a BIG Change!

Isn't it funny how when a little girl gets a haircut, she looks sooooo much older? Well, that's what happened to Katie today!

I took these pictures of her before we went to get her haircut.

Katie was so good for her haircut. She wanted nothing to do with getting her hair washed, but other than that, she was perfect. I have been thinking about getting her hair cut into a little bob for a long time and decided it would be a cute little haircut for a 3 year old. I have to admit, I was a little sad when Laura made the first cut. It was hard to watch those long curls fall to the floor.

I love it! She looks so much older but it is so cute on her chubby little face!

"From the Back" after picture

Three forks hike

One of our most favorite hikes is called three forks and it is up Spanish Fork canyon. We decided to hike it this weekend. Since it was a last minute decision, it wasn't planned out very well. When we went last time, we left the little kids home and the hike went pretty fast. With it being UEA weekend, we didn't have anyone to leave Katie with so we decided to just tough it out and bring her. Luckily, we were able to borrow a backpack from a neighbor to carry her in. Unfortunately, we went a week, or two, too late to see the beautiful fall colors. It was still pretty but a lot of the leaves have already fallen. Even though it was not as vibrant as last year, we still had a great time! The hike didn't seem as long and hard as before, and the kids did great! They didn't swim in the hot pots but they did put their feet in. The hike down was awesome! The sun was just perfect and made all the leaves glow. Jaxon, Kierra and I decided to run most of the way with Jenny. It was so much fun! Jenny always wanted to make sure we were all together. If we got too far ahead of the rest of the group, she would run back to check on them and then come run with us again. She did that the whole way down the mountain. Kyson did get pretty tired on the way back down but his Daddy carried both him and Katie. Even though it took the whole day, everyone had a great time and we can't wait to go back next year!

Fall Ball

Every year our stake puts on a Fall Ball. Each year it is a different theme. I was so excited this year when they announced that it was going to be a western theme. I couldn't wait to get out my cowboy boots, get Dale some boots, and dress up like cowboys!

Dale looked so good all dressed in Black. He got a lot of comments from people. They called him Garth Brooks or the sheriff.

We had such a great time! The stake center was totally decked out. It was decorated so cute. The catered food was fabulous and we had so much fun country dancing. Most of our friends don't listen to country music so they kept asking us who was singing whatever song the DJ played. I tried to talk them all into going country permanently. I would love to do this more often. Definitely the best fall ball ever!

Conference at the cabin

We just spent a few days at the cabin to watch conference. It is so beautiful up there. The fall leaves are perfect and with the sunny days, it made it even prettier.

Between sessions on Saturday we went on our usual walk to Silver Lake. The unusual thing about it was that there were 3 moose there. They were just being lazy in the river letting everyone take their pictures. It was pretty cool to see them that close up.

During our walk, and at the cabin, the boys were throwing the football back and forth to each other. It was so fun to look back and see them with the sun and the autumn leaves behind them.

At one point during their play, the football went into the river. The river was moving pretty fast so I thought the football was gone but Dale immediately took his shoes and socks off and went in after it.

On Sunday, after conference, we took a drive over Guardsman Pass to Park City. It was a beautiful drive but my pictures didn't work out so I didn't put them on. I got some cute ones of my girls though.

Kierra with her new cowgirl hat!

During conference the kids spent most of the time coloring in a new huge coloring book that I bought them. We had a good time there together and I'm glad that I didn't miss the wonderful fall leaves this year!

When I grow up

Today I was going somewhere with Katie and we saw a bus going down the road. She said "Mom, I'm going to drive a bus when I grow up." Before I could even comment on that she said "No, I don't want to drive a bus. I want to just have babies and put them in carseats and strollers." How cute is that? I love how much she loves babies and everything that goes with them!

CRAZY hair day!!!

So my kids decided they really wanted to go CRAZY for this years "Crazy hair day"! It started with Kyson wanting a real mohawk. He didn't want to just comb his hair into a mohawk, he wanted the sides shaved off. I figure it's only hair, it will grow back. Plus, after today, he will have to have a buzz which makes my like easier. No more combing hair for a while.

Then Jaxon decided it would be cool to look like an old man and asked me to shave the top of his head. I was a little hesitant about this one because it's bald! I'm not sure Jaxon is going to be ok with it tomorrow when it's not crazy hair day. He looked awesome though and now he knows what he wants to be for halloween. Jake wasn't as brave. He didn't want to shave anything. He just wanted blue and red stripes. He looked cool too. I wish I could be at school to see what the other kids think of their CRAZY HAIR!

Service project at the cabin

This weekend we spent some time with my family doing some work at the cabin. My Dad rented a wood chopper and we chopped tons of wood. Everyone loved running the macine.

At first the kids didn't want to help but their attitudes changed quickly! They loved waiting for the wood at the wood chopper and then carrying it over to the wood shed to be stacked up.

They thought it was even more fun when we put them in an assembly line to pass the wood from the chopper to the shed. They got pretty fast at passing the wood along the line.

Jaxon and Jadon running the wood chopper together

After we chopped all the wood, we did the annual throwing of the wood up to the balcony to stack it on the deck for winter. We all have great memories of doing this over the years. We now have a nice big stack of wood on the balcony and a shed almost full of wood for the winter. We all had a great time together and it makes me feel so good to see my kids work. I'm excited to use the wood for fires in the winter!