Thanksgiving

The whole gang!

After we bought our house, we decided that we would host Thanksgiving so we didn't have to divide our day and go anywhere. We have had Thanksgiving at our place for the last 9 years (except we missed one when Don was sick). We love it! It was a really relaxing day. No one came over until 4:30 pm so we had all day to hang out together. I managed get all my laundry washed, folded, and put away as well as roast the turkey and do a large part of the dinner. And I felt little stress and managed not to raise my voice to a single person during all the preparations. Of course it helped that everyone was out of school on Wednesday this year. Don and Sierra were great helps to me in getting the house cleaned and all the food preparations done. Thanks guys. We were 15 in all for dinner (yes, we were half of the whole group!). Dinner was yummy and the company was great. Our guests were: Thelma and Kenny, Mike and Jean, Jaren and Becca, and Mary and Noah. Thanks to both my moms for all their help cleaning up after dinner. I sure appreciated it!

Getting punch -- Yum!

Carson cuddled up with Grandpa after dinner and went to sleep.

We spent the rest of the weekend just relaxing. Caden played in the Turkey tournament so we watched 3 soccer games. His team took 2nd place. I had a cold so didn't feel like doing much. We watched the first "Lord of the Rings" movie along with some other TV and movies. Jen did a little shopping Friday morning spending $46 and saving $75. Woo Hoo! That made me happy. We also started putting all the Christmas decorations up. I love this time of year.

Happy Hauntings

Halloween afternoon and evening was very busy for us, but a whole lot of fun. It began at 2:00 pm with Caden's soccer game. Don and I left Sierra at home to baby-sit the younger kids while we went to the game. It was great! She is so responsible. When we got home at 4:00 all of them had eaten dinner and were in their costumes. Half my work was done. The rest of us got ready and then we headed to Don's Uncle Earl's home for a family Halloween party. Amber Cambridge organized this and even though we were a little late (soccer game) we had a lot of fun. Earl gave the kids a hay ride to some different houses where they went trick or treating. They had so much fun! Back at the house they decorated caramel apples and played with the other kids that were there. Then we headed out to our ward Halloween Trunk-or-treat. Adam and Amber brought little Ava and came with us. It was so good to spend time with them and Ava is such a doll. The kids enjoyed the trunk or treat bringing home more candy than we need. They especially enjoyed seeing their friends and all the different costumes. After the trunk or treat we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Culbertson's house for the final trick or treat. We were all very tired when we got home. The kids literally fell into bed and were asleep by the time their heads hit the pillow. A very fun Halloween!!

Jim and Pam from the Office

Little Miss Smarty Pants

G.I. Joe Caden

Glinda the Good Witch

Train Conductor--Choo! Choo!

Mickey Mouse

The Cambridge Clan

Hay ride

While on the hay ride, Connor started singing,
"We're on an Adventure!"
He sang this over and over. He was so excited, it was very cute.

Trick-or-Treat

Check out these cupcakes! I love them.
I wish I could take credit for them, but the credit all goes to Amber.
Thanks Amber!

Trunk-or-Treat

Someone had a laser light that made patterns on the ground. They also had music going. Both Connor and Ava loved this. They kept standing on the moving lights and dancing to the music. Very cute!

Crazy Hair Day

Yes, I sent Sierra to school looking like this on Oct. 30th. It was crazy hair day and she wanted something crazy. Of course she also took her brush, just in case she felt too stupid at school. She kept it in all day. Fun, fun!

Sierra is SOO silly.

Calico

During our Fall Break we spent a lot of time around the house. We got a couple of projects done like pruning the rose bushes, pulling out a tree, weeding, and painting a porch swing. Towards the end of the break we decided it was time to get out of the house and go do something. So we went to Calico Ghost Town. We spent an enjoyable afternoon there together. There wasn't a lot to see, but we enjoyed looking at what there was. Don overheard a few people speaking German and began talking to them. They were actually from Germany and Austria and were here touring the US. It was fun to use a little bit of the German we have learned. Carson even spoke a whole sentence in German to them. They were impressed that the kids were learning it too. Don said that everytime he began to speak German it came out in Spanish. We were laughing that he needs to unlearn Spanish so he can learn German. :) The kids really enjoyed going into the candy store where they could buy candy for 10 cents. I was amazed that a place like that existed! It was a fun afternoon.

In front of the bottle house.

Caden--always photogenic.

Sierra and Connor

Here's the group watching the train.

Rub-a-dub-dub 5 kids in a tub.

Oooh, la, la! Be still my heart!
"I'm walking like a dead guy."

"I'm doing my hot dog dance!"

Morgan wishing it was a real carriage ride.

Uh, oh!

Look what's happened to Dad!

Waiting

We had an early start one day and ended up getting to Costco 20 minutes before it opened. While we were waiting for the store to open we took out the camera and played a little. I just love these pictures of the boys.

Best Friends!

SILLY!

We love Mommy.

My Little Boy

In early October I cut the boys' hair. I finally gave Connor a buzz cut like the other two. I felt a little sad because he lost his baby boy look and now looks more like a big kid. I'm glad he's growing up, but my mommy heart feels a little sad that he is. No more babies in our home--at least until we have grandkids. :)

Meet Bones

Don found this big gopher snake at school during one of his PE classes. He picked it up and it was a really calm snake. It doesn't seem to mind people at all. In fact when you pick him up he coils around your arm and he's hard to get off. He is now Don's classroom pet. He comes home over long breaks and the kids really enjoy him especially watching him eat. We named the snake Bones. I think snakes are pretty cool and I don't mind holding the nonpoisonous ones. Nobody took a picture of me holding the snake though. Here are the pictures of the kids with Bones.

I love this one of Sierra.

If you'll be nice to me, I'll be nice to you.

This is SOOO cool!

My new friend.

This is Fun!

Tent Fun

One afternoon in September we set up this indoor tent. The boys settled in to eat lunch and watch the movie Bolt. They had a lot of fun with this. They were so cute to watch and listen to as they enjoyed the movie and each other. Good memories.