Halloween 2008...

I'm finally starting to get caught up... almost. Halloween was a lot of fun this year (for me or the kids??) We had parties at school, a trunk-or-treat ward party, and of course regular trick-or-treating. William got to decorate his own cupcake in class, and Caleb had a great time going in to visit Kaitlyn and Zach. He tried taking off a few times, enjoying his freedom, but he didn't make it too far.


















Zach and Kaitlyn have always been excited to dress up for Halloween. They look forward to being able to wear their costume afterwards too, and they come up with so many different ways to wear them. This year, much to my demise (ok, not quite that bad) Zach remembered a promise I made him a long time ago. He's always wanted to be this "bloody skeleton" and I kept telling him he had to be eight first. Well, he's eight and he didn't forget (like I obviously thought he would). So here's Zach in his long awaited Bloody Skeleton costume....


I bet he's making quite the scary face to go along with is scary costume; it's just too bad that we can't see it! (We could tell from the sounds he was making). As for letting him dress up for fun in this later... no way. I don't want fake blood all over the place (even if it's an "accident"). Plus, knowing his sister (yes, sister and not brother) it will probably be used again.

Speaking of Kaitlyn, she was of course, mistaken for a boy most of the time. She had a great time in her costume and it fit her well. I have to admit that it is nice not having to do fancy hair and make-up like most girls her age want!

Kaitlyn in her "stance:"


Luckily, Will and Caleb are still too young to care what they are and are more than willing to wear whatever I tell them to. I know that's going to change one of these days, so I'm enjoying it while I can. Will was a football player (number 7 John Elway, of course) and Caleb was a "Tiny Ninja."






















After all was said and done and we were home from trick-or-treating, William and Caleb sat down on the floor with their buckets and tried to get away with eating as much as they could before getting caught. Here's our little guys living it up! Yummy!

William's 1st day of school...(Oct. 21, 2008)

William is going big time... already! I have a lot of mixed feelings about William already being in school. He is so small still and I love having his at home to play with Caleb (who is all of a sudden a lot more clingy). However, because of his late speaking and since we still have a hard time understanding him, I had him tested by the school district. He ended up qualifying to have speech therapy and goes to preschool Monday through Thursday in the mornings. He loves going and taking his backpack and loves being a "big" boy. Now if I can just get him to be a "big boy" who goes to the bathroom on the potty...

Here's William in his classroom on his first day. He walked in and didn't even care if I stayed or not. He started playing immediately and barely said goodbye - I'm the one who had a hard time!

Red Rock and Randy's Leaving! (Oct 08)

Well, my youngest brother Randy is finally the ripe old age of 19 and ready to head out on a mission. It's funny how when people who are close to you (whether they're children or siblings or good friends) do big, grown-up things, it makes you feel older. Or maybe that's just me. Anyway, we wanted to have one last "fun" time with the family before he left. We all met out at Red Rock (in Logandale) and thanks to my sister Tosha and her husband Joe, be had a great time riding dune buggies, climbing rocks, eating (of course) and hanging out. Ryan took out his camera and was able to capture some great shots during the event. These are a few of my favorites...




Ryan also took some "track" pictures of some creepy-crawlers. Here's one of those shots:

I have to admit that one of my favorite parts was rock climbing. We climbed to the top of Easter Egg Hill and took some great shots. I was glad I could still "hang" with the youngsters I was
with! Here we are at the top:


















And here's a few shots on the way down and towards the bottom:


All in all we had a great time and it was also fun seeing family that we hadn't seen for a while. My Aunt Helen and her daughters came down from Logan and we had such a great time with them too. I think their kids were just as dirty as ours after all was said and done. On Sunday we were able to hear Randy speak one last time and spend more time together as a family. Now we'll have to wait another two years for that! Good luck Randy!

Family Pictures and Caleb's 1st Birthday! (October 4th)

On the fourth of October, Caleb turned one! It's hard to believe that it's already been a year since I've had him. Time is flying by. It also happened to be one of the final weekends that we could get together as a family and take some pictures before Randy left on his mission. We ended up having Ryan's family meet us there to, and a great friend and photographer, Chris Ross, took a lot of pictures for us. The day started out like it was going to rain (and did in some places), but where we were was just windy and a little cold (but no rain). I've added some of my favorite shots. Here's one of all of the families together: We had a lot of fun and you can see from some of the next pictures that the wind did not quit blowing, unfortunately. Here's a few of my favorite pictures of the day:

I have such a wonderful family and we had a great time taking pictures (especially when it warmed up). I just have one more picture, that happens to be my one of my favorites taken that day. I have some amazing sisters, a sister-in-law, and a daughter who posed with me on this one. Everyone looks like a model! You guys are awesome! Here it is:

After getting a ton of pictures, we retired to the field below and had a picnic and celebrated Caleb's first birthday. He had a great time making a mess out of his cake. While he had a better time opening his presents than playing with them (like a normal one year old), he also had a great time playing outside. I'm learning he loves to be outside. Here are some highlights:


After Caleb's "fun" we (all three of my brothers, my husband and Jen) decided to play a game of touch football. I realized how "BIG" my little brothers are now and how OLD I am getting! I don't think my knee will ever be the same! All told it was still a very fun time though.

I Got My Bike! (September 08)

In September, Ryan and I decided that we wanted to try to do a triathlon. We decided to order some bikes to help us along in our endeavor.

We were pretty excited to receive them and when they came, Ryan put them together for us. We each rode them down to the bike shop and had them tuned and tightened up, and now we're trying to get out and ride them as much as possible. This was my first experience with bikes (besides my banana seat pink and pretty from elementary) and I have learned a lot about even having gears, when to use what and how, "clipping in" and lots of other bike things. I know I have a ton more to learn, but it's been pretty exciting thus far.

We also went down to the YMCA at the first of October and signed up for a family membership. Now we can work on our swimming too. We have a lot of work to do still, but I'm excited to try!