Halloween Madness

Here are a few pics from Halloween. Costumes weren't great but the kids were happy and had a fun time. It's hard to get excited about costumes when the kids are off-track for Halloween. Actually, Madison and Gabe just wanted to wear their costumes from last year so I was pretty happy about that.

Here are the pumpkins we carved this year. I hate carving pumpkins! Can I just get that out there. Honestly, this year my kids fought and fought about who got to dig the guts out and who got to use the spoon....Finally, I just had to kick them out and finish it myself. I was so glad when they were done. And, if I do say so myself, I think they turned out pretty good!

I saw this idea on someones blog, so I stole it. I thought it was really cute so we got Troys drill and attached a hole saw to it. That was fun except my kids tried the drill and they did it so fast that the pumpkin guts went everywhere!

And, last but not least, the fantastic costumes you have been waiting for. Eli was Batman, Madison was a baby and Gabe a skeleton. Gabe looked better with his mask but he hated wearing it.


Hope you all had a great halloween...

Happy Birthday Troy!

I just want to wish Troy a happy birthday. I am so lucky to be married to such a wonderful man and father. I couldn't ask for anything more. I wish I could have him help me write this because he is such a good writer. He always knows what to say, especially lately, to make me feel better.

Things about Troy...

• He is funny
• Not a picky eater (he would have cold cereal for dinner)
• Takes good care of us
• Hard worker
• Very considerate of others and their feelings
• Loves to spend time with me and the kids
• Loves to ride any kind of bike (even has a bikeroom with I don't know how many bikes)
• Honors his priesthood
• Puts up with my crap
• And he looks great in a speedo for an old guy! hehe!

I could go on and on....

Happy Birthday Troy! And, DON'T FORGET!

**This is one of his favorite things to do, wash his bikes. Actually, he is washing my bike. What a nice guy!

U Rock!

Troy and I went out a couple weeks ago and saw this...

I thought this was pretty funny and this is what I have to say to Troy, Jill and all the others that did the Tour de St. George over the weekend. Good job guys!

Happy Birthday Nunn!

I know I did this same post last year but this is our new tradition. Every year on Nunn's birthday we send her hugs and kisses by way of helium. The kids are pretty sure that she gets their messages and so am I. We miss her sooooo much and this is our way of never forgetting.

Happy Birthday Nunny!

The Cutest Thing Ever!

Gabe gave this to me tonight, and I must say it is probably the CUTEST THING EVER! He told me it didn't turn out quite right but I think it is perfect.

Happy Birthday Madisonironi!

I can't believe she is turning 11! I remember the day she was born, it seems just like yesterday. I remember being huge and swollen, the Dr. had just told me that I had toxemia and he put me on bed rest. I went home and laid down for a couple hours and started having these funny feelings. I had no idea what was going on. Troy came home from work and started cooking dinner. Noodle chunt (or noodles with cream of chicken soup and tuna fish)with the tri-colored noodles. I still remember! I didn't eat any of it because by the time it was done I was in full blown labor. My contractions were 2 minutes apart so we ran to the hospital. I was checked in and the Nurse checked to see how far I was dilated. She told me I was between a 9 and a 10. Madison was finally ready to come and she didn't want to wait any longer. At 10:59 pm she was born. She weighed 7 pounds 13 ounces and had a lot of crazy hair. She was the cutest thing I had ever seen!

Eleven years later she is such a wonderful young lady. She is such a good girl, I don't know how we got so lucky to have her in our family. A few things about her:
*She loves to read. She is just like her Nunny!
*She hates the heat. Again, just like Nunny!
*She has beautiful strawberry blonde hair.
*She is very spiritual and loves to go to church. She definitely is an example to us.
*She is friends with everybody.
*She loves American Girl dolls.
*She already knows what car she wants when she turns 16. A Mini Cooper!
*She loves strawberries. Plain strawberries, strawberries dipped in sugar, strawberry ice cream, strawberry suckers. Everything strawberry!
*She wears hearing aids....What? And she just got new earmolds. They are adorable and just as bright as always.

There is so much more I could write about her. I could go on and on. Instead I will just give you some pictures and you can see for yourself what a wonderful girl she is.

We love you Madisonironi! Happy Birthday!!!

YNP '09

We made our annual Yellowstone trip at the end of July. We had such a great time! The weather was great, the company was great and the time together as a family was great. As I said before, we had McKinley with us. It was so nice to have her there to keep Madison company. She balanced us out, two boys and two girls. We did so many fun things. We went to Mammoth hot springs and then up to Gardiner to our favorite restaurant in the whole wide world, Petterino's (I think thats what it is, I get it mixed up with one in Chicago). We eat there every summer. Troy starts craving it about 2 months before our trip. We also eat breakfast by the Madison river every morning. I think Kinney thought we were CRAZY but we have these things that we ALWAYS do. How sad is it that our trip kind of revolves around food. Dinner at Petterino's and breakfast at the river. Thats not it either, everywhere we stopped Troy insisted on icecream, Kinney didn't think that was so crazy!



Other things we did:

• Hikes, Harlequin Lake, Canyon, Tower Falls, etc.etc.


• Swimming in the firehole river


• Skipping rocks in the river


• Old Faithful Young Scientist badge (this took all day, the kids were exhausted after they were done)


• Saw a ton of waterfalls


• Hot pots, dragons mouth is one of their favorites but Eli thinks a dragon really lives in it.


• Saw tons of buffalo and elk, missed a bear by seconds.


• Got eaten by mosquitos


• Stayed in the park at Grant Village right by Yellowstone Lake

I could go on and on. We had so much fun and I am already getting excited to go back next year!

Thanks Kinney for coming with us, we hope we didn't scare you too bad!