Afro

Every year for Halloween Jon buys some kind of outrageous wig and dresses accordingly. We pulled out our Halloween box and the kids found his huge Afro wig from last year. Of course, they all just had to try it on. This is William taking a turn wearing it.

This is a typical Connor face. This is his "I am annoyed face." We see it quite often.

Pumpkin Fun

Our church had a pumpkin carving activity this past Saturday. So we decided to take the kids and go. We all had a great time although it did start to get a little chilly after a while. We were treated to hotdogs, rootbeer floats and lots of yummy snacks. Plus, we got to carve our pumpkins. Connor kind of separated himself from the rest of us and later hung out with some of the teenage boys his age. (sigh) I guess he is at the age where he doesn't want to be seen with his family. We've all been through. I just hope he gets through this stage quickly. Can you believe he's 13?

All in all it was a blast.

My New Blog

Check out my new blog, My Digi Pages. I will be posting my digital layouts on here as I complete them. For now, you can view my slide show of past projects that I have done. Just click on the link under My Favorite Links on the right. Enjoy!

Family Fun Fair

Our new stake here in Arizona puts on a family fun fair once a year for all of the families in the stake. I took Hayley, Andrew, William and Alison to the fair while Jon and the older boys were on a Boy Scout camp out. There was so much to do and eat. Cotton candy, homemade donuts, nachos, snow cones, chili, pies etc. There were games with prizes and some fun inflatable play things. We got a little sunburned but still had a blast. I just love that 80 plus degree Arizona fall weather!

Alison Walking

I have been trying to get a good picture of Alison walking. This as good as it is going to get for now, I guess. She started walking about a month ago at 13 months old. I guess she takes after her "mama" because that's how old I was when I started walking too. She is such a little cutie and is at that fun learning toddler stage. She is picking up new words all the time; kitty, thank you, bye, ba (bottle), NO, ouch, and very distinctly ddddaaadddyyyyy! How fun!

The Playground

I took the younger two to the park yesterday for playgroup. We had all been cooped up inside for a while homeschooling, working on house projects, etc. We really needed to get some fresh air and exercise. Colin came too. He is being homeschooled now so, he decided to bring some work with him while the kids were playing. We are looking to get him involved in some extracurricular actvities so he still has that social interaction he needs. He already is involved in scouts at church. His band teacher said that he could still participate in band if he wanted to, because technically we are still a part of the school district. He is thinking he might like to do that. He also wants to join a chess club and a Legobot club. The Legobot Club is where kids get together in teams and are given an assignment to build a Lego Robot that has to complete different tasks. They then compete against each other.

Fashion Show

Hayley begged to use my camera because she had convinced her two little to do a fashion show with her. She dressed them up in costumes and laid out some of my exercise equipment for a runway. Then they started snapping shots and posing. I had to laugh at Andrew because he really got that male model pose down really well.

Our Mesa Trip

A few weeks ago Jon, my husband, was in a car accident. No one was seriously injured, but his car was totaled. It was the other driver's fault so, we patiently waited until our insurance company finally deposited the money we needed for a replacement car. It was a very long couple of weeks with only car between the 8 members of our very busy family. Luckily, our friend Matt Steele, was nice enough to give Jon rides to and from work, so that I could have the car during the day. I was also watching his daughter, so that was helpful to him as well.

Well, after the money came in we headed up to Mesa to look at a car that Jon had his eye on. We did not end up getting that particular car though. In fact, we had almost given up that day but, fortunately stumbled across one last area to look. We ended up buying a Navy Blue, 2002 Ford Mustang convertible and was able to pay cash for it. So, no car payments! WoooHooo! I tell everyone that it is Jon's mid life crisis car. The kids think it's awesome and are constantly begging their dad if they can ride in it with the top down. Of course, it is perfect weather here for that.

To top off our day, we stopped in to visit with some old friends, that now live near Mesa, Tim and Heidi Steele and their daughter Maritza. I wish I had taken some pictures there. The kids had fun looking at their goats, jumping on the trampoline and playing with their dogs.

I am headed up to Mesa again next week to take Connor on a Youth Temple Trip. I have never been to the Mesa Temple so, I am excited to go.