our adventure with gelato, and headed home for a bbq and swimming in our pool. It was such a fun day, and we were all sad to see them head home.

Brian Head

Two weekends ago we were able to head to Brianhead with a couple of wonderful families in our ward for a cold, but wonderful weekend. It was crazy to leave Vegas and head to this...

It was beautiful, and nice for a change of scenery. Knowing that the weather was going to be very cold, it took a lot of time packing for this trip digging through all our winter stuff to make sure everyone had gloves, hats, and snow shoes. We haven't used any of our snow gear in a very long time.

The kids were in heaven playing in the snow. The men made a nice sledding area, and the kids were out there for hours. We also had four wheelers, and this Rhino to play around on. I think the men got stuck in the snow several times, but as you can see from the next picture they were in heaven also. There were no casualties...so that's good.

My camera was acting crazy, so luckily Kristi shared all these fun pictures with me. Thank you Kristi!

Here's Abbie heading up the sledding hill right on the side of the cabin. I think she spent the most time in the snow, and was complaining every time we asked her to come in to warm up. It was quite a treat to be able to play in the snow.

Bundled up Lizzie with her good friend Hugh. This picture of her reminds me of the movie "The Christmas Story" when the boy is all bundled to go outside, and can hardly move. He he he.

This is Avery and her great friend Ellis. It was a wonderful weekend full of yummy food, wonderful friends, movies, and lots and lots of hot chocolate. A big thanks to great friends that made this weekend possible--we will never forget this wonderful weekend Mr. and Mrs. President. :)

Honk Honk

While sitting in church yesterday, there was a mission homecoming of a couple in our ward who served an 18 month mission in Hong Kong. What's crazy about that is we have lived here long enough that we were here in Henderson when they left on their mission. It was a funny Sacrament Meeting not only because I realized that we have lived here for quite some time (man, time flies), but I was also reminded of a funny thing Avery did when they left a year and a half ago. When they spoke in church before they left on their mission, that evening sitting around the dinner table we were talking as a family about church that day. Avery chimed in on the conversation by saying something to the effect of "I just don't know why they kept saying honk honk in church today." It"s so fun to be reminded of the cute things my kids say.

They also practiced for the Primary Program yesterday. I look forward to that one time a year that the Primary children take over Sacrament meeting. Well, I guess it's my favorite Sunday if I can sit back and watch without any responsibility. I can appreciate the hard work that goes into it, but I would just rather watch. I was told after their practice that when it was Aliza's turn to say her part in the microphone she leaned over to her teacher and said "I can do this myself," and then proceeded to say her line. I love her independent personality even at four years old. I can't wait to see the whole program next week.

Student of the Month

I'm such a proud mom! Last week Abbie was given the Student of the Month award. She was so excited and pleased that she was the first one for the year in her class. Micah had a meeting with one of her teachers last week who mentioned to him that she is a model student, always on task, and doing what she is asked. Those are always good things to hear when you are a parent.

Not only that, but she also ran for Choir President last week, and SHE WON. It was a wonderful week for her.

I was also very proud of her because they had Student Council elections last week. She had made the decision that because she was on Student Council last year, she would give someone else a chance by not running this year. I'm so proud of her for being so thoughtful, and putting others before herself. I feel so lucky and blessed to be her mom.

Birthday/Marathon

On September 30th, Micah finally turned 34. The joke in our family is that mom is the oldest, and I get teased about it constantly. The only good thing about it is that it only lasts a few months out of the year. We are technically the same age for seven months of the year, the other five months I get my fair share of teasing about being the oldest. We are now the same age...and that is wonderful.

We had our usual celebrations the day before his birthday, because we were headed to St. George the next day for his real birthday.

The kids are always so excited to get out all the party hats, banners and fix the birthday persons favorite meal. Since Micah isn't a big cake fan we made his favorite chocolate chip cookies with ice cream. Yum!

We then headed to St. George the next day to celebrate three birthdays, a graduation, and get ready for the St. George Marathon. Micah, his two brothers, and one sister were all running together which was so fun to watch. Micah's parents were wonderful to rent us all a house together, and the runners were able to get in their pasta dinner all together at the house before the big day.

I had to snag a picture of Grammie and Lizzie waiting for the runners. It was amazing to watch as the runners made their way to the finish line. Abbie was so sweet to keep yelling at runners "don't give up" or "you can do it." I thought it was very nice of her to cheer all of them on.

We were waiting for quite some time before they came running by, so the kids made the most out of it and played together on the side of the road. Such cute cousins.

Micah did amazing! He was the first of his siblings to go across the finish line at 3 hours and 33 minutes. They all did amazing, and it was so wonderful to see them doing this together.

I can't even imagine running for 26.2 miles. That is quite an accomplishment, and I can't believe that they are talking about doing more races in the near future. They are all amazing!

Here is the whole crew. We were able to see our cute niece Kennedy get a blessing on Sunday before heading home. It was a very eventful, and fun weekend. We are proud of you Micah!