Trip to NC

It's that time of year again! We went to visit my older brother and his family up in North Carolina. We've made it a family tradition, this being the third time we've gone. They take us to a cute little farm where there are fun activities and a hayride for the kids to enjoy. We had a blast.

The five cousins!

Ben loved this ghostie

Family Picture!

The kids get little pumpkins that they can decorate with stickers, or color with markers.

Sarah loved going down this cat slide

Such a ham!

Ben thought his pumpkin was a ball... he kept throwing it

Decortating with Addison

Running through the GIANT spider!

Maddy getting her face painted

Frankenstien!

Sarah.... Bat Girl!

Sarah getting her face painted. She wanted a pumpkin

Mommy and Maddy

The witch on the bench weirded Ben out...

He wasn't sure what to do!

He just knew he wanted to get away from that face!

Playing on the tractor with Cooper and Addison

Mommy and Sarah!

Riding stick horses...

Ben liked to run down the bowling alley and grab the pins, instead of rolling the ball

Now for.... The HAYRIDE!!

Ben wasn't all that amused

Maddy was terrified the first year, and a little less terrified the second year. We were wondering how the third year would be... She started out insisting on sitting on the right side of the ride. She said the spiders were on the left side. When we got to the spot where the spiders were in the past, they weren't there, and she was THRILLED. SO full of joy. Then Addison says: "hey look at the spiders!" Maddy instantly went into terrified mode:

Good thing Uncle Phillip was there to save her!

Sarah didn't know what to do with Maddy in tears and everyone else smiling...

Why is Maddy scared of stuffed possums?

Ben thought that the whole thing was taking too long

This spider is creepy, but Maddy wasn't scared of this one...

Ben just wanted to get off... He doesn't like to sit still

Running around the kiddie corn maze!!

Maddy loved running around with Uncle Phillip and her cousins!

Ben flat out loved running. He didn't care if it was by himself or with the cousins. He just wanted to be on the move!!

My sweet Scarecrow..

We had a blast at the farm like we always do! We love to go visit with Phillip and his family. Can't wait to see them again!!

Conference Weekend

Conference weekend we were invited up to a lake house in NC. We had a great time with a couple of families from our ward. The kids had a nice sunroom over looking the lake with a ton of toys to play with while the adults listened to our Prophet and the Apostles address us. What a wonderful weekend! In between sessions we went out on the boat. People were tubing even though it wasn't even 70 degrees outside! Joseph and I didn't even put our swimsuits on because we didn't plan on getting in the water. Eventually he gave in and went out on the tube in his clothes... Yeah, he got thrown in too. I wish I had pictures! I didn't even think to bring my camera... I was busy holding on to Ben anyway... Maddy and Sarah even went out on the tube!! I hope to get some pics from a friends camera soon... Sarah doesn't love riding on boats. She gets very lathargic and won't move. But when Aaron asked her if she wanted to get in the tube you would have thought it was Christmas morning! She was smiling ear to ear! They got on with some older kids and we went very slow for them. They had a blast!

I got to go on a bike ride around the neighborhood Sunday morning. I felt like I was a kid again! It was so fun! The kids got to play at an amazing little park too. I did remember to bring my camera there!

Having fun on the pirate ship!

Sarah loved to climb this... she called it the "spider web"

My favorite picture...

She didn't expect to slide down so fast!!

The pirate ship had a pole to slide down to get below deck

Maddy loved it!

Having a blast on the tire swing!

There was one for big kids and one for little kids

Ben LOVES to swing!

Maddy took Ben on the tire swing, but he wasn't sure what was going on

We had a blast with the kids and with friends. It was a great weekend filled with fun and wonderful messages from our church leaders!

Sarah's first haircut!

Before I get to the pictures of my sweet little Sarah, Here is one worth a laugh.

It has been a HOT summer, no doubt about that. So when my kids got up a few weeks ago and it was only 70 degrees, they decided to dress for the weather...

You would have thought it was snowing!!

Anyway... My sweet little Sare-bear is 2 1/2 now. She's always had more hair than her older sister, and I never wanted to cut it. But it was starting to look stringy so I made an appointment with the one and only MinDee. Sarah was very excited.

Before...

Yes, she has a huge bruise on her forehead. When I asked her what happened she said she fell on a barbie.. I knew barbies were dangerous!


I was really sad for her curls to be cut off!

All ready!

Tada! I know she doesn't look a whole lot different, but now it is all even, and not so stringy!

Of course, I saved her locks in a little baggie...


Now onto some misc. pictures that I have taken:

Maddy lost her baby for her dollhouse and I told her I would get her a knew one for her Birthday. Not good enough. She wanted one that day. So I made her use her own money. She decided to buy a whole family. (an african american family) The girls LOVE this new family. Now the original family is referred to as "mommy, daddy, little girl, and babies" Apparently this new family actually gets individual names! Sarah was looking frantically for Sean a week or so after this family moved into the dollhouse. I had NO CLUE who this "Sean" was. Finally after not understanding her description (it's blue) I asked Maddy where "Sean" was. Immediately Maddy went and got the new daddy from her room. She said "this is Sean. And his wife's name is Tara. Like my friend Benjamin's mommy." So now we have Daddy, Mommy, little girl, baby (one is still lost), Sean, Tara and new babies.

Kids are so weird.

Now for a random story. I was taking out the garbage one morning when I noticed some ducks waddling out from in between our house and the next door neighbors. I went inside and called to the girls because I wanted them to see how cute they were. When the girls came outside I was surprised that these birds walked RIGHT up to them. My kids were terrified so they ran back into the house. I followed them in and went to tell Joseph about these ducks. I opened the front door to show him and they were standing on our porch!! Naturally I decided to feed them some breakfast... bread! The girls thought it was fabulous... until one tried to come inside the house!

On the porch

This one was eating a piece of bread when I snapped this picture. Its totally makes him look evil and mean. Not the case!

I can't believe how friendly they were!

(I also noticed in this picture that my rug has words across it. Not there when you look at it on the porch! I guess it was super faded when I bought it and the flash brings it out!)

What a crazy life we live...

End of Summer

I am so behind! What's new though...

SEVERAL weeks ago we went to the beach as a family. Our stake was doing a youth service project and Joseph was asked to help cook lunch, so we decided to make it a family outing! The kids and I just chilled on the beach while the youth picked up trash. After Joseph's responsibilities were done we got to spend some quality time with our kids.

Maddy and Joseph jumped in the waves...

She thinks she's a model...

Ben had a blast eating sand. So. Gross. But look how happy he is!!

Sarah made a friend with an older girl (about 10 ish). She caught Sarah a little fish and put it in her bucket. Sarah watched that little fish for a LONG time before I made her let it go. You can't really see it though.. but it's there!

Sucking on a piece of ice... She was "so thirsty" Nevermind the water bottle that was FULL of water!!

Ben and Joseph taking a walk down the beach. Ben is never happy unless he's on the move!!

We had a great time and it was a perfect end to a HOT summer!!

Who does that??

Earlier this summer Maddy came out of her bedroom about 10 minutes after being tucked into bed. She was hysterical... I couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. Finally I realize that she is flipping out about a loose tooth. I tried to keep calm (inside I was flipping out because she is only four and a half!!) She was convinced that the ice she was chewing earlier was responsible for her wiggly tooth. I explained that it was apart of growing up and that calmed her down and she went back to bed. Joseph and I were sort of anxious about this losing teeth thing. We really didn't think it would happen for a couple more years. Is it normal for her to have a loose tooth already?

A few days later she informed me that she had another loose tooth. I figured she was just saying that because she got so much attention the first time around. But no, she wasn't kidding. Both of her bottom teeth were lose. Not even barely... straight up LOOSE. I wasn't going to mess with them, I just wanted them to come out on their own, so eventually I forgot about it.

On September 2nd (I remember because it's my big brother's birthday) she came into my bedroom while I was doing my hair, and asks if she can put her tooth under her pillow. I immediately stop what I'm doing and ask her to repeat her question, she then holds out her little hand and there is her perfect little tooth. To say that I flipped out is an understatement!

I was so emotional about it! My baby lost her first tooth!! (she probably thought I was crazy..)

All I can do is think about how Maddy's little face is forever changed. She will never look quite the same. She looks older! She's growing up! All she can think of is the tooth fairy. When she gets her money, she's going to buy her baby brother a new pool floaty. (she's been saying this since she discovered her tooth was loose. Ben's floaty blew away... ) What a good big sister, wanting to look out for Ben!

Needless to say, that night Maddy went to bed without a problem!

She even put a sleep mask on... Her tooth safely tucked under her pillow in a ziploc bag.

In the morning she was very excited to find a dollar under her pillow. Joseph took her to walmart so she could buy something (with some convincing that Ben was fine without his old floaty) She bought herself some M&M's and paid for them by herself. She got .25 back and her own receipt. If you know Maddy, you know she was WAY more excited about this receipt than she was about the candy, or the change!! She still has it too, folded up in her special box. I took a picture of my baby girl's new smile, and pretty good thing I did, because it didn't last long... That night, she lost the other one!

Who does that?? I mean, Seriously??

Two teeth in 24 hours... and she's only 4 1/2 years old.

I believe the tooth fairy might need to get a second job to keep up with this kid!!


Oh, and my little guy got his first haircut with the clippers... So. Hard. Note to self: don't try and cut your 14 month old's hair with a 4 year old assistant. Way stressful. But the end result was good! He looked normal anyway!