Pumpkin Carving

Last year we carved our pumpkins too early and by the time Halloween came they looked like little shriveled up old men - so this year we waited until last night. Of course the night the kids wanted to do it Jared was working - we really missed your pumpkin carving skills babe!



Before carving... Lexi wanted to paint hers first to "make it look pretty"



Getting ready -


OOH GROSS!!!!!


You want me to touch that stuff?



This is cool!





YUMMY! A little raw pumpkin never hurt anyone


Lexi isn't Lexi unless she is making funny faces



Ha-Ha-Ha- I just thought this was a funny picture



Of course we had to have individual pictures too





...After carving - the finished project



Now - for the candy!!!!

Picking Pumpkins

Raden went with his kindergarten class to pick pumpkins from a pumpkin patch and Jared was able to go with him as a class helper. Jared forgot the camera but a friend sent these pictures to us- Thanks Allison!

Riding on the hay wagon


Having fun in the maze


Look at those muscles


Look what we found!

Dinner on the trampoline- almost

Okay- so everyone knows how hectic it is when you get back from a trip and are playing catch up. Today was no exception. When the kids got home from school I was trying to find something for dinner (luckily we still had some frozen pizza in the freezer) still doing laundry (the piles of clean clothes all over the couches and the piles of dirty clothes all over the floor in my room), trying to pay bills ( paper scattered all over the house from Jadie carrying them around),getting homework finished ( amid cries of "I can't find my pencil")cleaning up the house ( there was still syrup on the kitchen table from breakfast that was now on Jadie because her new thing is climbing on the table - the chairs were now all on the counter amid the dishes so she couldn't get into the syrup anymore), blogging (priorities!) and kids yelling and fighting with each other. Then I also realized that it was Monday night -family night- and didn't have anything planned - gasp! Okay I'm super Mom- I can handle this (I have to pump myself up every now and then. So into the oven went the pizza- outside went the kids - homework can get done later. When the pizza was finished we took it outside to have a picnic on the trampoline. The kids thought it was a great idea!





HOWEVER.... not 2 min after we got on the trampoline the mosquitoes decided to come too. So much for dinner on the trampoline. I don't think I have seen my kids move that fast. In 30 sec dinner was forgotten and they were inside. So we moved the pizza inside and played the "I Love ____ because..." game. This is where you say why you love the members of your family. It can get pretty funny but heartfelt too. Tonight I heard everything from " I love mommy because she helps me go pee" to "I love myself because I am working hard in school" to "I love Daddy because he gets money for us". We name each member of the family. We started this awhile ago when the kids were fighting one night at dinner and I told them they needed to say why they loved each other (that went over well) and now they really like to play it. SO - so much for a planned family night - dang mosquitoes!

Oh well, there's always next week!

School Awards

Friday was the first awards assembly of the school year and we missed it! Raden's teacher did a little ceremony this morning for him in his class and Bailee received her award in her class as well but she didn't want her picture taken until she got home. I am very proud of how hard you two are working in school!

Random Pictures

I started this blog just a couple of months ago and so I wanted to put some pictures on it of things that had happened in the past year or so. This is more for my personal journal so if you're not interested, just skip it- otherwise - enjoy!


These are pictures of Bailee's baptism last year. We also blessed Jadie at the same time so family didn't have to come down twice. What an experiance to see your first child get baptized and your fourth get blessed!



Bailee learned to drive a 4-wheeler up in Pinetop this year.


Raden learned to play the drums


Lexi figured out how to turn on the hose


First Day of school



Bailee and Lexi at Raden's birthday party


Raden and Romney at Sidewinders game with their t-ball team the A's



Jadie Pictures




Pictures with Daddy

They were trying to look tough but Raden just kept smiling


Playing dress-up with cousins



Family pictures at sisters wedding and ward activities




Jared and me in Rocky Point. Good thing that we took the vacation when we did because Jadie was born a few weeks later - one month early

Memory Lane

I was going through old pictures and came across some of Jared and me when we were dating and were going to an institute dance- I think it was a Halloween dress-up dance. Good times!

Weekend Getaway

Jared was invited by his cousin Jason to go to St. George for a softball tournament this past weekend and of course we jumped at the chance for a weekend getaway. We made plans to go and then ended up flying to San Diego early Thursday morning to buy a Sequoia (sp?)(that's for another post - but we do have a nice van for sale if anyone is interested :) )and then drove on to St George for the weekend. Thanks Afton and Beverly for watching the kids! Thanks Lindsay and Jason - we had a lot of fun!!!!!








Jared and Jason at the softball games



Lindsay and me watching the games - gotta love the close-up shots!






Taking a break in between games

After the games we decided to go to a sushi resurant that was highly recommended. Anyone that knows me well knows that I do not like seafood! But they convinced me to try it. The resturant was very nice and Jason and Lindsay helped us order rolls that were good first time tryers.

Jared playing with the folded napkins while waiting for our food



Still playing with the napkin


A couple of the rolls we tried- the Green Dragon and another one I forgot the name of.



First bite of sushi!!!!!!!I actully really liked it. There was only one roll that was too raw and fishy for me.

Then we played Guitar Hero for a while - another first for me - and had fun making fun if each other. This game is a lot of fun!


Jason and Lindsay Rockin out!!!!






Jared and me Rockin out!!!!!!




Notice the intense concentration!