Finally, Halloween pictures! And news!

Well, I finally got around to getting these pictures on, I am so sorry that it has taken me this long to get my act together. But I have not been feeling all that well on account that I am pregnant! So I am starting to feel better for the most part, I still feel crappy at night but during the day I feel great. Here is our fun adventurous Halloween festivities... James and I went to the boys school to see the parade and help with Shawn's class party. Here is James waiting at the front of the school until the classes are ready to have parents come to them. I had to bring some candy in his pumpkin so he would not go crazy and misbehave since it was his nap time.

He was still a bit grumpy, as you can see!

Here comes Mikey as a White Ninja. They do a parade through there whole school to show off all the kids costumes.

Here come Shawn as a Barcelona soccer player. He definitely stands out with the bright teal uniform.

We went to Mikey's class room to see what they were doing, they were making pumpkin lanterns and James got to color one one too. Mikey loves it when James comes to his class, he gets very excited that his cute little brother is there and gets a lot of attention.

We then went to help with Shawn's class room party, but there was not much to do, it was pretty much all put together. They go outside and do pumpkin throwing and then come in and eat a bunch of food. The fourth graders seem to like it a lot!

Our church had a Trunk-or-Treat party that we went to also. First we had a big chili dinner and then we all go outside and do the trunk to trunk trick or treating. It was soooo cold that night that we were only out side for about 10-15 minutes before we had to leave, but the kids got enough candy. It was nice not having a ton of it this year, it went really fast and that was great. Although, since I was in my first trimester I was so sick that anything sweet made we feel worse s I didn't eat any sweets for about 6 weeks. That has all changed, now I can eat them just fine!

Here is cute James in his clown costume that Grandma Becky made many years ago, it has gotten a lot of use!

We then went to Topeka for a Soccer Tournament on Halloween, so the kids didn't get to go Trick-or-Treating in our neighborhood, they got to go trunk-or treating again with a bunch of the people at the tournament.

Mikey and James had fun gong from car to car and getting as much candy as they could as fast as they could. This was them resting after. I love the different crocs that James is wearing. Shawn did not want to go trunk- or -treating again he played soccer with his friends instead. I guess trick- or -treating isn't cool.

The tournament also provided a lot of fun stuff for the kids to do, like a long hayride, and free hot dogs and chips and hot apple cider, and some games thy could play.

Chris was nice enough to take the boys on the very long hayride that they had, Shawn was off with his friends again, but James and Mikey had a good time with their dad.

After a very long day of Soccer games and Halloween festivities the boys unwound at the hotel.

Shawn's team, the Comets, got to the finals but lost by one point in the last minute of the game, it was pretty intense. Good Job Shawn and the Comets!!

Shawn turns ten???

Well I can not believe that our oldest turned ten on October 23rd, he is in the double digits now!!! Man that makes me old. We were in Colorado for Shawn's birthday this year and we had his party at a soccer park that he likes to play at in Loveland. We had Grandma Jo and Grandpa Alan, and Jake there. Grandma Becky and Bob came. And our friends the Russell's (Derek, Jill, Chandler-Shawn's friend, Addie, and Brinley) came as well. It was a bit windy out so we didn't try to do a lot of candles, but we did get one lit for a short time and he got to blow that one out. Grandma Jo made Shawn a Barcelona cake, this is Shawn's favorite international soccer team. He has a full jersey and socks and soccer balls, this cake is a replica of one of the balls that we have.

Here is Shawn getting a big piece of cake, that he later thought was a bit too big and shared with Mikey, he wanted the Barca sign at the bottom. We actually ate most of the cake with just 15 people, I didn't have any because I am not too into sweets right now.

These are the soccer shoes that he picked out with Grandma Becky. I have never seen a boy with more shoes than Shawn, he loves shoes, especially soccer shoes, we have so many pairs of shoes at this house that I feel like they are taking over the doorways.

I love this picture of my cute boy, he has such a great smile, I love it when he smiles, which it takes a lot to get him to smile these days.


This is the book that he really wanted for his birthday (Diary of a Wimpy Kid book 4), Grandma and Grandpa got it for him with a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble, along with some Webelos things that he will need for scouts. He also got a fun game, 'In a Pickle', from the Russell's. Chris got him more indoor soccer shoes as well.

Here are Shawn and Chandler playing soccer with the basketball net, they were trying to kick the ball into the net, it was kind of funny to see them try, Shawn did get kind of close.

Here is the soccer field that Shawn likes to play on, it has a artificial turf that I guess is good to play on. Jake was a good sport to play goalie for quite some time while all the kids kicked at him with balls going every which way.

Here is Shawn and Chandler kicking at the goal. They played out there for a long time, Jill and I were cold just sitting and watching, but we weren't running around like they were.

Back to school 2009

I can not believe that we have a 4th grader and a 2nd grader, it just blows my mind how fast time goes. These two boys are wonderful boys and are growing so fast. I wish that they would be nicer to each other though, they fight quit a bit. I hope that it will get better when they are older. They started school in the middle of August, which I don't understand why they start school soooo early these days, I wish they could go back to starting school in September, it just makes more since for the weather. It is still so hot in August and in May it is still cool and that is when they get out of school, it is weird to me that they have changed the schedule so much since I was in school. I mean the pools open on Memorial day and they have been out of school for 2 weeks by that point, and then the pools close on Labor day and they have been in school for 2 weeks, it just doesn't make since.
A little about each of these quirky boys. Now, Shawn is almost 10 years old and absolutely loves soccer, everything he does has to do with soccer, except for reading which he loves to do also. He loves to play soccer with his teams and with his dad, he loves to play in the house if no body will go out and play with him outside. He loves to watch soccer on the tv and on the computer, he also plays soccer video games, so everything he does, pretty much, revolves around soccer. Which is fine because he is good at it and I love to see him have a passion for something. He is doing very well in school so far, in fact I think that he gets bored with school sometimes because it is not challenging enough for him, but we are working on that with his teacher. We love how well he takes care of his little brother and how helpful he can be if he is in the mood. Shawn is a great kid and we love him very much.


Now, Michael, or Mikey as we call him most of the time, unless he is in trouble, which is quite often these days. I think that he just wants to get more attention so he likes to get under all our skin at times. He is very good at doing whatever you ask him not to do. But he is so outgoing and social that we love that about him. He can make friends where ever he goes. We were eating dinner at Culver's a few weeks ago and he made friends with the boys that were sitting next to us and asked if he could go sit with them and eat with them, it was pretty cute. He also loves to play with his little brother, James. He doesn't always play very nice or very gentle but he does play with him a lot and I should be grateful for that. I think because he is so rough with James, James does not always like to be around him, but James is getting bigger and able to hold his own more and more. He also can be a very good helper when he wants something:) He does not like school very much, but he is learning to like to read more this year. He had a hard year last year with reading, not that he isn't good at it, he just doesn't like to do it. But this year he seems to like it more and more with all the neat stuff he is learning. He still thinks he has way too much homework, but all he wants to do is play so I think any homework is too much for him.

James turns 2!!!

Happy Birthday to James! August 15th James turned 2 years old, we cannot believe how fast that went by. He is still such a great kid, even though he is getting to be a little mouthy since he picks up on all that his older brothers are saying and doing. But he is so sweet most of the time. I still think that it was yesterday that he was my little baby James.

We left Utah Saturday morning and that was James' birthday. We had a little party at my sisters house and had breakfast and put a candle in his waffle and sang to him. And he and Ann got to open some presents from my parents. This is in the car on our way to Colorado and then on to Kansas the next day. He is eating a See's Candy sucker- it was very messy, but he loved it!

We had a little party at Grandma Becky's house, here is the ball that Chris got for him.

He opened presents from Grandma and Aunt Sydney/Uncle Harry and Uncle Nick and us.

Here he is opening his PJs grandma got him, that he will have to wait awhile to wear because they are a bit too big for now.

This is the Barcelona Jersey that Chris got for him and he really liked the soccer socs and his soccer shoes went well with it as well.

Here is the Geo Tracks train set that grandma got for him, he really liked that set and plays with it a lot, he likes the horse it came with.

Say Cheese!! 3 cute boys!

Good job blowing out your candles, I think you got a bit of help from your older brother:)

Shove it in your mouth, eat as much as you can!

And he did!

Our quick trip to Utah

Our trip to Utah was a fast but a well worth it trip. We left Kansas around 4:30 PM on Wednesday the 12th of August and drove straight through to Utah until 8:30 AM the following morning. Let's just say we were both really tired the whole night, but by the time we got there we didn't really feel like taking a nap. That probably wouldn't have worked anyway because our kids were wide awake because they got to sleep most of the night. An 18 hour drive is not recommended to anyone, not very safe and and not very sane. We got to stay with my good friend Melodie Webb and her wonderful family. It was nice to stay in their basement and be able to come and go when we pleased. It was also nice to catch up with her and her family.

This picture was taken at one of the rest stops in Nebraska, I think it is so cute!! Here are our cute boys posing for a picture. In Nebraska they have little things like this for kids to play on at every rest stop on I-80. It is very helpful for the kids to get some energy out.

Once we got to Utah we called all the family and let them know we were here and then decided to meet up with them for all the cousins to go swimming at my parents hotel. The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins and grandma and grandpa and Uncle Jared and Aunt Steph, while Chris and I went to buy him a dress shirt. It was a nice little break. We then went to get Chris' new work truck that he was getting to bring back to Kansas. We met everyone for lunch at Chesley's house and spent some time there resting and doing whatever. We then met up with Beth's(Brett's soon to be wife) family at Liberty Park and had a BBQ for dinner.

This is everyone that was there that night. All of my family and there families and most of Beth's family. It was fun getting to know them. They are from Georgia, so we won't get to see them too often.

Beth is so good with the little ones, here she is climbing up the hill with James and Evelyn, it was pretty cute. James latched onto her pretty fast and did not like to be without her or Brett very close. Especially at the wedding reception. He wanted Brett or Beth to be holding him the whole time. Which of course did not happen so he was very upset most of the evening. He was just very tired and had been drug all over the place, I didn't blame him for being such a pill.

Here are the cousins wondering around the park playing together. I wish that we could get them together more often. Even though I have all boys and my brother has all girls it is still fun for them to play together. Hopefully someday we will live close to them and they can grow up together.

James and Evelyn played a lot together, Chesley followed them around the Parks and took pictures of them, it was cute to go back and look at all these pictures of hem just copying each other and following each other.

Eveyeln wanted to hold his hand, but I don't think that James was into that, so he kept pulling his hand away.

Here is the birthday cake that my brother Jared made for Brett. All my brothers are very big Star Wars fans, so this was fun to have. We were going to have it the night of the BBQ, but Brett did not have a grooms cake so he wanted it at the reception the next day. (Brett got married on his birthday)

Here are my adorable nieces waiting at the temple waiting area for the sealing to end

James thought he was a pretty good babysitter for Ruby, he was trying to help out as much as he could. He loves Baby Ruby!

rocking her-

Strolling her-

talking to her-

patting her head-

Cousins waiting in the waiting area together

While the happy couple was taking pictures we got a few pictures around the temple as well.

Cute uncle Blake hanging out with Ann

We had lunch in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building on Top at the Garden Restaurant. This is downstairs next to the big statue of Joseph Smith.

Great Family Photo!

We left Utah Saturday morning, so we were only there for about 48 hours.

It was nice to all be able wo be there for Brett's wedding, I am really happy that Chris was able to make it work with his schedule.

We did get to do most of things that I wanted to do. I really wanted to go to the Salt Lake Temple with Chris, and that did not happen, but I did get to go to See's Candies and IKEA.