Halloween 2012...

As a lot of you know, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.  I think mostly because it's in the fall, and I just love fall!  This year's Halloween was a little low key for us comparatively.  We had a lot going on in the weeks leading up to it, so there wasn't very much preparing or decorating going on at our house.  I didn't even work on new costumes for the kids, which was kind of sad, but the kids didn't seem to mind.  They ended up finding plenty of things to wear in our dress up bins.  This is what they came up with for their school festival...

 I think that we are going on year number four with the piranha costume.  It's becoming a family tradition.  I can already foresee the kids reminiscing about the piranha as they look back on their childhood...

 

Rob and I went to a Halloween party as well.  Our goal for our costume was to make it for free, using only things that we had at home.  We succeeded with this...

Yes... that is our shower rod.

 The kids got a big kick out of it as well...

This is what the kids came up with for trick-or-treating...

 

We really did have a great Halloween!

My Baby Boy...

This picture reminded me so much of when our Hayden-boy was a sweet little baby,
crashed on our bed...

I can't believe how fast he has grown up...

First Field Trip and A Fun Run...

Sophie went on her very first field trip this fall with her preschool class to the pumpkin patch or "patch farm" as she called it.  She thought it was the most wonderful day of her life... riding a school bus, bringing her own sack lunch, and having her daddy come with her...

 

So long from the "patch farm"...

Sophie also participated in her first Fun Run at school.  She did awesome!  She ran and ran and ran...

 Way to go Soph!

Fun New Friends...

Our family was so sad to move from the street and neighbors that we have grown to love over the last six years... they will always be our very good friends.  But with all change comes many new and wonderful things.  One of those things for us is some fantastic new neighbors.  Ella and Maya just happen to be Ana and Sophie's same age, so it's like a built-in playdate everyday!  Wahoo!!

We decided to have a tea party to celebrate our new friends!



Teeth Be Gone...

Ana's gappy-tooth smile has gone from small to rather large...

due to the fact the her front teeth are finally gone...

What a cute girl we have!

The Tooth Phenomenon...

So Ana's teeth have been acting very funny lately... the front two.
They used to be touching, like in this picture from a few months ago...

But now they just keep sliding further and further apart...

  I guess the permanent teeth are trying to make some room for themselves.  In the mean time, I think that it is the funniest and cutest thing ever.  I guess only a mom appreciates their kid's crazy, gappy teeth...

When you see the following pictures, you'll realize why the previous picture (which was not a great one) was so hard to get...

And those were just a few of the pictures!  Seriously, you would think that we could get one good shot out of all of those.  What a kid!

Tubing Cripple Creek...

On one of the last warm(ish) days of summer, we decided to find something to do that we haven't tried before.  So we headed up to Golden to go tubing down the creek.  The water was... let's just say, not very warm.  But the kids loved it anyway...

  

 Farewell warm summer days...

Laundry Volcano...

Laundry has to be one of my least favorite chores... the folding part anyway.  So to make it more interesting we started something called laundry volcano (an idea stolen from my sweet friend Jessica).  The kids dig it, it's way more fun than just sorting, and in the end... the laundry gets done.  It's a win-win...

Apparently, Sophie decided that being the laundry was more fun than catching it...

My Kids...

They are sometimes sweet... and sometimes it's even to each other.  A couple of those precious moments...

School - 2012... Day 1...

It seems like not long ago that I was wishing that my kids would all be old enough to go to school.  And now that that day is finally here, I makes me nostalgic for the the days when they were all so little and we used to stay at home and play all day.  Here are my big kids, on their first day of school, 2012...

 

   

They really do grow up over night...

Orderville Canyon...

The most fantastic part of our trip to Zions was the last day.  Rob's brother, Chase, worked in Zions for a couple of years and so he had training to take people down Orderville Canyon.  It's a 10-mile hike/repel down a slot canyon that eventually connects with Zion Canyon in the national park. This hike was seriously one of the most amazing outdoor adventures I've ever experienced!  Here is our group as we started out at the top of the canyon (Rob couldn't come with us that day)...

As you hike down, the canyon gets deeper and narrower.  So beautiful...

Waterfalls... repelling... it doesn't get cooler than this!!

Us girls came up with some pretty creative ways of keeping our shorts dry on the repels...

But as the water got deeper and deeper, keeping dry was out of the question...

The water was actually the least of our worries...

The last couple of miles, the hiking was all in 2+ feet of water.  Do you know what kind of a work out that is?  It's like water aerobics for miles...

After 11 hours, we finally made it...Woohoo! 

No broken bones and everyone alive (there were times when we wondered if this would be possible)...  

Rob and his Dad picked us up at the end; we all crashed immediately. 

I don't even remember what happened that evening I was so tired.  

It seriously was the AWESOMEST hike I have ever done... 

and I would do it again in a heartbeat!  

Thanks Chase for being our guide and having all the gear that we needed - 

it wouldn't have been possible without you!