Nathan’s Hair

It seems like the kids have had a slew of Halloween parties and trips to the Haunted Mines with friends this month.

Nathan has been busy with team dinners, sleepovers and practices with his soccer team.  They are STILL undefeated and are in state play offs right now.  We are so hoping they go all the way.  They are such an awesome group of boys. 

Last weekend the team got together for team hair cuts and bleaching.  Nathan came home sad that the bleach didn’t work better in his hair.  That red hair just has a tendency to shine through.  His mohawk that Reece cut sure is looking cool though!

I went up to his room to snap a picture of him.  I walked in and sat on the floor and proceeded to snap pictures.  He looked down at me annoyed and said “you are so weird mom”.  I assured him that I wasn’t the one sporting a mohawk!

Sure love this boy of mine!  Good luck tonight!

Haunted Forest

My friend lives on a beautiful piece of property in the forest.  She volunteered to let the youth in our church come and do a haunted forest in her trees.  I called my brother to see if he could help and the rest was history.  He brought up a trailer, we assembled and planned one day, and the next we were scaring anyone and everyone.

My brother is funny, so working with him was FUN!

The groups would start out going through the Vortex.  It’s like this walkway with an eight foot cylinder spinning around you.  The black light and neon spots spinning makes you so dizzy.  Ron took some cool pictures of it.  This is Kaylee walking through it.  It’s really hard to explain how dizzy the motion makes you feel. 

The Beehives, or youngest girls group are the ones that were stationed in different areas to do the scaring.  There was a clown room, graveyard, mad scientist, giant spider web, chain saw by the wood pile, the well the goes down forever, and the pulley bats.  Here are Kaylee and Analiese getting their scare on and ready.

Jerrica is really scary with her shirt that says she is JERRICA!  She probably made me laugh the most.  I took her and her little friend thru first so that the girls could practice scaring.  Halfway through they are begging me to not do anymore, yet they are crying at the fact of back tracking through the parts they have already seen.  It was a huge dilemma for them.  We just held tight, closed our eyes, gritted our teeth, and plunged along the rest of the path.

Super fun night!  Loved talking and laughing with my brother as we built it and then as we took it down.

Mr. Bones

Last week I helped a sweet friend with a haunted forest.  While we were working, she brought out this life size skeleton and then talked about how fun it would be to pose around the house.  She then stuck him on the swing in the backyard.  He looked almost cute swaying in the breeze.

I went home and decided “that” would be my new Halloween decoration for the season.  He has been a BLAST!  I can’t believe how many times he startles me during the day because I forget he is there.

We had him in the piano room on the first day.

He loves to play X-Box LIVE because it makes him feel ALIVE!

He goes up and down the stairs with ease.

He takes breaks in the red bathroom.  I think I scared Rebecca good on this one. 

We had him chillin’ in Nathan’s room with his headphones, books, music and all.

I think he will make appearances in our tub, shower, pantry, garage, laundry room, at the computer …  The list is endless!

Skeleton Shirts

The little girls and I did a fun project over Fall Break.  We had made these name skeleton’s a few years ago on paper.  I mixed my sister’s idea of spray paint t-shirts along with my sister-in-law’s idea of combining it and this is what we got …

We did the names on a folded paper and then free handed the skull and arm/leg bones.  After we cut them out we laid them on the shirts and spray painted them.  The girls wanted to spray paint everything in the house when they realized how fun it was.

Anyway,  just had to share this fun, easy project!

Love This!

Still figuring out my part but so grateful for all those around me that know their part!

Thought for the Day

Bits of Randomness

Conference weekend looked like this …

The Janes’ brought over a basket of toppings, bananas, and ice cream in between sessions.

We are loving Nathan’s high school night games under the lights.  They are still undefeated!  My cute friend Trenya came up last week before the game to have dinner together.  Her son’s team was playing Nathan’s.  SO fun to sit and chat as our kids ran around together.

The backdrops, sunsets, and mountains are almost as enjoyable as the games are.

We took the girls to the Colorado Springs Philharmonic.  The harmony was beautiful!

I teased my girls that we had the best seats in the house because we could hear and see EVERYTHING.  Ashley asked why there weren’t more people up at the top with us.  I reaffirmed to her that we had the best seats and not everyone could afford the seats we had.  I know years from now when a cute boy takes her on a date and has front row seats that cost a ton, she will probably think he is cheap and didn’t splurge on her.  Oh the things I try to convince my girls!

Ashley had a Native American day at school.

Cute little Alyssa asked Jacob to Liberty’s Homecoming.

A few date nights with Stephen, usually just out to eat.  However, we did grab Kim and went to

There have been many volleyball team parties.  Rebecca had a fun tie dye one.  Kaylee had a delicious Mexican bar dinner and then Fargo’s Pizza night.

Kaylee also had a fun night with friends a few weeks ago.  They all went to the ARC and Vanessa’s mom gave them each $15 to come up with an outfit to then wear to Olive Garden.  Kaylee said that it was a BLAST!  I wish I had pictures of all those cute girls in their outfits!

My other event from last month that I lack pictures of is Grandparents Day.  My parents came up and enjoyed a fun day and brunch with my little girls and I didn’t take one picture of the day!  So mad at myself for that one!  Grateful though that mom and dad could make my girls feel so special on that day!

Anyway, that’s going to have to be part one of September and I will finish up tomorrow night with part two. 

Jerrica’s Birthday

Oh my goodness!  I can’t believe my little baby is SEVEN!

We usually do breakfast in bed, but Jerrica wanted breakfast on the couch with cartoons turned on.  Ashley always makes the tray look fancy with napkins and flowers, however for Jerrica she put the little pumpkin on with the black napkin since she is our October birthday.

Jerrica loves our pet cat and insisted on a cat cake this year.

Lunch request was canned Chicken Noodle Soup, “please don’t make your kind mom”

    We loaded all of our bikes up and did a family bike ride per Jerrica’s request.  She was lucky enough to sit in the middle van seat that we couldn’t get out.           

Absolutely beautiful day!  We ended up doing a two hour bike ride.  I was over the moon that ALL of the family was there doing the ride!

We took a few cake pictures before she started getting photo bombed.

She got a lot of fun presents.  The Lego camper and car, game of Life with the credit cards, cute teapot from Grandma Charla, books, gum, a new American Girl doll bed with bedding that I had made, and a little dresser for her doll.  I know I’m forgetting some, but can’t remember the others right now.

We ended up going out to eat after the boys Priesthood session on Saturday night.  Such a perfect day with all of her requests.

Jerrica LOVES to read.  She downs chapter books daily.  I love listening to her read to her doll Emily at night.  Her expression and tone are priceless.  She also loves to do crafts, play the piano, and any other sport that her siblings are playing.  She is a VERY sweet girl!