4-months old

our little madalyn turned 4-months old on monday. yesterday i took her to her 4-month appoinment and she is PERFECT! (;

she even showed off by doing a couple 6-9 month skills. (;
she is starting to roll from her stomach to her back.
she is constantly talking. she is our little noise maker.
she loves when her brothers play with her.
she almost always wakes up with a smile.
she is a little growler.
she gets excited when i put her jacket on her and put her in her car seat (can you tell we don't go out very often?!)

i took this picture a couple days ago. she LOVES to take her morning nap in our bed...taking up both pillows...and all sprawled out. such a princess!

is there anything better...

me and madalyn napping

trick or treat

we had a great halloween day. kevin had the ENTIRE day off work so it was wonderful to hang out and relax with each other most of the day. the boys were BEGGING to put on their costumes the second they woke up. but, we managed to hold them off until an hour before the fun began.


our trick-or-treaters: wesley (batman), kevin holding madalyn (tootsie roll), and owen (ninja turtle...leanardo. or as owen says "leo-ardo")

my boys

"sweet" madalyn

we started the night off at my home ward's trunk-or-treat. they always do such a fabulous job and the boys fill up their buckets with TONS of GOOD candy. and it is always fun to see old friends and old ward members.

then we jetted off to the trunk-or-treat for our ward. it was CRAZY and the boys were pretty tired so we didn't stay long. we had made plans to trick-or-treat at close family members homes and then get some yummy chili at my mom & dad's but the kids were pretty grouchy so we just went home.

owen and wesley loved handing candy out to our trick-or-treaters and would even run out to the drive way to give them candy because they just couldn't wait for them to make it to the door! funny boys!

oh yes, and kevin and i dressed up for a "wigs and mustache" halloween party put on by our neighbor (fabulous job terrill's!) so i will include kevin's sexy get-up. (;

happy halloween!

pumpkin carving

we carved pumpkins on thursday night. kevin is always so great about cleaning out the guts for all of us...making them clean as a whistle!

and it's always so rewarding to see the finished product.


kevin's haunted house

wesley's flying ghost

owen's skeleton

my monster

we're so glad when daddy comes home

we love when kevin comes home from work! he instantly becomes a gym.

thirty-one

yesterday i turned thirty-one! i seriously LOVE birthdays. it's so fun to have an entire day just focused on you...and that is exactly what i was given.

kevin took the day off and spoiled me all...day...long.

my parents watched the kids while kevin and i went to the temple. i can't think of a better way to start my birthday than with my husband in the temple we were married at nearly seven years ago.

i enjoyed:
a yummy breakfast
presents
cards
family
eating out
shopping
phone calls
emails
facebook birthday wishes
texts

i tell ya what, by the end of the day i was feeling VERY loved and spoiled.

i am so thankful for great family and friends.

here's to thirty-one!

u-pick pumpkin patch cont.

emily, alyssa, halle, and brandon

kate, wesley, owen

madalyn

wesley and grandma

u-pick pumpkin patch cont.

these guys posed themselves. naturals i tell ya! their mom must have a blog. (;

kevin & owen, wesley, becky & madalyn

this is kindof a "where's waldo?" picture. can you spot all the kids?

alyssa, grandma, kate, grandpa, halle, carter

u-pick pumpkin patch

well, we had so much fun at the pumpkin patch the first time we thought we would try it again.

this time we were in the company of family. my parents had emily and brandon visiting from utah and they also had jarom and elena's kids while they were in vegas. good times had by all! and we had to leave with a couple more pumpkins.


alyssa and halle scaling the pumpkins to find just the perfect ones for grandma.

won't disclose the name...but what a cute smile! (;

adorable halle

grandpa was stuck with pulling all the pumpkins around

sister sneak 2009 cont.

me and katie

sometimes it's not easy to get a good picture, especially when i am in it (least photogenic person in america). so natalie had to take quite a few. in the process she got this candid picture of me and my mommy. love it!

mom and me

we didn't get home until after midnight and i was so happy to sleep in my bed and see my boys (all three of them)!

thanks to all the help we had to make this get-away happen (my neighbor brenda, kevin's sister and her husband staci & kyle, and KEVIN)!

i can't wait to see what amber has in store next time!

p.s. here is a peek at the necklace i made.

sister sneak 2009 cont.

speaking of naps, aunt elena had just the right touch and assisted in madalyn getting a short snooze. we couldn't take strollers in and out of the stores so we decided to just carry her around. i think next time i would rather stay outside with the stroller in shifts...madalyn was not loving it.


elena and madalyn

we had dinner at a restaurant in gardner village. food was so-so, and the service was TERRIBLE! oh well. it was still fun to sit and visit.

elena and kaylin

natalie and emily

melissa and amber

aren't you loving all of our new, handmade necklaces! fun, fun, fun!

sister sneak 2009

sister sneak 2009 has come and gone. it always goes WAY TOO FAST!

katie took the reigns this year and planned a fun weekend for all of the ladies. it's seems nearly impossible to find a weekend when all the women can get away but we succeeded and we had a great time.

we arrived in logan, ut just before 7 pm. katie had a class reserved just for the nine of us at a local bead shop. we had the whole place to ourselves (plus the instructors) and had pizza, soda, salad and learned how to wire wrap. we made our very own necklaces link by link. pretty cool!

around 9pm we packed up and moved the party to our hotel rooms (we stayed at the new holiday inn express that night) and got right down to business...opening our "favorite things" grab bags. SO FUN!



mom was in charge of putting the cute little bags together and did such a fantastic job. she went all out with vinyl art and used an adorable garland as the "tissue paper".



left to right...top to bottom
elena gave "three essentials every purse needs". gum, lip balm, and antibacterial hand gel.
katie gave a monogrammed journal, pen, and candy bar.
mom gave a jar of her homemade chili sauce and a halloween sit-about.
emily gave bobby pins and a super nice nail file.
amber gave scensty car candles and portable tins and brought a grab bag of estee lauder loot.
natalie made us each a cd of the songs that inspire her.
kaylin made us all carmel apples.
i gave bubblebath.
melissa brought some HUGE delectable sugar cookies.

after we emptied the bags we almost wanted to put everything back in and do it again, but instead we changed into our swimming suits and went for a much needed soak in the hot tub. soaking with your sisters is always a treat...but the conversations are even better (oh, if walls could talk)! (;

we actually went to bed kind of early (that tends to happen when sleeping-in is a rare treat) and when we woke up it was back to the bead store to finish our projects. afterward we started our drive to gardner village in west jordan, making a pit-stop in brigham city for lunch.

we spent the rest of the day in gardner village visiting all the way-too-cute shops. madalyn was also with us during this sneak and was such an angel...until gardner village. she was so ready for an undisturbed nap. poor thing! but, she was a pretty good sport.


me and madalyn