Thanksgiving

We got to spend Thanksgiving in Logan at my sister Emilee's house. It was a lot of fun and almost all of my family was there except the ones that live in Florida- but with modern technology they still made it into the cousin picture. My kids were so surprised when I showed them the photoshop version- those cousins weren't there!

My mom made matching dresses for all the little girls, and they are so cute, my girls wear them almost every Sunday. 

We did get one good picture but most of the photo shoot was like this

The next day my grandma had her annual Christmas party, we were excited since we don't usually get to go.  Carrie won these for guessing how many kisses in a jar.

And Spencer (and the boys team) won the dress up like Rudolf contest, so a good time all around

We went to see Santa, but only the boys were brave enough.  Leah was seriously terrified of Santa this year. 

The nest day we went to Nickelcade with Gabe's family

This is a rollercoaster ride- their faces are so funny

The last nickels were spent working as an X-men team to defeat villains.  We had a really fun trip.

November

 Leah in the dress we bought in Mexico before we had any girls, she is a cutie

 James and Carrie are either best friends or worst enemies, but I couldn't resist getting a picture of him reading to her, how cute!

 Carrie is not following our example, we do not talk on cell phones while driving (or remotes while sitting in a cardboard box- how dangerous)

 Day after Halloween hair and activities.

 Carrie has inherited a love for stuffed animals from her brothers

 Spencer decided this would be a good hat for Leah, but it slipped down over her head and would not come off.  We wended up having to use Vaseline to get it off, at least we didn't have to cut it.  Devon always misses the exciting adventures, he was on a work trip.

 Spencer the Christmas tree- inspired by the book "Mooseletoe," if you haven't read it you should!

Halloween

Halloween is a big deal at our house. Spencer starts decorating in August! These pictures are not in order, but just a demonstration of all our Halloween festivities.

Our neighbor who also loves Halloween dresses up for Halloween.  His Halloween decorations are amazing, and include him.  Leah would not go anywhere near him, but the other kids were okay.

Our pumpkins, all from our garden, actually i think James' is from a neighbors because he wanted a really small one.

Our own little monkey

Carrie was a pink witch with pink hair.

Thankfully the boys wanted to reuse the costumes grandma made last year.

Curious George and the man with yellow hat.  All of our kids have worn this costume.

James won a cake at the school carnival.  Spencer wanted to host a booth to earn money for a circus tent to read in.  He did a great job and earned about $20, but decided not to buy a tent, he's more into magic right now.

Carrie and Leah before we went to the Halloween parade at the school

Carrie saw Spencer's friend and had to run give him a hug. 

Spencer hosted a Halloween party that was lots of fun.  We had a Mummy relay, a Spider toss and a few more games

Devon bought a green screen to take cool pictures and change backgrounds

Everyone's favorite thing at the party was the doughnut eating contest.  I even tried it, and decided that is not the way to best enjoy eating a doughnut, but it was really fun.

And the girls danced the night away!

Hikes

 In October our friends the Whites- our previous senior missionary couple- came to visit and hike.  They are always up for a good adventure, and we always like the excuse to adventure.  We did House on Fire, and since its a relatively short hike and it was a nice day it was probably the most people we had ever had on a hike. 

 James loves to lead- and he is a great hiker, but at one point all of the kids were far ahead chasing the Jolley's new puppy and no adults, i had to pick up my meandering pace that Carrie likes to set and catch up, but now harm done.

 Our kids love to be with the Jolley kids.  Their dad is a new dentist here, but they live in American Fork and visit whenever possible.  It was fun to have them join.

 After the hike we went to Bluff Fort, no matter how many times we go our kids always love it!

 The next day Devon had to work but I took the Jolleys and the Whites on what i remember being a shorter hike close to here, the Lee Cly trail.  It was still fun but Elder- or Brother White had to carry Carrie for a while, and the boys of course were far ahead.  We came around a corner and James said "I lost two teeth and swallowed one!"  the tooth fairy still brought money for both though.

a lot of October

So it's been a long time, so we will do the usual explosion of pictures with short explanations. Our internet is so much faster now maybe i will keep up- if i ever get caught up!

We took some new people to Corkscrew canyon, it was filled with water so we didn't venture in but people without kids made it all the way through.  It was a good little break for us though

In the beginning of October Devon met his brother and dad in Washington state for a boys trip. He had a great time and it was nice for him to relax without the kids or work.

I made the girls matching fall dresses, they turned out pretty cute- the dresses and the girls!

Devon got to take pictures of the high school football field for a book about football- we do have the best backdrop to watch a football game.

I brought a box of leaves back from Blanding since we don't have any of our own here, perfect amount to play in but not too many to rake.

Leah not sure about the coldness of ice cream, I'm sure she ate it though

Just a cool picture

James saw this at a gift shop and wanted to buy it but we convinced him we could take a picture and see if it was cheaper online- and see if he wanted to spend his money on it.  He got home and found a box and asked me to cut holes in it and made his own for free.  Good job saving $30!

While Devon was gone i took the kids to the sand dunes between conference sessions.  I was pretty proud of myself, and it was a lot of fun.  the only mishap was that Spencer buried both of my shoes, and we never could find one of them again.  Good thing they were cheap flip flops!

I tried a lot to recreate our blog header picture with Leah added, but the sun was in the wrong place and I'm not a great photographer.

Also while Devon was gone Leah had her first fever and she was like this ALL OF THE TIME!  I though maybe just teeth, or ear infection, finally she got a rash and I realized it was Rosela.  For such a calm easy baby she is no fun when she is sick.

Great big and really little watermelons from our garden.  This was our first successful year with melons.  We had normal watermelons and a kind called Hopi melons with yellow flesh.  It was a fun surprise to cut them open because they look the same from the outside.

Teddy Bear clinic- free teddy bears and lots more stuff, one of my kids favorite things!

Carrie and her friends playing in the leaves.

James got a black eye.  We tried to get him to tell a funny story, but it was actually pretty boring, he tried to climb on a trampoline when Spencer was already jumping and Spencer's knee came down on his eye.

Spencer's flu shot swelled up as usual, but not as bad as it did when he was little, I guess I shouldn't be surprised he hates shots.

Daddy is so big and strong!

Crazy hair day for red ribbon week

We must have made something yummy

this is why my whole house is never clean at once, if I'm cleaning one room someone is messing up another!