It's that time of year again

Family Portraits

So this year we boycotted school portraits cuz ours always seem to come out wonky.  Instead i dragged everyone out to the utah lake marina and made them smile for an hour or two while i snapped away.  Here's one of the highlights, or you can go to here to see the whole enchilada.

Halloween 2009

Jade was an artist...a french artist.  Oui, oui (as they in France).  She loves anytime she gets to do an accent.  An English accent is her specialty, but she was expanding her repertoire.
Haley decided to be Bob Job.  "Who's that?", you say.  It's a character she made up a couple months back.  She had on one big plastic ear, but it didn't make it in this photo.
Madelyn wanted to be a mummy.  It sounded like an easy costume to make.  Not too bad, but if you decide to do it - don't forget to allow for easy removal for important trips to the restroom.  :)  Tim was the official mummy wrapper, he was always the best baby swaddler when the twins were born.

Here's the girls by their pumpkins.

Mine was the witch and Madelyn carved the spooky tree.

Jade designed and carved the cyclops pumpkin and Haley created the scarecrow.

Tim and I.  Tim's idea, of course, since it's so cool!

This is the first year we have ever done a "couple costume" in 13 years.

Me taking pictures at the annual Call Halloween Dance Party.  The costume loses a little something in the light.  To see more pictures than you could ever want of the party (1000 to be exact), see the link in Tim and Steve's blog - ranchexit

Me at the ward's trunk or treat at 4pm.  I don't think people at the trunk or treat got our costumes mid-afternoon.  Oh well.

Madelyn helping pass out candy after she made the rounds.

Our bishop scaring a few little kids in the ward.

Madelyn and Jade started taking guitar lessons this summer.  They are in a group lesson and had their first recital in October.  They did awesome!!

We were glad that their great-grandparents were able to come listen.

Here is a leaf bug that Jade found while waiting for her ride to school.  She shares Tim's love for bugs and photography.

We went to Vegas to visit Mark and Cathy (and to pick up a mountain bike, since we just "happened" to be there) over Labor Day weekend.  The girls had lots of fun with Taj and were excited to meet Ari.  Here they were having a little shadow fun with Uncle Mark.

Fun at the park.

Ari takes after her dad with the thumb sucking.  But it's just so cute!!

Jade and Tim enjoying a beautiful evening in the park.

The first day of school.  Jade is now in 5th grade!  And Haley and Madelyn are in 3rd!  Wow, time flies. 

OK, I'm a little behind!  We didn't just start school for the year, the 1st day was August 20th. Better late than never.

Here they are with their best friends dying to stop posing for pictures so they won't be late for the first day.  We all rode bikes together, as is the tradition for the 1st day of school.

Coming Home

When I got off the plane from Florida, Tim was there to pick me up with 3 children I didn't know.  They were much braver than I would have ever been to stand there at the baggage waiting for me.  I couldn't help but laugh at their cute craziness!!

Florida Trip - Aug 2009

In August, I went out to visit my parents in Florida.  It was the first time we have all been together at my parents' house in Florida since my wedding (13 1/2 yrs ago).  Needless to say, my mom was very excited.  I flew out with Karen and her youngest child; but spouses, unfortunately, stayed home with the rest of the kids.  

We went to visit my Grandpa Bob (my mom's dad) and his girlfriend, Lois.  Lois used to put the "2 scoops of raisins" in Kellogg's raisin bran.  Impressive, huh!  It looks like we're outside, but that's a mural they had painted on their wall. 
It's hard to see this picture of me from high school,  because I took it through the glass at my grandpa's house.  Quite the hair I had going on.  Looks like I need to send more pictures!
A picture of my Grandpa Bob during the war.  How come he looks so good in his old photo and, well . . . you saw mine!
We met David's girlfriend, Natalia, and her two cute children.  It was fun getting to know them, they were all so nice.  Natalia must kinda like David, since we didn't manage to scare her away at dinner.
We drove around one day, looking at all the old landmarks from growing up.  This was the house that we lived in my last two years of high school.  It was Air Force housing that has now been sold and being torn down.
It was all fenced off, but we HAD TO get one more look before they tore it down.  I wondered if I could fit under the lock.  My brother, Mark, was so encouraging - "Yeah, you can fit.  Go ahead."  Then when I got stuck - "Ah ha, got it" (referring to the picture he took of me stuck in the fence).  That's my brother.  

So . . . over we went.

Here's me looking through mine and Karen's old bedroom window.

The living room . . . funny how your memory of the house you grew up in doesn't match the actual size of the house.  Everything seemed so small.

Mark - coming out of the "no trespassing" area.  What a rebel.

The whole family at my dad's baptism.  The reason we all came home for a visit.

Mark and my dad.

We stopped to see our old high school.  Mark is 7 years younger than me (surprising, I know).  Here he is doing the Scorpion stinger - we didn't do that move when I was a Satellite Scorpion (and for good reason).

Here Mark is again at his old junior high.  They were the scotties (as in the dog).  Use your imagination to what he is doing here.

One of the things I don't miss about Florida - the big bugs!!  This palmetto bug crawled over my foot (I was wearing flip flops - ugh!) in the parking lot.  I put my camera case down next to it to show how big it was.
Someone had the great idea to go to the beach and watch the sunrise one morning (oh yeah, it was Mark).   No sleeping in that morning, but I have to admit, it was beautiful - a moment to remember.

Had to get all the pictures as the sun rose.  Mark and David.

Karen and I.

A beautiful morning.

We decided to go on an airboat ride after we took Mark to the airport.  We didn't want to take two cars, so while I was napping, I volunteered (or at least, didn't object) to riding in the back with the luggage.  OK, it wasn't bad.  I just wanted to get the sympathy photo.

Me, trying to wrangle the alligator and save David.

Emily, Karen's youngest, wearing the noise blocking headphones during the airboat ride.  She was SO good during all but the last 5 minutes.  Even then, the boat was so loud, no one could hear her screaming.

David and I.

The gator that we spotted on the ride.

The last day . . . saying goodbyes.

Camping July 2009

I'm trying to turn over a new leaf and update my blog a bit.  My children have been waiting for me to post about our camping trip since we came home.  So here it is . . .

We went camping for a week the end of July with Tim's parents and had a wonderful time.  We brought our little inflatable raft with us and took turns rowing around the lake in it.  The girls each had a turn with Tim.  The girls and I all squished in (the 2 man raft) and tried to maneuver without hitting each other with the oars.  And many times the girls went out themselves (tied to the shore with a 50 ft rope, of course!)