Arizona State Fair

I used to go to the Arizona State fair every year when I was a kid. I loved the corn dogs and all the exhibits and I just thought it was the coolest place ever. Now that I have kids of my own, I just cant get myself to spend the money on a night of full on white trashness...but a free night of full on white trashness-that I can do!!
Bill has a cousin that has a chicken stand inside and he got us in for free...awesome!!


The second we walked in there were a few trailers that held the largest animals I had ever seen. Avery is standing in front of the pig but she was a bit nervous taking her eyes off of it.




She felt better being protected by her big brother

Then there was this massive horse-even I got nervous that this thing was going to eat us alive

And the cow...

Once we saw that, we realized we were starving. We headed over to the chicken stand and Bills cousin hooked us up with plates and plates of the best chicken ever. I have never seen the kids eat so much in my life.

After the chicken, Bills cousin brought us over some funnel cakes. I have never eaten one of those in my life, but holy crap...yum!!

Noah didnt even take a breath. He chowed down and his face and teeth were covered in the sugary fried goodness.

Even this little monkey liked them

My handsome boys!!

The view from the top of the ferris wheel

I thought the boys would freak out but they loved it

My kids love to compete with each other and once they saw this slide they had to race. Avery couldnt go herslef, so I got suckered into taking her on. Not really that fun.

Im not sure we will race back next year, but we still had a fun night!!

Fall Baseball

Tyson and Caleb played baseball this fall. They were on the same team this year and that was so nice to only have to worry about one game. Its was so fun to see their different playing styles and personalities



It was fun for the boys to have their dad with them at all practices and games standing out in the field with them

Who could even resist this handsome little boy in baseball pants? Not me!!

Just look at that form!! Tyson is our leftie-he gets that from his Grandad.

Caleb was just born with natural athletic ability. He for sure gets that from his mama!!

No matter what we did, Calebs pants just kept falling down. I love how he runs trying to hold them up.

I love Tysons style

Always so focused

The only bad part of these games was trying to keep the other kids occupied. Thank goodness for older kids to help with the little ones. Lani was so sweet with Avery, trying to carry her when she didnt want to walk

Avs is obsessed with dogs and she followed this one around every game, poor dog

I love how Caleb can make himself comfortable anywhere-even in the middle of the game. So funny!!

Good game, good game, good game!!!

Cant wait for next season!!

Halloween 2009

I had so much fun with Halloween this year. It was so nice to be back in good weather for this holiday. I love not having to be bundeled up so much that you cant even see the costumes.

The kids school had a little carnival and all the kids were supposed to bring a carved pumpkin to add to the pumpkin walk. They lined up all the pumpkins in the big field and put glow sticks inside. It really was the coolest thing. It was pitch black in the field and all you could see was the glow from the pumpkins...awesome!!

This was Noahs. He did it all by himself for the first time ever. Unfortunatly, it got dropped on the way outside to take pictures and I sware, Noah thought it was the end of the world. I have never seen such devastation in my life. That kid is all drama.



Tyson was such the helper. He wanted to do it all himself and he really tried, but daddy had to take over and he just collected the seeds.

Here is the final product for Ty-bo. He wanted everyone to know whos pumpkin it was. I wish I had a picture of the pumpkin walk, but sadly I forgot my dang camera. Of course.




My sister in law Jackie always goes way out for Halloween. She plans her costumes months in advance and pretty much makes them from scratch. This year she had a theme for the whole family..classic monsters. She was going as the bride of Frankenstien and she asked me to do her hair for thier ward party. Im pretty happy with how it turned out.

We teased it to death and then spray painted it black. Once it dried, we painted on the white stripes. I think she looked awesome.

I just loved Jonas's costume. So original and she made this from scratch. Its just sickening, her talent.

Our ward also had a Halloween party. They always go over the top and the kids have so much fun. We used to come to this party before we moved to Utah just because it was so fun.

Lani and Abby

Tyson asked me to take this picture because he thought it looked like he was flying.

(I scored on his costume...5 bucks at Goodwill the day before this party.

They also had a bounce house that she would not get off of the whole night. I had to climb in and grab her. Poor little kicking and screaming Tinkerbell

Tyson joined in the jumping fun too!

They had so many fun games and ways to get more and more candy...just what we need!!

Halloween night was so nice. The weather was perfect and all the kids looked so cute.

Here is the whole gang...Maddy, Jake, Noah, Lani, Tyler, Caleb, Avery, Tyson

Isnt it funny how all the older kids were all dressed in black? Totally not planned

Avery was so excited to go "twick or tweeting" until some scary looking kids came down the street and then it was all over. She wanted nothing to do with it. She backed up into the corner of the truck and wouldnt come out.

I bribed her with some candy and then we saw the sweet little girl come back

Noah thought he was pretty scary. It actually was a pretty freaky costume when it was dark.

Maddy and Noah

Lani chose to be a scary girl vampire. I told her she could be whatever we found at Goodwill and we got lucky with the cape.

Lani and Abby

Avery got the hang of it once she realized what the prize was. She couldnt believe she got to kepp all this candy

Avery got pretty tired after about 5 houses and ended up on daddys strong shoulders-thank goodness for those.

Tyson came running home after a few houses and had the best idea-he wanted a scooter so he didnt have to walk and he could go to more houses that way. A few other kids picked up on the idea and before we knew it half the neighborhood was weaving in and out of the houses

Dont you love Spidermans flip flops? Im sure he can climb all sorts of buildings in those =)

My sister in law Debbie had a Halloween party and she had these nasty gummy body parts. The kids thought they were the funniest thing and pretended to eat them saying all sorts of disgusting things. They seriously thought they were so funny.

Avery passed on the body parts and stuck to the chocolatly cupcake goodness. Thats my girl!!

The boys didnt stay out long and once they realized that it was way more fun to pass out candy and look at all the cool costumes, they were done. Fine with me...less candy I have to take away.

Avery decided that she had had enough of Tinkerbell and decided she wanted to be a puppy for the rest of the night. She just had fun hangin out with unkie

Since they didnt stay out too long, the boys thought they got jipped on their candy so they tried to steal candy from our bucket. Nice try boys!!

They gave up and decided to have a scary dance party instead. What a way to end the night!!

Good times!!