Pumpkinland!

Matt's parents returned home from their mission last Thursday,

so we drove up to Utah County to welcome them home and

spend time with family.

We decided to take the kids to Pumpkinland

and they had a blast!

Top row: Connor, Mr. Scarecrow, Kelsey
Middle Row: Mikaela, Meg, Aubrie, Maddy, Cooper
Bottom Row: Halli, Hannah, Roxy, Cougar

One of the many fun things to do at Pumpkinland!

Best buds, Halli and Hannah!

My cute Aubrie cannot just slide down a slide.
She had to bounce all the way down.
This is how Aubrie lives her life...bouncing around from place to place,
with a big grin for everyone!

Me and my cute kids.
Matt wasn't with us because he had to stay home for the hunt.
We missed you, Daddy!

Have You Seen This?!

Have you seen the newest trailer for the Twilight movie? It's soooo good!! I'm even more excited for the movie now...

Go on www.Twilightthemovie.com and click on the part that says:
"the final Twilight trailer is now live"

ENJOY!! (I did...)

Happy Birthday, Hannah!

Hannah's birthday is actually on Sept. 28th, but we waited until Grandma Suzi could be here to celebrate with us. Hannah is a princess through and through, so I made her a castle cake and she got pretty dress up shoes and the Diamond Castle Barbie and movie. She was thrilled with all her new princess/pink stuff! (thanks to Becca for the cute cake idea!)

Vampires, Anyone?

I am just about to finish reading

the Twilight series...for the 2nd time.

I love it!

I know. I need help.

Anyone else out there need help?

Maybe we could start a support group...

Time for a New Post!!

OK - I was tired of getting on my blog and seeing my ugly foot and my ugly scar and I can only imagine that a few others out there felt the same way! So I am hurrying and posting something new with much nicer pics to look at!

A few months ago, we went hiking in Cedar City with Matt's good friend,
Mike Zorn, and his wife Shanna and his 2 boys, Kade and Cole.
We didn't get many pictures, but here are a few.
It was really fun and I wish we did it more often.
I think now as Emma gets older, we will. Two cute bums! Can you tell whose they are?!?

A rare picture of the boy in the family...
with all these girls around, he tends to get neglected!
We love you, Connor!

Ice cream, anyone? We saw this big rock that looked like a big scoop of ice cream
and so, of course, Matt had to find a rock that looked like a cone
and pose for the this pic. I think the flavor was Rocky Road :)

What Do You Think?

If you have a weak stomach, do not read this...

I had a cyst on my foot (Connor lovingly referred to it as my 6th toe). I couldn't wear anything but flip flops. The doctor said I needed surgery...we need to make sure it's just an innocent cyst. So 2 weeks ago, I went under the knife and all I have to show for it is a hideous scar. So did I make the right choice? Which is more hideous...the 6th toe or this lovely scar? I'm not so sure...

LOOK OUT WORLD!!!

It's official...she's walking!

At almost 15 months, Emma has finally decided to try out her legs.

And after 5 kids, it never gets old.

It's just as exciting watching her practice as it was to see

Connor walk for the first time.

She's so darn cute! And it seems like she is just as tickled with herself as we are.

She grins and giggles the whole time she's walking.

Fun, fun stuff!!

Threes

OK, Shannon, this is for you!

List: 3 Joys, 3 Fears, 3 Goals, 3 Current Obsessions/Collections, 3 Facts About Yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog!

Joys
1. My Kids
2. My Husband
3. Chocolate

Fears
1. Dying
2. Losing a Loved One
3. Getting Hurt

Goals
1. Be More Organized
2. Be a More Patient Mom
3. Be More Active

Current Obsessions/Collections
1. The Twilight Series!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2. Blogging
3. Matt's Homemade Salsa (definitely obsessed)

Facts
1. I have lots of kids
2. I love ice cream
3. My dad used to work for Clint Eastwood

I am tagging: Andee, Lisa, Mekeisia, Teri, and Becca

For Your Viewing Enjoyment...

Precious!

It's hard to tell if she's kissing the kitty or eating the kitty!

Cute kids!

Why stop at just one flower? Hannah thinks she has to wear ALL of them at the same time!

This is my view from my kitchen window...priceless!

Confession Time

I've never posted anything without pics before, but I need to get something off my chest...

I have heard all the buzz about the Twilight Series for the last few months or so. I was curious, but hadn't really decided if I would read it or not. Last Saturday, I was at Walmart and decided to pick up the first book and see what all the hype was about. I love to read and needed something new. If any of you know me at all, you know that NOTHING keeps me away from food...until this. I finished the series in a little over a week. I could do nothing but read. There were constantly butterflies in my stomach, so I could hardly eat.

Some days I was fighting tears.

Most days I wasn't doing any housework.

Everyday my family thought I had totally lost it!

I LOVE this series!!! It is by far the best thing I have ever read! It turned my life upside down (luckily it only took me a week to read!)

What did I learn from this experience?

It's OK to live in a fantasy world for a little while (actually theraputic).

I love my husband more passionately than ever (he's definitely OK with that).

As much as I would like to, I will never meet the Cullens.

I highly recommend it to any of you who haven't had the chance to read it yet. And if you have read it, I would love to hear how crazy it made you also. I need to know that I'm not alone!

Right now I am missing Edward, Jacob, Alice, Bella...time to get back to reality.

Have You Heard The News?!

NOPE, I'm not expecting #6...;)

I started teaching Sunshine Generation again! For those of you who aren't familiar with Sunshine, it is a children's performing group that I taught in Orem for 9 years. Singing and dancing with kids=pure heaven for me!! I didn't think I would start up a group down here, but after living down here for a year, I can see that they need a program like it and I missed teaching! My kids were even missing it! I did a summer camp last month and it went great! I will start teaching weekly classes in mid-September. I'm so excited and I actually think that despite Circleville being a very small town, Sunshine will be successful! Here are some pics from the show!

Aubrie, Bailey(my niece), Tiahna(another niece), me, Kyler(my nephew), Connor, Mikaela, Hannah, and cute little Emma down front!

Hannah's Class (she is on the top right)

Aubrie's Class (she is bottom right)

Kyler, Connor, Tiahna (in black),Bailey (2nd from left on bottom), Mikaela (bottom right)

Yes, that is my son Connor, the ham, posing like a girl in the back!

Wait Till You See This!!

So apparently my oldest daughter takes after her father in his love of fishing and other gross stuff! Here are some amazing pictures of Mikaela and her daddy on a fishing trip with a guy from our ward who was kind enough to invite them out on his boat. He even let Mikaela drive! She had a blast! Now Matt spends his time searching the classifieds for a fishing boat...we have created a monster!

What a woman!!

Emma's New Pictures!

We got Emma's 1 year old pictures done when we were up in Layton last weekend. They turned out so cute! She has so much personality and was being so cute with the photographer! We really enjoy her and feel so blessed to have her in our family! We love you, Emma!!

More Beach Pictures!

Here are some more pictures of my little beach lovers!

They caught about a million sandcrabs (we put them all back!)

and they had fun getting buried by my dad's girlfriend, Debbie.

We were lucky enough to have my nephew, Kyler, come with us.

He has been a great playmate to my kids and a huge help to me!

Santa Barbara

On our trip to California, we HAD to take our kids to the beach! My dad and his girlfriend met us in Santa Barbara and we went to Stearns Wharf, the beach, and the zoo. My kids fell in love with the beach! They did not want to leave. They loved catching sand crabs, playing in the water, getting buried in the sand, collecting shells, and building sand castles! It was a great couple of days!

Life-Long Friends!

On our trip to California over the 4th, I was able to get together with 2 of my 3 best friends from my childhood. Here is a picture of us on our high school graduation cruise. From left to right...Lisa (who couldn't make it to the reunion), Andee, a random Panda Bear, Me, Julie (nice tie;) Oh, to be young and carefree again! We haven't all been together in about 16 years? Is that right, girls? What an awesome visit it was! We'll have to do it again next year and we'll get Lisa and her clan there.

And here we are now...minus Lisa (we missed you!)

Here are our kids swimming and playing together.
Mikaela and Aubrie had fun with Sydney(sp?) and Hannah and Brady got along really well!

Emma is 1 !!!

My baby turned 1 on Sunday! We had a little party for her with just our family. She had more than enough help opening her presents and eating her cake! We love her so much. She is such a sweet natured baby and we love to see all of her new accomplishments. She can wave and clap and shake her head no and nod yes and she can say DADA and she can bark like a dog. And she can charm everyone! She even smiled and waved at the nurse after she gave Emma her shots!

She LOVED her cake. And when she finished, she tried to eat the plate!