Is it November Yet? Please?

Ooohh my gosh, I can't believe it's actually the last day of October. Wait, does that mean it's Halloween? Haven't we already done that? Nils and I were put in charge of our ward Halloween party, which is fine- I mean, we all have to take our turn doing this stuff, right? It was last night, and it was hopefully fun for everyone. We had a committee with 5 other people, and they were all fantastic. Our ward is mostly kids under 12, so anything we attempt is going to be utter chaos- which it was. We had TONS of people come. We had dinner, food contests, a donut hang, and carnival games. There was also an amazing spook alley, with a fog machine, which set off the fire alarms...which really just added to the chaos. I took no pictures. Anyway, I am really tired and done with Halloween. And it's still Halloween!

I feel it's important to mention that as I write this, Anders and his friend are having a musical instrument face-off in the house. The friend brought his cello over, and Anders is switching between French horn, guitar and the piano. We are probably not going to all survive this.

Anyhoo... here are pictures from our happenings of the last month or so.

I found New York Seltzers. I drank these a lot as a kid and wanted to share a small piece of my childhood with the kids. Turns out that these little sodas that sell for $1 each are not that great. But the bottles are cute. Marketing and nostalgia are powerful tools.

Anders "Making it Rain" with a rare stack of cash. Where does he come up with this stuff?

We "strongly encouraged" him to run cross-country at school. He did. He hated it. We tried. 

Ava made him a sign for his race. :)

 Go, Anders, Go!

Nils framed the basement! Electrical is under way. The kids need their own rooms. It's almost been a year of them sharing, and we're just about over it. Also, see above paragraph about the musical face-off. They can do that kind of stuff all they want when the basement is done without danger of losing their lives.

We went to Cornbelly's for the first time in a really long time. It's muy fun. I lost my wedding ring in the corn pit. You probably already know that. Cornbelly's found it with a metal detector and we all cried a little. I will endorse this place and their crazy admission prices because of how awesome they were with everything.

 We'd all like to know who was in the Minion costume. A 12 year old?

The fateful corn beach of lost wedding rings. 

We went to St. George for approximately 24 hours of Fall Break. Nils went down to do some work for his old job, and it was kind of a bust. When the workday was over, he just wanted to come home and be done with it all. We're so thankful for his current job. Life is better in so many ways.

While he was working, I took the girls to the children's museum they have there. It's small, but really well done. They had fun for a good 3 hours. Nils took Anders to work with him, because Anders hates everything these days. Nothing is fun except hanging out with friends, apparently.

We watched Back to the Future parts 1 & 2 on Back to the Future Day. The kids loved it.

My mom turned 70, and we partied. Ava made her a birthday crown and everything!

Halloween 2015: Addie the hippie, Aani the fox (custom fox shirt made by Nils and yours truly, thankyouverymuch), and Ava the black cat. Anders was going to be a stick figure, but that whole concept imploded little by little the more we tried, so I don't even know what he's going as tonight.

Goood bye, October! You've been lovely. I think? I mean, the weather's been pretty great.

Really, Really Big Summer Wrap-Up

Well, summer has come to an end. It was fun and exhausting. It was a monumental summer, being the first in a new neighborhood and with a baby yard. We're looking forward to many more summers, with more friends, more memories, and better grass. 

Swimming in St. George, on our Southern Utah Tour 

The ol' yard- it's coming along. Just gotta figure out what to do with our 2,500 sq feet of hill. *crying face*

 We had cousins Xan and Tiago, from Georgia, come stay for a few days. We did a few things, like going to Neptune Park, Antelope Island and the Great Salt Lake, the Curiosity Museum, and Cowabunga Bay. We so cray cray! It was really fun having them here. We kinda like them.

Neptune Park

Review of Antelope Island and the Great Salt Lake: It's cool and beautiful. It's also gross. We decided that it was 65% cool/beautiful, and 35% gross. We've been wanting to go there for a long time, and I've read in the past that there are TONS of bugs. Well, it's true. They're called brine flies, and there are trillions and trillions of them that line the shores of the Great Salt Lake. They don't bite and aren't that bothersome once you get used to the fact that they'll land on all your stuff and will land on you if you're not moving. Also, you'll be a salt block after being in the lake. It's just part of the experience. I'd say it's worth going. It's so unique, and the view of the lake up close is really stunning.

Antelope Island sun-in-face picture 

Don't mind my finger. I struggle sometimes.

Why, you really DO float in the Great Salt Lake! Boy Howdy!

Oh man, check out this rif-raf! And again, don't mind the finger shadow. Sheesh.

 They have showers, which is really nice of them. Thanks, Antelope Island!

MomSalon:

Addie has a tradition (which started last school year) of cutting her hair short the day before school starts. She says she wants to be "unrecognizable" to her friends. MomSalon was open for business. I really don't know what I'm doing, I just basically copy the trained professionals at the salon, but I think it turned out pretty cute. Ava wanted hers cut, too. I cut hers really short a year ago, and she was sad about it all year. I tried to convince her not to cut it this time, but she was insistent. And now she's sad again. But I think she looks friggin' adorable.

Before

After

Before

After

I cut Anders' hair too, but didn't get a before picture of him. Not too shabby!

Throwing of the Meat:

My brother Greg sold his house with the balcony, so we had one last Throwing of the Meat to commemorate. I can't believe the kids still like this. He threw hot dogs and hamburgers at them this time, and it was decided that hamburgers are too gross and crumbly. Raw hot dogs are best, just in case you're considering trying this for yourselves. 

Don't fret- the Throwing of the Meat will continue from the rooftop of Uncle Greg and Aunt Amy's new house. Everything is going to be alright. 

We love summer.

Looking back at the dang Past

Uh-oh, I sense some poetic waxing and me being vulnerable coming up. Watch out, now.

Nils and I dug out our old journals a couple weeks ago and read through them. Nils' journal is seriously hysterical. He wrote in it regularly for a couple of years and filled every page with his 16 and 17 year old thoughts and feelings. I could barely breathe, I was laughing so hard. I've read it before, but it has been several years since we pulled it off the shelf. He talked about his daily routine of work, school, church stuff, and there was quite a bit in there about girls. Oh, teenage angst! It's hilarious now.

We were reading my journal, which I wrote in far less frequently- I wrote in it for about 8 years, but with a couple of years inbetween sometimes. Anyway, I said "dang" an awful lot. "That test was dang hard", or "it's dang annoying when she does that." I was so embarrassed that Nils was reading it. I don't know why- it had been eons since I'd looked at it, so it was pretty fresh for me, too. I didn't have time to pre-screen, haha. But he was a super good sport about me reading his, so I had to let him read mine, right?

Last night we were looking at old home videos that we've taken from the time our kids were babies. There was one in particular of when we brought Ava home from the hospital. The kids hadn't seen her yet, because it was when the swine flu thing was happening, so no children were allowed at the hospital. Aani was 2 1/2, Addie was almost 5, and Anders was almost 7. Anders was at school, so the video was just Aani and Addie meeting Ava for the first time. It is one of the most precious things I've ever seen. Ever. I can't stop thinking about it. Addie said in the video, "Too bad Anders isn't here to see how cute Ava is." She kept trying to give Ava her toys to play with. Aani was being unbelievably adorable, tilting her head and admiring Ava, saying, "oooooohhhh!!" I can't even stand it. I want to snatch them all out of the video and squeeze them, and then eat them for dessert.

I'm always ornery when Nils busts out the camera and tries to take pictures of me. He can take as many pictures of the kids as he likes, but I usually hate having my picture taken. I'm trying to be better about it now (kinda), but historically I've hated it. I pick myself apart and am ultra-critical, blah blah blah. My point in saying this: As current me- looking back at those images of myself from a few years ago- I didn't look too shabby. At the time, I thought I looked awful and wanted all pictures and video of myself deleted. Maybe my tummy was poking out, or my hair was wacky, or my back fat made an appearance. I'm always mortified about those things, and I know it's stupid, but there it is. Turns out I wasn't/I'm not as unphotogenic as I thought!

Anyway, I'm thankful to Nils for being persistent in taking video and pictures of our family, so we can have these memories. They are priceless. And I highly doubt that when our kids and grandkids are looking back at these photos and videos, they'll say, "Wow Mom/Grandma, looks like you were a little chunky then, eh?" And if they do, they weren't raised right and need a smack.

Write in your journals, kids! Record your life! It's easier than it ever has been, and no one will be sad that you did. And, let's all be a little kinder to ourselves. Easier said than done, I know, but it's worth shooting for, amiright?

Aani's Baptism

Aani Sophia was baptized on August 1, 2015! Her birthday is in June, but she wanted to wait until August, so her cousins, who do the Hill Cumorah Pageant for most of July, could be there.

It was a special, spiritual day. Aani is a wonderful girl. She has a gift for making friends; she makes friends easily wherever she goes. She has a great sense of humor- she gets jokes and sees the humor in funny situations. She's a good sister to her siblings. She's quick and bright, and loves school. She can be a stinker, too, but mostly she's pretty fantastic.

We love her to pieces, and thank Heavenly Father for her.

Cute matchy-match.

Grandma makes the girls these pillows when they get baptized

Nana gave Aani her scriptures and cute scripture case!

A round of Telestrations

Gotsta have bacon!

Harmony & Ava Flave

Stockton, Haylee, Oakley and Hope

Stocky-poo

Haylee giving Ava cheer lessons with Walmart bags as pom-poms. :)