E-i-e-i-o!

Fun on the farm!

After Christmas Papa invited all the grandkids to go ride horses at the farm. I was excited to go, because I have many fond memories of riding horses with my dad on the farm when I was growing up. I still remember Peaches, the horse I learned to ride on. I also remember Dad taking us to go get Thrifty ice cream after we rode, so we took the kids for Thrifty ice cream to make it a total experience. Good times!

L to R: Cannon, Ameliah, Miranda, Brooklyn and Kamron. There were lots more cousins there that I didn't get pictures of.

Here's Cannon riding Elvis, a one-eyed pony. I let the kids sit on there themselves and I led Elvis around the arena. He was waving to his cousins in this shot. He was so proud of himself. Too cute!

Here is Ameliah sitting on Marg. Marg was the biggest horse there. Ameliah kept asking to ride her, but we just stuck with Elvis is he was a lot closer to the ground. When we were done riding, I let her sit on Marg for a few minutes and that seemed to appease her. Good enough for me!

I am glad the Papa took us riding. I got to ride Queen. She wanted to "walk-out" which basically means she was super fast and would trot the entire time if I let her. I LOVED it! I hope that my kids created some of the same fond memories that I had when I was a child visiting the farm.

Halloween

Last year I bought Ameliah's costume after Halloween. I let Cannon pick his own costume and he picked Batman with a ninja sword. Why not?

Ameliah put on his ninja mask in the car.

Here is Ameliah (aka Catgirl) with Uncle Scott at the ward Halloween party.

Here is Batman with my angel. I convinced Todd to wear my old halo and angel wings. He was such a good sport about it, which made it so much fun!

It was really fun because I dressed as a She-devil. We were quite a pair.

A forbidden love ;)

We all met at Rob and Shannon's house to go trick-or-treating in their neighborhood. It was fun to get together with all the cousins and see their costumes. Here is Miranda, a ladybug, and Catgirl.

Here is Batman and Wolverine (Kamron).

Happy Halloween!

Autism Zoo Walk

This is our 2nd year to do the Autism Zoo Walk. My nephew, Cade, is autistic and every year his team "Chubs" gathers people to come do a zoo walk. This year, our shirts said "Caderade, thirsting for a cure". The zoo is lined with statistics and information about autism and the research that ASU has done on it. The research is funded by the donations from the zoo walk. Team Chubs was one of the largest this year.

Here's me and Todd before the walk.

Here's Papa and all the grandkids in the back of his truck while we were waiting to start.

As you can see, the kids were sufficiently wiped out after a long, hot morning at the zoo.

Living so close to Scott and Tracy, I have had the opportunity to get to know Cade better. We had never really made a connection before now. Now he seeks me out to say hi or sits next to me. He is a special boy and our relationship is special. I'm glad I had the chance to get to know him one on one. We love you Cade!

Pumpkin Patch

October is always such a busy month for us with face painting at Schnepf Farms. This year I made a resolve to take a break from it and actually take my family to it and enjoy it ourselves. I'm so glad we did. We created some fun memories there.

We had a nice BBQ chicken dinner. We even got to go on a hayride that took us out to see the baby reindeer. The reindeer would come right up to the fence and eat out of your hands. They loved it!

Here is our family pose at the beginning.

I told Ameliah to try to pick up the pumpkin. Too cute!

My handsome little guy liked the carousel. He asked to ride it several times.

Here they are watching the pig races. I thought they would love it, but it didn't hold their attention.

This is right before the Spooky Train Ride. I didn't realize how scary it would be for them. They were both terrified! They literally had people with costumes and masks running toward the train. Not recommended for small children.

Ameliah said she wanted to ride a real horse. It cost $5 and they walk around in a circle. They kept stopping to let other kids on and off, so really I paid 5 bucks for her to sit on a horse. I regretted it until she told me later that night that it was her favorite part.

Ameliah's First Parade

Ameliah takes a dance class that her Aunt Tracy teaches. Her company is called Dance Addiction and I think there are like 80ish girls from ages 3 to 14 that she teaches. Ameliah has loved being in a dance class and asks a lot if "today is dance class". She had an opportunity to be in 2 parades and I got to be with her on the float. It was so fun to watch her perform. She loved it too!

Isn't she just a doll? Alys took this picture of her and I just LOVE it!

She loves to pose for the camera.

Here is us lining up.

Alys took this one, too and it is another favorite. Look at that smile. Can you tell she loved it?

She didn't even do the choreographed dance for most of it. I think she was to excited. When she stopped doing it I just whispered "Just smile and shake your pom poms and they will all love you." She did that for a while and then said "Mom, are they loving me?" I said "Yes!" and I wasn't lying, they did!

Our 1st Camping Trip

I got to take the kids camping for the very first time. I was sad that Todd couldn't go, because he had to work. I went with my parents, Scott and Tracy's family and Jodi and Shephard's family and Ken and Phoebe's boys. We camped somewhere near Strawberry.

Here's me and Cannon. Notice how he is trying to get away. He had no time for photos, he wanted to play.

Sisters! Jodi, me and Tracy.
The kids dug around in the dirt and got so dirty. Tracy cleaned them up before bed time and the towel was black with soot!I caught Jodi licking the spoon that they used to make the peach cobbler. Busted!

Here's Papa making the cobbler in the dutch oven. Papa spent almost the entire time setting up camp and feeding us the most delicious meals EVER!

My little diva loves to strike a pose!
Miranda, Ameliah and Kinley playing in Papa's trailer.

I brought this little bench that also turns over to make a little table. The kids loved it.

We sure missed our Daddy, but we had a good time.

Ameliah's Birthday

Ameliah turned 4 in August. She asked for a butterfly cake and I was going to make her some super cool butterfly cupcakes that I got from one of Sherri's many cookbooks. Unfortunately, I did not have the time or money to do that so I just made cupcakes and we put them in the shape of a butterfly. She loved it and didn't know the difference!

She is so funny about the number 4. She knows she is 4 and what it looks like and sees them EVERYWHERE now. The funny thing is that she knows a lot of other numbers, but since that's how old she is, that's what she looks for. She does the same thing with the letter A. Whenever she sees one she says "Look Mom, that has my name on it!" I have had to explain several times that just because it has an A, doesn't mean it says Ameliah.

Lake Trip

This summer, before I even got called to Young Women's I got to go on a lake trip with the youth. We took 60+ boys and girls from the ward and like 6 boats and went to Canyon lake for the day. I had so much fun!

Here is a picture of McKenna, me, Tracy and Kenny on the boat.

This is me wake boarding for the first time EVER! I wasn't even going to try because I wanted to make sure all of the kids got a chance (and I secretly thought I would embarrass myself). I finally decided to do it and I got right up! I laughed and loved every minute of it! I'm so glad I went!

Debbie's Home!

Debbie came home from her mission to Tampa, Florida in July. We were all so excited! Julie's family came from Idaho for all the festivities. Here is a picture of Ameliah and Riley waiting. They are such fun friends.

Julie made masks for everyone to wear. It was an inside joke because Debbie was sick when she came home. It was funny because what Debbie had is not contagious. Julie drew little mouths on the masks. We wore them up on our heads while we were waiting.

Here is a sister shot while we were waiting. L to R: Me, Tina, Julie, Cindy, Heather.

Debbie with our family.

Another sister shot.

Man I love these boys!

Todd and Debbie. We were so glad to have here home. We only had a few weeks with her before she went off to school and got married (but that's another post).

He's my favorite!