Rodeo, Arkoudas Style!

Ryan was in charge of the activity for FHE. I believe it was one of the kids most favorite activities to date! What could possibly claim that title? A rodeo of course, featuring Ryan as "the bull".

He gave all the kids rides and tried to buck them off while I timed them for eight seconds.

Emma was the only one who lasted the whole time. They all got bucked off.

Max definately had to get on his cowboy clothes and even made me saftey pin a "rodeo number" onto his back.

They had so much fun, and Ryan burned at least 1000 calories. He was plum tuckered out when he was through. The funniest had to be when he tried to buck Sam off. That kid certainly is getting big.
It won't be too long before he has to give Ryan the ride.

Who knew that this "free" activity would be remembered and loved the most off all the things we do!
Lesson learned: When boredom strikes, just bring out the ol' dad!

Garnets~

We are lucky to have an amazing home teacher who always comes with the most interesting lessons to apply to our lives. Last week he brought us a bucket of gravel. The gravel just happened to come from Dillon Montana where there a lots of garnets. My boys were so excited. He gave us this lesson:

Garnets are like people.

They start out pure and as they get bigger they are exposed to more and more impure things. If they hang onto impurities eventually the impurities leave a dark heart which light can not travel through. The majority of garnets have dark hearts but a few stay pure and full of light. As with the gospel of Jesus Christ when the light of Christ can pass through your heart then God can work with you. God can knock of the ruff edges and shape you into a very valuable stone. But if your heart remains dark from the things you have been around then God can not shape you.We spent Monday night looking through the gravel to find the most beautiful garnets.

It truly kept us entertained for a long while. All of us.

Even Emma got in on the action.

Mara was our checker to shine the light on the garnet and see if it had a black heart.

I was truly overcome with a love for our Father in Heaven's hometeaching plan. How grateful I am that my children get to hear from someone other than their parents, how important it is that we have pure hearts and stay away from situations and things that cause us to lose some of our light.

Holy Tooth Batman!

ThE PRoof Is iN thE PudDinG! Caleb fInAlly haS a FrOnT tOotH!

wE nEveR thOuGht thaT hE wOulD eVer noT Be ToOthLesS! But nOw hE is!aNd wHaT a hOnKEr iT iS!

BucKy BeAveR wilL bE jEalOuS!

Werewolves, Witches, Vampires and Mummies...Sounds like Halloween to me!

Getting ready for the big day, Ryan put Noah's mask on Emma!
Yah, she freaked me out! Sweet babies should not look like that!

Mara getting her make-up on!

Don't mind goofy Sam in the background.

The Headless Horseman . Sam came up with his own costume again this year.

He is just like I was. Planning right now for next year!

Mummy Noah!

Okay, the mask is crazy freaky, I have been more spooked with that thing in the house than I remember being in a long time.

The most awesome Werewolf...business during the day, werewolf by light of the full moon! It was a pretty close to full moon tonight too.!

Vampire Max, fresh of his kill...I didn't do the gruesome, that would be his father!

Fairy Princess Mara...have to have something nice in the mix!

Emma the wicked witch who wouldn't leave her hat on! She was great this year! Absolutely loved it all, getting dressed, the make-up the treats! At the door when all the kids would go up, she often got pushed out of the way, but she made sure to scream until she was noticed and then promptly said "Tank To" as soon as the candy was in the bucket. She was crackin me up!

I love this age!

There's my babe! Thanks to him, we got the kids done up in a timely fashion, dinner eaten and trick-o-treating accomplished!

THE LOOT!

They made a haul!

He cracks me up!

He insisted that Emma share her candy with him...she was quite reluctant, but eventually gave it up, then yanked it out of his mouth mid-bite. She is a stingy candy eater. Unfortunatly for the kids, Ryan steals all the good candy!

It took a long time to get baths done, and as fun as it is, aren't we glad it's just once a year!

Let the Carving Begin!

I love the ewwy, gooewy, sticky, icky, feel of pumpkin guts being squished through my fingers and have passed that love onto my children!

There is no greater day than pumpkin carving day!

We had a tragedy this year, when our pumpkins were harvested and set on our front porch to make our house look festive and the temperatures dropped immensely and we came home from Utah with nothing but squish on our front steps.

We had such grand plans, but to no avail.

Luckily, Scott and Greyson had taken Caleb and Max to the pumpkin patch in Syracuse, Ut and they have brought home four pumpkins.

Four

Four, lousy pumpkins.

We were disappointed to have to share, but we divided into teams and ...

...Squished the seeds out of the slime...

...and made some crazy pumpkin faces!

The best part for me was that we made pumpkin seeds LOVE THEM!

And the goats loved the pumpkin guts treat!

(The pumpkins had to be carved for the ward trunk-or-treat, and dad had to work, so he missed out! I am not sure if he was sad about that or not?)

Oh how a love a good pumpkin carving!

KiDs! GotTa lOvE "eM

When I sit and think of all the Lord has blessed me with I am in awe...and then I look at my kids and know with no small certainty that :

"my cup runneth over!"

How blessed I am !

Holy Cow!

When you work really hard there is nothing better than treating yourself.

After a long day yesterday of texturing the ceiling and then cleaning up the mess, we decided to head to the ski swap and then eat at the udder factory.

When we got to the udder factory the resturant part was closed, so what do yo do?

Have ice cream for dinner!

We got a Holy Cow for all of us to share.

24 scoops of ice cream

8 diffrent flavors

3 toppings and cherries on top!

The lady behind the counter was probably wondering what kind of parents we were to let our kids have icecream for dinner!

6 kids, 2 parents, crowded around a really skinny table, with Emma perched right on top!

Good eats!

Nerdy Purple Cow was the favorite flavor

After consuming that much ice cream( we finished the whole thing) we noticed there was another case with more flavors that we hadn't seen.

Huckleberry Ice cream was over there. That happens to be a family favorite, and we missed it.

No worries, the nice lady gave each of the kids a cowlick of it (a sample spoon).

We needed more icecream right!

The lady commented on how well behaved our children were, and I was thinking what kid doesn't just sit and eat 24 scoops of ice cream?

With stomaches aching, and laughter on our faces, we left with a great memory!

One Sam insisted I post, even though we didn't have a camera with us to capture a picture.

Oh how I love that man o' mine!

I took the kids to get their pictures taken today, and when I came home, Ryan was out in the garden tilling it all up! I looked out that window and saw my hot man in his cowboy hat! I love it...Who would have thought three years ago that I would see Ryan working in a cowboy hat!

On that note, Emma loves her daddy and has him wrapped right around her little finger. I must say the feeling is mutual as Emma can make her daddy smile in a way that no one else can. I love to see the two of them together! Emma can melt Ryan's heart immediately.

Love the Ladies!

While in Utah I got to take advantage of a couple of GNO's.(Girls night out) Hey I didn't make up the acronym, and it definitely is better than an GAO (gay-o) which stands for guy's afternoon out, that Ryan does with his friends in Montana. I love these women greatly and miss them so much. They truly help mold me into the woman that I am and I will forever be refreshed when I am in their company.

These girlys have been my friend since we lived in our twin home in Kaysville. How blessed I am to have such great friends who know me, and still love me!

My Parents Got a Call!

My parents got their mission call today! They leave November 2, 2009 to go to Tulsa, Oklahoma. They will serve atFort Leonard Wood Army base in Missouri. Hummm!Missouri???
I can't believe they have to leave so soon! Only one month....and counting!