Cute Kids

Jillian giving kisses

Jillian and Eric

Jillian, making an "ooo" face that she does when she's interested in something



Colton wearing Lindsey's boots - he declared, "yeehaw!"



Our New Sunbeam

Colton turned 3 in July. With the coming of a new year, that meant that he is now old enough for Primary. On New Year's Eve, one of his teachers came by with a goodie bag and introduced herself to him. He was shy when he met her. We talked about going to Primary a couple times throughout the week. I thought I'd be met with hesitation from him and that he'd want to stay in nursery. There weren't any signs of it. He easily went into Primary when Sunday came. Colton was all smiles after church and said that he loved Primary. He even started to sing one of the songs, "I Am a Child of God." I think he's going to love Primary. It's just hard to believe that he's too old for nursery now!

Bonus November Pictures

Colton and Kaylen with Piggy Pie from school. They both LOVE the pig.

Tuesdays are long days for us. Kaylen usually falls asleep on the way home from Grandma's.

Colton loves bubbles

Colton - a typical look after any meal

Colton on Spencer's Tony Hawk wii board

Bonus October Pictures

The following pictures are just extra October pictures.

This is one of Colton's creations


Colton fell asleep one morning, just before we needed to run errands.
He's upstairs, almost ready to come down the stairs.

Kaylen made this at school

Me with my newest niece, Ava

Kaylen and Lindsey making bread

Kaylen practicing tumbling moves

Pumpkin Patch

We weren't able to all get to the pumpkin patch at the same time this year, so there are two different times we went. The first pumpkin patch that Kaylen, Colton, and I went to was the one at the farm we went to for Kaylen's field trip. The kids had fun in the patch. Colton would have picked up and thrown pumpkins all day if I would have let him.

I didn't buy pumpkins at the grocery store; I was hoping for a good sale, and somehow missed it. So Saturday afternoon we went to a "pumpkin patch" near our house. They had pumpkins around $8 each. We had hoped to get a pumpkin for each kid, but didn't want to spend $40 on something that would get moldy and end up in the trash. We got one big pumpkin for the boys and 5 little pumpkins for each kid. It worked out great, because we never would have had time to carve 5 big pumpkins.

Trunk-Or-Treat

Our ward had a trunk-or-treat on the Friday before Halloween. I have to say that it was a difficult night for me. We had thought about costumes, but I did not want to spend a lot of money on costumes that were only going to get worn once, so we scrounged up costumes. I actually bought Logan's costume, an army man, at a second hand store. He wasn't too sure about the muscles, but ended up being ok with them. Kaylen has so many dress ups, so she just chose one of those to wear. Spencer was a skater; quite easy. We had tried so hard to actually find him a costume. He wanted something bloody and disgusting, and I wouldn't go for it. Lindsey had been working all week trying to come up with matching costumes with a friend. They ended up being hobos, ripping brand new shirts and dirtying them up. I had bought a pirate costume last year for Colton, and when we went to put it on, it didn't fit. We looked through our stash of costumes and found a clown costume that worked and looked cute on him.

Things were going good (once we finally got there) until it came time for food. I had been making soup all afternoon and took it over to the party. I was trying to push a stroller, dish up Colton's food, and my food. I had dished up my soup (which had been boiling for an hour, so it was HOT) and was trying to move forward. I tipped the bowl and soup spilled all over me. I spent the night by the car with an ice cold napkin wrapped around my wrist, being in pain. There really wasn't an easy way to get out of the backyard (where it was held) with the car, and I didn't want to walk home in the dark, so i stuck it out, wishing every minute I was home. (Another post will follow with gross pictures and a few more details.) The kids had fun going around multiple times to get candy. We had such a big turn out, that I was worried the kids might get lost. I had given Eric the responsibility of Colton because I couldn't hold him or push the stroller. Well, Eric kind of slacked and Colton ended up wandering off. It was quite scary, because we were near some semi-main streets. It was an embarrassing relief when, over the microphone, it was announced that a little clown had been found.

Bonus September Pictures

Logan after skate lessons



Samantha (Lindsey's friend) and Lindsey doing a presentation on modesty for Personal Progress

Kaylen performing

Not an uncommon sight: Colton messy at dinner

Colton learned he could climb onto the fireplace hearth

Crying Over Spilled Milk

Colton is the perfect height to reach things that are close to the edge of the table. He loves to try to take other people's drinks. This time, the results weren't in his favor.

Spencer's Delayed Party

Spencer's birthday party was just over a month after his birthday, but the main reason for doing this was so that Spencer could invite any friends that he made once school started (school started after his birthday). Spencer invited 6 friends over. They started out swimming, then we ate some pizza. We'd been to Jester'z, an improv show, and Spencer thought it would be cool to have a birthday party there. So, that's where we went. The boys ended up getting front row seats, and enjoyed the show. Towards the end of the show, they did a little segment for Spencer because he was celebrating his birthday. They asked Spencer what he wanted to be when he grew up, and he said he wanted to be like his dad. So they did a skit about an ultra-nice dad. After the show, we headed back home for presents and cake. The boys had a great time and got in lots of laughs.

Colton didn't swim. These are some pictures of him playing next to the pool so I could still watch the boys.

HB Kaylen!

Kaylen is 5 years old!! She woke up this morning, ran into my bedroom, all dressed in new clothes, and declared, "It's my birthday!" She was so excited. All year long she has been looking forward to her birthday, saying that her birthday is soon. I would always say, "It's getting closer." Kaylen's birthday celebration was stretched into week-long fun.

On Kaylen's birthday, we went to lunch at one of her favorite restaurants, Black Bear Diner, with grandpa and grandma. Kaylen went to school, and took some frosted sugar cookies for the class.

While Kaylen was at school, Grandpa and I worked on getting her bedroom ready. This was her main birthday present. I had someone paint 2 walls pink in her bedroom (of course the pink wasn't the best pink, but I tried). Spencer put together some shelving units. Grandpa and me put the shelves together to create an art station with a desk, shelves, and bins for storage.

Kaylen is holding her unopened bulletin board, where she'll be able to display her work

Kaylen talking to Abbie who called to wish her a happy birthday.

Kaylen really wanted to go to Rainforest Cafe, but our time was limited. We had to do fast food, and Kaylen chose Chik-Fil-A. We went on Family Night, so it was like there was a party just for Kaylen. The cow was there, dancing away. There was face painting, coloring, and a balloon maker. The kids had a great time.

On Friday night, we had a little party for her at our house. Kaylen called it a Cousin Party.

The following week, we had enough time, so we went to Rainforest Cafe like Kaylen originally wanted to do. This is the third year in a row that she's wanted to eat there. The funny thing is that she still gets scared when the animals come to life during the jungle rain storm. Colton joined in with her too, needing to be held every 15 minutes, when the "rain" came.