October

My babies had their 3rd birthday party!  They are apparently working on finding their perfect smiles at the moment.  I can't believe my babies are 3!

It was time for the cribs to go.  But it just so happened that one crib was sold before the other one.  Nap time and night time got a little cozy for these two for a couple of nights.

For their birthday Casey & I got them some new mattresses.  They LOVED them.  Lexi put herself down for naptime one afternoon and she kept her boots and "glubs" on.

After getting used to the new mattresses, we got them some bed frames.  The twin mattresses that we bought didn't fit the frames!!  They were way to long!  Luckily we were able to give Taylor & Rylee the new mattresses and their old ones fit into the bed frames.  Luke only fell out once.

Taylor & Caleb are best friends most of the time.  They seem to have such a sweet bond.

I got a wild hair one day and decided I wanted to paint my barstools.  Well....needless to say I had a lot of people that wanted to help me out.  They didn't work out though :(  The paint chips off like crazy.  I hate when projects don't work out.  Oh well though.  Lesson learned.

I knew my kids were playing with the neighbors one day and it had started raining.  So I peeked out the window to see whose house they were going to take refuge in - but they were in John's hunting boat.  Except - it was their pirate ship.  Adorable!

Keeping toddlers entertained without using a TV or a tablet is a full time job.

This particular day we were practicing on a little hand/eye coordination by putting change into the piggy banks.  They loved their 'moneys!"

Casey let Rylee assist in moving the lawn one evening.

I put these curlers in Lexi's hair one night after her bath.  She always wants them in her hair when I do her sisters, but I don't have enough of them.  But she couldn't fall asleep with them in her hair, so we didn't even get the after picture.  We'll have to try again another time.

These masks were so cute!  They were at Michaels and I couldn't pass them up.  I baby sit my friends girls a couple days/week and they all had a blast coloring them one day after school.

It was crazy sock day at school.  I let Taylor & Rylee raid my sock drawer to find some fun ones.  Alexa wanted to play too...she work her gigantic socks all day long.

Casey's annual deer hunting plans were a bust.  He didn't draw out for the hunt!  He was so disappointed.  But - he doesn't stay down long.  He was getting everyone on board to try for an elk hunt instead.  Casey, his brother, Colby and his daughter Kaetlyn were the big hunters.  Their week started out so beautiful!

Caleb even got to go stay for a couple of nights.  And this cutie has perfected his marshmallow toasting.  And, obviously was HATING the flash of the camera.

 By the end of the week - this was their hunting area.  Everything looks so pretty covered with freshly fallen snow.  No one was successful this year in the hunt - but what's awesome about that is there is several more hunting trips in the future.

Halloween!

This year I signed up to be the head room mom in Caleb's class.  Essentially I am in charge of a Halloween, Christmas, Valentine and end of they year party.  But - his teacher is amazing.  She just needs the room moms for Halloween and Valentine's day.  I lucked out!  We made vampire teeth out of cookies and marshmallows.  Teachers don't get paid enough for sure!  Over all - they were a pretty good group of kids.

Look at these cuties! 

Luke was so excited to put on his shirt.  He would carry it around say, "Spoooooky!"

Taylor & Rylee were the cutest witches ever!

Caleb, the Grim Reaper.  He was hard to see once it got dark!

We loaded the kids up and headed to the Freeze's.  Mona tricked the kids and tried to give each one of them a carrot for their treat.  Luke & Lexi took theirs...but the rest of the kids weren't buying it.  She then gave them each a candy corn.  Most of the kids accepted that - except for Caleb.  He was pretty disappointed.  She then gave each of them a big bag of goodies.  They loved it!  I think that Caleb looks like a chimney sweep in the bottom picture.  You can hardly see him in the top one!  His mask made him so dirty. 

We then met Ashley and my parents at my Grandparents house.  If you asked Eva who she was she would say, "Hotel Transylvania".   Grandpa Carlos asked her several times who she was & she answered him everytime...he eventually just looked at me for an explanation.  She is a bat, and Jackson was the cutest wolf ever!

October Blues

I have no idea what my problem was.  Who gets blue in October?  The best month of the year!!  I did.  I think I was just itching to get out of the house...shirk on the day to day responsibilities...and get the heck out of town for a bit.  I said, "Let's go to Twin Falls"  Casey was like, "What?" So after some discussion I convinced him to fly by the seat of our pants and go on a mini vacation.  We told the kids and Caleb said, "We are going to a different state?!  I'm kind of nervous about that." 

One thing that I learned is to check the hotel REALLY carefully before booking online.  You would think where I work at a freaking hotel, this would've been a no brainer.  I found a room at the Red Lion.  They had a pool & it said they had breakfast.  Well...when we get there & I am checking in I find out it is in an outdoor pool and it was closed for the season.  I also found out that they did have breakfast...but it was $3.75/person.  They wouldn't let me cancel either because I had booked it online through a third party.  I was beyond flustered.  Idaho has a seasonal outdoor pool?  Who does that!  And really....don't all hotels offer some type of free breakfast?!  Caleb said, "Well.  We know to never stay at Red Lion again."  Truer words had never been spoken.

I fixed the pool situation.  We were right next door to a Best Western plus.  I called the front desk...told them my sob story and asked if we brought our own towels and paid would they please let us come swim for a bit.  They gal I talked to was so nice!  She said, "It's fine with me if you come, but the girl that takes over at 9 won't be okay with it."  It was 7.  That gave us 2 hours.  The kids got their fix, hallelujah!  And...she didn't charge us!

There is a Flying J right off the freeway at the Twin Falls exit.  BUT - if you go the other dirction, there is a the Twin Falls bridge.  It is a sight to see for sure!  Driving on the freeway, you wouldn't even know that it existed.  It was awesome!  And the canyon that the Snake River flows through was quite impressive too.

Twin Falls...and my identical twins!

There was a lot of people gearing up to jump off of the bridge.  I could NEVER.  There is zero chance for error.  they barely jump and they have to release their chute.  I would have to wear a diaper for sure because I would wet myself out of fear.  There was several places for the kids to look down...which made me nervous!  I knew that they wouldn't fall...but that motherly 'What if' sure was stuck in my head.  Casey was even more nervous about it than I was.

After watching the bridge jumpers for a bit we got into the car and headed to Shosone Falls.  I was so excited.  I had looked at pictures online and this is where we were going!!

 This is what we saw.  Apparently, spring time is the right time to visit the falls. Not fall.  Oopsie.  The gap behind me & Casey was jumped by Evil Knievel in 1974.  Luke loved putting his leg through the fence...I hated it.

I liked this little waterfall off the side of the road and Casey said, "Do you want a picture"  I said sure.  So he jumped out and took a selfie with it.  He got back in the car & I said, "Now how about 1 without you in it?"  I don't know why I thought it was so funny.  But it turned out to be a good selfie.

 The kids thought these stairs were amazing. 

If you keep driving up the hill past Shoshone Falls there was a little park were we let the kids go play...they was also an awesome little place for swimming!  It wasn't the right time of year to swim though.  Walking on the dock was awesome.  I'm so glad that no one fell in.  The water was deep!  Luke was scared to death.  It was cute and sad at the same time.

 We then headed back to the hotel for some R&R.  After we woke up and had some dinner, we decided to go bowling.  It was fun!  Luke was fascinated by the ball return.  Lexi was bored and was mad because she didn't get bowling shoes.

 Caleb was the big winner!  He was very humble.  *cough cough* 

His favorite part of the vacation was that we all got to sleep in the same room.  He & Casey shared a bed, Luke & I shared a bed, and we hauled in an air mattress for the girls to share.  Luke had a rough first night...but the second night was much better.

On our way home, we managed to miss the junction that takes you to Snowville.....and we ended up in Pocatello.  Which added about an hour to our trip.  I kept saying, "I don't remember that on the way up.  Or that.  Or that."  Casey eventually said, "Me either!"  So we looked it up and oops - we screwed up.  Lexi napped almost the whole way home!



It was a nice get away.  Far enough away that it was like we were getting away, yet close enough that the kids could handle the drive.  Wonder where we'll go next!

GV & PW

One of my favorite traditions is the annual shopping trip with my witches to Gardner Village.  Sandra was a superstar this year and made us a yummy lunch before we headed to the village to shop away.  My mom was on a mission this year.  She was all ready to get started on making herself a fabulous witch ensemble.   She succeeded in finding a sweet cape, a spider necklace & some gloves.  Angela found the CUTEST hat in the history of hats.  Lexi was funny in the bottom picture...she didn't' want to sit next to the witch.

The most fabulous moment happened.  We found a witch that they made just for my mom!!  She was eating a hot dog & sipping on a diet coke.  It cracked me up.

Lex LOVED trying on anything that we would let her.  She was so happy to be out with the girls doing big girl things!  Taylor & Rylee were busy little bodies.  They think they are getting to big to hold hands...but this mama wasn't ready to let them go yet!  We were small in number this year - but hopefully next year everyone can make it!  When I was having Sandra take my picture with my girls on the bridge, my bag fell into the water!!  I freeze in situations like that.  Angela jumped into action...climbed down some rocks and retrieved my bag.  A guy asked if she needed help....she's Wonder Woman.  She doesn't need your help!

THis is the 4th or 5th year in a row that we have went to the pumpkin walk over in North Logan.  This year I had plans to go with my neighbor, Toni.  Casey was supposed to be elk hunting...but came off of the mountain early because of snowy weather.  Pansy ;)  So, he got to join us in the fun. 

 

We have Luke, Rylee, RJ, Allie, Caleb, Taylor, Lexi & Mallori!

My cute family!

These were some of my favorite displays.  The flag was AWESOME! 

I wish that I would've taken more pictures of this display.  There were several Normal Rockewell painting 'pumpkin' scenes.  I remember when I was little, I would look through my Grandma & Grandpa Anderson's Normal Rockwell book that they had sitting in their front room.  It was one of my favorite things!

The cardboard cutouts are always a hit!  Caleb made a fabulous Cinderella.

Charlie Brown & the Great Pumpkin was a big scene this year too.  I should've taken more pictures of it.  Casey & I always take a selfie at the end of the pumpkin walk.  It's tradition!  After the walk, we took our picnic lunches to a fabulous park.  The kids ran off all of their energy.  It was a GREAT day!

Annual Fall Picnic

I think our new 'spot' for the Anderson family fall picnic is going to be second dam.  It isn't very far into Logan canyon...they picnic areas are nice, there are potties (a must with all the children), walking trails, plenty of ducks to feed and we can fish too!

 

These girls were so excited.  We went on a Sunday afternoon after church.  So for the next couple of weeks after the picnic they would say, "So, after church we're going on another picnic, right?"  They were mad once they figured out it wasn't going to happen every Sunday.  They loved everything.  The food, the exploring, the ducks, and they love to pose for pictures.

 The ducks are definitely NOT hungry once our group leaves! 

 I love that my grandparents are still able to take little adventures.  I am lucky to have such stellar genes running through me!  Little Jack is walking about.  He takes the tiniest steps that I have ever seen.  He is super careful!  Blake & Griffen need to work on their smiles for next time.  Teenagers!

 I felt like I said, "Where's Lexi?!" a bajillion times.  She was EVERYWHERE.  She visited with everyone, followed whoever was going on a walk, and had a blast.  Caleb got to do a little bit of fishing.  But fishing is so boring unless you get a bite within the first 5 minutes.

Casey eventually got a fish on his line and all the kids thought that was pretty neat. Luke was terrified to touch it.  It also took that little guy about an hour or so to stop crying.  Is social anxiety hereditary?  He sure didn't want me to leave him.  I was sitting by him on a rock away from everyone and I thought it was safe to walk away to get my drink.  I stood up and he put his hand on my leg and said in the sweetest little voice, "No no mom.  Sit down."  So, I sat.  He then leaned in and said, "Give me a kiss."  Adorable little schmoozer!

 I love when Eva gets to play with my group.  She is so excited to get together.  Could her smile be any bigger? 

Yet another successful picnic.  This time EVEYRONE was there!  Happy fall!!