BOO!

Every year when Halloween rolls around, you can tell what Allie likes that year because that will determine who she dresses up as. This year it was no big surprise that she wanted to be Daisy Duck (who happens to be her favorite thing right now). Hadley therefore was told to be Minnie Mouse (Allie kinda chose that one too). So we have our two little characters running around. Rachel did a wonderful job making costumes for everyone (which was a great deal, since it only cost about $7 for everyone to dress up).

 

Allie dressed up as a wonderful Daisy Duck. Here she is showing off her wonderful tail feathers.

Hadley is a cute little Minnie Mouse. Complete with ears and big pink matching bow.

A few more pictures of the girls in preparation for trick or treating. On Halloween, Allie wore the duck feet and Hadley got a nice mouse nose.

The whole family got into the act for the big day. Dad got to be Mickey Mouse (which was great, since all the little kids would stop and stare all night), and Mom was a Disney world tourist (it's the idea that counts right?).

Dad with each of the girls. It was a great time to spend with the girls. They loved dressing up for a night to be their favorite characters. Now we will enjoy the candy they collected for the next few weeks (unless mom eats it all first).

Happy Halloween everyone!

Pumpkin Carving - Disney Style

We have made a tradition of carving pumpkins for family night before Halloween. This year we had two apprentice carvers that wanted to get their hands dirty trying to help make another masterpiece. So we got down to business carving two wonderful pumpkins.

Allie was excited to help trace the design and wanted to use all the different carving tools. Hadley just thought it was cool to wear the t-shirt over her clothes.

All the girls working hard to craft a beautiful pumpkin. This is the final picture before revealing the masterpieces, so make sure you take in the excitement and joy of the carvers before scrolling down.

 Pretty good pumpkins. The girls picked the theme and helped do a little of the carving. However, they liked the lighting part the most. They do look good all lit up on the back porch.

Down on the Farm

Allie had her first field trip with school and we all went to the Superstition Dairy Farm to learn all about Cows, pet and feed a few other animals and eat some milk and ice cream!

Allie was so excited about her field trip and laid out her clothes the night before as well as getting brand new tennis shoes (living in the desert we have only worn sandals and she didn't have any closed toe shoes that fit).  

Nothing like looking straight into the sun to get a good group picture!

After some schooling about how the farm works, we went on a hay ride to see all the cows and even got to see a calf just hours old. 

Here we were getting instruction on how to feed the goats, and Allie was one of the bravest feeding these rambunctious goats.  Hadley tolerated it.

Nothing says farm like holding a chicken! 

Hadley preferred chasing the dog around and pretending to be Toby, the farm dog. 

Max and Allie enjoyed their milk flavor of choice - Allie chose Moo-berry, far more exciting than the most popular choice- Chocolate.  Hadley and I had Orange and Raspberry.

Cute Milk Mustaches

Nothing like a big bowl of homemade ice cream to chase down that milk!  I could not get these 3 cute girls to look at the camera... at all!  It was a fun day at the farm!

Happy Birthday GG!

This past weekend we went for an extra long adventure. It was my grandma's 93rd birthday party and so we had a great big party! We made the trek from Mesa all the way up to Orem after I got done with work. We made a late night drive, which wasn't too bad. The girls were mostly well behaved for the first few hours of the trip, and then after dinner they fell asleep for the rest of the drive!It is much easier driving 10.5 hours when the girls are asleep for 7 of them! I love my daughters, and especially when they are asleep in the car.

The party was on Saturday, and we got to see all sorts of family. The girls favorite part was getting to see Aunt Melanie. She played in the backyard with them all afternoon.

 

Allie with her buddy.

 

The girls had fun with the porch swing.

I don't really know what is happening here. I have been told this is supposed to be dancing, but I'm still not convinced.

Rachel hanging out with Hadley.

Hanging out with GG was great fun! She got a new blanket with pictures of everyone for a present. She had a great time with all the family.

Grandma enjoyed her cake and ice cream with all the little kids (and Melanie, I don't know why she ended up sitting with the kiddies for cake but that's how it worked out).

This is a family picture of everyone who showed up. It was a great time and lots of fun (I even still feel it was worth it after the 10.5 hour drive home with kids that were awake the whole way. That is really saying something!).

I Love to see the Temple

For family night, we went down to see the Gilbert temple and tour their information center to learn all about this temple which is to be completed in 2014.  This temple is the biggest temple they have built since 1996 and is 4 levels tall and beautifully built and designed.  The theme of this temple is the agave plant and has beautiful desert details as well as amazing spiritual beauty.  As with most temples I am sure, there are profound stories of people, places and events to make this temple extra special.  We were told of  donors who paid to move major power lines, guild the baptistry oxen,  design, etc.  It never ceases to amaze me the detail and spirituality that is used in the Temples of our Lord.  

At the end of the tour, they gave us all a little piece of the temple wall that had cracked in shipment.  The walls have pieces of beautiful quartz from Georgia mixed in and once the wall is sandblasted smooth,  the walls shine in the sun.  I love the likeness of the walls to our lives, that without the refining power of the atonement and gospel, we would just be regular old walls, but with the sandblasting of trials and living the gospel principles, we shine in the light of His Son.  We sparkle.

Is there something on my face?

This is totally a typical Hadley face - the "Did I do something wrong?" face.  This face also means, "I know that I did something wrong but I am so cute that I am going to act like I didn't know and see if it works."  

Luckily, at least for renting sake, she just colored on herself and not the walls.  I think this look might make a really cute puppy face for Halloween though.