Oct 23 - 29

Monday, October 23 - My ward friend was doing a photo shoot at Tai Pan and needed sugar cookies that look like pumpkin pie. This is what I came up with. :) Tonight for family night, Nick took care of our activity and we drew pictures of Jack Skellington. We followed along with an artist on YouTube. It was actually really fun!

Tuesday, October 24 - Book Club! We discussed "Murder on the Orient Express" and we will all go see the movie when it comes out November 14. I love this group of ladies!

Wednesday, October 25 - Tonight was our ward Halloween party. All of the youth and leaders dressed up like zombies or the un-dead. I didn't really know what I was going to do so this is what I came up with. Check out the stitches on my arm. Thanks to Pinterest, they looked pretty real!

Thursday, October 26 - Andrea and I wanted to do something special for our girls for their birthdays so I came up with these value color bracelets. We took this one over to Lexie for her birthday today.

Friday, October 27 - Kendra's cute little friend Brynlee invited her to go to the rec center for a Halloween party. They are both Mal from "Descendants". I'm so glad she has such great friends!

Saturday, October 28 - This party is one of my favorite traditions each year. The Price's invited us over for a Murder Mystery dinner. I was a photographer and Simon was an English professor. I had never been to a MM party before so this was extra fun! The Price's definitely know how to party!!

Sunday, October 29 - Mom asked if all of the kids could dress up for a Halloween Extravaganza at Sunday dinner. After we ate, mom pulled out a bunch of fun games for the kids (and the parents) to play. They raced, wrapped their mommies like mummies, and even threw "pumpkin poop" (cheese balls) at their dads. They even got prizes! My mom is amazing! The kids had so much fun and it was a blast for us parents to watch too. It's things like this that make me love Halloween so very much!

Oct 16 - 22

Monday, October 16 - For family night (plus we invited Savy), we attempted to make Carnival Cruise-line's Chocolate Melting Cake. It was pretty good and tasted a lot like it but it wasn't as melty as it should have been. I think I just over-baked it. We'll try again though! :) 

Tuesday, October 17 - Ricki had her pumpkin patch field trip this morning. She loved it and I loved being there with her! It's strange only taking one child to these things. For so many years, I had a younger sibling or two in tow. I'm savoring these precious memories because I know they will soon be over. Love this baby girl!!

Wednesday, October 18 - In preparation for our upcoming family pictures, Simon got his hair trimmed. It's still super long sexy man hair but it now has a nicer shape. :)

Thursday, October 19 - The kids went to school Monday, Tuesday, and half a day Wednesday and now they're off for fall break. Kendra had a sleepover with Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Jim. They went on an adventure on Trax to downtown Salt Lake. She had a blast! Meanwhile, I dragged the other kids around with me to find some clothes for pictures. I LOVED this shirt I found for Zack at Walmart but they didn't have it in his size. The one I got him was clearly too big. I sent Simon around town trying to find one on his way home from work but to no avail. Oh well, solid blue shirt for him instead. :) 

Friday, October 20 - Family pictures! I have to be honest, I'm not in love with them but they're okay. At least we got a cute one with a Christmas tree for Christmas cards.

Saturday, October 21 - I have been trying to find the time to go through the kids' clothes in the garage. Simon had to move the 4-wheelers out to get tint on the garage windows so it seemed like as good a time as any to go through everything. It took me hours and hours but the project is finally done and I feel much more organized! I also got my book club book "read" by listening to it on an audio format. Two birds, one stone!

Sunday, October 22 - Our family went over to the Merrill's for dinner tonight. I unfortunately didn't get a picture of us but Liz posted this on FB of her adorable kids. All the kids had fun catching up with their long-lost friends. It was a very fun evening!

Oct 9 - 15

Monday, October 9 - I'm at it again! I had another order for a book wreath so I got all set up this afternoon to get it done. I do enjoy sitting and watching TV while I'm working on this craft. It's kind of fun!

Tuesday, October 10 - Here is the finished product! I know it's lame that I used this as a picture for two days but that's literally how long it took me! I spent a bunch of the day today getting it finished up. She picks it up tomorrow though so it had to get done!

Wednesday, October 11 - My amazingly talented and spunky grandma got ANOTHER hole in one! She is such a great golfer! I can't believe at 73 she is out on the course, sometimes multiple times per week, and getting holes in one! Way to go grandma!

Thursday, October 12 - Jenni is so goofy! We had bunco tonight at Robin Larsen's house. This was a Parade of Homes home (Simon and I actually walked through it 3 years ago when it was in the parade) so Jenni felt the need to get a bathtub picture. :) 

Friday, October 13 - Nothing like food pictures! Amie and I went to dinner tonight at Cubby's. I LOVE their buffalo bleu fries! Yum! I didn't get a picture of Amie and I but I did manage one of my fries! :) Also, I started cutting into the apples that we worked so hard to pick and I think some of the trees were diseased. This is what a bunch of the apples looked like. Yikes!

Saturday, October 14 - We met my family at the Maybe Pumpkin Patch for our annual p-patch day. Our family is growing! We love this tradition and we were so glad that Kenny and Katie could come down and join us too! Fun memories!!

Sunday, October 15 - Teighan Davis was one of Simon's Deacons just a few years back. Tonight, we were able to join him and his family at his special Eagle Court of Honor. Katie went all out and even brought in a live bald eagle. It was amazing!! Congratulations to Teighan; he definitely deserves this honor!

Oct 2 - 8

Monday, October 2 - I can't believe our vacation is already coming to an end! After we checked out of the hotel, we went into town and found another dinosaur museum to walk through. The kids loved it! Ricki did get tired around lunchtime so we packed up and hit the road. We had to pass Strawberry Reservoir on our way home so Simon asked if we'd want to make a small detour and see the salmon swimming upstream. Luckily, the channel that they go in is right off the main highway so we stopped for a potty break and to see this. It was actually really neat! I learned a lot! Did you know that once the salmon lay their eggs at the end of summer, they turn dark red, purple, and then eventually kind of white because they are about to die? It's sad but neat to watch nature go through its process. I was glad we stopped. The drive home was beautiful and we got a great view of the changing leaves. What a fun time away with our family!

Tuesday, October 3 - I love an excuse to get together with these wonderful ladies from my ward! This time, it was Jenny's birthday. :) We met at The Chocolate in West Jordan and had a good time visiting and eating! :) Happy birthday Jenny!

Wednesday, October 4 - We have Young Women in Excellence coming up so Andrea offered to do a photo shoot of the girls and make it look like a Mormon Ad. She is so amazing! This is her, lying on the floor, getting the best shot she can of Phoebe Slimak. This should be a pretty amazing activity!

Thursday, October 5 - It's getting time to start thinking about Halloween and costumes. I pulled a bunch of costumes out of the bin to send to Katie for Kam. I remember when Zacky wore this Superman costume. He was so adorable in it! :) Oh, the memories!!

Friday, October 6 - Mom loves her some Halloween nails! :) I love how much she loves her decorated nails. My favorite is Jack! It's just so mom!!

Saturday, October 7 - Nick really wants to be a blow-up sumo wrestler for Halloween. However, I can't justify spending $40 on it!! He tried on Simon's old Elvis blow-up suit but as you can see, it is huge on him! Maybe in a year or two!! I can't believe Halloween is already just around the corner!

Sunday, October 8 - We are getting family pictures done next Friday and I am stressing about what to have everyone wear. This is what I have come up with so far but something isn't quite right. I think it's Kendra's leggings and scarf. We'll have to remedy this situation before Friday!

Sep 25 - Oct 1

Monday, September 25 - Sadly, this is my last day of bowling. To go out in a bang, I got a 203 my last game! It is so fun bowling so well. It actually makes me a little sad that I'm not coming back. :( It's really just too hard with Ricki. I hate that they took the nursery away so the only thing for the kids to do is go in the playroom. I'm always fearful of them getting hurt or worse, someone taking them. It would be so easy! I feel good about my decision...it's just hard to leave knowing my family will still be playing. 

Tonight, I met up with some of my very favorite gals for dinner at Blue Lemon. I love my time with Candace and Mel. We just don't get enough of it! :) 

Tuesday, September 26 - My cute mama felt bad that we never got pedicures on girl's trip like we planned so she took me for a pedi today. :) My feet feel like I'm walking on clouds! Plus, bonus, I didn't have to paint my own nails! Win-win-win!

Wednesday, September 27 - This was my first official young women's Wednesday night activity. Sister Hamilton invited all of the youth over to her pavilion for pizza. She then told us stories about when she and her husband moved to Herriman and purchased a huge amount of land for farming. We now live on her farmland and it was her and her husband that donated the land for the church that we go to. I could listen to her stories all day long!

Thursday, September 28 - I am finally getting around to getting winter clothing out for my kids. With our Vernal trip coming up, they need some warmer clothes. By the time I went through all of the hand-me-downs from Kendra, Jenni, and Katie Davis, Ricki ended up with over 60 shirts in her closet! I don't think this girl is going to have a fashion shortage anytime soon!

Friday, September 29 - At the "House of Order" activity last week, Jessie Price showed us this book and said how wonderful it is to increase your understanding of the Book of Mormon. I got right on Amazon and ordered it for me! I can't wait to dive into it's pages and see for myself how much more I will understand!

Saturday, September 30 - We got up and got on the road this morning on our fun family adventure to Vernal, Utah. General Conference was on and we enjoyed listening as we drove. It took us about 3 hours to get here but it was totally worth it! We went straight to the Dinosaur Museum/Quarry when we got here. The kids were fascinated with the dinosaur bones and the information that the park rangers had about the area! We went and had some dinner then checked into the hotel. Of course, the first thing the kids wanted to do was go swimming. :) Yay for weekend vacations!!

Sunday, October 1 - We spent a lot of the day in our hotel room watching conference. I worked on a craft project while it was on. Simon printed some conference packets for the kids to color and watch with so they had fun and were entertained too. Once the afternoon session was over, we went out and explored a little. Of course, the temple was closed but we were able to walk around the whole building. It is beautiful! I actually really like Vernal. It is a quaint little town.