His favorite past time...

Just another picture to document some of Jake's favorite things to do in the kitchen. He LOVES my salad spinner. Whenever I pull it out of the cupboard he runs to want to do it. He waves his hand up and down saying, "Me! Me!"

Just wanting to show how Jared wants me to grow his hair back out again. It really is SO wild...but it matches his wild personality!!! (ha ha ha)

I don't understand...

Jake is saying, "Cheese" - What a cute kid!

Is my child the ONLY one that insists on drinking his sippy cup while holding his yogurt container? or bowl? Jake insists on finishing or not finishing his food and then placing his sippy cup inside it and drinking it that way! He's done this for months and months and I figured I might as well snap a photo because this really is his trademark for drinking milk!

A little excited for Christmas...

The other day Alayna and Olivia had a cute friend over to play. They were playing so well down in Alayna's room for quite some time. So when I went to check on them I heard tons of giggling. I walked in to find them saying, "Oh, mom (referring to their make believe mom) we are trying to decorate so fast for Christmas day, it's coming tomorrow!" When I walked in I had to laugh...they had decorated the tree with anything from Alayna's drawers and papers (there cards for Santa). The only thing I didn't take a picture of was that her entire floor was COVERED with all her clothes from the closet. Hey, at least they were using their imagination, right?

If you look to closely, you will see underwear! It really was so great. For those of you wondering, I haven't decorated yet for Christmas, this was an EXTRA tree that Todd had that he wanted us to use this holiday season. So when we had to pick a room Alayna would only allow it to be in her room. We just picked up our Christmas decorations today, so sometime this week we will get around it!

Kleenex...what is the deal?

Jake has found the joy and wonders of a box of Kleenex...He also has learned to fake cough and cover his mouth with them. It in its self is cute and very clever for a little guy, but very annoying when I have to stuff them all back in the box. Oh, well. Cute nonetheless! I've learned my lesson though, the box is now up higher out of his reach...well until he climbs up on a chair...which is happening daily now!

Poor guy, he got the Kleenex stuck on his tongue!

Just so cute!

Thinking he is so funny with his large pile of Kleenex! Silly kid!

Dinner in a Pumpkin...

Here's to my mom trying to keep being adventurous and introducing fun new things to our kids.

Dinner in a pumpkin...who would have thought? Not me! My mom has always wanted to do this for Halloween but it's so busy on that day that it wouldn't be appreciated. So a few days later for a FHE she brought this for the kids. It was a success! (Sadly, I never tried it!)

The kids LOVED it! Now, for those of you who know Alayna, she NEVER eats. So to get her to actually eat something this strange and to ask for MORE. Was something I had to take a picture of. But I witnessed her eat at least two plates of pumpkin...WOW!

Here is a classic picture of Conner. He is MR. G-Q. He poses for every picture. It's hilarious. But he does it well. The girls thought they'd be funny and be like Conner.

When dad is on duty...

This is hilarious. Jared was watching Jake and found him literally shoveling the cheerios into his mouth.

This kid LOVES mornings mainly for cereal and being able to eat. These pictures really show how Jake wishes he could eat at this mass consumption. Thanks to Jared he knows to capture cute moments like this when I'm gone!!

I love the Holidays...

I'm sure everyone is being reminded of how much they LOVE the holidays. Well, there is nothing that brings me more warm feelings and "Oh, I'm so excited for the holidays" then when I think of oranges and cranberries. Today I finally had all the ingredients to make my favorite holiday sweet bread. The smell, taste, everything is exactly what recalls all my feelings for the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas traditions. I just wanted to share the recipe with you all. It really comes on the bag of Ocean Spray Cranberries, so it's not extra special other than it is fantastic!!

Cranberry Orange Bread

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 egg, well beaten
1 1/2 cups Ocean Spray® Fresh or Frozen Cranberries, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup chopped nuts (OPTIONAL for nut lovers...I am not a nut lover!)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. (or 4 mini loaf pans)

Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a medium mixing bowl. Stir in orange juice, orange peel, shortening and egg. Mix until well blended. Stir in cranberries and nuts. Spread evenly in loaf pan.

Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (about 35 minutes for 4 mini loaf pans). Cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely. Wrap and store overnight. Makes 1 loaf (16 slices)-(or 4 mini loaf pans).

I really enjoy College Football!

Go Utes!!! What a great game...I'm sure it was exciting if you were in the stadium the whole time...but at home it was FANTASTIC the last few minutes! Bring on BYU!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

~HAPPY HALLOWEEN~

Here are my two little Super Heroes!!

The kids were NOT interested in getting a family picture...they had their mind set on filling their pumpkins with CANDY!!!

Livvy and Alayna are ready to go trick-or-treating!!!

Drum roll....here are all the super heroes and two twin cowboys...Kierra, Conner, Jake, Alayna, Olivia, Kennady (trying to reach and grab her candy!), Isaac, Logan and Sawyer! There are the all grand kids.

Here's a shout out to the "SUPER PECKS!" Krista ran away with the super hero costume idea! She did a matching family costumes! Looking good Riley in tights!!!

Here's to year #3 of cooking hot dogs on the barbecue! It was another success.

Our cute neighbor Karen came over dressed as a giant hot dog, exclaiming, "Todd, I've eaten too many hot dogs!!!" It really was hilarious.

Once again Aunt Ashley and Uncle Brian came to support our cute little kiddo's. Brian dressed up as a Ute fan! He was quite the sport to have to wear RED all night long! I just think we should have had Jared wear all of Brian's BYU clothing! Maybe next year!

Grandpa Randy came also to spend some time with the grand kids. Danette was lucky enough to spend Halloween with her grand kids in Chicago. We were happy to have Grandpa Randy come join in the crazy fun.

Here's to Papi. The Halloween fanatic. He thrives on taking the kids out all night long until the get the most candy. His famous line is..."Who is up for one more house? Just one more???" The kids LOVE to go with him. So thanks dad for being a trooper with so many grand kids!

I don't think she could be any happier! It's amazing how a little bit of chocolate can bring us all so much happiness! (This is a total candid picture!)

Joy School Halloween Party

Here's Alayna showing off her proud work of a candy corn craft.

Enjoying what little kids do...frosting sugar cookies and eating TONS of sprinkles!! YUM.

We tried our best to take a good picture of ALL the Joy School kids, but one was still missing. But overall we were able to get all those cute kids smiling!

Here's a Sneak Peak before Halloween!

Here is Super Girl herself!

Here is Super Boy himself! (Yes, he is wearing tights!)

It's become a tradition from year to year that we go visiting the Grandparents before Halloween. On Halloween it is so busy with parties and elementary school parades that we just don't have enough time to go visiting everyone. So off we went. The kids new exactly what to do.

Our first stop was at Grandma Lucy and Grandpa Perry's house. This was the house to go first, the kids received BIG sized candy bars. I was lucky that Jake picked a Twix. They are a personal favorite. I don't think he will be missing it!!

Next stop was at Papi and Grandma Lou's house! (Grandma Lou was still at school! No worries, she will see these adorable super hero's on Halloween.)

Grandma Denny and Grandpa were eager and excited to have our super hero's join them for the evening. They were so excited to receive Nemo fruit snacks.
Thanks to all the grandparents having a few early trick or treaters!
*If your wondering where these adorable costumes came from...well, I must admit I learned how to sew. The good thing is the pictures can't show close up. Either way, I am happy I took on the challenge. I no longer am too intimidated by the idea of sewing. It really became addicting and fun! Thanks Emily for the pattern and idea!!*

Barnyard Boo...

FHE this week was with the Perry family. We went to another Thanksgiving Point activity. This time it was the Barnyard Boo! It was a really fun atmosphere. We lucked out with FANTASTIC weather. Each child was given a ticket with 5 punch pumpkins. So they had 5 activities that they could choose to do. This was the first, a witch ring toss. After each activity they would win a few taffy's.

Here is my brave little girl who finally has warmed herself up to animals. I was really impressed when at her own doing went to pet the baby cow. Way to go, Alayna!

Another activity that Alayna picked was bracelet making and frosting a pumpkin cookie.

Here are all the little kids who won scary teeth posing in front of the haunted house decoration.

Here is the gang of kids we travel around with. Yes, we know how to multiply and replenish the earth! But these cousins sure love each other!!

Here is Alayna milking a cow for her very first time! Once again, I was totally impressed by her touching animals.

Jake and Isaac are anxiously awaiting there turn to ride the ponies!

Jacob was very apprehensive at first and then he relaxed and was a little more content. Good thing Grandma Lou is around to teach the kids to enjoy animals. I was suffering from animal allergies, from behind the gate!
Once again, I was TOTALLY impressed that Alayna rode the pony all by herself! And she even had fun.

Finally, here are our dear friends Summer and Ethan. They came to visit from California. We are SO glad that they came to visit. It was fun to have them around so we could get to know her kids darling personalities. We enjoyed their visit so much. Ethan and Alayna are the same age, so it was fun to watch them play and interact.

Here is the cutest little thing ever! Baby Bella was adorable. She would smile so much. I was the lucky one to have her cuddle and fall asleep on my shoulder last night! I was in heaven. Summer we can't wait till you come back again!!!