Jack-o-lanterns!

Dave is really not a big fan of carving pumpkins. I think it is the mess factor. We have only done it a few Halloweens in our marriage. But, this year a man came to our door selling pumpkins and I couldn't resist. I let the kids all pick their pumpkins out of his truck. Pretty handy!

Saturday night was the big carving night. The kids had been begging us all week to do it, but since Dave gets home so late on the weeknights, we couldn't let him miss out! :)


All "patiently" waiting for daddy to cut the tops off the pumpkins



Easton did a really good job and was pretty thorough.



Paisley also did great, but tired quickly and needed a little help. :)



Avery did better than I expected and had a lot of fun, but also needed some help.



Dave and I just couldn't help ourselves, we had to dive in as well.

We finally got the pumpkins all cleaned out and then it was time for the carving. Dave and I handled that part. Here are the finished products.


Easton's is the biggest, then Paisley's, and Avery's is the small one. (Don't laugh too hard at the carving jobs. Dave and I never claimed to be experts!) :)



The kids were so excited about their jack-o-lanterns!

Afterwards I thought it would be fun to take the kids to get a pumpkin treat. So, we went to Fiest Ole and got each of us a pumpkin empanada. I thought they were great, the kids...not so much. They all took about one bite and that was it. They don't know what they are missing! :)

But, overall, a really fun night!!

My Little Hunter

We had a really great weekend. I got to go on TWO dates with my handsome husband, got to go to our ward's Super Saturday, got to spend time with my in-laws who were in town, and got to hang out with some of my family Sunday night. It was definitely fun-filled as far as I am concerned.

But, Easton got to do something that he has been wanting to do for a LONG time! He got to go on his first deer hunting trip! He is obsessed with hunting and fishing. That is a little strange considering neither Dave or I do either. But, my brothers are avid fishermen and hunters. So, they have obviously done a good job rubbing off on Easton. I remember when Easton was just starting to draw. We bought him a little magna doodle. My brother, Andrew, taught Easton to draw a picture of a deer through the cross hairs of a gun scope. So, for a long time, whenever Easton drew a deer, which he did quite often, there was a target on it. :)


Easton and Uncle Jarom

He got to go hunting with my dad and my brother, Jarom. They came to pick him up at 6:30 a.m. (Which meant that I had to get up early to get him ready. Not so fun!):) But, I didn't even hear Easton's alarm go off like I usually do. It must have only buzzed once before he got up and shut it off. He was so excited.


Easton with grandpa

I guess that they had a really fun time. They didn't see any deer, though. But, they were able to see two moose. So, Easton was pretty excited about that.

Thank you, Jarom and dad for fulfilling one of Easton's biggest dreams! :)

Flag Football!

Last night was Easton's last flag football game of the season. He has had so much fun this year. It is his second year of football. He is just a great little player. He is very aggressive and is not afraid or timid at all.




Celebratory dance!

They ended up winning all but 3 games. He had a great team and a really great coach. It was a fun season.

He decided that he didn't want to wrestle this year. Dave and I were really surprised. We thought he loved it last year. But, I guess that he doesn't like being at matches and tournaments so long and only wrestling one or two times. I don't blame him for that.

It has been so fun watching him progress in sports! Can't wait for more to come!

1st mani and pedi!

My mom called last night and asked if she could take Paisley out to get her first manicure and pedicure. She wanted it to be part of her birthday present. I first begged and pleaded her to take me instead. (Not really, but I thought about it!) I, of course told her that would be fine and that Paisley would love it! Paisley could hardly contain herself because of her excitement until grandma came!

So, she came and picked her up and they went for their "date". I don't know much from there. I do know Paisley was very good and held very still. She really enjoyed it. She was so excited when she got home to show off her beautiful nails! :) She couldn't quit talking about her experience!

Here are some pictures of the pedicure:





Here is the end result.



She got all her nails painted purple with little pumpkins on them. So cute!

They went out and shared a banana split AND french fries afterwards. What a lucky little girl!

I am so glad that Paisley and my mom got to have some good quality alone time together. I have many memories of being with my grandma. I was the only granddaughter, and so a bit spoiled! :) But, it was always great when I had alone time with her. I am so happy that Paisley got to experience that, as well.

Thank you, mom! That was so nice of you. She was all smiles when she got home. She told me that she had felt like a "princess" when she was there! Thank you for taking time to be with my little sweetheart!

(Easton might have been jealous, but on Saturday he gets to go on his first deer hunting trip with my dad and brother. So, that contented him for sure! More on that to come...)

Baby teeth no more!

Paisley has always had these perfect little baby teeth. Straight and no gaps.




Then she started to lose them one by one...





Since she has started losing teeth and has lost several, this has happened...



Yikes!! :)



The kids had dentist appointments yesterday and the kids' teeth looked great. Brushing was good, all good. Easton's teeth are coming in with enough space. But, Paisley....well, no surprise to me, he wants me to take Paisley to an orthodontist. He is pretty concerned about the lack of space for adult teeth in her mouth. He said they may want to start doing spacers or something to make some room.

So, that is the next step, I guess. Who knew that at the tender age of BARELY six, we are on our way to the orthodontist. :( We really need another LARGE bill, let me tell you! :)

I told Paisley that she is going to need braces and she said, "YEAH!" At least someone is happy about it!

Birthday week is officially over!

As I have talked about before, the kids don't have birthDAYS, they have birth-weeks! :) Between two separate family parties, a friend party, and the actual birthday, it equals a lot of presents, calories, and fun. But, Paisley ate it up this week, and loved every minute.

Two Sundays ago, we had a party with the Pendleburys.




Paisley's cousin, James, is 2 days older, so we always have a combined party for them.



It was a good time to visit with the family. Dave's parents were in town and so it made it extra special that they could come to the party.


Then Saturday was her long anticipated friend party. She invited all her good buddies from the neighborhood and we had a great time. Dave grilled hot dogs for the girls and we had a little lunch.


Avery loved playing games and eating with the "big" girls! It was cute!

The girls all had fun sitting around and eating and of course there was A LOT of giggling going on.

Afterwards we played Pin the Tail on the Donkey. That was a success. The girls, (and Easton) all enjoyed that.





We played a few more games and it was on to presents! (The best part, right?) She was spoiled by her friends, or should I say, her friends' parents! :) (Thanks everyone!)




It seemed like the most fun part of the party was while I was cleaning up lunch. The girls all decided to chase Easton, the only boy. The house was bursting with the high-pitch screams of 8 little girls! I don't know who had more fun, the girls or Easton.



He would never admit it, but he loved being chased by all those cute little screaming girls. He had a smile a mile wide! :)

Of course, we saved the cupcakes for last. A lady at Dave's work made Hannah Montana cupcakes for her party.




They were really cute and the girls loved them. They all wanted one with a guitar.

It was a successful party, and as always, kind of good to have it behind us! :)

Yesterday, Sunday, we had a birthday party with my side of the family. Paisley's other little cousin, Dillon, has a birthday one day before hers, so again, we always get to have a joint party.


Dillon opening his present. He turned 3!




It is always fun for all the cousins to get together and play. Paisley has a girl cousin her own age and loves to play with her. Dave and my mom were sick that day, so unfortunately they missed the good time. But, Paisley, was spoiled for like the 4th time this week and she loved it! :)

So, I am breathing a sigh of relief that birthday week is over again. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE celebrating the kids' birthdays. I love to see the smiles on their faces and see their excitement. But, at the same time, there is a lot of time, money, and energy that goes into planning birthday week. So, we will sit back and relax until the next week of fun, Easton's birthday in February! :)

Birthday fun at Lagoon

Saturday was Paisley's birthday. A few weeks ago Dave was able to get 2 free tickets to Lagoon, only good during their Frightmares. Our kids had asked several times during the summer if we could go and we always said not this year. But, with 2 free tickets, how could we not go. So, we decided to surprise Easton and Paisley and go on Paisley's birthday. My brother, Andrew, and his wife, Stephanie, were nice enough to offer to watch Avery so that we could go have a fun day with the older kids. (Thank you sooooo much, guys! We owe you BIG when you have kids!)

So, I told the kids Friday night that we were going somewhere really fun the next day, but that it was a surprise. Easton isn't a big fan of surprises and was actually a little mad about the whole surprise situation. But, I convinced him that it was worth it to wait to find out.

Saturday morning we got up early. We were able to wish Paisley a happy birthday, and let her open a few of her presents.




Paisley in her new sweatshirt



We finally told them where we were going, (after A LOT of begging from them) around Ogden. They were soooo excited! We got to Lagoon about 11:15. We had brought a cooler with lunch in it with us. So we quickly ate lunch and headed into the park. The first ride we rode was the haunted house ride, appropriate for Frightmares. During Frightmares they have the park all decorated for Halloween. Over the loud speaker they have Halloween music playing. It is really fun.

The next ride we went on was the old white wooden roller coaster. There weren't a lot of people there and so we were basically able to get right on. Dave rode with Paisley and I rode with Easton. So, we climbed up the big hill at the beginning...and then of course, the big drop that makes your stomach go crazy. Dave said that he looked at Paisley and her face showed complete TERROR. They both said that they enjoyed the ride, though. We got thinking, they had never been on a roller coaster before. So, at least Dave and I knew the feeling that was coming up. They had no idea. It was pretty fun to experience all the firsts with them.



The next ride, the Wild Mouse, had Paisley in tears half way through. I thought that this day was going to be LONG! But, that was the last bit of tears. I think it was just the initial scare, but then they realized that it was "fun" to be scared.




They were both BARELY tall enough for all of the really good rides, well, besides a few. But, they got to ride all of the big coasters.

All of our favorite ride was Wicked. It was intense, and the kids loved it!

We had so much fun. It was so nice that they were old enough to ride all the big rides. It was great to be together. We definitely missed our little Avery. We can't wait to take her in a couple years. But, we had a blast together. Just a really great day.

We left the park about 5:30. Dave and I were beat. The kids must have been, too because there wasn't any complaining when we told them it was time to go.
We stopped and ate dinner at the Layton mall. Easton and Paisley got their own little table.


Happy, but tired!

Great, great day! One I will always remember, for sure! I know the kids will, also. Now Paisley wants to go to Lagoon every year for her birthday. I think that is a pretty good idea!

Happy 6th Birthday, Paisley-girl!!

I can't believe that it has been six years since I was first blessed with my beautiful girl. I could not wait to meet her. We had so much pink stuff, we just couldn't wait to have our girl.

Paisley has brought so much joy into our home. She is such a loving, sweet, thoughtful little girl. She can also be super crazy and silly, which we love about her as well. She helps me in countless ways throughout the day. She is such a great big sister, always helping me with Avery. There have been many times that I will walk into a room that had been messy, only to find it clean, thanks to Paisley. She loves to make people happy and is always willing to help.

She is very creative and artsy. She will spend many hours doing some kind of art project. She loves to read and also listen to stories. She loves to hear Dave and I talk about her when she was little or about us when we were little.

I don't know what we would do without you, Paisley! You are a one of a kind, that is for sure! You make us laugh and smile everyday. Thank you for all you do for me. I hope that your 6th birthday is the best yet and that you have a even better year ahead of you. I love you, sweetheart.