November? Where did you go?!!

Veterans Day we went to Dumont. We were pretty nervous that it was going to be super busy, but it wasn't :) It was one of the best weekends we have had out there. It was really quiet and the weather was perfect.

Of course Bay and Kade found jumps where ever we were riding.

And Travis's favorite part of the kids riding 90's... them getting stuck. Bay and Kade weren't much help digging Cole out lol.

We couldn't go on a ride without stopping at "Mark's Hill". The kids were kinda sad Wade wasn't there to throw them down it. I don't see how that is fun at all! Trust me, Wade threw me down "Mark's Hill" over Thanksgiving and it really wasn't very fun.

Baylee auditioned for Clark County Middle School Honor Orchestra and was the only one from our school to make it. It was a really good experience for her. It was a pain to get to rehearsals every week at Clark High School, but she had a great time and loved the guest Conductor.

The boys had a Thanksgiving Feast at school. We had to bring a veggie tray which I knew wasn't the most exciting thing to kids at a school feast. So we got an idea from Pinterest and made a veggie turkey. The kids loved it, I don't know if they ate it, but they thought it was pretty cute.

Thanksgiving we went to Dumont! It was one of the absolute best Thanksgivings ever. It was us and Mark and LaNae's family. This is our turkey cooking in the deep fryer.

Bay and Travis waiting for Thanksgiving dinner and listening to the Cowboys game.

We raised the beds and put a couple long tables in our trailer for dinner. It was so fun and super yummy!

This was a picture of the flat. The weather was beautiful and absolutely no wind, not even a breeze! It was pretty busy out there so the dust settled into the flat. It looked beautiful though.

Baylee had her last "official" Deseret Strings concert this year. She was concert master. They played a family concert here at our stake center. They played at the Tabernacle in St. George. Ken and Cindy came to that concert and Baylee and I stayed with them that night. I can't believe that is my little girl, or how dang gorgeous she is :)

Cole started wrestling. It is a lot of work, and he isn't very good lol. But he is learning more every practice and tournament and having fun. I feel right at home at wrestling tournaments too :) Although his daddy may have to be banned from going, he gets a little too crazy! You know that parent jumping up and down and screaming on the mat? Well, that's Travis.

Kade's class did morning opening at school. Of course the amazing Mrs. Rexing went all out. It was about Trustworthiness. We are so blessed to be at a school that teaches kids to value more than just education but also being good people.

This is Kade and his two best friends Max and Will.

Pickles, the Shelf Elf showed up at our house. It has been a lot of fun to see what he does around here while we are sleeping. Cole couldn't believe he drank so much syrup!

Kade is playing baseball for a club ball team. They had their first tournament on December 3rd in Lake Havasu. That was also Cole's first wrestling tournament in Indian Springs and Tori's piano recital so I didn't get to go. Him and Travis went and had so much fun together. He went to a baseball camp at Arbor View HS on the 10th with some other kids from his team. He is still loving to catch and loves being on the field with his dad.

Halloween

As far as pictures go I totally failed this year. I swore I was going to get pictures of everyone, and their friends they went trick or treating with, and the kids all together, and carving pumpkins, and everyone that came of for chili burgers after. Well...

I did get Baylee with McKinley and Victoria before one of the parties they went to.

And Bay at the Trunk or Treat. I had to steal a picture of her of Facebook last year because I didn't get any of her. So at least this year I got one of her in her Winifred costume.

I did make Tori, Allie, and Chase pose for me. Mom made the girls skirts. Didn't they look fabulous?!

Kade and Tate came up with their costume idea on their own. They were crashed scooter riders. They were tons of fun to dress up and their costumes were really cheap! You can't really see it in the picture, but their helmets had huge cracks in them.

Yup, that's it. Not one picture of Cole. I don't know where he was every time I had the camera out. He was Obi Wan Kenobi for the Trunk or Treat. We tried putting the fake blood on him that night and he turned totally white and got really sick to his stomach. Funny that fake blood made him do that! But by Halloween he sucked it up because he really wanted to be what Kade and Tate were. He still turned white and felt sick while we were making him look like a crashed scooter rider, but he stuck it out.

We did carve pumpkins, but no pictures of the carving or even of the pumpkins! Each of the kids went with a different group of friends trick or treating on Halloween night, but no pictures of any of them! And we had our annual chili burgers with lots of friends after the trick or treating, but not one picture did I take. It makes me so sad I let these events slip through my fingers without documenting them in pictures. We had a really great Halloween though.

Nan turns 40!

It was Nan's 40th birthday on October 4th, so of course we had to have a party!! Because the weather is so beautiful in October we were just going to have it in our backyard. But it decided to rain all day!! It stopped in the late afternoon so we tried being optimistic and hung up the pictures of Nan we had blown up. But as soon as we did it started raining again. The umbrella over the picture was Tori's idea, and it worked great lol. We still had tons of fun though. We had about 55 people here. I love having our house full of good friends and lots of yummy food, so I was so excited that Scott and Nan let us have a party for her here! We had carne asada and everyone brought yummy mexican food to go with it.

Hopefully Nan had a fantastic 40th birthday!

Baseball Champions

Kade had a really great fall ball season. His team was undefeated until their last game of the season. They ended up in the championship game still though and won. Kade's favorite position is catcher, but they really needed him at 3rd. He made some great plays and was really proud of himself. He works so very hard at baseball. By the end of the season he had the most hits and the best batting average of anyone on the team. Good job son, I'm so proud of you!

Bees

Kade had to do a project at school and he came up with the idea to do it about bees. Our good friend happens to be a beekeeper so Kade called him to see if he could come interview him. Well, he got to do a lot more than just interview him. He got to wear the whole "bee keeper get up" and smoke the bees so they could take out the honey. He had so much fun and brought us home two jars of fresh honey.

p.s. he got an "A" on his project :)

Mermen

Our super good friends that lived in our neighborhood moved. Our kids are all best friends and have pretty much grown up at each other's houses. We are so sad that they moved, but thankfully they aren't that far away :)

Anyway, while the girls and I were moving some stuff over to the new house, the boys stayed home and played. This is what I saw when I drove into our neighborhood. They totally cracked me up when I was feeling so sad. They said they are mermen and that that's going to be their Halloween costume. Which is totally fine with me because a garbage bag and some duct tape is CHEAP!!

Veronica

A friend of Baylee's decided to go to girls camp with our ward this summer. After camp she wanted to take the missionary discussions and we were blessed to get to do them at our house with her. She was baptized on September 7th. We are so proud of her and have absolutely loved having her in our home and see her testimony grow!

Bill

My brother Jay called my a while back and said he had bought a horse for Baylee. I was a little shocked to say the least! He bought it actually to be a show horse and wanted Bay to be the one to work with him and show him. Of course she was totally on board with the idea! She spent one weekend over there working with him, but has been so busy she hasn't been back. I wish he didn't live so far away so she could be there more! But she loved it and really hopes it's going to work out!

This isn't "Bill" the show horse. This is Bah Rani another one of Jay's horses.

BFF's

Two of my best friends also happen to have daughters that are Baylee's BFF's. So we decided to take them to Cedar City and see Shakespeare for a quick girls trip. We saw Romeo and Juliet because that is a play they have to read in 9th grade. We had so much fun, I sure love these girls! ( And their moms!)

Lockers

Tori was SO excited to get a locker. She had all sorts of things to decorate it with. She thought it was so cool and insisted I take a picture of her with her first locker.

Bay, on the other hand didn't think it was so cool! I forced her to let me take her picture with her locker though :)

Ah Panguitch

Trav did another century bike ride in Panguitch. It was beautiful and I got to be his support. It was super hard and he wanted to quit a few times. But he finished it and I was so proud of him! He did it with Mark Howard and Jacoy and Ben Robinson.

Labor Day

We got to spend Labor Day at Lake Powell. The weather was perfect and the water was so warm!

We went with Ken, Cindy, and Nick. Mom and Dad, and Wade. Barry and Brittany came for a day with their cute baby too.

It was Cole's turn to learn how to ski this year. Everyone on the houseboat came out to watch the drama. He screamed and cried and absolutely refused to do it. But we tried lol

Not far from where we were camping was the perfect spot to cliff jump.

This is my super cool nephew Nick. He went much higher than any of the other kids dared go.

Mark threatened me if Jake got hurt while he was with us, he could never go again. So I was a little nervous about him cliff jumping :)

Bay is so much more brave than I am!

Kade really wanted to wakeboard this year. He tried and tried but couldn't make it up. Next year for sure he will be awesome!

Baylee is getting so good at wake boarding. It's kind of a sisterly competition between the girls. Tori started going in and out of the wake, so Bay tried really hard to do it too! Tori even tried jumping but couldn't quite get it.

Oh how Bay loves to ride the tube with her cousins. They aren't afraid to be wild on the tube just like Baylee. She is so fearless! At one point they flipped and Bay was doing a handstand. Nick grabbed her and pulled her back down, but she didn't fall off!

Tori, on the other hand, is not nearly as brave as Baylee. She likes it, but only to a point!

And the boys... well Cole rode the tube when we forced him to with Travis, me, and Cindy's dog. We went SO slow and he screamed the entire time! Definitely not a brave kid on the water. Kade isn't a big fan of going fast either thought.

We took Jake with us to Lake Powell. Him and Bay are BFF's and all the kids love having him around!