Fish Farm Fishing with Grandpa and cousins

Kyla and Johnny asked to go fishing while in Utah for Thanksgiving... Grandpa came through and took them to a fish farm.
They had a great time. Everyone caught fish, Johnny's was the biggest, he thought it was cool as long as he didn't get too close.

T-day... continued.

We took a BIG family picture with Steve's family while in Utah, that is a lot of people to get into one picture!!




Our little bunch



Steve's parents got their mission call the Wednesday before T-day. They are going to the New York, New York North Mission. We are super excited for them. They leave the 28th of this month, FAST!! My parents had a 5 month wait for visa's and to learn a language so I was expecting a little longer wait.

T-day...

We had to drive all the way to Utah to play in the leaves... we just have pine needles here and they aren't much fun to jump into...

Johnny loved throwing the leaves.



I thought it was so cute that Belle let her dad dump leaves on her head, and squealed through it all.







Ky and John had fun with cousins!







Cute Kyla!

Cool man L

Geeks and Booms

We went on a little hike to Beaver Creek. Ky and Johnny were such great hikers! They loved throwing rocks and sticks in the river.




This move would be classified as a "geek." They were running down the trail holding hands and saying "geek geek, we are geeking!" Amazingly no one fell.




Geeking!!


And this move is a "boom." John's booms were the best, he usually ended up on his back.



More booms.



Daddy and Leo, happy hikers!

rollin' rollin' rollin'

Look what Leo can do!!!

Ichabod

"I'm not Ichabod, I'm Johnny Boy!!"

"I'm not yelling, that's just my dog."

"Go on Dad!"

"Look,it's a Ja Ja Ja for Johnny Boy!"

"Mom, you can't dance."

"Jesus don't want us to fight."

"Where is my red shirt?! I want my red jammies. Is my red plate in the dish washer? Red is my favorite."

Trunk or Treat

We had our ward trunk or treat last night. The kids had fun...

Miss Kyla dressed up as Fancy Nancy. It was the perfect costume for her, she kept adding things, "oh mom wings too and my boa..."








John has been telling me for weeks he wasn't going to wear a costume. He wanted to be just a boy for Halloween. Even though I knew better I still tried to get him to dress up, it lasted 30 seconds... maybe.




Our little monkey... Thanks Mel for the super cute monkey suit!








A happy Johnny in his "red boy costume"... which is just his fireman hat on backwards. What a silly boy!

PUMPKINS!!

Our annual pumpkin carving night with our friends, the Goodman's. We had a few more pumpkins and a few more people this year, it was lots of fun. My kids have been so excited to carve their pumpkins!

Kyla choose this little pumpkin and named it Tiny. She drew the face on and made sure he is a "nice pumpkin" not a scary one!


Johnny wasn't too sure about all the slime inside. He thought making the face was cool though, he wanted, eyes, a nose, and a mouth with lots of teeth so it can talk to him.


Johnny with Big Big and Kyla with Tiny.



Steve's pumpkin friend.



All done and lit up.



Beave made this cat. I think Ky choose the pattern, she is really into kitty's right now!



Big Big, Tiny and the cat at our house.



Leo with Tiny.

the neighbor...

You have to look close to see our new neighbor... apparently he moved in over the weekend.




Here is a close up, Steve got the job to relocate him.
In case you can't tell, its a tarantula! They are natives to the forest here, it is only the 2nd one I've seen in 4 years of living here...

Bruiser

How about some road rash on your face?! Kyla was walking home from the neighbors, who happen to be at the top of the hill, she and her friend decided to run, the big brother who was walking with them told them that probably wouldn't be a good idea about the same time Ky fell... OUCH!!

U2

So when Steve was in Scotland this summer U2 was playing there, when he told me about it, I said something like, "You should go!! U2 is one of the only bands I would pay money to see..." He couldn't get his schedule to accommodate going but that is all it took, the concert green light was on! Steve LOVES music and used to go to a lot of concerts, "shows", before we had kids and moved to Flagstaff. So guess what I got for my birthday?! U2 concert tickets! They came to Phoenix yesterday and Steve and I were there. I was a little hesitant (Steve says a lot hesitant!) to leave my kids, especially little Leo for so long but Leo takes a bottle so thanks to an amazing friend who took my three kids even though her husband was out of town... we got to go.
U2 did not disappoint! It was a great show! AND we didn't know until 2 minutes before but Black Eyed Peas opened for them, not quiet U2 but still a fun show.
Things I love about U2:
Larry Mullen Jr. the somewhat shy drummer.
The lack of profanity, not one naughty word the whole show!
Bono, I think it takes a special talent to command an audience of 90,000 for 2 hours!! A little too over the top at times, but that makes him Bono.
I can sing along to 99% of their songs, and they have a lot!! 30 years is a long time to be making music.
The Edge, who doesn't love the beanie wearing lead guitar!
The band's appeal to ALL ages... Steve and I were a little surprised to see so many kids, little kids at the show, I think Steve was calculating how soon he can take our kids...! And then there was the grandma and grandpa, not like old worn out rocker looking people, a cookie baking grandma type. Steve leaned over and asked, "can that be us?!"
Not to leave Adam Clayton out, every band needs a good base guitar I guess.

Thanks Beave for a GREAT b-day present. And thanks Mari for making it possible, by the way Kyla and John both told on themselves this morning... "I kept and kept and kept getting out of bed... and John followed me...!"

One more thing...

So when we did the basement remodel last spring we left one tiny thing to do... the tile behind the wood stove. It has started to get cold and we decided we couldn't put it off anymore. Steve basically did the job in a day, you have to let things dry between coats so it takes a few days but the big mess and work was all done last Saturday. I love how it turned out and despite my love hate relationship with the wood stove, love the heat hate the mess, I am happy to have a fire again.

Happy Halloween!!

We (ok I) really like Halloween and fall fun things. We made "pumpkin pumpkins" for a fun Halloween treat!

Johnny says, "Happy Halloweeeeeeen!!"

Giggle Man Leo!

We all love that Leo is ticklish. He is the perfect baby for two rambunctious siblings. He laughs when they tickle him and doesn't complain too much when they jump on him. He has learned a trick or two from them... he squeals and YELLS. He is especially ticklish under his arms, so even just changing his shirt can be a giggle fest. He is a lot of fun!