Christmas Tree

We love going to look for a Christmas tree and finding the perfect one on the lot.  This year there were lots of different colored ones that the kids thought were pretty cool, but we settled on this tall skinny one instead.

 We got it home and the girls helped me put the lights on and then everyone helped with the decorations.

 And we had to hang our stockings too!

 This is the final product of all the kids' hard work today!  We're so excited it's Christmas time!

Thanksgiving in Iowa

We decided to take a road trip to Iowa this year for Thanksgiving.  Josh's sister Dixie and her family live there and it's been so long since we've been out there.  The kids were excited to go even though it meant a 14 hour drive to get there.  But Josh is a pro at driving through the night so we packed up and left Tuesday night after dinner.  The kids watched a couple movies then we all fell asleep until the next morning.  When we woke up Josh told us we were 45 minutes away!  Just like that we were almost there.  It worked out perfect.  We got to Dixie's and had breakfast and put Josh right to bed.  Scott and Dixie live on a farm and have 950 acres of land all around them.  It was so fun for the kids to be able to get out and run around in the open space.  They helped feed the chickens, gather eggs, feed the cows and all those farm life chores.  They thought it was awesome. 

Liev made fast friends with Nolan and was so excited to learn to shoot the bow and arrow.  He was a pro right from the start and that's all he wanted to do the rest of the week.

Thanksgiving Day was great.  Robin, Guy and their kids also drove out for the week and Andy flew in to be with the family too.  It was a great gathering of loved ones.  

All the cousins at one table - looks like too much fun!

 Rease and Rhen organized "I'm thankful for..." decorations.  They had everyone write down what they were thankful for and hung them up all over the house.  It was so cute and turned out to be the perfect thing for this Thanksgiving Day.

 Before we started for home I had to get a couple pictures of Keen and the animals that he fell in love with in Iowa.  He is an animal lover and could not get enough of the kitties and the dog.  He played in the garage all day everyday that we were there.  

 A picture of all the cousins.

 There was an ice storm the day before we left and this is what our van looked like as we were trying to pack it up.  It was so cold that the ice never really did melt until we were well on our way home.  

 And this happy camper made it all the way there and back without much of a squeak at all.  He was the best boy and actually so were the rest of the kids.  It was a great trip overall and we are so glad we got to go see Scott and Dixie and spend Thanksgiving with family!

Little Fire Chief

I'm not sure where we got this hat, but since it showed up at our house Beck can't stop wearing it.  He looks so darling though I can't resist those chubby cheeks!

Urinal

Josh took the boys to the bathroom at Costco and they thought these toilets were the coolest.  I love seeing these little buns peeking out at us!

New haircut

Keen's showing off his new haircut and how handsome he looks.  I was pretty sad to cut off his long hair, but it is actually a great change.  And he looks so cute with his shorter hair!  Perfect cut for the winter months!

Josh's ankle

Josh plays on an indoor soccer league with Andy.  They've been playing for about 6 months now but just recently they've had a string of injuries that makes me wonder if they should keep playing.  The latest one happened this week in a late night game.  When Josh was leaving the house I told him to try not to get hurt.  When he got home this is what his ankle looked like.  

 And this is what it looked like after 2 days.  Poor guy had sprained it so bad that the bruising and swelling went all the way up his calf and down to his toes.  We got some crutches for him and he's been getting around on them pretty good.  Oh how I wish he would just listen to me!  Here's to a quick recovery...

Muscle man haircut

Josh just gave Liev a haircut then had him pose in the mirror.  He is the skinniest boy with his ribs showing and underwear hanging off him!  But we love him showing off the muscles he has and his new haircut!

Rease's report card

Rease's teacher Miss Buker told us that she loves having Rease in her 3rd grade class.  She is a great leader and helps so much around the classroom.  She is also in the School of Rock for reading and the Monster Math group.  We are so proud of Rease and the good student she is!

Rhen's report card

We had parent teacher conference and Rhen's teacher Mrs. Woolley had only good things to say about her.  She said she is a great student and is becoming such a good reader.  She also says she is very respectful and fun to have in class.  She challenged her to get to level J reading so that she can join the School of Rock for reading.  Rhen is totally motivated to get working on that now!  We're so proud of her and her good grades!

Rease's piano recital

Rease has had such a good year with piano.  They had their year end recital tonight and she got to play a Harry Potter song "Hedwig's Theme."  She has been working very hard and even though it was a hard piece, she did really great!  I am so proud of her and all her hard work!

The Big Sock

Keen is pretty good at getting himself dressed in the mornings.  Besides the occasional inside out underwear and pants on backwards, he does good.  Today he put his sock on both feet and said, "look mom I got a big sock on!"

Volleyball

Rease played in her first volleyball league this year.  She was so excited to be old enough to play.  She had a fun little team and a great coach that was really positive and good with the girls.  He taught them each to serve overhand and Rease got to love setting the ball.  It was a fun season for her and I look forward to many more ahead.  I think she could be a great player with her height! 

The kids all loved going to watch her play too and were so excited to go every Saturday morning to her games.  Keen lovingly called it her "volleybally" games!

James Bond

Greg got us tickets to see the premier of the new James Bond.  The boys had to pose just like James and act like they were just as cool.  

Liev's school work

Liev loves his preschool class and teacher Miss Melanie.  He comes home almost every day with some sort of artwork or project he's done in class.  It is right up his alley because he loves to color and draw.  Here is some of his best work, including his name that he has recently learned to write on his own.  What a kid!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!  The kids have been so excited for this day to come and it's finally here!  We made a batch of homemade root beer and they thought the dry ice smoke was awesome.

 The kids were all super heroes this year.  Fun for them and easy for mom!

 And Mr. Beck was the cutest turtle of all.  So cute in his little cape!

 It was a perfect night for trick-or-treating.  The weather was great and warm enough to wear just a jacket.  The big kids said they wanted to go on their own and run to every house in the neighborhood.  Our neighborhood is safe and not too big so we decided that would be great.  They took off in a flash and Josh and I took the boys around.  We went down our street and up one other one then headed back home.  It was the perfect amount of time and they boys were happy with the candy they got.  

I love this picture of them at the doorstep of the Liddle's house.  Our big turtle boys!

Rease school artwork

I love this picture Rease made at school.  Creative and just in time for Halloween!

Garth Brooks

Josh, Andy and I went to the concert of a lifetime this week.  We were lucky enough to get tickets to see Garth Brooks!  I have wanted to see him in concert since I was a teenager and I finally got the chance.  And to make it even better, we had great seats.  The day tickets went on sale, I went online to get tickets and while I was waiting to get them for the Friday night show, new shows opened up and I grabbed our tickets for Thursday night as quick as I could.  We ended up with 4th row just to the side of the stage.  It was awesome!

I always knew he would put on a great concert but I don't think any of us knew how great it would be.  He is an amazing entertainer and had so much energy all night!  Plus he played all the good old stuff which is the best!  My teenage years were filled with Garth Brooks music so I have loved his music for a long time!  So great to hear it live and be entertained!  He was amazing!

Halloween Activities

There's always so many fun activities going on at Halloween time!  One of our favorites is the pumpkin patch and finding that perfect pumpkin to carve.  The boys thought it was so awesome to have their own wheelbarrows.  

 We joined mom and dad for their ward trunk or treat this year.  So fun and such cute costumes from everyone!  Plus the kids got to trunk or treat and they thought that was pretty cool!

 And the school did a Halloween parade so we could all see everyone's costumes.  It was a perfect day so they had the kids parade around outside while all the parents watched.  It was really cute to see all the costumes.  Then I was able to help at each of the girls Halloween parties and each lunch with them.  It was a great day filled with Halloween fun!

And of course Halloween isn't complete until pumpkins are carved.  Josh is the master at carving so he always takes this project on.  The kids love drawing their own face on their pumpkins and then watching dad carve it out.  So fun!

Beck

Beck is the best.  He's at such a fun, curious age and I can't get enough of his cute face!  These are three of his favorite things to do right now: get into the food in the pantry, climb into the cup drawer and put shoes on his hands.  So funny!  I love this boy!

BYU Football

We love having season tickets to the BYU Football games.  The kids have tons of fun and nothing beats a night at the stadium!  This year has been fun because the boys are old enough to come with us now.  As long as we keep them full of cougar tails and hot dogs, they are good!  I have such good memories of the games when I was a kid and I'm so glad we can keep up the tradition with our kids!  Go Cougs!

Funny Keen

Keen is such a funny boy.  I love that he's eating lunch with his bike helmet on.  That pretty much sums up how some of our days go.  Just hanging on and going with whatever happens!

Playing in the Sand

Having three boys in a row, I've realized that we need a sandbox in our backyard.  Josh told me that a couple years ago and I didn't really think it would be that important.  But all the boys want to do is play in the dirt or sand.  I took the kids to the park and Beck sat her for an hour just playing and throwing the sand.  I see now that Josh was right.  That will be our project next year.  

Gardner Village

This weekend we had Izzy and JT at our house and I wanted to take all the kids out and do something fun.  Hayley had Ranger and Paisley with her and was thinking the same thing, so we decided to take them to Gardner Village to see all the Halloween decorations and the witches.  It's a super cute place during Halloween cause of all the darling decorations.   I'm not sure what we were thinking though.  It turned out it was "Wee Witches Weekend" the day we went so parking was horrendous and the place was packed.  Not to mention that we had 14 kids under age 8 in our care.  We snapped these two pictures, got a carameled apple to share and that was about the extent of our trip.  It was just not the place to be on that particular day.  We'll probably think twice and do a little research next time we do something crazy with all those kids, but at least we got some cute pictures out of it!  Happy Halloween?

Play time at Barnes and Noble

I had to stop at Barnes and Noble for a couple things and was a little nervous about having the boys with me.  I hate going into stores when I know they're going to tear the place apart.  But we found this little block table for them to play at and they were happy as clams to play while I shopped.  It was awesome!  

Hangin with Uncle Greg

I love this cute pic of Liev and Keen on the trampline with Uncle Greg and Jax.  He is so fun to have around and the kids all love him so much!