Halloween

Halloween festivities started with the Ellsworth party! Jenny and Neil are always gracious enough to host a party as their house. The cousins love seeing each other in costume!
Meet Strawberry Shortcake.

Flo (Courtney nailed this one)

Dog and Beth (Classy)

June-Bug and Payti-Bug

Gilbert Days Rodeo Queen (I love me some wranglers)

Don't ya hate when you get out-bid by $1 on The Price is Right???

From the left; Kenzie (Alice in Wonderland), June (Lady bug), Cami (Little Bo Peep), Brooke (the bride), Gwen (Strawberry Shortcake), Lyvi (Belle), Paisley (pussy cat). 

Jared's brother Jacob and his girlfriend Lexie (Little Mario and Mushroom Mario)

Briant and Jared were at football and I didn't get a picture of Max before he took his costume off.

This picture is from the Trunk-or-Treat at the church. Jared and I went as Dr. and Dr. Wood. Our good friends Dave and Candice Wood are in our ward and are both doctors. Candice was able to sneak us the clothes so Dave would be surprised. I fortunately didn't need a wig cause Candice has long straight red hair! I really just needed some stilts!

Halloween night. Max was a "Cool Ghoul" and Briant a "Nerd" I told Briant he should always dress like that...he makes a handsome nerd!

We went trick-or-treating in Briant's friend Gray's neighborhood. Gray was a doctor. 

After a long night of knocking on doors we waited for Gray's dad to pick us up and take us home. Strawberry Shortcake ditched her wig and hat half way through.

I think the most popular costume this year was an "I'm a Mormon" shirt. Unfortunately everyone wearing those shirts had an alcoholic beverage in their hands : )
Happy Halloween!

A Sad Story

The other day we were all at home in the evening. The kids were playing and I was doing dishes. All of a sudden I hear Max crying. It wasn't a cry like he was in pain, more like a devastated cry. I knew that he had been playing with Lizzy the snake. A little background on Lizzy. When we were at the cabin for the 4th Max spent most of his time there trying to catch a snake. It never happened and he was very disappointed. About a week later Jared's uncle Dan came home from the cabin with a snake for Max! Words cannot describe the excitement on Max's face! That snake went everywhere with him. On his scooter, on his skateboard, he tried putting it in his pocket but I stopped him. He also tried sleeping with it in his hand, promising he wouldn't let go. Lizzy even went to school for show-and-share! It's safe to say that Lizzy was Max's best friend. Back to the story. So I run in to see why he is crying and he yells "I was just playing with him and he died!" I looked at the snake and he was upside down with his tongue stuck to his head! Yuck! We decided we were going to bury him but before that, Max wanted to unstick his tongue. As soon as his tongue was fixed he started moving again! Max was soooo happy but it was obvious to me that the snake wasn't gonna make it through the night. Max is back to bawling. I convinced him that it would be better to let him go in the flower bed than to wake up and find him dead in his cage. Max thought this was a good idea. He took him outside and through his tears says "Bye Lizzy. I love you. I hope I see you again real soon." This is where I start to lose it! I didn't let him see me but I went in the other room and called my mom. I could hardly speak I was crying so much. My heart hurt so bad for him. After talking to my mom I went and hugged Max and he told me that he may look sad but he is happy that he let Lizzy go. He is such a sweet boy! Since that night we have had a few melt-downs but he is saving up for a new snake! Oh joy!

Maxine

Maxine
Maxie
Tow-Mater
Three names we call this seven-year-old! He claims he hates them all but I think he secretly likes the names! Max is always so happy! He giggles and makes me giggle all day. He is my cuddler. He is perfectly happy being by himself or with friends. He loves to mop the floors and would do it several times a day if I let him, and I'd let him if I didn't keep running out of pine sol! Max has an obsession with all things living. He would give his left leg to have a dog, but I am not up for the responsibility. Instead I let him have reptiles, Lizzy the snake and Sally the salamander. He is not into sports like Briant but still plays them for the heck of it. Watching him on the field makes me smile...usually he is chasing a bug, chewing on the flags, or sitting down with a glove on his face. He is so unique and we love him so much!!! Happy 7th!

For his party he took some friends to Flip Dunk (like Jump Street). Then to Dairy Queen. Really he is so easy to please and had no interest in inviting a huge crowd. Wish I would have taken pictures but I was too busy bouncing around and trying to not pee my pants : )

A Mushroom

I am really embarrassed to post this for a couple of reasons. One, the floorboards in our house obviously need some TLC. And two, yup, that's a mushroom growing inside my house! Fortunately that mushroom helped us figure out we had a leak in the wall before it caused some real damage, but honestly I am really grossed out by it!

A First For Everything

Briant is officially the first of our children to need stitches, or in this case, dermabond! We've been lucky and I am knocking on wood right now that we stay lucky as far as injuries go! This beauty happened at football practice when Briant and another teammate hit heads. It's flag football so they don't wear helmets. Anyway, both of them had huge gashes and needed medical attention. I am kicking myself that I didn't take pictures the next couple of days. Two days later, Briant woke up with his eye swollen shut! We forgot to ice it. That day happened to be Sunday and he got called on in Primary to help out in singing time. The music lady forgot his name for a split second and instead asked  "scar-face" to come up and help! I laughed really hard and Briant's face went really red (he takes after his momma!). Can you guess what Max calls him half the time now???

Relief Society Broadcast

After the broadcast some of the ladies of the ward and I went to Claim Jumper for BIG desserts! A girls night out is soooo good for the soul : )

Happy 30th To Me!!!

It was a great birthday! Jared arranged for his parents to take the kids over night. We went out to eat, went shopping, and slept in!!!! On my actually birthday Kendal made me my favorite...Magic Bars! Oh they were soooo good! I felt loved!