Halloween!!!!!!!

BOO!

We are READY for some CANDY!!!!!  Meg was a butterfly (which you can't really tell, but that's o.k.  It was so cold out everyone had their coats on anyway).  J is a witch and she made her tutu all by herself.  Log is a mummy---umm, how do you keep up the wrapping???, and Z was a ninja (umm, very fitting for him!!)

Everyone had a great time and filled their buckets full.  Unfortunately this year we didn't receive a lot of trick or treaters--probably because of the cold.  

One of my favorite things this year was listening to Halloween music.  Anytime we would go somewhere in the car we would listen to Halloween music on my iphone.  The kids LOVED the spooky ones and really had a fun time. They got tired of hearing monster mash (it came on a lot).  Z loved ghost busters (especially the part that says, "I ain't afraid of no ghosts") Lo loves Thriller by Michael Jackson, and the girls were pretty happy for anything that came on.  :)  Anyway, it was pretty fun!

Happy Halloween!!!!!

Fall pictures 2012

I LOVE fall.  I LOVE fall pictures.  But mostly, I LOVE my kids!!!  I took some pictures of my kids at a beautiful park near our own home recently.


I love taking my kids pictures.  *I love that I don't have to pay someone else.* :)  I know that my pictures may not be up to professional level all the time (or most of the time), but I feel they are sufficient and I get the 'real' faces of my kids. :)  I love Darin for getting me involved in photography.  We had recently graduated from BYU, J was still baking and had 2 more months before she made her grand entrance.  D and I had talked and decided that I would be a stay at home mom as long as that worked out for us.  We felt that it would be best for our family.  WELL,  I was use to being a busy college student with things to do 24 hours of the day and NOW I was in a small (VERY SMALL) town with absolutely nothing to do but wait around for D to get off work and J to make her show. ( I now look back at that time and think of ALL the awesome things I would do with that time, but oh well)  ----ANYWAY, back to the story.-----  Darin came home one day with me bursting at the seems with boredom and lovingly told me, "You need a hobby." :)  It wasn't much after that that D came home with a gift--my first camera.  :)  I took a few classes and have gotten a bit better over the years with a few camera upgrades and some awesome models!

J is soo BEAUTIFUL!!!  She is growing up so quickly.  :)  LOVE her!

 L makes life so exciting.  EVERYTHING is exciting to him!! :)  LOVE him!

 My snuggle-bug Meg.  I can't believe she is 3 and is taking full advantage of the 'baby' status in our family! :)  LOVE her!

 I can't even look at Z's pictures without laughing.  This kid seriously makes me laugh all day.  He was laughing at such a young age and has been laughing ever since.  EVERYTHING is funny to him.  I LOVE listening to him laugh!!  LOVE him! :)

Halloween Festival

We found out about such a GREAT little Halloween Festival in our area.  EVERYTHING is free.  They had bounce houses, pony rides, wagon rides, trick or treating in a 'haunted' trail, animals to feed, face painting, etc,etc,.  It was a kids paradise!  :)  I kinda liked it too!  :)  J was visiting a cousin so she wasn't able to come with us.  We missed her lots.   Here are the happy kids!  I LOVE festivals.  I REALLY love free festivals!  ;)

 Lo thought this was sooo funny!  LOL  He loved feeding the goats!

 Playing games with daddy!

 spider man, spider man!

 Mimicking the skeleton

 Face painted up--butterfly, spider, and the hulk

 Me and 3 of my kids! :)

 The incredible hulk!!

A little more dancing than sweeping!! :)

Lo is such a fun, energetic kid.  When he hears a good beat, he CAN NOT keep his little body from movin'!  (He gets that from my side of the family!)  :)

General Conference!!

I love General conference weekend!  I have so many fond memories growing up listening to the prophet while we do some craft that was meant to keep us quiet and listen.  Playing conference bingo and listening to and helping my mom make a yummy lunch in the kitchen.  I don't remember a whole lot of what was said in those years, but I for SURE remember how I felt--how our house felt during those weekends.  I have a testimony that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true and that we have a living prophet today on earth that God speaks to and through.  I know I can feel the spirit witness to me those truths.  I have found out this truth for myself and I love it.  :)

I try to create those same feelings and memories in my house now for my kids.  I don't know if anyone can do this as well as my mother, but I try.

We have our traditional biscuits and gravy brunch, a fun craft, conference bingo with treats, and playing quietly while we listen to inspiring talks of faith from the prophet and apostles.  :)

We also decided to take a walk in between conference sessions.  We let the kids lead the way and we ended up bush wacking it off the trail and had to walk through a farmers field to make it back... oops.  But we found a great vine to swing on half way through!  :)

Pictures from our conference walk!  :)

 The tents that they brought up to be nice and cushy while listening.

I look forward to 6 months from now for another General Conference weekend.

Oh what do you do in the autumn time?

JUMP in LEAVES!!!