Fall Fun

Lexi Turns 9!

 

Lexi wanted to have a picnic at the park for her birthday. It worked out great because the kids were off track and it was a beautiful day!

 

                                                                             
                                                                 the princess in her tower

 

opening gifts

 

 

 

 

So my sweet Lexi was pretty emotional the whole day because she does not want to grow up. In her own words..."I don't want to grow up because I always want to be able to crawl up into your lap." Her face is still a little pink after a few tears were shed, but birthday cake can cheer up anyone, right? She told me later that she wished that she wouldn't cry anymore for the rest of the night. Her wish came true.

 

Yellow Fork Canyon

 

 

We took a little stroll through Yellow Fork Canyon by our house in between sessions during General Conference. The fall leaves were so beautiful, and it was nice to get out of the house and run around.

 

 

This was my favorite picture.

 

 

 

 

Lexi calls this picture the "ta-daa picture".

 

 

Cornbellys

 

 

 

This was our first trip to Cornbellys. The kids had a blast! Brennan is just barely tall enough to peek through the pig's head.

 

 

 

The boys had fun playing on all the wooden playsets.

 

 

Brennan had to ride the motorcycle made out of tires. It wasn't the most comfortable swing, but he still loved it because it was a motorcycle.

 

 

 

 

Going down the big slide all by himself.

 

 

Driving the firetruck.

 

 

We got a little lost in the corn maze, and probably did break a few of the corn maze "rules".

 

 

The kids could have spent hours covering themselves in corn if I had let them.

 

Halloween!

 

Grandma and Grandpa Coops grow the best pumpkins to carve!

 

 

Landon's vampire pumpkin.

 

 

Lexi made a frankenstein pumpkin that turned out so cute, but I didn't get a picture of it after she had it all painted. I also didn't get a picture of the scattered pieces of pumpkin all over our front porch after the deer ate them for dinner. At least they waited until after all the trick-or-treater's came!

 

First Snow Fall

 

 

We had a pretty impressive early snowfall and Brennan couldn't wait to get outside and play.

 

 

Our snowman turned out pretty good too!

 

Halloween Continued

 

 

making candy haunted houses with the cousins

 

playing halloween party games

 



I did not complain when Landon wanted to be a vampire again. He really has the role down!

 

 

Lexi knew what she wanted to be early on. I looked and looked for a Frankenstein's Bride costume, but did not have any luck. Then I remembered that I had a white sheet in the closet. So, my cute and talented neighbor helped us turn the white sheet into this cute costume.

 

 

My swashbuckling pirate! We tried to get him to say, "toss me your loot, matey" but he wouldn't do it once we were outside of the house.

 

My monsterous crew!

 



 

Going trick-or-treating at dad's office. He definitely got a lot of loot!

 

Gardner Village

 

It was great weather for our annual trip to spot the witches! We invited our Bushman cousins to join us this year. We also decided to do the official "Witch Find" this year where you fill out the piece of paper when you spot the witches and you can turn it into the bakery after for a delicious cookie!

They are the cutest! (I'm not biased at all.)

Eating our delicious cookies.

Silly or scary faces?

There was a stage that the kids loved dancing on to some Halloween tunes!

 

 

July 2012

Jeff and his family drove down from Montana for a week of fun during the 4th of July. We packed in so many activities during that week that we needed a few days of just sleep to recover. We started the week with a BBQ and family pictures.

 

 

Grandpa L. was such a trooper to have his own photo session with all the rambunctious kids. Grandma Coops gave them each a flag to wave around and I think great-grandpa got hit in the head a time or two.

 

 

The pictures taken on my parent's camera didn't turn out, so family picture day was pretty much a wash. We did get a few with our camera, so I was glad for that!

 

 

We promised the kids they could have a popsicle if the stood still and smiled for the camera...it kind of worked.

 

 

We went to see the fireworks at Murray Park on the 4th. The younger kids had a blast pushing each other around in the wagon!

 

 

We had quite a bit of time to kill before it got dark, so they found some friends and played some games. The little kids loved "Duck, Duck, Goose", but they didn't really get that only one person is supposed to chase the person who is it around the circle. As soon as someone would start running, they would all get up and start running around the circle. It was pretty entertaining to watch!

I didn't have my camera on the rest of the activities, but we had so much fun going to Lagoon, Cowabunga Bay, the movies, dinner, and just hanging out! Lexi summed it up when she said that it was "the best week of her life!"

 

 

 

I talked my sister into going to the 24th of July parade with me. She wasn't feeling well, but was nice and went anyway. I have to say that I do not understand why so many people sleep out on the street so that they can get a good spot, when we show up 30 min. before it starts and we're right next to them. There were quite a few people who slept through the whole parade because they were so tired! 

 

 

The train hats were a big hit with the kids!

 

 

This train float was really neat!

 

 

Brennan loved the fire trucks!

 

 

This chinese dragon was pretty cool. It was so long that I couldn't get  the whole thing in the picture. I don't know why I didn't get a picture of them, but the police motorcycles are my favorite part of the parade. They all wear mustaches, even the women. It was a lot of fun and I hope we make it again next year!