Halloween Fun

Halloween is such a fun and crazy day. Noelle had a race that day so I took Lacee and Traycen for the day. They came with me to the Halloween parade at the kids school. We then went home, decorated and made some fun halloween treats and the soup for dinner. Mom, Dad and Taylor's mom all came for dinner and watch the kids go trick or treating. Dad started giving all of the kids handfulls of candy right at first. When he asked where the rest of the candy was, I said I didn't have anymore. I bought over 200 pieces and only 10-15 kids had come to the door. He felt guilty so he ran home and grabbed a bunch of bags of candy from their house. It all worked out. At least this year he didn't take a bag for himself when he went around with the kids. Jared and Jodi came into town that day so they dropped by with the kids and Noelle and Janson made it at the end. Our traditional clam chowder and cheesy broccoli soup in bread bowls were a hit. I love the kids ages now. I wish we could freeze time.

You Can Make Anything...

You can make anything if you put your mind to it. This common cliche only works if you have the TIME to put into it. We started asking the kids what they wanted to be for Halloween back in September. The kids often want me to make a special costume. I lucked out when Jayden said he wanted

to be a vampire and Aysia a balleina. Those were easy. Then there is Skyler. He informed me that he wanted to be a transformer. I mentioned that he was one 2 years ago. But, this time he wanted to be a real transformer. So as I was telling him it couldn't be done, Taylor walked in the room and said, sure it can. So I told him he was in charge. Of course, 4 days before halloween, Skyler was complaining that his costume wasn't even started. So Taylor and I spent the next 3 days creating a masterpiece. I wanted to cut a few corners because it was taking us such a long time, but Taylor is a perfectionist and I must admit, it was amazing. Although it was too bulky for him to wear to school all day, Skyler was so proud to wear it through the school parade. His class had him transform for them. Hopefully Skyler remembers this Halloween costume FOREVER!!!

Pirate Cruise

We decided to splurge and take the kids on a cruise. We went with our friends Bart and Shonnie and their kids. It was down the provo river. It was lined with lights and jack-o-lanterns and a pirate told us some old spooky tales. It was fun for the kids although Auri was a little tired.

Hangin' at the ranch

We made our way up to Taylor's family's ranch to hang out and let the boys do some hunting. Of course they shot and killed a duck which Taylor gutted and will cook up some time. Thank goodness he knows how to marinade it and cook it up. At least I know if we are ever in a famine, I can trust him to get our meat. We had fun making candied apples and sitting around chatting. It's always nice for a little get away.

Warren Miller

We met our friends Shonnie and Bart up in Salt Lake with our boys and thier girls to watch the Warren Miller movie and go out to dinner. The boys loved it. Skyler was a little nervous that we would require him to be as good of a snow boarder as those seen in the movie by the end of the season. Both boys have been skiers, but are switching this year to snowboarding. It is Taylor's turn to teach now. I teach the skiing, he teaches the snowboarding. Hopefully we will have a better ski season this year with more snow than last year.

Soccer Days

Jayden tried out for a competitive soccer league this last spring and made it on a U-12 team. He has been very dedicated and even though he had early morning practice and conditioning every day of the summer, he never complained. His games were anywhere from Payson to Logan. He has definitley improved. He mainly played as a defender and sometimes as a midfielder. Their team tied for 2nd for the season. They did a great job. We now have a break until Spring. Skyler wanted to play on the city league and has definitely improved since he has been practicing with Jayden in the backyard. He was defense as well and even got to play goalie a few times.

Out with the Old...

We finally sold Taylor's baby. He was sad to see the Jaguar go. We made an agreement that we would sell it once we had 85,000 miles on it. It would be very expensive to fix once it needed to be repaired. So out with the old and in with the new. We bought a new Chevy Cruz. It is a fun little car to drive and gets great gas mileage, but I must admit, the Jag had a lot more power.

Fall Festivities

I think I love fall so much because of all the traditions we have during this time of year. Conrbelly's is a definite must. I made a large pot of chili for us to eat outside before going in. We decided to start at the corn maze first this time becuase we are always too tired at the end to finish it so we take the shortcuts. This year was Obama vs Romney. Noelle had a cheat sheet on her phone so we knew exactly where to go and where we were. It was a lot of fun and still took us a half hour to complete. We roasted marshmallows, played tetherball, jumped on the jumping bags and even managed to lose Aysia once. We found her 20 minutes later at the information booth. I felt like a terrible mom. This wasn't my first time and I am sure it won't be my last. Other than that, it was great fun!

Ghosts, Goblins & Ghouls

The Pikus halloween party was really early this year due to Noelle and Janson leaving for New York for the rest of the month. We made it much more simple this year. We had a haunted house making contest for each family, musical cats and a piniata for the kids. Jayden won the grand prize for the musical cats and our family won the "most stable" haunted house. Although it was simple this year, it was still a hit.