November

Wow... where did November go?  It really was gone in a blink of an eye.  Since I'm negligent and a month behind - I'll hit the main events of the month.

#1 =  Ashley Crawling!!  At the very end of the month Ashley started crawling.  I love when my kids become mobile.  They are so much happier, and so am I.  She has lit up and shown a lot of personality.  She waves, claps, and knows mama and dada.

 #2  Playing around.  I love this man.  It feels like I have something going EVERY night of the week.  does he complain?  Never.  My husband is amazing - and an awesome dad too.

 #3  Our month was dominated by football.  Which is fine by us.  Spanish Fork High School made it to the finals.  Aaron took Travis to the 2 games at U stadium.  Let's just say he loved the experience so much that he turned to the dark side for a few weeks and thought the Utes were the best.  I think I've finally got him straightened out :)  We played a lot of football with Travis outdoors and in.  He's definitely getting more into sports!

 #4  Thanksgiving prep.  We had fun making crafts and learning about Thanksgiving/ Gratitude.  It's such an awesome time of year to reflect on family and blessings.

 Travis was an Indian for two days straight after his class learned about them.  Aaron loves Indians too - I swear it's in the blood.

#5 Thanksgiving.   Thanksgiving morning the boys started the day off right... with football.  Both Aaron and Travis were in heaven - I got my run in prior - so as much as it hurts me to watch and not play, I handled it.

 We had a great thanksgiving at G & G Rasmussen's house.  It was a fun getaway and we love seeing family.  As soon as we got back we wasted no time starting the festivities.  Whitney's skirt in this pic is actually a Christmas Tree skirt.  EVERY year she gets excited pulling it out of the decor box and wears it non-stop for days.  It cracks us up.

 Whitney even provided face painting :)

 Our tradition of Chocolate Fountain dinner before the light parade.

 The results are always entertaining.

 Santa turned more into a dracula looking man.

 At the light parade.  The kids loved it.  Aaron endured it.  Ashley slept through half of it.

 I love watching these two together.  They have such a cute relationship already.  Plus once again I'm please to show another cheeser face.

There was one weekend this month that Aaron and I will remember for quite some time.  The middle of November we headed up to Idaho to surprise Aaron's parents with a birthday/anniversary party.  Weather didn't cooperate with our plans to leave Friday night so we took off Friday morning.  The trip there went smooth and we had fun spending time at the Murdocks in Dubois.  The next morning we wasted no time getting everything ready for the surprise party.  It was really fun to surprise them, spend time with them, play, and reflect a little on the years past.  We went non-stop all day.  On the way back to Dubois Hailey threw up about 2 min. before we arrived.  Since there was going to be a lot of family around the next day we made a QUICK decision and threw everything in the car and headed home.  We were sad to leave but didn't want to have a puking child with lots of people around.

After stopping the third time for Hailey to throw up, including Aaron having to strip down since Hailey puked all over his shirt.  She sat in the front by me so I could hold a bowl for her, rather than stopping.  We thought the storm would be over...but it wasn't.  Some moments were intense to drive in.  By 1 o'clock in the morning we were almost home.  I was helping comfort Hailey again when I heard screeching tires.  Looking up I saw the car in front of us spin around and slam into the side barrier.  We were the only car around so we quickly pulled over to help out.  How grateful I am that Aaron is a cautious driver and we were definitely watched over and protected!

Aaron went and checked while I instructed the kids to stay put.  He quickly informed me that the driver was unconscious and I needed to call 911.  I called and rushed to help.  I was able to get him to come to and breath but he was back and forth and going into shock.  Long story short....I think he made it....but it was a reminder to me how precious life is.  That every moment is a gift.  We arrived home at 2 am wired.  I didn't sleep much that night but luckily the kids did decent.  Let's just say it was a lot of action for 2 days!

And there you have it.  Our November in a post.

Halloween

What a fun whirlwind of a day Halloween has become.  School makes it a party ALLLLLL day :)

Here's the kids all decked out ready to party at school.  Whitney went through about 5 costume ideas throughout the month before settling on the witch idea.  When I saw half the girls in her class were witches it made sense :)

Aaron was awesome and became Mr. mom for the day so I could go to their class parties.

First was Travis'  I was over the treat station.  I think one kid was seconds away from puking all over the table, most of the kids couldn't resist licking the knife they frosted with, and kindergarteners with frosting is....messy.  It was really fun, but a learning experience :)  It's just fun to see Travis in his school element.  Getting to know all the kids he associates with every day.

Here they are lined up for the parade.

 Aaron was even ambitious to come and watch...all 2 minutes of it...and he hates parades :)

 Next up was Whitney's party.  I was over pumpkin bowling where you roll pumpkins into a tiered row of toliet paper.  After a few rolls with a real mini pumpkin I was glad I brought a fake one for backup - didn't take long to split.  But once again, fun to be apart of my kids day at school.

 Getting ready to parade around

 Hailey decided to be Tinker Bell.  Which I thought very appropriate.  This girl is fire and ice, a girl with lots of personality, your classic fiesty Tinker Bell.

 Travis as the Jedi

 Whitney the witch

 Ready to trick or treat

 This is the only part of Halloween Aaron likes - scaring people.  I thought a werewolf mask was an appropriate fit :)

 chasing Hailey - who screamed the entire time

 Last of the photo shoot

 Ashley wore her costume all day

 I can't tell you how thrilled I am to show these next couple pics.  This cheese face happens for split seconds and not frequently.  So me catching it on camera is nothing short of miraculous!

 Her real costume was worn for about 2 min.

The force was with Travis

 The whole crew

 Aaron took the 3 kids around the block and then I took Whitney and Travis around for the rest.  I'm usually the one encouraging them to go farther....but this year they made me proud.  They insisted every minute of the way to do every house in the neighborhood.  I kept asking if they were tired and wanted to go home...but no, they kept insisting :)  It was an awesome night too.  I was out in a t shirt and it was just the right temp.  It was ideal!  Loved every minute with them.  So fun to see them be excited and having fun and making memories too.  At the end I got a little sad again....I don't know why this thought always pops into my head...but how fast these 2 are growing.....there's not a lot of trick or treating years left where they want to go around with their mom.  Especially since I was dressed as a Banana - a life long dream of mine.  Maybe that's what made this Halloween magical :)

Recovering by eating our winnings

 The damage - 100 pieces each

 And last of all a sidenote.  Our Halloween donuts are getting better every year.  I must say, they were amazing!

Happy Halloween!

Hee Haws

The week of Halloween we went to Hee Haws.

Here's how good our picture attempts went

We swung

 Travis roped a few cows

 But the usual favorite was the slide.  Everyone loved it.  I even went down with ashley.  Surprisingly Hailey REALLY enjoyed it to!  Here's a photo of a race.  Aaron obviously cheated :)  and if you look closely there is a riny girl at the top ....that's Hailey.

Loved the great weather!

fall break pics

Here's some more fun pics from spring break.  The first is my favorite :)

 Hiking with grandpa