Prisoners, cops and birthday shenanigans

     What a fun week, mostly. Brock and friends had fun on their day date and at the school dance (Sadie's), I got a fun new set of gel nails, and Greg had is 53rd birthday.

Cute Wendel girls!

Cutest gnome!

Brock and his friends dressed as prisoners and cops for the Sadie's dance. (Brock's the guy in the white tank-top on the left.)

Brock and his cute date, Mya. (She's in our ward and one of my favorite young women.)

    Greg had a rough work day on Tuesday (18 hours fixing two water line breaks) but he got a little love note from God when he caught a glimpse of the northern lights at the end of the night. A pleasant surprise for many.

    And Wednesday we had fun celebrating Greg's birthday. Several people had gifts for him and we'll do a little more celebrating Sunday. Not photographed is the gift card for dinner from Carter, and an optic for his gun from two of his best friends. And more gifts are coming Sunday.

Mixed nuts and soda from the Wendel's.

Lots of yummy snacks from some of our favorite people.

John and Stephanie are the best!

V8 from Charlie.

And a super cool tool kit from Thomas and Gina.

    And I had to share this adorable kindergarten photo of Beau. She's growing up way too fast!

    November is going quick and great, over all. And another scary report, 41 sleeps until Christmas!

Halloween highlight

     The two youngest kids really had a great Halloween. McClane didn't officially trick-or-treat but he loved roaming around with a couple of his favorite cohorts and they couldn't have picked a better trio costume theme.

Talk about a classic combo! (McClane's Grimace, his buddy Maxwell is Ronald McDonald and Brooks is the Hamburglar.)

    And Charlie did trick-or-treat and got quite a candy haul. This may be her last year to do the traditional Halloween things and she made the most of it, mostly thanks to the best family, who let her tag-a-long, or really who she coerced into taking her all around.

Charlie with some of her most favorite people.

    And that's all I got. This week has been super simple. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but, only 48 sleeps until Christmas! That's the scariest thing ever!

Birthdays and canyon drives.

     Saturday we got to take a ride up American Fork Canyon with the newlyweds in their rental car. (Morgan's car was in the shop for some repairs after a little fender-bender so this was her sweet ride for a few days.)

Cutest newlyweds around!

What a view!

    We had fun celebrating Isaac's birthday Sunday afternoon. Happy 23rd birthday to this guy!

That was fast!

    And now on to Halloween fun!

A glimpse

         Here's a glimpse of my latest set of gel nails. I'm definitely ready for Halloween.

    And here's a glimpse at cute Reese, who also seems ready for Spooky season.

    And here's a glimpse of McClane's fun time in California over fall-break.

   

     And there you have it, a glimpse of a glimpse into our latest life events. 

Surprise!!

     We had the three Wendel girls show up Sunday with the cutest matching shirts and I immediately suspected they might be trying to make an announcement, and it's true, they're all going to be big sisters in June! So exciting!

    We also attended a wedding reception, here in Alpine, and it was at a private location that allowed us access to a popular spot we can't normally get to so we made sure to get a few photos without having to 'break in'.

Sliding Rock

    Wednesday evening I got to tag-a-long with the Wendel's at Gardener Village for the "Witches Festival". It was a fun but wet night.

These two were more than happy to pose for photos, Beau not so much.

I think there were real witches there ready to pose for pictures.

Proof I was there too.

    And then, our favorite Linda, came by with her famous caramel apples. We're sad we weren't here but Charlie was thrilled to take in the delivery and take a photo.

Yummiest caramel apples ever!

    It's currently 'fall-break' for the kids and McClane is currently on his maiden voyage to Disneyland with his best buddy and family, so lucky! We're just enjoying easy days at home. (I'll take easy home days over Disney crowds, lines and big $$ any day!)

An odd variety

      We had a nice General Conference weekend, but Charlie wins for choosing the best house to watch and listen to our great church leaders. Gina knows how to put out the snacks!

How about this spread for inspiration and gospel learning!

    And now for the odd part of the week, or sad and odd. My friend and I found this poor owl dead on the sidewalk. This is a great horned owl, so he required special attention from the wildlife animal people. My guess is he somehow got electrocuted but he's so pretty even in death. I was ready to bring him to the house and bury him in the backyard but the 'official's' have other plans I guess.

    And then, we spent our Thursday evening watching one of our favorite neighbors play a little football. His team won but the real win was the view from this football field at Providence Hall high school. Absolutely STUNNING!

Obviously this doesn't capture the view, but trust me, the mountain views were vast and gorgeous!

A small portion from our 'village' of great neighbors at the game. (Not photographed was Charlie and Gina with three of her boys who left a little early.)

    A great week, with some great rain showers and fall like weather. Now 'old man winter' just needs to mind his business and let 'fall' have his time!

Fun times celebrating McClane.

We went on a drink run in the jeep with our jeep driving buddy, Gina. Don't ask how Greg got in and out, it was comical for sure!

     Charlie added a little color to her hair, courtesy of our great neighbors. She's pretty excited about it.

And McClane is officially 15 and ready to get his permit. We celebrated with apple pie and home made ice cream.

    His gift requests were new blackout curtains for his room and money in his account so he can do a little clothes shopping/'thrifting'. He's a dream teenager so far!

He passed his permit test on his second attempt. Let the insanity begin.

    And another fun set of gel nails. It's time for the spooky themed nails, or the cute spider and spider web works too.

    Can anyone tell me how we're already in the month of October!? It's crazy how fast this year is going! 

A change and an invitation

    I've been desperate for a book case to clean up my little cluttery bedroom corner but I've been too cheap to buy one. Then, randomly, one became available for free, from a neighbor, and now I've got a much tidier corner and my pocket book didn't even take a hit! Blessed!

Don't mind the cat, it was the only photo I could find that had a vague look at the corner before the bookcase.

    And then Brock got invited to the upcoming "Sadies" dance. The poor girl, our friend and neighbor, had to contend with the busiest porch in the neighborhood, talk about embarrassing, but she was brave and ignored the few adults sitting on the porch and put out her poster.

 In case it's hard to read, it says, "I'm Rooting for us to go to Sadies soooo...yes?"
He will be saying yes, btw.

    And that's where the photos end for this week. Next up, McClane's 15th birthday!

Last moments.

     We had fun with Miss Reese and she was happy to help Papa in the garden before heading home.

You've never met a toddler who does a better 'side-eye' then this girl.

Such a fun visit.

 

    I guess it's time to decorate for Halloween and fall. I'm not 100% done but I'm happy with what's up so far.

I added floating candles and they definitely added a little magic.

    

    Yet to come are lots of pumpkins & cornstalks. 

September's best days!

     It's been a special week with the cutest visitor!

First, we had another tray of yummy jalapeno poppers. A few had a real spice to them but the milder ones were delicious.

    

    And then we had Miss Reese come to visit. She's the cutest!

She's a fan of Joey's glasses.

She was not a fan of the wagon ride with cousins.

We had to get her, her own pair.

She was a fan of a bubble bath with cousins.

And Charlie had her own photo ops with little miss Reese.

And who's ever seen cuter piano players?!

And she didn't want to miss out on 'front-window observations' with the dog.

And I can't miss documenting my most recent set of gel nails. I'm loving the more prominent sparkly top-coat and the cute butterfly's.

Our time with Reese is nearly done. We're so grateful for any opportunity to be with her. She's adorable, fun and quick to laugh and play. What a blessing!