These cute little pictures were taken by the camera on my phone at McDonald's. Troy is discovering ketchup. I just thought they were cute. After a RS meeting we decided to go to McDonald's for lunch. Thanks to my friends who don't mind going to McD's for lunch so that I can take my kids.

Basketball Star!

Shaunie's basketball "season" has ended and we are very glad that she had so much fun and was able to learn a lot. It started out being a little more social than serious but she ended up getting into it by the end. She was going after the ball and running up and down the court with much more enthusiasm by the end. She even got to shoot the ball a couple times in the final game. Overall, it was a lot of fun and I think she loves basketball and understands a lot more about it than she did before. Way to go Shaunie!

The Circus is in Town

These are pictures of the amazing circus we had in our driveway. Shaunie, along with our neighbor's kids, really have a knack for organizing things. Most of the time they do bake sales or lemonade stands, but now they have really moved on to the big time...or should I say "Big Top" stuff. They planned a circus! It was complete with prizes, games, side shows, rides and as you can see below plenty of neighbor kids. Their advertising consisted of signs on bikes and the riders going up and down our and the neighboring streets yelling out "Circus! Circus! Come to the Circus! Only 10 cents!" They also went to a lot of doors took their advertising to the next step. Here are the pictures to see how grand of an event it really was.
I don't understand how these photos come out sidways, but here is an example of the advertising. The sign says "CIRCUS" then our address and then "10 cents" The 10 is actually torn off because they ended up raising their prices.



This sign was on our driveway, written in chalk. Troy was the side show but he ended up being a no-show because he had to take a nap.




These are examples of the games the kids could play. They even had bikes to ride (of varing sizes) if you wanted to ride instead of play. They had to pay to play but they had lots of choices, and if they won they got to pick a prize. As you can see, the kids had a great turn out. Thanks to the parents who let their kids come over so early on a Saturday morning for great games and prizes.

My award...

It was a Wednesday night and I was tired and very ready to submit myself to my bed and my TV remote. Suddenly, the doorbell rings and when I open the door a group of beautiful Young Women greeted me and handed me this award (it also came with a couple miniature candy bars...nice!). The girls were so sweet and it was the perfect little pick-me-up to make my day end on a positive note. Thank you to the Beehives and their leaders for the little award. It was really appreciated.

Livin' Life

This is Troy's new obsession. If you know anything about Troy, you know that he is obsessed with animals. If he keeps this up he will definitely become a Veterinarian, Marine Biologist or Zoo Keeper. When he first wakes up he points (leads you by pointing) you to the kid's bathroom where the fishbowl sits. He will just sit in the red chair and talk, laugh, point to the fish for hours at a time. He gets mad when you pull him away to eat or change his bum. I am glad he likes animals but sometimes I wonder if he is taking it too far ;).

Here is just one of the many creations by Sam. He loves building and I thought I would show this picture. I am sure he took this picture by himself, too. He likes recording his creations.

This is a common site in our house. Besides sitting on the red chair in the bathroom watching the fish, Troy loves to bounce, fall, roll and romp around on Sam's bed. Good thing we have this rail put up, or this place would be off-limits. In this picture, Leah and Sam decided to get in on the action. Troy loves to play with them.

Halloween

Here is our little garden gnome. He was woken up from a nap after a very busy day of decorating cookies at Aunt Shannon's house so he was a little groggy. He was a great gnome, though.
We always go to grandmas house to go trick-0r-treating. Here they are in what was left of their costumes. They had fun going with Grandma to visit the scary house on her street. They got a big candy bar. Well, they all went except Sam. He decided he didn't want to. He stayed back and ate candy and kicked his shoes off.

Here we all are at our tri-ward trunk-or-treat. We didn't decorate our trunk but that's okay. The kids got lots of candy and we had lots of fun. Halloween is always so much fun!

Pumpkin Patch

Here is Shaunie driving her car and I don't really know why she has her binoculars on the swing ride. I should ask her what she saw.


Here is Troy with the animals and after he was with the animals. He cried for a very long time.


Here are Sam and Leah. They were a little more timid with the animals. Sam was a race car driver and totally had all the moves. Too bad he was connected to the ride.


Here is one of the best family pictures we could get of them. They are like herding mice! Here is another picture of Troy with the goats.


Here is Sam in the swing ride. I loved his smile. Here is Leah getting a little help on the game. Good thing, she could barely lift the hammer.

We went to the pumpkin Patch at Sunset Station. It has become an October Tradition. There are fun carnival games, rides, a petting zoo and just a bunch of pumpkins everywhere. The kids had fun on their rides and Troy had even more fun with the animals in the petting zoo. He ran around to all the animals but would stop just before he reached them, then he would put his had up to touch them but would usually get too excited to actually make contact. It was really fun to watch. He would've stayed in there all night and was very upset when we left. You can see him crying in the picture above. He never really got over leaving, either. We had lots of fun and ended our night by going to Walmart to buy treats (carnival treats are just too expensive, plus we had a few things to pick up). We loved our little family night out.

Welcome Sarah!

A little girl named Sarah has been the topic of much of Leah's conversation lately. Last night she got on one particularly long tangent and I thought I would share with you what I know about this Sarah girl.

1. Sarah is 5....no 10 years old.
2. Sarah does yoga and goes to yoga school.
3. Sarah doesn't go to school because her mom doesn't know where it is.
4. Sarah has a friend named Tina.
5. Tina has a brown....no, black face.
6. Sarah's mom has curly hair.
7. Sarah goes to karate (Sam wonders if she can do moves like Kung Fu Panda).
8. Sarah has gone poop and seen corn (sorry, that's gross but kinda cute) and so has Tina.
9. Sarah has a little brother named Tommy.
10. Sarah has karate skills (yes, she said 'skills').
11. She meets our neighbor boy at his karate class.
12. Sarah has blonde hair and pink clothes on.
13. Sarah has a note for me which Leah will run and go get.
14. The note says "Dear Sarah, I love you very much and I love your mom too, you should come over tomorrow."
15. Sarah doesn't want to talk anymore.

If you haven't caught on by now Sarah is the newest imaginary friend created by my little Leah. Sam has had a hard time accepting Sarah. He hasn't met her and it's really weird to him that she doesn't go to school. My Shaunie just asks questions and smiles at me when Leah talks about her. We would like to officially welcome Sarah. I think she'll only be around until Leah starts Kindergarten. Then they all seem to go away.

Family Dinner and Chocolate Shadows

We had our monthly family dinner last night. It was really good. Jody and Josh were in charge and can I just say that I LOVE FRESH&EASY! They make a pizza dough you can buy as well as a yummy pizza sauce. Jody and Josh used those yummy ingredients to make homemade pizzas. They were really good. I was in charge of dessert (I love doing desserts because it gives me a chance to try out new recipes) and I decided to try this Chocolate Shadow Cake. It's basically a three layer chocolate cake with a 7 minute frosting and a chocolate glaze. Jeremy suggested making it spooky so I added a spider web and borrowed Leah's orange spider (she really didn't like that idea). It turned out great and everyone seemed to like it, especially the Three Amigos, Troy, Ammon and Carson. They found the other kids' left-overs and we couldn't resist letting them go at it. We then decided to clean them up and threw them in grandma's big tub. Troy was a little freaked out, but at least he got clean. Thanks to Aunt Jen for taking the pics. I stole them off her blog,mooah ah ah ah!

School Carnival!

Here is Troy trying on Sam's pirate patch.

This is Sam with his Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Hernandez. She is so cute and nice and Sam is my little preppy pirate.

Here is Shaunie with our neighbor friend Seth. They are good friends and hang out all the time. Shaunie is our beautiful Princess Leia and Seth was so inspired that at the last minute he decided to change his costume from a dead football player to Anikan Skywalker. Here they are having a battle.

And here are the cutest kids at the carnival. Leah is Word Girl (Word UP!), Sam is my handsome pirate and Shaunie is my Princess Leia. What a group! I love Halloween!

Leah has been sick this week and has hardly gotten out of bed. Thanks to modern medicine she is finally getting out and being herself again. Here is a sweet picture of her dad coming home and ...well....comforting her? She had been waiting for him all day and I guess he just did the best he could. What a good daddy.

Name-uel

Since Sam has been in school he has learned that his name is really Samuel, with the -uel. He has always been called Sam so he never knew it before. Now, he fascinated by the addition of these three totally new letters. He decided to write down what everyone's name would be like if they suddenly discovered that they too had these extra letters. Pretty cool, huh?

Little Creations

We've been doing a lot of creating lately. The Leah got a huge pack of playdough for her birthday so the kids have had a lot of fun making playdough stuff. I also made some cupcakes and let the kids decorate them. I have found that cupcakes are much easier than cookies to make and decorate, and they are just as yummy. We had the kids decorate the cupcakes and then we took them to some families in the ward and ding-dong ditched them at the doors. The kids had a blast and we loved seeing them jump in the van out of breath and with big smiles on their faces.

Baby Cousin

This is little Madelyn Elizabeth Moser. She was born the day after Leah's Birthday, on the 4th. She is a doll and we were really excited to see her between conference sessions. Thanks to Jody and Josh for letting our family crash the quiet calmness of the hospital. It was fun to see you and we are so excited to welcome Maddie into the family. Just so ya know, Leah and Sam were not interested in holding her or we would have cute pics of them too.

The High School had a little Homecoming Parade around the park that is just across the street from us. It was really little but I thought that was one of the best parts about it! The band played and there were a few floats of clubs and cheerleaders and student body officers. They even threw candy! In fact, it was so short that since we were at the beginning of the parade route, after the end of the parade passed us we ran across the park to see the parade again (and get more candy). I just got a few pictures, but it really was a short parade. Doesn't Sam look cute?

I just wanted to put this cute picture of Troy enjoying the cake. He used a fork and everything!

Our little Leah Lou!
You can't be more than two!
Your sly lil' smile and big brown eyes
Keep us guessing your next surprise
We love your trot and "scewompus" hair
Your shy little ways and the things you dare,
Your pretty doll with pen on her face
The funny way you rule the place
For these little things, we love you more
We just can't believe that you are four!

Our Little Leah is getting way to Big! She turned 4 at the beginning of October and she was such a princess! She had her cousins over for some cake and ice cream. She was very excited to be four and get her "pony cake". As you can see, the cake turned out to be a little bit different than the original plan, but that was not because I didn't try to make a pony cake. If you could see under the big, pink heart you would see a very messed up pony. It's a good thing that Leah just went along with it! Whew! Anyway, she had a great birthday and really felt like a princess. We love you Leah!