Halloween!

Twas the day before Halloween....

Charlotte, our little rascal in her Halloween outfit. I made similar ones for the other two girls, but didn't get a pic. She loves to race up and down the stairs. She climbs to the top and then yells at us until we come to find her. She also loves to roll a ball down the stairs and then we throw it back up again and again and again.

Sophie and Maggie had a costume parade at their school. They get dressed up and march around by class in the play field while parents take tons of pictures.

Maggie and her friend, Pearl on the march.

This is Sophie's fellow witch and best friend at school, Zoe. Yes, they are the same age.

After school Sam had an overnight Scout campout at Zion's. It was going to be a bit cold, so we got him all ready to go, thermals and all. It's his first overnight without Dad and we were a little nervous. But knew it was important for him.

Okay, so I am a holiday freak. I LOVE them! And yes my expectations usually outweigh the reality. This Halloween was no exception:).

This is how we found Sophie on Halloween morning. She had an incredibly high fever and was achy all over. She stayed in bed all day (so you know she really was sick). Sam came back from his campout grumpy having nearly frozen to death and didn't want anything to do with Halloween. We had to make soup for the ward's Trunk or Treat and though we got the soup there on time, we had missed the actual Trunk or Treat. But I finally got everyone going and I even made Sophie get out of bed and get dressed (I know I'm a horrible mother, but I knew she'd regret it the next day if she didn't).

So, here they are!

Charlotte was our little monkey with her banana, Sam (totally his idea).

The girls were Elphaba and Galinda, the witches from Wicked. Sophie was supposed to have green face paint but because she wasn't feeling well, we opted out. Maggie was supposed to have her hair all curled up, but we realized that the curling iron was in storage and my mom didn't have one. I got $.99 bags from Target and then printed the Wicked logo onto iron-on paper and ironed it onto the bag.

Charlotte is an escape artist and also loves to eat dirt. So we really have to keep an eye on her.

We finally hit the road to go trick or treating! We ended up out in Santa Clara so the kids could go with Scout and Gage. They were a cat and a Whoopee Cushion. It's a lot more work to go trick or treating in Utah than it was in California because the houses are further apart. The kids were missing 12 Picket Lane for sure.

Matt was a Wiggle, his band had a gig later on and they were all Wiggles. Jen was a jailbird.

Charlotte was loving trick or treating. I guess giving babies Smarties is the thing here, everyone was giving them to her.

We had a good time but it started to get cold, so we got everybody home. The best part, sorting the candy! The kids got a lot less this year than usual. But that's not a bad thing.

Sam and his pumpkin, Keroro.

Maggie and her pumpkin, a puppy.

So a not so great morning turned into a fun night and another Halloween is gone!

We've Been Tagged!

My friend Katie who is also Chris's cousin tagged me on her blog! I was supposed to get the 27th picture from July 2008 file and see what we had! Well....this is when Chris was working in Denver and the kids and I went and visited him for a week.

I was 5 months pregnant with Charlotte. We visited the Hammonds Candy Factory and saw candy canes being made. It was actually a really fun time and a great week. Thanks Katie!

Hiking Fun

The weather in St. George has been absolutely gorgeous! Perfect hiking weather. The kids had Friday and Monday off of school so we took a couple of hikes.

Hieroglyphics

On Friday we went just past Santa Clara to the Indian Hieroglyphics site. It was really fascinating to see the "blogs" of the Native Americans. It was fun to try to guess what they all meant.

Miss Maggie had a great time. She wanted me to take her picture on practically every rock.

My crazy little monkey and my handsome husband.

A nice man insisted on taking a family picture for us. Thanks! Afterward we hit the Santa Clara farmer's market for some yummy fresh fruits and veggies.

Zions National Park

After a kind of stressful Monday morning we decided to take off again and head to Zions. We hadn't been there yet as a whole family and thought it would be a great way to spend the day. It was!

Maggie on the bridge.

We hiked up to the Upper Emerald Pools. The weather was a bit windy, but other than that just right.

Maggie was a great little hiker. She struggled a bit with the last part of the hike but was a trooper.

Chris and his girls.
The leaves were changing colors and set against the red rocks it was just gorgeous.

Mom and Sophie

Sam being crazy. The sign says "Danger Beyond this Point".

The girls on the tram ride back to our car.

Sophie of course was looking for lizards the whole hike. She caught a baby lizard and was the envy of all the other children on the path.

Can you find Sam in this picture?
After the hike we took a nice drive up to the mile long tunnel and beyond. Then headed back and had a fun dinner at the DQ in Hurricane.:)

Here Comes Halloween!

I love the fall!! It's been so fun to be somewhere where the season actually changes (and I mean extreme! It's gone from over 100 to low 70's in just days!) There is a crispness in the air, the smell of wood-burning fireplaces and the excitement of Halloween. Bring on the holidays!

Of course we have already got the kids costumes. It was hard to decide this year. I was dying for Charlotte to have this cute pig costume that I had in mind from last year, but the kids really want her to be a monkey. She is just our little monkey! Well orangutan to be exact. Here let me show you:

And usually her hair is sticking strait up like this monkey. She is such a rascal. So...I relented and Charlotte will be a monkey. But I will most likely put pink bows on her ears and tail.

Sophie and Mags are going as Elphaba and Galinda from Wicked! They both really wanted to. Sophie can't wait to be green and Maggie is excited to wear a ball gown and tiara. Sam's at that age wear you don't really dress up even though you still want candy. He doesn't like scary costumes, he actually wants to be Keroro. It's his favorite Japanese anime character. Here's a pic:I know, don't ask. I suppose it could be worse. I'm actually grateful he doesn't want to be the Grim Reaper. We'll see what we can figure out.

So I'm looking forward! Like I said I live for the next few months. The saddest thing for me right now is not having my own home and being able to decorate it and make this cozy and fun. This is actually the second year in a row since last year I was pregnant and packing to live in Abu Dhabi-hello! But enough whining, I am focusing on the positive and I'm actually very happy:).

First Day of School!

Well, we never expected to be putting the kids in school in St. George! But we were still here so at the last minute we signed them up and off they went! School started on August 13th which is over three weeks earlier than in Aliso Viejo.

Sophie is in 4th grade this year and Maggie in 1st. I'm loving their schedule from 9:00 - 3:30 and early out is on Friday, yay! So much better for elementary students.

We are in Bloomington where I grew up, (weird!) so the girls go attend Bloomington Elementary. Go Buccaneers! It's a great little school. Soph is in Mr. Everett's class and...

Maggie has Mrs. Waldvogel.


Sam is in 7th grade and attending Tonaquint Intermediate School. Another thing I love here. It's just 6th and 7th graders! It is a fabulous school and he's doing really well. Actually they've all adjusted better than I thought they would. Especially given the fact that we are so unsettled.


It has been hardest for Sam as he had such a great group of friends in California. He misses them A LOT. The girls miss friends too but they have been quick to make friends and that makes it easier.
Sam gets out at 2:00 so we have a nice 1 1/2 hours together before the girls get home and that's been great. He also gets to take the bus sometimes which has been a new experience.

Belated Birthday News

Sam's 12th Birthday!

Sam turned the awesome age of 12 on August 5th! I still have a hard time believing that my oldest is that old! But I am so proud of him and the young man he is becoming.

We celebrated by going to Pirate Island Pizza! It's a Chuck-E-Cheese type place with a pirate theme. So fun! His cake was Costco cupcakes in the number 12.

Opening gifts with cousin and bud, Gage.

Maki and Papa

With lil' sister Charlotte. She loves her big brother.


The adults had fun in the shooting gallery. Scares me a little.

Jenny and Matty.

Chris gave Charlotte a full cupcake before I could do anything about it. I let him clean her up;).

Scout and Sophie are inseparable! They are wearing their own necklace creations.

Maggie's 6th Birthday!

Maggie turned 6 on Sept. 2nd!
Grandma & Grandpa Roberts sent a really fun package that included this darling watch. She was thrilled to have such awesome gifts.

It was a school day and the first time she was able to celebrate at school and bring a treat for her classroom friends. She was very excited. She gave abouncy ball, mini slinkies and Laffy Taffys. They were a hit!

Her birthday colors were yellow & hot pink! I made her a birthday outfit that she calls "cha cha". Here she is in it with Uncle Andy.


We had a party at Matt & Jenny's house. She had too much fun opening gifts.

She picked the dinner of breaded chicken, wild rice and broccoli.

Charlotte had fun with the wrappings.


Maggie's polka dot cake! Sadly I made it at my parents and by the time I got it over to Matt's house in the plus 100 degree weather, it had melted. The yellow was lemon cake and the pink was strawberry cake.

I copied someone over at Etsy and made this little cake topper with a clothespin doll. I found a little puppy button to finish it off. She had a great day.

Ellie's 37th Birthday!

A couple of days after Maggie's b-day was my birthday! We went to lunch at the newly opened Brick Oven Pizza.


Later we had a fun celebration at Matt & Jenny's house. We had Key Lime pie for dessert. I asked for canning supplies! I have never canned and I've always wanted to.
I was very excited to try it out and so were the kids. So....

A few days later I had made my first batch of strawberry jam!! I am so dang proud of that jam and I felt so domestic, Mormon, and like a good mother (is that wierd?). I have since made Raspberry Mango jam and Pomegranate jelly. Yum!