Happy Halloween

Halloween is tomorrow, but we celebrated starting Friday at a party. I know the pictures leave something to be desired. My camera is still broken and all I have is my phone. Use your imagination, these ARE the good pictures...

Tyler wanted to use his Batman costume he got for his birthday. Once he decided that he told Carter, "You should be Robin!" So I pulled together a Robin costume. Turned out pretty darn cute I must say.

Ellie wanted to be a skunk. That's right. Her idea. She's totally into animals right now, and why she chose skunk I don't know, but this one also turned out pretty cute!

Now that McKenna is 12 she no longer gets to trick-or-treat. I have a thing about kids getting to do that and teenagers just being greedy. Since she's in Young Women's now she no longer gets to be a kid at Halloween. However, she get's to decorate and scare people which still sounds pretty fun. She threw this costume together last minute. She said she survived Army after Boot Camp.

Dee found a Blue's Brother's mask and I, of course, threw together this costume last minute.

Trying to get 4 kids in a picture with a slow camera before a party when they're super excited is no easy task, hence the faces and motion blurs.

Tyler did the Angry Bird and I did the pig king. Both turned out awesome I might add!

Happy Halloween!

Surprise and we love Fall

My mom had a birthday. It was a big one (but she will forever remain 29), definatly one worth celebrating. The trouble is she is about 700 miles away from where I am. My other siblings were all getting together to celebrate and with a healthy dose of celebrating mom and I'll admit a little bit of homesickness and jealousy I flew out. All by myself. (This is where I throw in a huge thank you to my wonderful husband who convinced me I should and made it possible with the kids et. al. to do so. THANKS BABE!)

Being by myself is not something I get to do very often. With kids this age it means day and night I am on duty. Even getting a shower without a little one saying, "Mom! 5 minutes!" or "Mom! Carter has no pants on and is outside!" or "Mom! Tyler won't stop chasing me with his Light Saber!" you get the idea. It was awesome!

I flew out Thursday night and Suzanne picked me up at the airport. She was the only one who knew for sure I was flying in. I got to see her beautiful new house and play with her boys. Being the fun Aunt instead of the mean mom was such a fun break! Aisea loves food. A lot. So cute!
Back to the birthday, mom was surprised to see me and I had a great time hanging out with the adults and not chasing kids around the whole time. James and Amber were staying at my parent's so once the kids went to bed we got to hang out and philosophies the issues of the world, or at least debate the smaller things of life.

**Another side note, Amber was very pregnant when I saw her and am proud to say I have a new nephew as of two days ago! Congrats guys!**

We had a birthday get together with all the siblings at Suzanne's and had an amazing cake she had made. Happy birthday mom!

The next day was Conference Sunday. We headed up the hills to see some fall foilage and I am so glad we did. I had forgotten just how much I miss seeing ALL the leaves turn. We have trees that change here but not like that. WOW!

My nephew Enos had his 4th birthday. Did I mention Zan makes awesome cakes?!

I loved being there. I loved seeing my family. I loved getting the much needed time-off. I loved playing with the kids and talking with the adults. I loved coming home and seeing these cute faces again.