1st snow of the season

Yes, I've been a little... lot of a ba humbug about winter coming. But I have to say seeing my boys' faces light up when they saw the snow outside sure did help me come around to the idea of winter coming. Sometimes I wish I could go back to being a kid again, running around in the snow in your shorts and loving the 1/2 inch of snow on the ground, how would it be?! At least I can find joy in watching them play.Noah's first snowman of the season.

They were using the cardboard as a sled until most of the snow disappeared. And yes they do have real sleds, but evidently it was to much work to get them out.

Cooper didn't want to get his picture taken, so this was the best I could do.

If we have a year with a ton of snow we can blame it all on Noah. I'm sure every night he is praying that it will snow 5 feet!

Cooper's a Star Student

Gotta love Kindergarten! They do such a good job of making sure each kid feels special. Every week they have one star student and they get to do "everything" (according to Cooper), they get to have a poster hung up in the classroom that's all about them and they get to be "line leader" which is a big deal I guess. After school on Monday I asked Cooper how it was being the star student and with a deep sigh he says, "Mom it's exhausting!" ... I can only imagine what a hard day it must have been. He sure does love all the extra attention though. Here's a picture of him with his poster.

Pinewood Derby

The Pinewood Derby is the redeeming quality of the scouting program for me. Yes, I'm working on changing my attitude especially watching how much fun the boys have! Since our ward split we didn't have many boys so they invited parents and siblings to make a car to race at the end. This news brought a huge smile to Cooper's face... and I ran to Roberts to buy another car (that was pre-cut since there was no one around to cut it). The boys helped with most of the painting and decorating, but I had to put the wheels in, which is always the worst part! This year we went more for style than function (at least that's what we're telling Noah) because he stunk it up this year. But he had a great time, and a great attitude! He's already making plans for a more arrow dynamic car for next year. In fact now he wants 'art stuff' for Christmas so he can draw his car out. I love my boys!!!Tommy Jr #1 and Tommy Jr #2

Noah's car

Cooper's car

My boys

Awards! They do such a great job of making sure all the boys feel special.

Grandma and Grandpa made the trip out to watch the boys.
Thanks for coming!!!

Happy Halloween

At the end of the day Noah said, "Mom, I thought this was going to be the worst Halloween, but it was the best ever!" I don't think it was the best ever, but I think he did a pretty good job of summing Halloween up this year. With Tommy and I getting in from our trip the night before Halloween, and Tommy flying out again Halloween morning I had been prepping the boys for not a 'normal' Halloween (I don't think our family ever has a normal Halloween though). So after a great day at school, and some dinner we headed out to trick or treat for 1 hr with Tyson. That was a disaster. He wanted to stop and look at everything... rock, flower, dog!! After 6 houses Noah and Cooper were so frustrated and tired of wait for their brother. So our friend Mark took them with his boys Miles and Evan. I was so grateful. Tyson was totally happy passing out candy and Noah and Cooper got a bucket full of candy! Then my Mom and Kiara stopped by so we had some mini carameled apples and muddy buddies. Even though we missed having Tommy around this year it was a lot of fun. Noah and Cooper on their way to school

Tyson wanting to go to school

Two Mummies ready for trick or treating... not sure why Cooper was wearing gloves, it was the warmest Halloween in years.

The gang

The loot

Halloween Party

The boys really wanted to have friends over for a Halloween party and we couldn't argue with them. So he had our good friends the Hamilton's and the Willard's over (Tommy was friends with them in High School... so it's fun to still be getting together). I think that's why I love holidays so much, it's a great excuse to get friends together, party, and eat lots of yummy high in calorie food and not feel guilty! Evan, Miles, Noah, and Cooper

Crew, Tyson, Evan, Miles, Noah, Cooper, Cy, and Bella
(poor Bella was totally out numbered)

Playing Moster Mash Musical Pumpkins

Best Halloween treat ever. You use a melon baller to get round pieces of apple, put a toothpick in them and then let people dip them in caramel, oreos, sprinkles, and whatever else you like. They are just mini carameled apples. So yummy!

Life size Cooper and Evan

Miles and Evan came over to play for a little bit. Noah and Miles pulled out the Nerf guns and of coarse that can be bad news for Cooper and Evan. So we decided to make life size Cooper and Evan so the big boys had something to shoot at. They got to color them in and decorate them. I think they did an awesome job!

The pumpkin patch

I have a confession to make... I'm a sucker for pick your own pumpkin patches. There's something fun about walking around in a field trying to find that perfect master piece to be carved. So when I found one only 10 mins from our house I was so excited. The next day was fall break so we asked our friends to go with us. Tyson loved the idea, but struggled with the fact that the ground was so uneven and he kept falling down every min or two. Noah and Cooper on the other hand loved every min of it.
After getting our pumpkins we went out to lunch. We put all the boys (minus Tyson) at a table by themselves and before we knew it they were having knife fights (with the plastic restaurants knives). Yes I became "that type of parent"... but they were having so much fun :) Me and the boys at the pumpkin patch

Miles, Noah, Cooper, and Tyson

Tyson kept saying "I wride my pumpkin". We thought maybe he was saying "write" on the pumpkin, then there was a hayride, so we thought maybe "ride" with his pumpkin on the ride. Then he finally takes a seat on top of his pumpkin and says, "I WRIDE MY PUMPKIN" oh he literally wanted to ride on top of his pumpkin. He's such a funny kid.

Noah helping Tyson walk

On the hayride

What a funny kid

Tyson with his baby pumpkin

Miles, Evan, Cooper, and Noah. These boys are such great friends. I love that we live so close.

What a funny kid

Tyson just cracks me up. He just has a way about making people smile and laugh. A couple weeks ago he got croup. They usually give a steroid shot to help him breath, but Tyson's a lucky kid and gets 'steroid psychosis'... yeah not many people have heard of it (including Doctors). So when I took him to the Dr. I explained how he can't have a steroid shot and waited for the Dr to look at me like I was crazy, because that's what most of them have done so far. But much to my surprise the Dr. face lit up and he quickly responded with, "Oh it's horrible, not only have I heard of it, but I have seen it. My niece was hospitalized with it last year" Oh thank goodness finally a Dr. who knows what it's like and doesn't look at me like some crazy Mom. So he gave me some sample pills that have steroids in them, but they only last 4-6 hrs. That way if he went crazy it would be out of his system sooner. The pills worked great... he was able to breath and he only turned into a hormonal 16 year old girl... which is do-able! The picture below shows how the night went. If he wanted something he got it or the whole neighborhood heard about it. Hence the life jacket at the dinner table. It was just easier to let him wear it then hear him weep and wale. Plus it made for an awesome picture! And thank goodness we are all healthy now :)Looks can be deceiving! He looks like such a perfect angel.

This was a picture I found on my phone of Tyson in the summer riding his bike with 'boos' on. Now that's a kid with a sense of style. He gets it from his Dad.

Rock Climbing

My Dad arranged for us to go rock climbing at the gym. The boys had a great time. However, I think we need to go more often, it always takes them a while to warm up. But once they did it was a ton of fun. Noah, Cooper, and Lily all made it to the top several times. Tyson tried a little climbing and then decided he just liked to wear the harness and swing around on the ropes.Tyson climbing

Autumn, Lily, and Noah on the boulder wall

Lily climbing

Cooper rappelling down and flipping upside down.

Cooper on his way to the top

Noah climbing like a rock star.

Crazy Times!

I feel like my blog has been a little neglected lately. So here's what we've been up to:

Tommy got his new job back in July. Which we were extremely grateful for since his old job was shutting the doors on seminars. But with the good comes the bad of starting at the bottom and working your way up. He's also had to work way more then we'd like. Thank goodness for air miles and hotel points maybe we can take a fun vacation to make up for it.

Last month they split our ward, which was really needed. Something that I'd been praying for because we just couldn't keep up with all the new sisters in our ward and activities and ward parties (since they always made RS plan them). So I was excited to get released from my RS calling and have a little break... why would I ever have thought that... I seriously cursed myself. I figured I'd go into cub scouts because I REALLY don't love the scouting program. I know it has its place, but it's so much work and everything thing cost so much money... urr... and I'd better stop there cause this can turn into a full blog in and of it's self. So I got a double wammy! Primary second counselor, which is over cub scouts. Fun for me! If I thought RS was busy, I've quickly learned new ward, new primary, no primary teachers, and a presidency who is all new is even more busy. I'm excited about working with all the primary kids though. They are so full of the spirit and have such a desire to learn and grow. But needless to say my blog has dropped down the list of importance. I'll try to make a better effort :)

I love my family...

Tommy sent me this picture last week. I know it's floating around out there, but it makes me so happy every time I see it. In fact I made it the background on my phone for those moments that life seem so stressful it's a great reminder that I have a wonderful family who loves me and they are the most important thing in my life. I'm so lucky to have Tommy. He's such a loving husband, an incredible father, and such a hard worker. He always keeps life exciting and keeps me and the boys on our toes. I'm grateful for Tommy's parents and the wonderful examples they set for him and what a great job they did raising him. And we are blessed with 3 crazy boys that have stolen my heart. I love how different they are but yet they all want to be just like their Dad! And can only hope and pray they can turn out as good as their Dad. A great big RAWR to all of my family and friends because that's what's truly important in life.

Fall Leaves

I love Fall! The smell of cool air, the mountains turning brilliant colors, my house no longer feeling like 100 degrees. But with everything good there is bad and that is Fall leads to Winter and I just don't love winter any more. I would much rather spend my time on my bike and the cold snowing roads make that a hard thing to do. So I have a few more weeks to sit back and enjoy this beautiful season!

We decided to go for a drive around the Nebo loop. I've always heard wonderful things about it, but had never gone. It was well worth our time. Roma had to work that day, so Paul joined us on our little drive. You can see from the pictures that we had a lot of fun. After the drive we picked up some pizza and spent the evening with Tommy's parents. Love the colors!

Yep, after about 10 shots this was the best one I could get. At least their personalities come shinning through.

I love Tyson's smile. We see it all the time, but can never capture it on camera.

Fun, Fun, and more Fun!

Noah T.

It also took several tries to get Tommy to take a 'serious' picture. This is the best we could get. At least I know where my boys get it.

Tyson collecting leaves with Grandpa.

Fall is a beautiful season. I just wish winter would last the month of December and then lead right into spring. Is that to much to ask for?