Kids

 Sometimes I try to take pictures of the kids when I think they are being or looking particularly cute. 

 Sometimes it works...

 Sometimes it doesn't.  

But that's ok because it shows what real life is like.  And I want to remember that there are hard days mixed in with the good days.  :)

 I mean...look at these guys!

 They are crazy and wacky.  

 Riley has a mind of her own.  

 And big sister Sadie is such a big help.

Riley sure does love her.  She loves all of her siblings!.

Like I said, there are lots of hard days mixed in with the great days.  But I'm so happy and love my little family!

Fishing with Dad

 Rob had been wanting to take the kids fishing so a few weeks ago, he took them out on a Saturday morning.  Bright and early.  Riley and I hung out at home, and they drove up the canyon to Silver Lake.  They didn't catch any fish, but they had fun. 

 All ready to start fishing.  It was cold!

 I think Zac was in heaven the whole time!

 The last time we came to Silver lake, there were fish jumping out of the water across the whole lake, but this time I guess they were sleeping.  

 Sadie always finds the best rocks to stand on.

 Emery talked Rob into letting her wear Riley's coat.  Ha ha.  I think her wrists and hands were probably freezing.

Another cool rock.  

Next summer we will have to go fishing again so we can actually get a fish!

Pulling out the garden

A few weeks ago, Rob and the kids went outside to pull out the garden.  We were going to be doing something fun that day (I can't remember what...) and they had to do some hard work first.  I was impressed at how quickly they got it out and that they all stuck with it.

Rob had to chop up the sunflower stalks so they would fit in our green bin.

Then the kids carried them over and threw them in.

Riley was very fussy...But I got her a cookie and it kept her happy until we were done.  :)

Emery worked hard.  

Then Emery found a worm and gave it to Sadie.  Sadie has gotten much more brave than in years past.  She used to not like to pick up worms.  Now she does it with a smile! 

 Riley was adorable and sat on the step and watched us for a lot of the time.  

Can't wait until next year when we get to plant a new garden!

Witches at Gardner Village

 Yes, we went to see the witches at Gardner Village again this year.  Except my friend told me they started charging for parking!  So we decided to go around 9 in the morning hoping they wouldn't be charging yet.  And we scored!  We saw that by 9:30 they were charging cars.  Phew!  

It was pretty much the same as all the other years...

 

 These were the first witches we saw.  They were spinning around in circles.

 And the kids loved this one hanging upside down!

 We met up with some friends there.  It is always more fun with friends!

 They had this little "photo op" set up and we realized after that it was supposed to be only for the professional photography shop that was nearby.  oops!

 Sadie liked this one.

 Then we bumped into some other friends who were there for a witches breakfast.  It started to get crowded after that so we headed home pretty quick.

 Zac requested this picture with the flying witch.

 Sadie's friend London and her mom were dressed like witches.  London's mom gave up her jacket and hat so they could get a cute picture together.

 Then we had a near collision with a flying witch riding her bike!

 Then the kids took a break on the wooden swing.  

Finally, before we left, we saw these witches playing baseball.  It's such a fun outing with the kids...we are looking forward to when they put out the Christmas elves! 

Emery + snails = a morning of fun

One day while working in the garden with Emery, we discovered a black container that had snails all over it.  Emery decided it would be fun to play with them so she brought the container over to the deck and started taking all of the snails off and putting them in a pile. 

There were like 20 snails on the thing!  It was crazy. Most of them were tiny, but some of them were bigger.  Those ones were the "mommy and daddy" snails.

 Just look at that smile.  She was in heaven.

 The snails kept trying to run away.  So she had to keep putting them in a pile.

This girl is so adorable.  She named all of the snails wither brother or sister or mom or dad.  I wish I had her imagination!

Sadie's teeth

 We took Sadie to the dentist a couple weeks ago because her front tooth was pretty loose, but not ready to come out yet.  And her gums around the loose tooth were getting infected and her permanent tooth was coming in in front of her tooth.  I am new at this whole losing teeth thing, so I probably could have just waited and let things happen on their own, but I decided to take her in just in case. 

Of course the dentist recommended that I have the top FOUR(!) teeth pulled out and that would allow the room her permanent teeth need to grow in.  He also mentioned that he could do it right then...  I got a little bit sad knowing this would totally change the way she looked, so I snapped a few pictures and off she went to get her teeth pulled. I'm pretty sure we just added to the dentist's Christmas fund, but Rob and I felt it was the right thing to do.  And this is what she looks like now:

Such a cute gummy smile.  Actually, she looks different than this because her permanent tooth has grown in quite a bit already.  We love her gummy smile though!

My kids

Sometimes on the rare occasion that the kids and I are all ready and have a minute before church, I have them all go outside so I can get a picture of them.  I say rare because we have 9:00 church this year (which I love!) but it is sometimes hard to get out the door that early.  Sometimes it works...sometimes not so much.  ha ha.  But that is what life is like right now.   SO here are some of my latest attempts.

Actually these first pictures were when we were just playing outside eating otter pops. 

 Riley did NOT want to stand still.

 And then she got offended when Sadie tried to hold her hand.  ha ha

 And every time all the kids are looking, someone is making a crazy face.  But I really love this picture.  It shows their personalities! 

 Zac...again with the silly faces.  

 There we go!

The day we had the primary program in our ward I had the kids go out back to get a quick picture.  Rob is always gone by 8:30 so these before church pictures are just me and the kids.  Which doesn't work well when your 15 month old wants to just roam free. 

 Here she is in tears trying to get away.

Then Sadie grabbed her and she was still crying but you can't really tell in this picture.  :)  

I love my kids!  They keep me on my toes and they teach me so much.