Halloween

This year we sported three super kids, a football player who was also a referee depending on the day, and a super ninja who is out of costume. 

Our ward had a trunk or treat on a cold and windy night.  Kai held out his candy bag with his hands shaking near the end.  Thankfully we could warm up with some donuts and hot chocolate.

I love our candy photo tradition.   Laini sat in the middle of the pile and took handfuls of candy in and out of her mouth.  She was very excited about the colorful packaging.

We also enjoyed the kids halloween carnival at the elementary school.  It was spooktakular.  Katry got to attend her first dance at their Middle School.  She is not 14 yet so she wasn't allowed to dance with a boy- but she had to attend since she is on the student council. 

Saturday night the kids headed out once again to go trick or treating.  It makes me sick to look at all the piles and bags of candy lying around.  Ugh!- not a fan.

Sunday night we had all of the youth over for a Bishop's Fireside.  We made donuts and scones.  They were sooo good.  I love our youth!

                                                HUGS from the Super Kids

Harvest Pyre

Dad and the boys built this huge pyre of all of our old cornstalks and tomato bushes etc.  They put some gasoline on it- since it had been covered in a nice layer of hail earlier that day.  Brig wanted to shoot it with a flaming arrow, but they settled on a trail of gasoline.  It was pretty cool the way it ignited.

Brig wanted to add some gas after it was already going.  Dad was against it- but I said- oh come on a little more just to get the show on the road.  Dad consented and Brig retrieved the gas can.  Just before he put more on his dad warned him to not put gas where there was already flame.  Well guess what- yup- he did just that and a nice trail of flame followed the gas right into the gas container.  Luckily no children were injured in this performance.  After it was all said and done, Dad said to Brigham- I hope you learned your lesson- Listen to your Dad- not your Mom.  Yes, I hung my head in shame and we all got a good laugh.

Bike Ride/ Play Ground

Bikes. Sunshine. Smiling Faces. Exploring a New Playground.  Perfection.

Crater's of the Moon

Crater's of the Moon is a place where a volcano erupted. 

The hardened lava is really cool to look at. 

There are a lot of caves that you can explore.

And we loved exploring them.

The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it.

I imagine the moon might look just like this.  Very texturous!- Yes I did just make up that word. 

And I like it!

Don't expect to find life worth living, make it that way!

Mesa Falls

We had a four day weekend so we decided to check out some of the nearby sights.  Our first stop was Mesa Falls.  I LOVE waterfalls, and this one did not disappoint.  So beautiful! 

We brought our four wheelers along and found a great mountain trail.  It was so pretty with a big river below us.  We had a beautiful ride until it started to get more overcast. 

It started raining very lightly.  Fortunately, we had brought along some jackets- so we stopped and put those on. 

Before we knew it we found ourselves in the middle of a full blown hail storm.  Ouch!  The kids were so tough.  We huddled together and raced back for cover.  After about 20 minutes of this our prayers were answered and the hail stopped.  We were all drenched and super cold but we kept our train moving.  I have two favorite memories.  The first was Seth with his arms tightly around the back of his dad.  He was laying his face in his dad's shirt.  Both of them were in t-shirts with icy hail pounding at them.  (Seth had declared he didn't need a jacket and so had Brig- so Dad had given his jacket to Brig-since he was alone on a 4 wheeler.  Hopefully they have learned it is better to be prepared than sorry.)  Anyway- I liked this so much because Seth (who hates to be cold)  had such a serene look on his face.  He was determined to tough it out and make the best of the situation.  He never complained.  He understood the circumstances and he put on a brave face.  It made me feel quite emotional to see my 10 year old acting like a man. 

The second memory was when we had made some adjustments and Katry and Seth were behind me.  They were huddling together under my jacket.  They both started singing to keep their minds off the cold.  I was just grateful for such sweet kids.  Once we made it back to our truck and got the 4 wheelers loaded with the heat blasting in the truck we all had a good laugh.  It was a tough, very uncomfortable experience and we survived it with flying colors.  It was great for us to all experience that "self made" adversity together.  We all felt so close and unified.