Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, we went to Oregon again this year, as did every one else in my family.  It was crazy, chaotic and lovely!

Scripture and prayer time

 making cinnamon rolls with Steven

 Mark bundles up Maysie so she can go outside and play

 My sisters  :)

 Mark and Tanya arm wrestle to decide whether or not he will wear his hat for the family picture

 Maysie plays chess

 Hallie reads the funnies

 The boys play poker with legos

The whole family

Me and my boys

Little miss Hallie

 Trev and Hallie

{Halloween}

This year I went as a witch again.  I think this is the third year straight.  Danny really liked that I was a witch.  I think I just like getting to wear bright green and black striped tights!

Austin was a ninja.  He loved it and really enjoyed getting to help create his costume.

Danny was a Pirate Thomas.  He found the Thomas costume at the thrift store and begged me (tears and all!) to get it for him so he could wear it for Halloween.  Normally I am a bit of a costume snob.  I always have to have their costumes be homemade.  I guess it is because that is how my mom did it growing up, so I will blame it on her  ;)  But anyway, I decided to give in and buy him the Thomas costume.  Then come Halloween time, he doesn't want to wear it!  He wants to be a pirate instead.  I reminded him that he choose Thomas, so that is what he needed to be.  He came up with a compromise and decided to be a Pirate Thomas.  And then, when it came time to take pictures and head out the door to trunk or treat, he didn't want to wear any costume at all.  I had to bribe him just to get this oh so sad and miserable shot!  Luckily, later on the incentive of a whole buckets worth of candy convinced him to put it back on again!

Spooky and Colorful Sugar Cookies

The boys and I decorated a batch of sugar cookies yesterday.  They taste soooo good!  It has been too long since we have had some!  The boys of course, being boys and all, wanted spooky cookies.  It was a big, huge, colorful yummy mess but we were pretty pleased with our skeleton gingerbread men, they were the clear favorite!

Halloween Prep

The boys love Halloween.  About halfway through September they start asking me when we will get out the Halloween decorations, especially the pirate dishes.  I make them wait until Oct 1, but then they get a whole month of feasting at their Pirate table!

 We also carved our pumpkins this week.  The boys loved pulling out the pumpkin guts!  Austin kept staring at himself in the mirror while scraping and removing the guts.  Danny kept picking up the little carving knives every time I wasn't paying attention and was trying to carve all on his own.  Austin did his pumpkin all by himself this year, all I did was help a bit on the final scraping.  He did a really good job and did not give up when it got hard!

 Kitty Bat - my pumpkin, 

The King - Austin's pumpkin, 

The Haunted Castle - Danny's pumpkin

Pumpkins and Apple Donuts - Yay for Fall!

The best part of fall for me has always been Apple Hill.  Well, that and chilly nights and mornings that allow me to wear sweatshirts again!  Last Saturday we got to go up to Apple Hill with Nessa, and we had a great time despite the crowds.  We got our apple donuts, Austin got his pumpkin, and the boys got to run in the hay maze; a perfect fall afternoon!  And then we went to a ward luau, a completely un-fall type activity but still really fun (no pics from the luau, because both my camera batteries were dead!)

Pumpkins with Hannah

Danny and I got invited to go along on cousin Hannah's field trip to get pumpkins and go on a hayride.  Danny was soooo excited to get to see his Hannah!  And Heidi told me that Hannah was just as excited to get to share her Danny with her pre-school friends.

 and of course I had to include a mini photo shoot for Danny while we were there as well  :)

Thanksgiving in Klamath Falls!

We spent Thanksgiving at my sisters house in Klamath Falls, OR.  Austin was soooooo excited to go.  He was counting down for weeks ahead of time, and getting him to go to sleep the night before the trip was really hard!  The kids all had so much fun together!

Danny, Lyndie and Gracie

 Danny and Gracie with their monster feet

 Making paper turkey placemats:

 A picture of me, taken by Bethany  :)

 Laith, Dad and dominoes:

 One of the big highlights of the trip was the snow.  Austin was playing out in it every chance he got!

Nessa holding a napping Danny so I could take pictures  :)

 Austin and Steven:

 Nessa and Laith start a snowball fight!

 It was Austin and Steven against the grownups!

 Nessa and Danny Sledding

 Me and my boys

 Austin making snow angels

 Danny and his wranglers in the snow

 Myah, at the end of one of her sledding runs

 Austin and his new hat

 Bethany and Gabe

 Cousins on a really big tire!

 Catching snowflakes!