blurb book 5

i finally finished my 5th blog book. it nearly took a year to finish...i guess when you throw another kid in the mix things get pushed aside.

i still get so excited and feel so happy to have these memories secured in a book. they make me so happy!

some of my favorite pages:

the first SNOW!

it was magical. it was cold. and it was WET! but, the boys enjoyed every second of it.

hot chocolate ALL AROUND!

wesley, joseph, catcher, owen, and carson

staci and kyle

kevin and i have REALLY enjoyed having staci and kyle living only minutes away from us. there isn't a weekend that we don't try to get together and we always have an great time chatting. we are REALLY going to miss them when they have to move onto bigger and better things.

some of our favorite past times:
visiting outside around the fire
watching sports/games on tv
baking pizza
sunday dinners
wii sports and wii fit...kyle's FAVORITE
guitar hero
bsu football conversations
hearing golfing stories



(wesley taking a sunday nap)

please don't EVER leave!

8 years!

on tuesday, november 2nd, kevin and i celebrated on anniversary. eight years! it has really passed by quickly.
my mom watched our three little ones while kev and i attended a session at the temple and then enjoyed a delicious dinner at texas roadhouse.

SO THANKFUL for what kev and i have. so thankful for the hands that played a role in our course in finding each other and our blind date.

i am thankful that i can be myself around him, that he makes me feel beautiful, he supports my crazy ideas, he's full of surprises and keeps life interesting, he ADORES our children, he works like a DOG to keep us all comfortable, and wants nothing but the best for each of us.

ahh! bliss i tell you. the REAL LIFE kind of bliss. not to be confused with fairy tell bliss.

love ya babe!

halloween cont.

madalyn was a sassy little ladybug. the first time i tried to take her costume off of her she cried! she loved wearing this big body outfit and felt so cute.

madalyn became quite the candy snatcher. anytime she saw a trick-or-treat bucket sitting within reach she would rob it. and the first time she saw owen in his skeleton costume she was VERY concerned and curious. she just kept looking over at him wondering what was going on. it was so entertaining.

halloween cont.

owen decided a week before halloween that he wanted to be a skeleton. luckily we were able to find one that "worked".

wesley insisted on being batman...again.

ladybug (ellie)

puppy (spencer)

butterfly (anna)

halloween

after my fun weekend in utah i came home WITHOUT my camera! i was so sad about it. and until i was able to get it back i have been the worst at blogging. kevin took pictures on his phone on occasion but getting them off the phone is proving to be a task all of it's own. so, i am just going to try to move forward without those pictures and maybe add them at a later point. i just hate getting TOO behind on my journaling.

we had a great weekend of halloween! four days of celebrating proved to be a little much and i was pretty excited to get halloween boxed up and thanksgiving decorations put up. anyway, back to halloween.

owen had a halloween parade on thursday at school.

friday night we did a trick-or-treat progressive dinner with my family. we had a great time eating and the kids had some games and entertainment along the way.

and saturday we did a couple trunk-or-treats (not my favorite) and then did some real trick-or-treating.

here are some pictures from the trick-or-treat progressive dinner.

charlie brown (truman)

train conductor (eli)

vampire (ogden)

we did a doughnut eating contest at my house. i couldn't believe how quickly the justin manwarings could take down their doughnuts. (;

of course mom was decked out as a witch! she loves donning her witch costume every halloween. but, she scared the TAR out of poor madalyn!

birthday weekend

we were each honored with a hat after we did our acrobats. (;
emily, becky, melissa, natalie (katie opted not to hang since she was wearing a skirt)

dad and his girls
natalie, becky, katie, dad, melissa, and emily

hanging

like i mentioned earlier, we shocked everyone at this booth at the snow show when we agreed to hang from this machine. it was fun!


natalie

melissa

becky

emily

birthday weekend cont.

me and em enjoying a delicious lunch

melissa makes that sandwich look GOOD!

the ladies squished in the back seat

dad giving us a tour of the snow show that his company puts on every year in utah.

happy birthday to me!

i turned 32 on october 22nd! it's strange to actually type that age out, but i can honestly say that 32 feels good.

celebrating actually started the night before when my dear friend, steph, took me out to dinner and we had some retail therapy. that was nice!

then in the morning kevin prepared me a fantastic breakfast and a table full of gifts. he really loves birthdays and makes them a big deal! and...i really like that.

i got new winter gear for jogging (shoes, sweatshirt, pants), and i got a kindle. i also got some diet dr. pepper and reeses peanut butter cups! my favorite snacks.



kevin took the day off so we were able to relax (a little) and enjoy our morning together.

after owen was finished with school we loaded up for a weekend in UTAH! my parents were already down there for a snow show my dad was doing so we decided to make a weekend of it so i could play with my mom and sisters...all together.

emily and brandon were nice enough to let us stay in their brand new home. it's beautiful! and they were great hosts. we met some family at the Texas Roadhouse in American Fork and enjoyed a yummy dinner and then it was back to Emily's for a BIRTHDAY BASH!



since kev's family is mostly in utah now we were able to celebrate with both families. we loved having everyone together...and they all spoiled me rotten.


making a wish

madalyn and collin

the next morning kevin took the kids to his parents house and i played with my sisters and mom for most of the day. we had a great lunch at a little shop and did some window shopping.

then we spent a majority of the afternoon at my dad's snow show. we surprised him my showing up and he gave us six ladies a tour. it was fun to see dad in action. we had a lot of fun at one of the boothes there. they had a snowmobile hanging upside down against a backdrop for people to hang from and get their picture taken. they were SHOCKED when we said we wanted to try. we gave them all a laugh. if natalie would ever send me the pictures i would get them posted! COME ON NAT!

after our fun at the snow show we headed over to Gardner's Village and enjoyed the shopping there. we enjoyed some yummy authentic italian pizza and then called it a day! it was so much fun to be together. wish we could do it more often.