cute girl.

Cute little Mataya Mae!

blue thumb.

Mataya came up to me today very puzzled as to why she had a blue thumb. She ate a small Airhead that was blue and that is the thumb she sucks. Case closed....lol!

kid Halloween.

I threw a little Halloween party for the kids this week. I had way too many things going on and it was a full week, but I had promised the kids we would do a party so here we are. We had 11 kids altogether and there were lots more we wanted to invite, but we just couldn't. It turned very cold this week so the party was inside.

Here are the kids decorating pumpkins with foam stickers. Thanks, Jaimee you saved my life:-)

Here is Mataya breaking the sugar cookie frosting rule....she is licking her knife. She ended up having her own frosting.

It was fun we played some games, did a little craft, and decorated and ate cookies!

Ogden Nature Center.

Since the boys didn't have school last Thursday and Friday we went to the Dinosaur park one day with some friends and the Ogden Nature Center the other day. It was a beautiful day and a great chance to be outside and see some great stuff.

Here the boys are standing in front of a bald eagle. Parker is in awe as you can tell. All the birds and animals they have there are rescued animals and all of the birds were injured and cannot fly. We loved seeing the bald eagle and golden eagle. We even got to watch several of the birds including an owl eat some mice. Just what boys love to see!

Standing by Arrowhead Pond.

Mataya had a rough week not feeling good, sleeping good, and being clingy. I held her a lot of the time.

We stopped to see this furry little black caterpiller. Spencer touched it and then squealed with delight.

Walking over to the bird blind.

Checking out the birds.

Inside the teepee.

I let the boys get a bird at the gift shop. Parker's was attacking his ear or telling him a secret.

There were lots of great bird houses that people had made and they were all along the path. This one was the Nut House. I feel like I live there sometimes;)

The Ogden Temple birdhouse.

We started posing their birds in the birdhouses and took some pictures. We got a kick out of it!

Mataya got a bouncy ball at the gift shop and it's in the bottom of the picture there. She didn't want the birds to be having all the fun so her ball made it into a couple pictures.

Fun times. I had fun with the kids while they had a break from school. They make life pretty grand:-)

family pics.

Spencer was doing it up right with that pose. All of his uncles would be so proud! Here are just a few fun pics, there's plenty more so stay tuned:)

I love us!

The Homestead.

The night before our Dirty Dash race we stayed at one of our favorite places in Midway, The Homestead. We did a little swimming. And that night Cory was reading to the boys at bedtime and Parker lost a tooth. Thankfully the tooth fairy found us!

Here are my cute little boys ready for race day!

It is so beautiful there.

Checking out the pond by the golf course. Grandpa Blackwell was here the day before, too bad we missed him:-)

After breakfast we discovered lots going on outside. There was a balloon festival happening complete with a rock wall.

All 3 kids gave it a shot. Mataya thinks she can do anything the boys do:) They put a little harness on her and she tried, but it ended quickly in tears.

Parker and Spencer.

In the parking lot we saw this hot air balloon. The boys really wanted to stay and ride in it. Which would have been fun, but we ended up having a pretty fun day!

Deer Hunt 2011.

It's that time of year again! Cory has had a lot of stress in his life lately so hunting came at a perfect time. He got to go for almost a full 5 days. He loves it deeply. He loves the whole experience, the mountains, fresh air, sleeping with nature, carrying around a gun, and general manliness. And he is gone again this week to Bear Lake for an executive management retreat. So....I'm alone again. But I did get to have a very enjoyable evening with the bishopric and their wives. This was planned a while back before Cory knew he would be gone. I thought about not going, but I really didn't want to miss out on going to dinner with them and playing games. They are such a fun group of people. There was 9 of us and a few babies so it was all good!

Cory in his full gear. I love how he gets all giddy pulling out all his hunting stuff. He was showing me how his binoculars, which are strapped to his chest, have a cover over them so they don't get dusty. And he has all kinds of gadgets and gear that make hunting more enjoyable.

Parker got to go up with him Friday after school. He is just like his dad, he loves to be outside and is up for any adventure.

Cory hoisted Parker up to the branch of this tree.

It was pretty high off the ground. He said he had to lift him up over his head to get him up there. I think it's a way cool picture!

Very cool picture with the rainbow!

I'm glad that Cory got to go hunting (because he loves it) and that Parker could be there to spend time with him. Cory makes a lot of sacrifices for our family and I appreciate him so much. We love the times when he is home and we get to laugh and play together.

Mataya will ask me most days during the day "where's Daddy?" Then she will answer her own question and say with the utmost assurance, "Daddy's at church." Lol! He is there a lot and we love him for it!

pumpkins.

We have been so excited to watch all of our pumpkins grow this year. I planted 3 pumpkin plants this year and paid $2.75 for all 3 plants. I'm happy about that because I don't have to buy any this year!

Parker was so excited!

And Spencer too!

Teamwork.

Load 'em up.

We put them on our front steps.

Goofy goobers! We decided to hold off and only pick 4 for now. We've got a couple of biggies that we will carve when Halloween gets closer.