Pumpkin Patch

We took the kids to the Pumpkin patch for FHE. They had a ton of fun. Their is so much to do at liner Farms.

This is what Sarah wanted to bring home. She loved it.

Hannah loves animals. She had so much fun feeding these little goats.

Recent randoms

We have just been crazy busy lately, but having fun. I haven't even finished posting pictures from our trip yet, but the kids have just been playing so well lately and they have just been so cute. I wanted to capture a few precious moments in our busy lives.

"Puppy"

Hannah loves Dogs so I wanted her to be a puppy for Halloween. Sarah and Hannah dug this out of our dress up stuff. I wasn't planning on using it because it is too small, but Hannah doesn't seem to mind. She has worn it every day since. She got so mad when I took it off her the first day to wash it. She was right there at the dryer to get it out the next day. she is so cute! When I ask her what a doggy says, she stick out her tongue.

Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

Sarah took this picture! She is really into taking pictures lately.

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit. We had root beer floats, and........

.....made fish faces!

Hannah knows how to get what she wants. She kept sneaking little drinks from Grandpa, Grandma, and the other kids. She also discovered that we thought it was really cute when she would say "Ga-pa" or "Ga-ma". So she kept yelling both at the top of her lungs, especially when other people where trying to talk.

I have many pictures like this where Sarah holds up the camera and takes a picture of herself, or anyone who will stand in with her. She's a little photographer in training.

Dress-up

I found the kids in the closet, all dressed up with babies in their laps, prettying them up with lip gloss!

Cookies

It's the thought that counts

We had so many wonderful friends and family that helped us with the kids while we were gone on our trip. We decided to invite Grandma over and make cookies to take people as a thank you. I'm afraid that totally involving the kids in my efforts meant cookies loaded with more candy and sprinkles than actual cookie. Oh, well. The kids enjoyed the project and with some milk, I'm sure the recipients didn't mind so much.

Thank you to all who helped the kids get through the week without us.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Smith

Pucker Up!!!

"Daddy, will you play lipstick with me"?

Daddy is so nice to "play lipstick" with the girls.

And of course........BSU

The day after returning from our trip we went to the BSU-Hawaii game. It was awesome!! Once again, Thank you so much Valkos!!!!! We had a great time.

My brave boy!!!

I let the kids take their tent outside the other day and Caden decided that he wanted to spend the night in the tent so that he could "guard the house". We got out his sleeping bag, pillow, and flashlight. We sent him on his way, fully expecting to see him back within the half hour. Scott looked down at his watch at 12 min. then at twenty. He looked at me and said, " It's been a full 20 min. I'm going out there". Caden was sound asleep, but in anticipation of, a middle of the night scare, Scott decided to stand guard outside the tent (It is too small for two people). At 4 in the morning Scott came back to bed, it was too cold and there was no sign of movement from the tent. At 8 Am the girls came into our room, but no Caden. I went in his room on my way down the stairs and his bed was empty. I took Hannah down to get her some breakfast and I looked out the window to see Caden gathering up his stuff and zipping up his tent. He came in, smile from ear to ear, and announced that he slept in the tent, guarding the house, all night long. Fun times!

Fall fun with the Bacons

Nellie brought lots of fun stuff over to make fall cookies. The kids all had a blast and Caden was so happy to see his friend Gabriel.
Thank you Nellie.

Luke and Nellie

Caden and Gabriel

Levi, Luke, Gabriel, and Caden got in their costumes and ran off some energy, pretending that they were all heroes.

Soccer days are over

Caden had his last soccer game on Saturday. It is kind of sad to see it come to an end. Caden had a lot of fun and he made some really god friends.

On Saturday, Caden's coach was nice enough to have a little trophy ceremony for the kids. Caden thought that was just great. We all went to Red Robin (Caden's favorite place). I think the boys had a ton of fun running around between bites of their lunches.

Red robin even paid a visit, ooohhh, how special!

Hannah and Anna found a way to entertain themselves.

Happy Birthday Adrian

Happy Birthday!!!!

We had a wonderful time with you guys! thanks for letting us stay with you and taking us to New York. Scarlett is adorable and I miss her already. Tell her I said Hi. Hope to see you in our neck of the woods soon.

New England Fall

We're back!!!

We arrived back in Boise Thurs. night at about midnight (I guess that would make it Fri. morning).The trip was unbelievable, I don't know where to begin. It was so fun to see Adrian, Wendy, and their darling little angel, Scarlett.

We saw a lot of places, walked a lot, took some ferries, saw some of the nice places

Scott served in and even some of the not so nice. We got to experience

Scott's much anticipated New England Fall. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. We could not have planned it at a better time, we saw peak! We even missed the kids, many things reminded us of them and in the quiet moments when things slowed down just a bit, we got antsy for them. But the overall experience was just amazing. I got to walk where Scott walked, relive some of the experiences I have heard so much about and they all became so real. It was so refreshing to spend time walking, talking, laughing, listening, seeing and experiencing the beauty of autumn with Scott (all to myself).

Thank you Scott for sharing with me and teaching me all about a place you fell in love with long ago.

Pillow cases

I got a great idea from my fun parenting class I (sometimes) go to on Tues. I love that class I always learn so much! I took the kids to the fabric store and let them pick out their own fabric for these pillow cases. Even Hannah picked out her own and she knows which one is hers. each kid has one on their beds and it's been fun for them.

Before leaving for our trip I wanted to make sure and get all of the tomatoes picked from our garden (it was a good thing because it snowed that night. Can you believe it!). My plan was to just pick as much as I could and call it good. I still had a lot of packing to do along with all the other little things you do before leaving your children for a week. I felt like all these little things were far more important. the Garden could wait til we returned. I enlisted help from the little ones and surprisingly, they were having so much fun. Before I knew it, we had clippers and bags and we were completely cleaning out the whole garden. Caden was so big. He kept grabbing his back and saying

"wow, this is so much work, my back is killing me".

He wouldn't stop. A ,"few minute project" , turned into hours, working side-by-side. Caden talked of feeling like he was a squirrel,
"except we are bigger", he said. "we are gathering for the winter so we can survive and our garage is like our cave, but we aren't going to sleep all winter".

We had a lot of fun, even Sarah pitched in. As Caden pulled out the last Tomato plant and I told him what a hard worker he was today, he said to me,

"Mommy, this is the best day of my life".

I guess that packing can always wait.

We finally did it!!!!!

Scott has been wanting to go visit his mission since I've known him. Adrian also lives back east and they just had a baby and we are dying to see her, so we did it. Scott booked a trip on Saturday, and we leave in a few days. CRAZY!!!! I am so excited to see Adrian and Wendy's new little baby and so excited that I get to walk the streets that Scott walked on his mission. He just can't wait to take me to see the places that he talks about so often. Scott's favorite time of year is the fall and especially on the east coast. He told me that he can't wait to go for walks together and get hot apple cider. He's sooo romantic! i am so super nervous to leave my little ones behind, but with all the help that has been offered by friends and fam, they are in good hands.

NO SCHOOL

Fall is in the air!!!!

With the change in colors and the cooler temperatures, come all the fun activities that I love!! I get so excited to welcome in the fall season. Cooking, yummy fall candles, FOOTBALL, leaves, smells, PUMPKINS, and especially all the fun family activities!! The deal gets even sweeter when you throw in a NO SCHOOL DAY. Caden had Thurs. and Fri. off of school this week so we made the most of it and had fun. After the kids were in bed last night I told Scott that these past few days have just been glorious! His response was, "you always say that, what was so great this time"?

My only explanation can be: NO SCHOOL DAY!!!

(I do believe in school, I just appreciate the days I can have all my little ones at home with me)

Here are the pictures of how we spent our time off.







We started the long weekend off by going to the BSU game on Wed. the kids didn't have school on thurs so they went to Grandmalitas. Tim Valko was so kind to give us tickets.

THANK YOU!!! We had a lot of fun. It was a great game. Of course we won!! Scott yelled so loud that he lost his voice. It was a lot of fun to spend that time with Scott.


THURSDAY: GRANDMA SMITH'S HOUSE



The kids had so much fun. We spent the whole day visiting with Grandma smiths house, something we don't get to do very often anymore. Grandma gave the kids blankets and let them make forts. caden told Sarah that she could be his wife but she had to build her own house because they had to live in their own homes. Here in this picture they are "going for a run". (Daddy would be proud). Grandma's house is so fun.



Grandma Smith taught me how to can tomatoes and juice......



I taught her how to make cinnamon rolls.

Friday: zoo and crafts

Caden had a birthday party at the zoo. We all went along, but I let Caden go off by himself with his friends and I stayed behind with the girls. It was simply marvelous!! I could not have asked for better weather. It was so fun to spend time with Hannah and Sarah. Hannah was so excited by all of the animals. Now that she is bigger I let her walk most of the way. She shrieked with excitement at every animal we saw. She even got excited about the little birds that pestered us as we ate our lunch. After we were done we went for a little walk at the park. when Caden got done with his party, we went to our old neighborhood in East Boise to look for acorns. The kids thought it was so fun to see our old house and collect acorns like we did when they were little.



Chili and Crafts!!!


Hannah and Anna were pleasant this evening. Hannah was maybe not totally feeling herself because she was super sweet and she seemed to really enjoy the company of a friend.


Strike a pose girls







So to end our Friday, we invited the Hawkes over to paint the acorns we had collected. I hope the kids had as much fun as the vision I had in my mind. The idea was to paint them to look like pumpkins. I think I gave too many options of colors. Oh well!! I believe that I heard "camo, and army guys" in the conversation. we ended the night with some home made chili I made with the tomatoes I canned. YUM!!!

Saturday: Fall decor, and Cinnamon Rolls




Hannah quickly learned that the taste of raw dough is NOT very good!


The finished product. Every time I make cinnamon rolls, I give the kids their own chunk of dough to create whatever their little hearts dream up. The end result usually looks something like this. Although very fun to make, after only a few bites the kids usually decide next time they won't put so much stuff on it.



Dawn, Daniel, Grandma, and Grandpa also came over on Saturday. The kids had so much fun playing with Jenna in the closet.



My handy man hubby decided against calling a plumber to install our water softener and decided to tackle the project himself. It was pretty crazy because he had to work on it between 3 sessions of conference, but he got it done and I got to take a nice shower with soft water this morning.

Decorating the house

Caden LOVES decorating for the holidays. After the first session of conference I let him break out the fall box and decorate. I was amazed by his creativity. I had a bunch of little pumpkins left over from a party last year and he found good use for them. He hung them all over the tree and I must say, it was beautiful.


Oodles of Noodles

Daddy made noodle for the kids today. He forgot to cut them up like I usually do and....well, need I say more.

So in addition to Conference, which I will post at a later time when I have given my fingers a chance to recuperate, this was our four day weekend and it was wonderful.