Halloween

We hosted a Halloween party for some of the neighbor kids, they all had so much fun doing a few games and just running around playing together!  We started the night out by painting some small canvases for the kids to take home.  We then ate our dinner, we had mummy dogs, pumpkins, pumpkin guts, spiders, and ghost juice.  After we ate our food we played a couple games, ghost bowling and poisonous frog.  Then all the kids just ran around playing together!  I'm not sure if it is something that we will do every year, but it was fun!

This year for our costumes we did a superhero theme.  Avery was Wonder Woman, Mary was the Flash, Ethan was Superman, Wyatt was Batman, and Logan was Wolverine.  Wolverine's real name is Logan in case you didn't know!  The kids were so excited to wear their costumes to school and for their class parties!  That night we went to the church for the trunk or treat and then we drove around to a few neighborhoods for the kids to go door to door.  Halloween is really not my favorite, but it is so fun seeing their excitement, especially Wyatt who really got what was going on for the first time!

I just about died over the curl Louis put in Ethan's hair!

Louis is 32!

Just a few weeks after Mary's birthday we celebrate our favorite man, Louis!  We had a small celebration at home just with our family.  It was sweet and simple.  I spent the better part of my day preparing his big birthday dinner.  I surprised him with homemade Cafe Rio pulled pork burritos, homemade sauce and everything, cilantro lime rice, salsa black beans, and cilantro lime ranch dressing.  It was a lot of work, but so delicious!  I also made him his favorite cookies and cream cake.  The kids put together a scavenger hunt with his presents and they had a blast helping him find his gifts.  We all love Louis so much, he is silly, he is fun, he is smart, and he can fix anything we need him to.

Mary's Birthday Pictures

Mary's Birthday

Our sweet Mary turned 7 years old!  I think the highlight of her whole birthday was getting to go on her birthday date with Louis.  Louis surprised her with a day off of school and took her to the Adventure Park in Park City.  She had the best time!  Since they went during the week and when people are usually in school there were very few people there.  They got to ride the zip line something like 10 times in a row without even getting off in between.  Sadly, the mountain coaster was closed for repairs, but she did get to do a rock climbing wall and made it to the very top and rang the bell after several attempts! 

For Mary's birthday she wanted to go inside of McDonald's to play on the play place and eat, so I took her and Avery out for dinner there and they had a great time.  Mary's other request was an ice cream cake, I had never made one before so I opted to buy one instead.  We love our Mary, she is a peacemaker and likes people to be happy, she loves to read, and she loves to help with her little brothers.  We are blessed to have Mary in our home. 

Back to School

Heading into third grade, first grade, and preschool for the four oldest kids this year!  Our back to school feast was so much fun!  I did a beach theme for the decorations and food and it was a lot of fun!  I was so happy with how it turned out that it was the only thing I took a picture of! 
This year my parents were able to join us for the evening.  We ate our dinner then talked over this year's theme and what it means.  "So little children, lets you and I try to be like Him.  Try, try, try."  It is from a Primary song.  After we talked about our theme each kid got a father's blessing.  I was also able to get a blessing from my own father which was very special.  I can't remember the last time he was able to give me a blessing.  To end the evening each kid got their new school clothes which was a tradition I had growing up.

All of the kids had a great first day of school!  Ethan and Wyatt have both never gone to school outside of our home.  Ethan understood what was going to happen and went right into his classroom with excitement.  Wyatt didn't really understand what was going to happen and was a little uncertain when it came time for me to leave.  I walked him into his classroom and sat him down at the table to trace his name like they do at the beginning of every school day, and he was good!  He ended up having such a great time!  I am excited for this year and see the growth that each child has.