Halloween! A little late and a little lame:/

 This year for Halloween I made the boys pick from costumes we already had at home.  I'm not a super big fan of spending lots of money on something they will wear for just a few hours and probably stain.  This was Gavins choice of wardrobe for the Fall Carnival.  Such a cute Buzz Lightyear!  In this picture he was telling Carter to push the button to see if it made him fly.  The night of the ward party he decided he would rather be a lady bug.  So, I let him.  I know some may say that's a horrible thing to let your boy wear a ladybug costume, but this kid rocked it.  We just won't leave any photographic evidence of it for later.

 My pictures are very LAME!!!!!  I didn't have time to take more than these at the Fall Carnival and forgot to take any pictures at the trunk or treat.  So, lame as they are.  Here they are!

Aren't these boys fantastic looking?  Put a shaved ice in front of them and they are happy campers.  Gavin didn't even care about playing any of the games!  Junk food is the way to this boys heart!    

{FaMiLy PiCtUrEs}

 We haven't had family pictures taken for almost two years and so I decided it was high time we change that!  Our sweet friend Karah from Karahlynn Photography took them for us.  I think she did a fabulous job:)  I can't wait to get them up on our wall!  These are just a few of my favorites.......

I think we make a pretty cute family!

The Pumpkin Patch

 Gavers found a new favorite spot in the truck on our way to the Corn Maze for scouts.  We were parked at the bank though.  I guess I should make that clear!

The Corn Maze was really fun, but !wow!  It was confusing!  If we wouldn't have had all of our boys we would have gotten lost more than just the 10 times that we did!

 The Pumpkin Patch is always a lot of fun!  We always get some really great pumpkins to put on our front porch.  These boys were pretty good helpers.

 We had to get some goofy pictures.........

 Gotta love those fake smiles!  They were hilarious:)

And then we sat in the cute little barrel train.  They really wished it would take them for a ride, but maybe next time.  Katlyn and Mike also went to the Haunted Maze with a bunch of Katlyn's friends.  Not for me!!!!  I'm a chicken!  All in all we had a blast at the Willis Farm this year!  

General Conference October 2011

 Mike and I have decided to make General Conference a tradition for our kids when they turn *8* years old.  Katlyn was a little late getting there but Carter was right on time!  We packed up Peanut Butter and one extra cute young gal, (Melany) and off we went! 

We had to stop in Kanab and take a picture with the fake police officer.  This guy has been here for a super long time.  The neighbor across the street was getting quite a kick out of these two.

 We made a little stop at Zion National Park and stretched our legs a little.  I wish we had had more time to be there.  It is an absolutely beautiful place! 

 Carter was loving this area.  We just sat and enjoyed the water for a while.

 Katlyn and Melany were so jealous of this guy.  They sat forever waiting for a squirrel to get brave enough to sit on THEIR lap.  It never quite happened dangit!

 What would a trip near water be without Mike trying to throw everyone in?  I stayed a very safe distance away!

Zions was beautiful.  The leaves weren't changing as much as we had hoped they would be but it was well worth the trip.

On to Lehi we went to stay with our friends The McCalls.  We love to visit them, and conference was a great excuse to be able to make the trip. 

 We all had an amazing time the day we went to the Conference Center.  I feel awful because we were split from the boys most of the day and so I have no pictures of Carter!  He says he had a great time though.  He loved the Church History Museum, and the Beehive House.

 I took the girls into the Tabernacle while the boys were in the Conference Center.  I absolutely love that building!  They thought it was pretty neat too. 

 A very nice man offered to take our picture outside before we went into our session of Conference.  We had a nice walk around the building.  It is beautiful.  

The girls had the chance to see the opposers of the church too while we were walking.  Their reactions were exactly the same.  They just didn't understand why someone would want to say horrible things like that about the church.  They said it made them sad.  It made me sad too.  I hope that it strengthened them.  I hope that they will always be strong and valiant!  They are beautiful! 

And here they are!  They could not believe how big it was.  And the people!  There were so many!  We actually had some really great seats!  We were right dead center and as close as you can get without being someone super important.  We got our tickets from my brother in law whose a bishop in Arkansas (it's next to impossible to get tickets in Snowflake!)  and I guess they get good seats there!  Thanks John!

The feeling in the Conference Center is one that I wish I could feel all day every day.  It builds my testimony just being there.  The talks were all so great and uplifting.  In a world so negative it's always refreshing to hear all the positive things that are happening and to know that we can all be just as happy as we want to be.  We just have to do what's right!

I love seeing the Prophet!  I want all of my children to have the chance to see that President Monson is not just a picture on the wall or in a magazine or a man on the TV.  I want them to see him and have that sweet feeling of knowing that he really is the Prophet!  It was so sweet to see Katlyn and Melany's faces when he walked into the room.  

  Carter said that he enjoyed conference, although he was a little tired and might have fallen asleep just for a minute.....:)  He got to sit by a little girl who was experiencing her first time at Conference too.  Mike said he was a little shy!  I pray that Carter also had a spiritual experience of his own while we were there.  He is such a good boy and always wants to do what's right.  I hope that we can keep giving him opportunities like this to carry with him for the rest of his life.  He is truly an amazing person. 

Conference was a total success!

Tin Foil Dinners for FHE!

We hadn't done tin foil dinners for quite a while and so we decided to give it a try for FHE.  Mike got home from work and I gave him the job of gathering everything from outside and I took care of the food and all the inside stuff.  Once we had it all in, off we went!  We had a good time exploring and hanging out together.  Even though Mike forgot to bring a flashlight or a lantern or anything that would give us a little light when it got dark, we still we had fun.  Until Mike told the kids that the coyotes were coming to get them and it was all over.  They all piled up in the truck and were ready to go home.  Even Gage!  I love that our kids still enjoy doing things like this as a family.  I hope it will last a bit longer!

Hauling wood....{ kind of the easy way.}

 Love this picture of these boys being real men!  They all thre love to help their dad with whatever he's doing.

We kind of took the easy way out this year though.  We bought our wood from my uncle and all we have to do is go to Alpine and cut it and split it.  It's still in the woods though and it's still work so I'm going to count it. 

Nana and Papa are ridiculously awesome and can still work me plum to death.  They are amazing!

While Dad is working.....

 Mike has trainings in the valley a couple of times a year and I love to go with him and just relax while he works.  This summer though we had not spent much time as a family so we decided to take the kids along with us for some together time.  I thought the kids and I could just hang out at the pool while Dad was working..... then we got a call from Grandpa John asking if we wanted to go to Canyon Lake with he and Grandma Debbie to try out his boat he just fixed up.  There was a slight pause on my end because if you are a Papa and have been on any lake anywhere with John you know that something usually goes wrong.  It's really not his fault either.  I think he just has super bad luck.

  Like the time we all went to Lake Powell on the 4th of July and decided it would be a great idea to go into town to watch the fireworks.  Grandpa John said no worries he had a "spotlight" to find our way back to camp.  So, off we went.  The fireworks were amazing and we were all in great moods heading back out on the lake.  About 3 hours later we still had not found our campsite and Grandpa's "spotlight" was actually a flashlight.  We couldn't see a dang thing and had no idea where we were.  The Papa father and his kids were all arguing about who's grand idea it had been and how the heck we were going to find our way back before we ran out of gas when we hit a rock and busted the prop.  That made our night so much more fun!  Anyway, in the end we did finally find our campsite just before dawn and we were all super cranky!

So you can imagine my hesitancy to go to the lake on a boat with John.  But I thought what the heck!  Why no?!  We met up with them at the lake and a few of them went in the boat.  I thought I might never see my kids again.  Seriously!  Can you see that boat in the picture?  I was afraid the nose of it was going to come flying out of the water at any minute and they were going to be toast!  But they weren't and the boat did great and so did Grandpa!  We can chalk this lake trip down as a success!!!!  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the afternoon of fun! 

 The boys LOVED the boat.  They think we need one now.

 Katlyn loved it too.  She didn't love having to take turns though.

 We always take the kids to Bass Pro Shop while we are down.  They love it.  It's free so we dig that too!

 The lake did Gavers in.  Mike had to take him back the next day to see the fish.

These guys are pretty easy to entertain!

All in all it was a great trip!

How the heck did THAT happen?

 We had a little incident this summer with Gavers and his bellybutton.  I still have no idea how it happened or what he did but he came running down the stairs screaming and holding his belly.....

 This is what I saw when he let go.  WHAT THE HECK RIGHT?  How does something like this happen?  I have no idea.  Gavin has had a hernia there since he was born so it worried me a little that he had done some damage on the inside too.  So, we went for a visit to Dr. Bailey.

She checked his belly and said his hernia was just fine.  It had actually healed up nicely.  So, how did the bellybutton "fall out?"  She doesn't really know either.  It was super swollen for a while, but now it just looks like a deflated little balloon.  Dr. Bailey says he's right as he should be, just a goofy belly button.  His dad thinks we may have to do a little cosmetic touch up when he gets older so he can find himself a wife though. 



Watch my cool trick!

 I HAD TO PUT THESE IN HERE BECAUSE THIS IS CLASSIC GAVIN.  HE THINKS HE'S QUITE THE LITTLE DARE DEVIL, AND HE WANTS PICTURES TAKEN OF EVERY DEATH DEFYING ACT THAT HE PERFORMS.

I'M NOT SURE THIS ONE WORKED OUT QUITE LIKE HE HAD PLANNED IT, BUT WE ALL CLAPPED ANYWAY AND HE SURE WAS PROUD OF HIMSELF. 

On rainy days......

 On rainy days, our dad comes out to play.

 & we just love getting tossed like rag dolls.  It's so much fun that we just keep coming back for more.

And then we race to the tree across the green and back to see who can get struck by lightning first.  It's every kids dream to have a dad like ours on a rainy day!