Giving Thanks.

We had all the Thanksgiving festivities at our house this year and I have to say...I loved it. Everyone pitched in to help so the stress was distributed evenly among us {ok, just among the women but what else is new?} and it really was wonderful. My parents and two youngest brothers were able to come down, which was super fun for me. Mike's mom and dad were in town and his siblings came too. Mike's grandparents and Aunt & Uncle were also able to join us. It was a busy house but the food was awesome and the company was even better. I am a bit perplexed at how close together thanksgiving and Christmas are...I barely got my thanksgiving stuff up before I had to take it down. Maybe we could change Thanksgiving to the second Thursday in November, huh? Oh well...bring on the holiday cheer. I got the fall leaves down and the Christmas bulbs up this morning so maybe I can start playing Christmas music. Oh, and start shopping. sigh.



Love to you all.

Happy Halloween

What a fun holiday. I just love dressing up...seriously, I planned these outfits for weeks. My husband thinks I'm o.c.d. Ok, maybe I am. But come on, take a look at Dora. She is perfect! She was so much fun this year, loved every minute of it. Boots the monkey, on the other hand, not so much. She was a little under the weather and didn't smile at all. At least she let me take some pictures before she ripped off the hood. Payton was Bumblebee the transformer because he refused to be Dora's cousin Diego or Swiper the Fox. "Oh Man!" Anyway, every year our neighborhood has a Halloween Carnival on our street and hundreds of people come. Homemade rootbeer {my favorite part}, cotton candy, sno cones, fishing pond, hot dogs and chili, cake walk, face painting and on and on. It is a ton of fun and everyone really goes all out with the costumes.

Boots, Dora & Bumblebee
Dora & Boots

This pretty much sums up Avery's feelings about Halloween and her dumb costume. At least it wasn't her middle finger :)

Popeye the Sailor Man and his girl, Olive Oyl.

Payton's buddy the Storm Trooper & our Bumblebee

"I am what I am." Please note the full bottle of gel in my "finger waves".

Kendall and Avery at the preschool Halloween Parade.

Dora the Explorer and her bunny friend, Mikelle.

fall.

Yippee for P mountain!
Chappell Apples :)

P-town in the fall.

The fam. outside of "Maestro's"...I overdosed on crepes and cinnamon gelato. delish.

These two are just too fun. Arleigh got stitches in her head a week back, poor girl.

Mike and the Q man.

"Papa" and his girlies.

the pumpkins. Andrew's is the far left...he is too crafty :)

Our other pumpkins.

Sydney and mom in the pumpkin patch.

Aves and her punkee.

Aves & Aunt Kate

sisters.

Sundance.

Payton jumping. he was doing back flips and everything! what a kid.

Climbing the rock wall. He did so great for his first time.

Sammy.

In the orchard.

wild things :)

girls riding the train.

daddy and giggly aves.

this girl was in heaven riding through the mountains on the "brrooom brrroom" with her dad. she loved it.

October break was last week and the kids had no school. so we packed up the van {correction...I packed the van} and went to Utah for the week. It was so much fun. We had a few days of chilly weather, one rainy day that ended in a full rainbow across the entire sky and the rest of the week was just beautiful and sunny. The leaves are all changed now, reds and yellows and orange. The kids made me stop on the side of the road all the time to collect the different colors. I got to spend time with my mom and sisters. We did a little shopping :) We went to Max's last football game and it was so fun to see him play. We went to a fall festival at Thanksgiving point which was really a lot of fun for the kids. Payton and Max went on all the rides including a climbing wall and big bouncy tramp. All the cousins had a great time playing together. Avery & Arleigh are buddies. We went out to dinner at Sundance with J&A and D& J. It was beautiful up there. We had a great time at the land in Alpine...picking apples and riding the rhino. The boys shot sling shots and climbed the trees. It was so much fun for all of us. I even made yummo apple crisp with the "Chappell apples"! Payton brought a whole box home and sold them at his corner sale yesterday {while I was at work...I probably wouldn't have let him sell them, they are too yummy} He is hilarious. The Rammell fam went to Santaquin to the "Red Barn" and went on a hay ride, picked out our pumpkins and then back to Kate's for soup and carving. It was a lot of fun. The babies loved it. Avery kept saying "punkee" and held on to her tiny pumpkin the whole night. Good, good times. Too bad we ended the trip by getting up at 2:45 am and bombing the whole way home. yikes. I am still recovering from that part :)

mexico.

Poolside & the beach. Perfect combo.
What Miguel spent his time doing a good majority of the day {Notice laptop not far from reach}
What Sarita spent her time doing the majority of the trip...{pina colada and book in hand}

My post will be brief because I don't want to rub it in too much ;) We had a wonderful vacation with a few friends to Puerto Vallarta. The accomodations really couldn't have been more perfect and the amigos there offered us way too much food, snacks, fruit, & peeenya coladas at 20 minute intervals. I gained 5 pounds, I'm sure, but it was worth it. I read 2 books, soaked in a few rays, lounged and went to church in espanol. loved that. We watched movies in the theatre every night...and played games. I even zip lined through the jungle! We had to rappell down in a few parts and I thought I might pee my pants, but I actually wasn't that nervous and had a really fun time. Thanks to Mike's parents who watched the kids...they had a great time with Pop and Dama Dama. Good times across the border. I love Mexico.

Magic and Thunder

Kids had their first soccer games this week! It was so fun. Both teams are BLUE this year...Sydney's team is the Blue Magic and Payton's is Blue Thunder. Sydney was hilarious and seriously could have cared less where that ball was! I had to make myself sit down and stop screaming more than once...cuz really, was my screaming going to do any good? not so much. It was fun though...lots of grass picking and nail biting :)

Payton, on the other hand, is in the big time now. It's like a whole new game...with GOALIES. It was really fun to watch and though I am really looking forward to games a month or more from now when it's not blazing hot, I loved watching Payt play.

Go BLUE Magic/Thunder :)

partying with the cousins...

We are pretty lucky to be related to Jared & Amy who plan such fun vacations and let us tag along. We spent a long weekend in Huntington Beach for Mack's fifth birthday. The kids had a ball together at the beach & on the waterslides. I had a much-needed, very relaxing few days and except for a small bout with the stomach flu, we had a fabulous time. We also got to spend another long weekend over Labor day at Lake Powell with our family. It was very nice to be ALL together...it has been a while. We even managed to get a few family pics. The kids played so hard and came home SO exhausted, but it was a fun time together. Sydney and Avery loved to ride the jet ski with Mike. Payt & the boys went from the beach to the "hot pool" to the beach again. The weather was nice and food was great...and Avery even kept her life jacket on without a major fuss, so we had a great time.

I really am not even going to pretend that I don't think this girl is the cutest thing ever...

Aves loved riding the jet ski with her daddy.

tan babies.

Avery and her stringy, sunscreen, mullet hair...probably should do something about that.

Wee and little Aves.

All the grandkids with Pop and Dama-Dama

The whole bunch of us

{and proof that I went on this trip...the only picture taken of me...

maybe cuz I hadn't showered in 3 days???}

Sydney and the pet frog that died the next day. bummer ;)

Lots of boys...Jared, Will, Payt & Mack

Brunch at the Hilton...

little did we know we'd see ALL 5 of the chocolate covered

strawberries again on our ride home :) yucky.

Payton {6} Mack {5} Sydney Kate {4} Will {3} Avery {1} Sam {4 months}

{these are totally in the wrong order....}

Transformers cake AFTER!

Transformers cake BEFORE!

Happy Birthday Macky! We love you...

Skinny Miguel and the SPRINKLES cupcakes.

{Mike definitely regrets eating 4 of them.

And we are ALL trying to forget hearing them coming back up...lovely.}

"Strips" in honor of POP

Love these two beach bums.