Fall!

     Fall festivities are in full swing here in Utah. We had our ward party this week and the kids had a blast. Charlie participated in the pie eating contest and would have most likely won but her plate and pie fell on the ground when she only had a couple bites left, she was pretty bummed but hey, free pie!

She's getting really good at the front flip.

Face painting started the fun at the ward party.

Charlie and her fellow pie eating contestants.

Carter participated/cheated in another round of the pie eating contest. (He was too dainty to put his face in it.)

     I love my walks around town every morning and this view was so amazing the other day I had to stop and photograph it. Unfortunately the photo doesn't do it justice but you get the idea.

   And we couldn't resist a stop at our favorite cupcake store this week. Charlie had their 'candy corn unicorn' and devoured the frosting and later Brock devoured the cake. So YUMMY! The caramel apple is probably in my top 3 favorites!

     So that's the fun from the week. This weekend we celebrate Isaac's 16th birthday! I thought for sure he'd be getting his license Monday but he didn't get scheduled for the road portion of drivers ed. until next week so he's going to have to wait a minute more, oh well.

The rest of it.

      Last weekend was great celebrating McClane's big baptism day and spending time with family. Here's a few more photos.

Mark supporting McClane.

Fun with Grandma, Grandpa, cousins and Aunt Marie.

Cupcakes and Skyping with our Aussie family.

Cute baby Rowan with her cousin Tanner.

And we've also been enjoying our triple dog snuggles all week. 

      So that's that. We're in the midst of our fall break and we're really taking a break and doing a lot of nothing.

McClane's big Day!

     We've had a fun week with family visiting. McClane's big day, Baptism day, was today and he was happy to have so many family members come and show him love and support. We may have got the time wrong and been 30 minutes late but it all worked out in the end! It's great to be 8!

Lottie and Charlie taking a cute selfie!

McClane thinks baby Rowan is adorable!

Grandma and Grandpa are surviving all the chaos!

Baby Rowan is just as sweet and happy as can be.

McClane in the midst of a melt down just before heading to the church for the big event.

McClane and Greg sporting the all too flattering white jumpsuit.

All the family that came to McClane's baptism.

Family photos after the baptism.

      Well aside from drama and heartache over Mark it's been a nice week and we're so thankful for all the family that came to support McClane on his big day and his important first step back to his Heavenly Father. We're so blessed to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and to have the potential to be an eternal family.

A little more birthday fun & a little more

    We did a little more celebrating in honor of McClane's 8th birthday. We did a little babysitting and Mark brought home his official High School Diploma. (One step forward but then about a 1,000 steps backward.)

This cracked me up, they both kept watching with the tablet on her lap even though she was asleep.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Baker for the birthday card and cash!

Cool new long-board from Mom and Dad 

And the Minecraft lunch bag he requested.

He also requested his very own Jello-cheesecake and who can blame him for that, so yummy!

    Our neighbor gave Charlie some of her daughters clothes and this outfit had to be worn immediately. Apparently our neighbors mom made this outfit below and it fits Charlie perfect. She was well dressed for our primary program!

     And no matter how much I want to deny the change of seasons I never mind pulling together my front yard fall decorations.

We babysat for our neighbor and even got to keep tiny little Mary Sue and she reminded me why I waited to purchase such a high maintenance piece of furniture. This glass was pretty slimy by the time she had to go home.

I didn't mind cleaning up after her, she's pretty adorable as McClane says.

    And here's the official document! The plan was to get him in a cap and gown so we could take a photo and then he was going to take the Harley for a ride as a reward but he chose to celebrate in a less conventional way and won't be around for the next several days.

Proof!

     Now we get to enjoy, as best we can, General Conference weekend! So far the announcement of two hour church has been well received!