HaLLowEEn

I think that I have said this before - but I think that Halloween is busier than Christmas!  At long last, the ACTUAL holiday is here.  While Luke & Alexa were at preschool I was attending Caleb's and Taylor's & Rylee's class parties.  Caleb says that it is embarrassing when I am at school, but so many of his friends and classmates love me.  I love to hear them exclaim, "Caleb's mom!!"  At least they love me!

 I thought that as they got older it would be easier to get a group picture.  It's still difficult....so I'll just keep trying.

 Captain Caleb reporting for duty.

 Supergirl and Batgirl to the rescue!  The city is safe tonight folks.

 And the mermaid is just something to admire and you better watch out for that creepy vampire!  Luke asked me one morning, "So, after Halloween when I wake up will I still be a vampire?"  Like the good mom I am I answered, "Yes Luke.  You will be a vampire forever."  I honestly thought he would freak out a little.  But, his eyes got big, he grinned and just said with excitement, "YES!"

 I don't even see an impostor in this picture - do you?

 Twins, twins and triplets.

 The trick or treaters!!  Jackson was the cutest super man ever and I love that Taylor, Rylee & Eva were all super heroes!

 In all honesty this was my favorite part of the night.  Checking out their loot, laughing and smiling, at Grandma & Grandpa Hunsaker's house.

 There is the most amazing haunted house in Tremonton that we visited.  Alexa was scared to death - but she survived.  Why are parents so mean??  

 We tried & tried to get a good picture.  It just wasn't our night.

 Our last stop was to Grandma & Grandpa Freeze's.  Mona made some "treats" for the kids and I don't think they were to impressed.  They just wanted the sweet treat that Grandma always makes for them.  She had made a jar of 'eye of newt' and some funky 'cheese sandwich'.  She went to a lot of work!!

Fall Family Fun

One Sunday afternoon we prepped our pumpkins and our treats for the pumpkin carving party!  Caleb hates gutting his pumpkin.

Ashley hosted this year.  We had yummy ham sliders and apple nachos.  Grammy read 'Room on the Broom' to the kids before dinner and Papa Don got in his Easton time.  He loves that baby!

 Caleb was the only one that did some carving.  We got his Cam Newton pumpkin done with the help of Papa Don.  All the other kids painted theirs.  Luke wanted a ghost.  He loved his ghost.  Taylor and Lexi wanted rainbow and Rylee took the scary route.

 One night we headed to the Heber Creeper for the Pumpkin train!  I"ll just say it was a dang good thing I didn't pay full price for tickets.  We were on the train for maybe 15 minutes.  It wasn't haunted or even scary.  They had a 'haunted' train car back at the station that was L A M E.  BUT - Caleb was excited when he saw his name on the train car we were riding in.  So that's a bonus.

 We also managed to get a pretty cute family Halloween picture.  We might try the Polar Express next year - but I might also change my mind.

Pumpkin Nights

The Halloween Crew decided to skip Gardner Village this year and try something new.  We went to Pumpkin Nights at the Utah State Fairpark. I'm so glad we did!  They had food and fun for everyone!  (not a paid advertisement)  Sandra & Amber met up with me, Caleb, my mom, Angela, Ashley, Eva, Jackson & Easton.

I'm so glad that Caleb & I got to get away for a bit together.  It's not very often that we can escape from the crowd.  This boy is quiet and crazy all in one.  He is LOVING anything to do with the armed forces and digging right in to WW2 history right now.  Evan though I respect those who serve - I hope this is just a phase.

 So. Many. Pictures!  So many AWESOME things to see!

 There was a sphere that you could get in and be spun like wild.  Eva & Caleb were both brave and both loved it.  Caleb loved it so much that he couldn't contain his emotions.  He was laughing, he was shaking, he was crying.  It was adorable.  There were fire dancers too!  They are crazy.  And there was also a giant strobe light type pumpkin that was blaring out some awesome dance music.

 Selfies with this cute little bat boy were a must.  How cute is he??!! 

I think someone needs to build these teeter-totters.  They were so much fun!!

I didn't even take many pictures of the other awesome attractions.  Under the sea, Harry Potter, bounce houses, pirate ship....there was a lot of fun to be had and Monday night was definitely the night to go!  Maybe next year Casey & I can take the whole family.

Annual Deer Hunt

Opening morning!!  Casey wakes up...leaves us in the trailer while he goes hunting and we sleep in a bit longer and then have Captain crunch for breakfast!

Well.....Caleb didn't.  He woke up not feeling the best and felt pretty crappy the whole weekend.  He was pretty all right if the ibuprofen was running through him though.

 The Saturday afternoon crew is always the biggest.  I'm glad that this year we got a picture!  

I made dutch oven chili and biscuits on Saturday night.  I'm just at camp babysitting my kids anyway....so it gave me something to do.  It turned out pretty tasty! 

 Oh Saturday night.  I got dinner over with and mostly cleaned up.  Everyone wanted smores so we did that and I cleaned it up.  Sat down and Caleb didn't feel good and wanted to go to bed....so I got that taken care of.  Came back out and was holding cute Lexi and she started falling asleep, so I went in and got her all ready for bed and tucked in.  Finally went out to relax by the fire and the other 3 had decided they wanted to go to bed.  So I went into the trailer and got them all taken care of.  I went to go back outside and everyone was putting their chairs away.  Not looking for pity...but this mom stuff sure isn't about the mom at all!  

 I always bring a few new things from either the dollar store or Smith & Edwards to help keep the kids entertained.  Coloring and sticker books did the trick this time!

 Caleb is always in heaven when he gets to spend time with his cousins, Tyson & Shayden.  Luke was in heaven because we let him have a stick in the fire.   He did pretty good and only needed a few reminders to keep it down and be careful!

 The three amigos!!

 I made the boys play Qwirkle  with me.  I love games.

 My little ladies sure do love getting dirty!  and they love being old enough to roast their own hot dogs & mallows!

Taylor was the only one that was interested in going hunting with Casey.  She is always just happy to do whatever.  Easy going Tay.

 I took the kids home on Sunday evening and Casey  & Colby stayed up on the mountain the rest of the week. Turns out they both got deathly ill.  So they stayed up there coughing and being miserable for days.  Casey is really upping his selfie game lately. 

Until next year Elk Valley!  I'm getting this camping thing down and it seems that each year gets a big easier.

And they're 5

I don't get it.  I swear just yesterday I was rocking these little people to sleep!  When in the middle of toddlers and babies, it seems like it is lasting forever - but I honestly can't remember it that well!  I do love this stage though.  Learning, laughing, trying new things, making new friends, and still loving on me!!

For their preschool spotlight their teacher sent home a pre-made poster for us to fill out and they were so upset! (Mostly Alexa) because Taylor & Rylee have their preschool posters hanging in their bedrooms and Lex wanted one of those!  So I made them some pretty cute posters.  Luke picked some blue tape and race car stickers for his poster....

 and Alexa picked pink tape and mermaid stickers for hers!

 My little girl wanted a pink ballerina cake and it turned out pretty cute.  She is such a little sass master.  She might be the smallest of the group, but that doesn't mean she isn't in charge!  She is Luke's second mom and his best friend and she loves to boss anyone around who will listen.  She is a fantastic hugger and has the heartiest laugh!

Luke loves Bonnie from Five Nights at Freddy's.  I don't even understand what that game is all about.  It's a little bit scary and the characters are strange.  But he loves that purple rabbit named Bonnie.  He is still a mama's boy and I don't see that changing int he near future.  He kisses my hand every day I drop him off at pre-school.  Every second of every single day he is asking for a snack.  He loves to eat.  He'll wake up in the mornings and grab his stomach and hunch over and tell me how hungry he is.

 Love. Love. Love.  And I don't think I can every host a birthday party without balloons.  They just really make it a party!

 This picture makes me giggle.  I was taking Lexi's picture with her picture and Luke is in the background smiling with his new blanket and thought I was taking his picture.

 The next morning they spent a few hours creating new things with this cool toy.  This creation is a birthday cake and candles!

Seaquest

Casey & I decided to take Luke & Alexa on a date for their birthday.  We went to Seaquest in the Layton Hills mall and it was amazing!  It was quite pricey though.  You had to pay for your entrance and then pay for tokens to feed the animals.  It was a perfect day to go!  Early on a Monday morning.....no field trips....no mom groups....we pretty much had the place to ourselves!

The first exhibit was IGUANAS!  I really thought that Luke would be quite squeamish on this adventure but he was in heaven.  Iguana's are so creepy...but I loved them too.  They have a vending machine when you enter to get little cucumber slices to feed to them.  Luke seriously couldn't get enough.

Lexi on the other hand was  NOT in heaven.  She wouldn't get close to the big tortoise to feed him his carrots.  She FREAKED out when a bird landed slightly her hand.  She was a pro at posing for pictures and at the VERY last encounter she decided to be super brave and try to feed the little sharks a fish.  They didn't seem to hungry though.

 We even had to opportunity to hold a tarantula.  I can't believe I did it.  And I can't believe I faked enjoying it long enough to get a picture.

 Luke (& myself) LOVED the little fish that eat the dead skin off of your hands.  Casey hated it AND Alexa hated it.  We even tried to bribe her with a gift form the gift shop and she still couldn't do it.  I told her they were tiny fish kisses and she still couldn't do it.  Luke & I could have stayed there all day!  They have a pedicure station set up with the fish- I'd totally do that.

It really was a great outing.  I loved the stingrays because it looked like they were smiling.  I love my twinsies so dang much.