The best/worst Halloween treat

    So, we have a fish! One of our new neighbors had the 'brilliant' idea to hand out live goldfish to all the neighborhood kids trick-or-treating and Charlie was only too happy to bring one home. My older kids will tell you I made them return goldfish in the past when they won them at the local carnival but, of course, the baby of the family gets a fish and, what does mom do, orders all the supplies in a hurry and has this fish swimming pretty in Charlie's room in just a couple short days. And if he dies, yes, I will replace him. (Insert maniacal laughter here.)

 

Welcome to the family, Finn!

    And another new gel nail compilation to enjoy!

 

    And Greg's birthday gift arrived a few days early. He's pretty 'fired-up' about turning 52 in just a few short days.

 

    And the cat is quite fascinated with our newest family member. 

I can't tell if she's standing guard or trying to catch a snack.

    So, as I mentioned, we're just days away from celebrating Greg's birthday. There's only 195 more sleeps before Charlie graduates from elementary school. And only 47 sleeps until Christmas! Oh, and the results of the election came back more positive then we hoped, now lets just hold tight to hope until January 20th when it all becomes reality.

Birthdays and Halloween

    Lots of fun activities this week. We celebrated Isaac's 22nd birthday, twice. Charlie had her last Halloween parade at the elementary school and a few other things.

Pumpkin carving with her favorite people.

    Isaac got a 22-rifle for his 22 birthday! 

 

Baby Reese and her sister Georgia all ready for Halloween.

A movie afternoon on Joey's bed.

    Isaac's 2nd, 22nd, birthday celebration, courtesy of Morgan.

New shoes, t-shirt and a hand made card. Spoiled!

Morgan's mom even treated Isaac to German chocolate cake! Yum!

    And, I guess, Isaac's going through a cowboy phase, he bought himself a custom-fit cowboy hat, now all he needs is boots.

Howdy partner.

My 23rd year attending the Halloween parade at the elementary school. I'm DONE!

    There you have it, the last week of October is in the books. 

Short post

    It's been a slow week with only a couple of highlights to share. First, the cutest photos of Reese were shared with me and I wish I could just pick her up and squish her. She's getting so big!

She's the spitting image of Rachel, especially the sleeping photo.

    Isaac is days away from turning 22 so we took him shopping for a new rifle. I don't know if he wanted to be part of the birthday shopping trip but, oh well, he was home and didn't have plans so, might as well.

Fun times!

        Now we have Halloween to look forward to. And we'll officially celebrate Isaac's birthday Sunday with cake, so more photos will come next week of our handsome 22 year old. 

    How is it nearly November!? (And how do I have so many adult children when I'm only 19?)

fun and sweet

    My latest set of gel nails are too fun! 

How cute is that ghost?!

    Charlie's become an expert, Sunday night, niece-bather. 

Pjs all ready to go and three happy, clean girls.

    And look at these yummy donuts! And what's even better, they were free. I got blocked in by a delivery truck, and when I went on a hunt for the delivery driver I found he was at the Lehi Bakery making a delivery and the bakery owner was very apologetic and brought out these donuts for my inconvenience. Totally worth the 10 minutes I waited in my car trying to decide what to do.

This was a testament that when you ask kindly for help instead of blaming and getting fired up for someone's 'nonsense' you fare far better.

    So that's all the photos I've got but there was also a great adventure for Greg, Brock, McClane and Charlie. They went on a little camping adventure out west, along with several other families and, sadly, due to some extreme wind and cold temperatures they had to come home a day early. So much for having a couple days home, mostly alone!

Count downs, cute babies, family and vehicles

    General Conference weekend was amazing! And in my free time I made a paper-chain count down, only 224 sleeps until the last day of elementary school! 

I may have used every last piece of construction paper that I had.

Look at this cute sandy mess! Reese is a happy beach baby.

    I had a fun few hours with the Wendel girls Monday morning. We spent a lot of time in the basement.

She kept sneaking upstairs to watch Rachel cut the dogs hair.

    And Sunday afternoon I convinced everyone to take family photos. Not our best lighting or location, but better than nothing.

 

We'll get more professional ones in May, hopefully.

    

    And a couple boys have had vehicle changes. Brock just purchased his first car, a 1997 Mazda Protege. He's never felt so much freedom!

This cars got it all, standard transmission and everything.

    And Isaac decided to be practical & mature, and sold his truck to get out of vehicle debt and bought himself a 2013 Toyota Corolla, all cash, so now he can really start saving some money.

Bye, bye, Tacoma, it's been real!

Hello little lady!

    And more fun photos of baby Reese. I think she's a fan of the bath!

Look at that smile!

    I really did love General conference! Brad Wilcox nailed it with his talk and his final line, "Don't let the world change you when you were meant to change the world." And, without a doubt, the children's choir won conference. I could start weeping just thinking of the spirit they brought. 

    And, guess what time it is? End of water season time! Only three more days and Greg can shut down the P.I. system. Can I get a, "Whoot, whoot?!

Happy Fall & happy 14th birthday to Mick

    We, Greg and I, got to watch a friends football game, they won!

Such a fun night!

    We celebrated Mick's 14th birthday, officially and unofficially. He got a whole new bed, soda, chips and apple pie!

 

    I helped celebrate my good friends 40th birthday with pedicures and treats. 

 

    We got all new witch-themed Halloween decorations and I love it!

 

    And what's better then two toddlers attempting to make pancakes all by themselves?! So naughty but hilarious! (when it's not in my kitchen.)

I mean, look how serious Elliot is about this project. All she needs is an apron and chef's hat!

    Another fun week and now we're headed into the best weekend of fall. Bring on General Conference! I can't wait!

Ok, it's fall

    Pretty girls, pretty leaves, pretty nails. I can't believe how cute all these grand girls are! I'm also super bummed that I missed the visit with baby Reese but I'm glad Kayli, Charlie and the girls could visit with her Sunday afternoon. (That's the last time I let my calling interfere with my grandkids!)

The cutest matching girls!

    Greg and I enjoyed a motorcycle ride Saturday afternoon and the colors were spectacular and the weather was perfect.

This is up South Provo canyon

Wallsburg

My handsome biking buddy/chauffeur.

    I took a quick video while we made our way down the south Provo canyon. Obviously video and photos don't do it justice, but you get a glimpse of the gorgeous views.

    Fun visit with cute baby Reese.

She's adorable!

    And I'm currently obsessed with my first set of Halloween themed nails. 

 

    And how cute is Beau in her most recent preschool photo?! She's growing up so fast!

 

    So there you have it, another great week. Fall is here and I do love the change of colors but I'm also wishing for an Indian summer, so if you experience warmer weather then usual in the next couple weeks, I'll take all the blame/credit!

Lovely

    We had a fun time with the grand-girls Saturday. They're the most fun!

This wagon from Costco is a win with these girls.

    And look what my most recent renter got me, a beautiful bouquet of flowers. 

I have a feeling Rachel had a lot to do with this surprise.

    And this picture of Reese and her big sister was shared with me recently. Adorable!

Cute twinners!

    Life is good!

Bubble wrap and full circles

    We wrapped miss Elliot in bubble wrap to keep her safe. She didn't like it!

Silly girl.

    Charlie got Kayli to go to the school carnival earlier this week and I requested they get a photo in front of the school so we can have photo documentation of who we started with and who we're ending with at this elementary school. (May of 2025 can't get here soon enough!)

Kayli began kindergarten here in 2002 and Charlie will wrap up 6th grade here in May of 2025. (What's the prize for the mom who endured 23 years of kids in elementary school?)

They might be sisters. 

    Not a lot of activities to report on but another great week!

Elliot!

    Elliot Ren is cute, crazy and maybe just a little bit accident prone. 

She made her way into the basket of the bike.

    And thank goodness this 'ouchy' didn't happen at my house falling from a bike basket. This happened at her house falling on a toy chair. Poor girl!

So sad.

A little glue and she's nearly good as new. 

    This girl needs some bubble wrap and a helmet!

And that's all I've got for this week.

A fun variety

    From a night watching bands in the park to a new set of gel nails, it's been a fun week.

With good friends watching one of our favorite young men and his band. Fun night!

    These two made a double decker hammock haven.

 

    And we love a chance to hang out with these three 'crazies'!

Stunts with Aunt Charlie for the win.

This girl never stops eating and cereal, marshmallows and strawberry milk is a fan-favorite.

Last, but not least, my newest set of gel-nails. Love them!

        The last week of August has been nice and the weather has been great! Now we get to look forward to a three-day weekend.