I love my kids!

Before I start this post, I want anyone who reads it to read it in the spirit of a mother who loves her kids and is very proud of them. It is not meant to be boastful in any way!

We recently took our kids out to dinner to celebrate how well they have been doing in school. Jadon and Kierra just completed their first quarter in middle school and Jaxon, Jake and Kyson just had their first parent teacher conferences. Kierra got all A's and H's on her report card and Jadon got almost all A's (one A-) and all H's. The grades mean a lot to us but what I am so proud of is how hard they worked. Kierra has been so busy with the play that she is in, volleyball and young women's but always managed to maintain her school work. Jadon has 4 honors classes and has had A LOT of homework all quarter. He always comes home from school and gets to work right away. With a lot of help from his Dad, he is learning to be organized and manage his time better. Jaxon, Jake and Kyson all got great reports from their teachers. Jaxon's teacher said he is nice to everyone in his class and she wishes she had a class full of kids like him. On top of that, he is getting all A's and H's as well. Jake's teacher says that he is very smart and she can't believe that a kid with a disability like his, does so well in school. Kyson's teacher says he's doing really well in first grade and he is a great student and always does what he is suppose too. It is so rewarding to hear these kinds of things about my kids. I'm sure I had a big smile on my face as I left the school that night. Like I said, this post was not meant to be a big bragging moment. I just wanted to record all this so that one day, when my kids are grown, they will be able to look back and remember how proud I was of them! I love you guys!

Happy Halloween!

I loved Jaxon's costume this year! If you can't tell, he was Russell from UP. For some reason, he wouldn't wear his costume when he went trick or treating so this is the only picture I got.

The kids all had fun at their Halloween parties. I was in charge of Jake's class party. He was picked as one of the kids to get dressed up like a mummy. They had a great time doing that.

The kids were so exctied to go trick or treating. Jaxon and Kierra went off with some friends while Jadon, Jake, Kyson, Katie and I went together. Jake was the first one to go home. Kyson and Katie were troopers. They went pretty long and got tons of candy!

After everyone got home, the tradition of trading candy began. Everyone dumped out their candy on the floor to check out what they got and then proceeded to talk their siblings into trading for the candy they didn't want.

The kids had a great time on Halloween. The only problem now is that every room in the house has candy in it that I am tempted to eat!

Jaxon's 11th Birthday

Jaxon turned 11 two days ago and he did some pretty fun things to celebrate. First, we all went out to dinner at the place he chose, Panda. His friend, Mitchell, and my parents came too. After dinner, we went to pack meeting. We had a great time. There was a mad scientist and since Jaxon was getting his Arrow of Light, he got to be the assistant. They did a lot of fun things including riding a hover craft over to the bridge that he crossed into 11 year old scouts. The next day Jaxon had his birthday party at Airborne. He invited 7 boys and they had a blast jumping on trampolines and eating pizza. I hope he had a great birthday. Jaxon keeps life exciting for us. He did great in baseball this year both in spring and the fall. He is a good student. His extreme competitiveness applies to both school and sports. He doesn't like anybody to beat him, or do better than him, with their schoolwork or throwing a ball! He has really been into playing football in the front yard and plays every day after school. He loves it when Jadon doesn't have any homework so he can play with him too. Jadon and Jaxon have really learned how to get along and have a great time together. Jaxon and Jake have a hard time getting along together but I have seen many situations this year where Jaxon is watching out for Jake and it melts my heart when I see that. Jaxon has a very strong personality and I hope that he will learn to use that strength to be a great leader in his life! We love you Jaxon!

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!