Halloween

The kids had a great Halloween! Pumpkin carving was fun. The kids drew what they wanted on paper and then Matt carved it for them. CJ is a cat(I love the wiskers!!) and Owen's was a scary guy.

Owen was Iron Man, CJ was a white bunny(she had a hard time deciding between a toucan, lizard, peacock, mouse, snake...are you seeing the animal theme..no princess here!)The kids around the corner had a Halloween party the day before so we went to that (they loved it) and then of course Halloween night was fun. Matt stayed to pass out candy while I took the kids around. When we first left CJ said "Mom, this is so great I want to trick-or-treat ALL night long till my bag is too full. A few blocks later and it was "I'm done mom, my feet want to sit down and sleep" Oh and Summer's costume I got on a super sale for 5 dollars!!! THe after picture was totally

accurate-Owen was a bit hyper, CJ ready to crash and Summer so zoned out I thought she might be asleep with her eyes open. FUN

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Stevo and the croc

This year for Mandy's annual Halloween party we decided to be one of our favorite people and as a tribute to the great man that he was;

We were Steve and a Croc. Our kids love Stevo(as he is called in our house) and love to watch anything that he is in. Probably because their Daddy loved to watch him too. Just for the record people at the party thiought I bought my croc suit - but oh no, we made it. I laid on the ground and Matt drew my outline and we cut the two pieces out and sewed them together. We stuck on a tail and the stomach and got the hat at the dollar store. Matt's wig was a girls wig we chopped up and rubbed shoe polish in. We thought we looked great! And the kids did too. The kids loved it so much that first thing the next morning Owen came running in to try on the croc suit, then the Stevo suit and CJ the croc suit. THey were SOOOO funny!

CJs Birthday

This year CJ wanted to have an animal
party so we pulled one together and she loved it. My favorite was the snake cake. I still can't belive she wanted a snake cake - or that I made such a cool cake! She had a great party and tons of fun. We got sheets of zoo "body stickers" temp. tattoos and the kids loved them. The only thing is they worked really really well and stayed on forever! They loved that too!

Best Beach Time in CA

We have decided that the best time to go to the beach in CA is at the very end of August till October. THe weather is warmer, less wind and the water is wamer and there are WAY less people. Go on a low-tide day and there is TONS of beach to run and play. This year Owen has taken up surfing. Yes he is still 5 (6 in NOV). He's only allowed(by my rules) on a low-tide so the water is shallow. HE LOVES it and does amazing. CJ wanted to give it a try too- but the cord wrapped around Matt's waist and yanked the board out from under her. She's not planning on trying that again anytime soon. And in the video, yes that is me freaking out.

Summer recap continue

We had a beautiful wedding for Jana
and Stephen -and the kids had fun recking havoc at the reception, CJ fell into the pool and Owen gave a right hook to Ian's nose(yes there was blood and sweet Ian got over it quick and was ready to play again with no grudge or hesitation- LOVE that kid). The picture of Owen is actually when Matt was talking to him about punching - but he looked so cute I couldn't resist.

Day after the wedding Matt met up with the Young Men for the Narrows trip while I hung out at Brad and Tara's(thanks guys I love staying with you). Once we got home Jana was having a reception in Simi so we got to enjoy some company. We loved having Chelsea and Dave stay with us and then Jana and Stephen came for a few nights too. Although we still had boxes everywhere we were(and are) so happy to have our own home for family and friends to come and stay with us.

Summer time

Quick recap of our life. We had a great summer...feels like it was a year ago. The kids and I had a great time in ID for 5 weeks with all my sisters and kids. We came home for a fun fast July 4th and moving into our home only to leave a week later for a water skitrip, a week later for a UT wedding and a week later school starting. Oh and a new ward and Matt as the YM president - which kept him busy from day one.

Our home is so perfect and beautiful, and after looking at these pictures I see I'll have to send more. It looks a bit different with all of our things in it. These house pictures are from the first second we moved in vacuumed up all the carpet clippings from the JUSt installed carpet - and yes we were soooo tired and even more excited!!

And if you are wondering if I LOVE my kitchen and all of the new wonderful fantastic appliances oh I SOOOOO do. Even now that we have been here for 4 monthsish I still sit in my kitchen in awe because of what it was and what it is now...and that I love to be in it. IT's possibly that it makes me want to cook more, and for sure it makes me want to keep it clean because it is all new - really. I sweep, mop, wipe down counters, cupboards, appliances, inside the fridge and everything...it will probably fade but for now I love my clean kitchen. I also realize I don't have enough pics of the house so I'll take some tomorrow. So,more to come on the quick update of our life. For now I'm going to bed

Owen pole vaulting

O is already in training. Grandpa is a pole vault coach (and has been forever) and daddy was a pole vaulter too. So little O is starting young.

The butcher

One day I was trying to cut a frozen 3lb ground beef that I had conveniently forgotten to separate into freezer bags the day I brought it home when it was fresh. Jim was walking through the kitchen and saw me having some trouble and asked if I wanted some help. He gave it a go and wasn't getting anywhere. He puts the knife down and says he'll be right back. And before I can say a word he is back with the saw and cuts that baby in a few seconds. Of course I whip out the camera cause who does this. I just said thank you and was happy it was apart. (girls maybe we need to consider having a saw as part of our kitchen tools - in pink right?! I also cooked the meat extra loooong, so the sloppy joe's were a bit on the dry side if that is even possible. This is just one of the moments that I have chalked up as "my life is a sitcom". Some of the others include the father-in-law who washes his car in rain and sprays the leafs off the lawn in a wind storm(I do say this lovingly just so you know). The mother-in-law who washes dishes so fast that you aren't even done eating, get up to get seconds, and your cup and plate mysteriously disappear and you have to get another one. We don't' get to use a cup twice in a day. Needless to say we run the dishwasher A LOT. And the great grandma who is 93 is sleeping on the couch. And if the baby starts crying in the night waddles down the hall to make sure we heard that the baby was crying. I'm not saying I don't love my life, I'm just saying there are some funny things!

The 3rd kid

So, when Owen was a baby I sat down at each snack and meal and fed him with a spoon. With CJ I sat down and carfefully watched and helped when necessary as she fed her self. With Summer I plop the yogurt on the tray and let her figure out and do what ever it takes to feed herself. It makes for LOTS of clean up, but at least the other kids and I get to eat sometimes too. I wonder what happens when you have 4....

House down to nothing

We have torn it apart and pulled things out....we're just hoping we have enough $$ figured out to put it all back in :)

The once was kitchen! Thank goodness we decided we better start new with the kitchen. We had opened a cupboard under the sink and the smell was dangerously gross and we left it open to air it out and each day we came to the house the smell was progressively worse (yuck) I figured something had died in there. But alas, soon as we took out all the old rotten smelly moldy cupboards (and everything else) it smelled MUCH better. Matt decided that the kitchen was the most important room in the house for me and decided to put all our money there. I am very excited about having a nice new kitchen to cook and bake for my family in. Thanks honey!!!!

The once was brick fireplace that took up the whole wall is in the process of becoming a nice little fireplace. Matt is amazing! He comes up with these ideas and then puts them into action and they look GREAT like out of a magazine. I can't wait to post a picture when the molding and mantle are up.

All the flooring has been ripped out, and one bathroom has been gutted (the beautiful pink and blue bathroom is still intact). And we keep saying "O.K. I think we are finished tearing apart and I think we are ready to build back up...but I think REALLY this week we are ready to start putting things back together.

And on Saturday Matt made it officially our house by hanging his surfboards in the garage!

Gift from Owen

The other day Owen comes running into the living room while I'm changing Summer's diaper and says he has a "so cool present for me, but I have to open it in the kitchen" When I come in the kitchen there is a piece of paper folded in half taped shut. When I open it I see a few flowers and a bunch of old snail shells, some with dead snail inside. Owen is beaming with a grin from ear to ear. "Don't you just love it mom, they are so beautiful!" I think I covered my shock well and just went on and on about how I loved them and left them on the counter all day until he went to bed! At which point my father-in-law said "why do we have dead snails in the house, can I throw these out?" Oh my sweet little boy Owen how I love him so!

Summer getting her groove on

We have a Dora Dollhouse that plays music and Summer loves to push the buttons and dance to the music. She only has one dance move and it's wiggling her whole body, and that's how she dances to any kind of music.

Bean Jar Filled and starting again!

We started a new thing called the bean jar. When the kids do something the first time we ask, or just do something really great with out us having to tell them to (like share, say something nice to someone, clean up etc) they get to put a bean in the jar. If they don't listen and obey we take beans out. We are fairly liberal in the giving and try not to take away unless we really need to. The kids even told us when we did a great job of being a mommy or daddy and let us put beans in, and also took them out if we yelled or did something not nice (wake up call to us). When the jar was filled we got to do something really fun as a family. The kids picked bowling. We had a blast! The kids have already picked Chuck E Cheese for the next family activity.