Fall Leaves...

My mom and dad have a really pretty maple tree in their backyard and my mom loves to have the kids pictures in front of it in the fall when it turns red. Then comes the raking, Elisabeth and Sam have been trying to help them keep up, the leaves are still pretty even on the ground, and this is one of my favorite pictures of Elisabeth lately. She's really cute right now, she talks like she is 18 and is still sweet most of time... most of time!

The Haircut...

Elisabeth needed her hair trimmed, it has gotten really long, and a thought she liked it. But apparently she was ready for a 12 year old do, a style and short! We are still adjusting, especially her daddy! She is literally giddy about it! I like how it looked but the first few days styling it were a challenge, especially when she decided she didn't want to wear it down, but we are figuring it out.

Before... No it was not 80's day she just wanted to dress this way to show off all her retro birthday gifts...
Fun with the new crimper, Joe and Randi's b-day gift...

After... it's shorter in the back then in the front... pretty cute...

Figuring out new do's, this one is supposed to like a spider web...

A Little of This and That... In Pictures...

Isn't he cute? This is what kitty looks like most nights when I get ready for bed.
Sam loves Spirit Week and dressed up everyday, but his dumb mom forgot pictures every day except for "Jocks and Nerds Day." He said he is a nerd, technically a geek, everyday so he decided to be a jock.

Cousins! Ashlyn, Elisabeth, Zac, Arica, Taylor and Ali!
Celebrating Ashlyn's 12th birthday.

"If you eat all your lunch you can go on the round and round!" Weeee... he loved it! Elisabeth was happy to take her little friend for a ride.
A tree every good Ute needs!
We've been captured by the zombies!
Elisabeth and Dorthy, aka Anysley, after Grandma Bonnie took the girls to see "Wizard of Oz."
Andie, Ali, Taylor and Arica, we were teasing Taylor that he has sister wives!
Grandma wanted pictures with the pretty tree in her back yard.

The Second Time Is Harder...

5 or so months ago when Jeremiah and Joe decided to run back to back races it seemed like a good idea, and beside who can back down from a challenge from your little brother? But after The Other Half, half marathon in Moab, Miah is thinking maybe not. I wasn't able to go as planned because of the primary program at church. Last night before the race he was more worried then last week, his foot still hurt and now he knew how tough it would be. Not with race completed, with a much harder course, I am pretty sure he won't race for awhile. The weather was complete opposite, 70 degrees and stat time, and the route consisted of many hills. But he made it and has another medal to show for it. They had a good time on their quick round trip, which included cards, Randi's birthday, beer at the finish line, a side trip up highway 70 and stinky boys who hadn't showered. (The hotel wouldn't let them do a late checkout!)

The Kidnapping...

I love the girls in our ward Young Women's group, but I think they may have scared Elisabeth for life when they kidnapped her on her birthday. They came at about 7:15am, and I thought they would say "surprise" and blindfold her, instead Bobbie and Kara but a blanket over her head, she was sound asleep, and dragged her out of bed. She was fighting and crying, and I realized that she probably was truly scared since she knew we were leaving them home alone while I was took Miah to the race. Thankfully, as Elisabeth told me later, about the time they got to the front door she got a peek of Kara, and so even though she knew things were strange, she knew she was okay. They went to the Harris' for breakfast and then they brought her home safe and sound. She is so excited to be part of this group of girls and they have been talking to her for months about Young Women's. It is really strange not having my own kids in Primary, and even stranger knowing they will both be going to a youth activity tomorrow night!

Cute Jillian is holding E's shoes and jacket that she was kind enough to ask for on the way out the door.

Jillian, Kara, Bobbie, Sara, Mirium
Mindy, Entien, Josie, Becky

Two final(ish) gifts...

Sunday night after the birthday Joe and Randi came over to watch the Packers play on the Sunday Night Game. Both the Packers and Lions, yes the Lions, are off to a 4-0 start, and so Joe is really full of it! But I guess so are we. They brought Elisabeth's present, a crimper, her little 80's heart is in love. Randi did her hair while we watched the game, and then I fixed it and she wore this 80's getup the next day. And one of her last presents was a Packer win, making her team 5-0!

Good-bye to our friend from "The Czech..."

Vilem is Jacob's friend from his mission in the Czech Republic. He is has been staying with Chad and Jana while trying out for the BYU hockey team. We have enjoyed getting to know our friend from "The Czech," when he came to Sunday dinners. The first week all our craziness and sarcasm were lost on him, he said he didn't understand our humor, but he has quickly caught up. He will be traveling home next week, and so we got a picture with him, he called Jeremiah his "hero" for running his half marathon.

and then...

There was our final (maybe) birthday celebration at grandma and grandpa Rigby's. New luggage, for our trip, filled with clothes was the perfect gift for our 12 year old.

Well, somewhere along the way I lost my mind and let Elisabeth invite 9 kids to her birthday party. A party that was supposed to be at our house and she was supposed to plan. Filled with boys and girls, dancing, games and fun. Thankfully I regained sanity at some point and talked Elisabeth into taking them all to Fat Catz to bow. Then once again I lost it and invited 3 more cousins, one more friend of a cousin and Sam, making a total of 15 kids between the ages of 10 and 13! Elisabeth has the best group of friends, good kids but totally nuts! They had a great time bowling, it's nice that the boys and girls can all just be friends for now. And then we headed back to the house for cupcakes and presents. That is when chaos truly broke out. After a rambunctious round of "heavy, heavy hangover" and going crazy for a bit they were all out the door at 9pm. After a 4:30am start what a long day. Chad and Jana had brought the boys and Adrian by and came to our house to watch the game and wait for Jess to get home, so we visited with them for a bit and then crashed! The funniest part of the whole party is that those boys know Elisabeth well enough to know she LOVES Coke and two brought her that as her present. So funny and embarrassing!

Customize your own slideshow

Lunch with Grandma and Grandpa...

After the race we headed over to a little barbq place to fuel up the boys and to celebrate Elisabeth's birthday. She was spoiled with baking stuff galore from grandma and grandpa Johnson. And she opened her gifts from us, ballets stuff, footy jammies and a new halloween shirt. It already been a long day, with a 4:30am start, but we had a birthday to celebrate. He dropped off Elisabeth at ballet rehearsal and got ready for her party.