June pictures with the big camera

I'm noticing that I'm taking way less pictures with the big camera and I miss it so much. The quality is just so much better than my cell phone (I really want a new phone, ha ha). June was a beautiful month full of beautiful flowers and people.

witch scavenger hunt

The kids had a day off from school for teacher prep day. It had been years since we made our way to Gardner village. So I was determined to make it happen this year. Most of the kids were on board, one was really not wanting to go at all (and it wasn't our oldest), but he mostly managed. We even took a friend with us. We went on the scavenger hunt to find all the witches and they did it. So we took our papers to the bakery and each of the kids got a snickerdoodle and we headed back home. (actually we first stopped by Trader Joes to get the seasonal almond danish, yum!) 

school starts again + our focus for the year

I was in denial that summer was coming to an end and school was starting up again. We left a lot of the school preparation to the end, but it was fine, the kids didn't need a lot of clothes and I like to wait until after school starts to get the supplies their teachers tell them to get (at least for the Jr High kids). Several days before school started though, I knew I needed to think of a simple focus for our family. Something to help us grow and become better people, but one that was not too complicated. 

Taylor gave me a paper that he got from church that talked about how the trees that grow up in windy environments become the strongest. We are so much more precious than a tree. Heavenly Father made our spirits strong and capable of being resilient to the whirlwinds of life.  THIS, this is what I want and hope for the kids (and our family) this year. To become stronger in every aspect of our lives - Physically, Mentally, Socially, Emotionally, and Spiritually so that we can be resilient to whatever comes our way.

We had our feast, which I'll just say this recipe was amazing, and then we each wrote goals for our first month in school. We'll continue this throughout the school year, and hopefully by the end of next May we'll all be stronger.

And now here we are, Corbin is in 9th and Taylor in 7th - both at the Jr. High together! Levi in 5th and Rudger in 1st - both at the elementary school! We made it through the first three days of school and it's fun to see how the two older boys have grown closer together and same for the younger two. Corbin and Taylor have lunch together on their 'A' day and love sitting together (with their cousin Hunter, too!!). Levi and Rudger happen to have the same first and last recess so the two of them play together all recess. This makes my heart so so happy! 

 And since the kids all started school, we decided it would be the perfect time to have Adeline start using the potty. Everyone else is growing up, I guess we'll let her too. She's doing fantastic! (for the most part) :)

And at the end of the school day, for both sets of kids, a huge 5 minute storm passed by. Right as school was getting out....seriously!! The 2nd storm produced the biggest hail storm I've ever seen. It was pandemonium with kids running around crying. :( But one things for sure, it will probably be one of the most memorable first days of school for these kids! 

a tuesday evening

For some reason Tuesday evening made me so happy. Not sure what it really was, except that it just felt like a cozy kind of evening.

Jolly brought coloring books and Christmas oreos. Homework seemed to get done quickly and well. Corbin, daddy, and all the other youth in our ward went around the neighborhood caroling and that always makes me happy to hear the songs of the season. We had a big box that the kids loved playing with. Laundry got folded and put all away. Yay!! And it always makes me happy to see the kids laying around reading in our warm cozy home.

 :: she really loved those oreos ::

 :: our 'away in a manger' book is her favorite!! ::

We really need these kinds of evening during December.

halloween costumes 2016

This years costumes were a success. We mostly didn't leave costumes to the very last second, everyone had their minds made up weeks in advance and no one changed their idea. 

I really wanted to do a Wizard of Oz theme this year, so I showed them the movie in September hoping that they would get on board with my idea. Nope. But Adeline and I had fun with it. Well, I guess I had fun with it. Adeline would get a little frustrated with her big poofy skirt. Woops. Justin was going to try being the tin man or the scarecrow, but somehow he must have forgotten :)

The pink, the tulle skirt, the crown and that poor ear, and the wand. This was definitely the costume I was most giddy about.

 1. We bought the facepaint kit for Corbin's face and when Rudger saw the sample of a person with a pumpkin face, that's all he wanted to be. He would carry around the package and stare at it for the longest time. And for Halloween night, he insisted on circle eyes with no nose and lines going down his face.
2. The werewolf mask made us both so happy. Levi was worried we would never get to his costume; so the afternoon we set aside to just focus on the mask, gloves, feet, and tail - he was so very happy!

 1. Taylor saw this skeleton costume at the store when the Halloween stuff first came out, I don't know why but we didn't buy it, probably the price tag. As Halloween got closer I started to panic a little so I ran to the store and there it was 40% off.
2. As a family, we loved watching Once Upon a Time. Corbin thought the idea of being Rumpelstiltskin would be awesome. I tried making a yarn wig, eh, but he was happy with it. But the face and hand expressions is totally what makes this costume.

 :: this picture totally cracks me up ::