Catching up...random pictures from the fall

 I looked out the window while the girls were playing outside...I love it.  It looks like they were playing school or something.  And I love that Riley is now included with these cute girls.

 Preschool...Brown Bear

 Sharing a blanket during quiet time.  This probably ended in tears, but this moment of sharing was fun to see.

 Caramel apples- They are so yummy when they are covered in chocolate and nuts!!

 Riley likes to set up a shop whenever we play cards.  She sits here and passes out the "ice cream".  

What are these guys looking at???

 A whole load of wood chips being dumped onto our driveway.  Exciting stuff!

 These guys make me laugh!  They were jumping on the trampoline and came inside wearing their jackets like this.  

 New pajamas.

 Riley loves to swing...especially when grandma is pushing her.

 This was how the kids set up their stuff for General Conference in October.  

 My friend dropped off some fun Halloween donuts.  Thanks Robyn!

 Riley found some stickers...I laughed out loud when I looked up.  She put them on all by herself!

 Handsome Rob staining the sides of our deck.

 Going for a short walk with these three girls.

 After Zac's last soccer game, we stopped at this drink shop.  Nobody liked their drinks except Sadie.  Well, Riley did...she got a milkshake.  

 Riley makes me laugh...she tucks Clifford and Hello Kitty in for naps..and she builds tall towers with legos.

 Crazy hair day at school.

 Sadie made a telescope thing that she taped to her face.  It was pretty funny.  And EMery likes to hang out in the laundry basket.

 This doesn't happen often...

 We all love holding Finley and checking out her tiny hands and toes.

 Sadie got some sparring gear.

 Riley constantly asks to hold Finley, but only lasts about a minute.  

Took some pictures of all the kids...of course they all had to have a turn holding Finley in the picture!

 Riley's hair...she wanted to see it so I took a picture.  She loved that it had an "X" on it.

 Riley showing off the huge leaf she found on our walk. 

Leaves

In the fall, we took a Saturday afternoon to rake up some leaves.  The kids really wanted to jump into a big pile, and we only have one small peach tree in our yard, so we borrowed some of our neighbor's leaves.  :)  They had a blast and also had a lesson in working until the job is done.  That's a hard lesson to learn. 

Apparently our neighbor had some small rakes that they let us borrow.  Something about small equipment helps the kids stay interested.  ha ha

You can't really see it very well, but look at sadie bending down to pick up the leaves.  She is so flexible!  And also see my shadow...I'm sitting in a lawn chair holding a sleeping baby.  :)

Almost ready to jump!!!

They have fun jumping and throwing the leaves around for about 10 minutes.  

Then the girls helped Rob put all the leaves into our green bin.  Then they got a ride.  :)

Pumpkin patch

 We took the kids to the pumpkin patch the Saturday before Halloween.  It's a place just about a mile away from our house.  And the weather was so nice and warm.  It was great!  All of the kids picked out their own pumpkin.  They chose some really good ones!

 The shadows are bad here, but Sadie Zac and Emery are sticking their faces through those holes.  

 Rob dressed up for the occasion...acutaly one of the kids brought this and we ended up carrying it.  I knew that was going to happen...

 For Family Home Evening, we carved our pumpkins.  It is so nice that Sadie and Zac can do their own now.  Zac really hates touching the "guts" on the inside.  

 Rob helped Emery carve hers and Riley put a Pumpkin tatoo on hers.  I think we will do those again next year.  So easy and cool looking.

Everyone with their pumpkins.  I love how they turned out!

Halloween 2017

This year Sadie and Emery wanted to dress up as Kitara and Toph from Avatar the Last Airbender.  That meant that I had to make their costumes.  I was hoping everyone would just want to be what they were last year, but of course, it's not fun to be the same thing two years in a row! So I whipped up some costumes very last minute so they are not very well made...but it did the trick. 

Here are all the kids outside our ward building getting ready for the trunk or treat.  

Every year, the primary is in charge of planning the ward Halloween party.  This year it was more stressful than normal because I had Finley who was about 4 weeks old at the time.  It made setting up tables and chairs very interesting.  Fortunately, Sadie and Zac were very helpful and helped us get everything set up just in time even though the person with the keys showed up at 5:25 instead of 5 like we had discussed.   Everything went well I think.  It was such a relief to have the party over and done with.

Emery and her friend Stella and Zac showing off the skills of the young women who painted their faces.  :)

Two days after the ward trunk or treat, Rob invited us to his work Halloween party.  We have never gone, but this year we decided to go.  The girls wore their costumes from last year which was fun. There was so much candy and so many people.  It was pretty fun.  And bonus...Finley didn't scream in her car seat on the way there and back.  That is pretty much the only time she has gone a whole trip without crying in her car seat.  It hasn't happened since. 

The kids with Rob...I got to carry the cute little pumpkin Finley. 

On Halloween Sadie had an orthodontist appointment.  They handed out these festive donuts.  Score!

This was on actual Halloween night before the kids headed out trick or treating.  We ended up with SO MUCH CANDY!  But the kids had such a good time.  It's so fun seeing them enjoy holidays. 

Witches at Gardner Village

Of course we had to visit the witches at Gardner Village again this year.  It's tradition!  We went with some friends.  This time we went on a Friday afternoon...usually I go in the morning before the shops are even opened and its not very busy.  It was so busy on a Friday afternoon!  Next year we will go back to our morning visit.  :)  It was still fun to see the witches and be with friends. 

They had this witch set up this year with a long broomstick for a photo op.  It was funny trying to get all the kids on the broom.  

Family!  I left Finley at home with Rob.  It was his last day of Paternity leave.  

Emery and her friend Maggie.

My kids are funny because they will find a spot and pose and tell me to take a picture.  I love it.  

I love that Gardner Village does this every year.. We will see if we make it to see the Elves this year.

Fall colors in the canyon

 Every year we talk about seeing the fall colors in the canyon.  It seems like every year we miss them.  We go after the leaves have all fallen off the trees.  This year, a couple weeks after Finley was born we decided to go for a drive up the canyon.  This is when we discovered that Finley hates her carseat.  She will just scream and cry the whole trip.  We have had 2 or 3 successful trips in the car with her, but mostly I just stay home so I don't have to hear her scream.  She gets so upset that she throws up on herself.  It's really hard to listen to.  Anyway...We didn't miss the colors this year!  And it was breathtaking.  So pretty.

 These pictures don't even do it justice.  But it's all I got besides the memories in my head.

 We got out and walked around for a while...mostly because we wanted to let Finley out of her car seat to calm down. 

 We found some really pretty orange and red leaves. 

 

 I love these guys...they find fun spots to pose for pictures.  And then they won't leave until I snap a picture.  ha ha

 Riley...

I'm so grateful for the beauty of the earth. Whenever I see a beautiful sunset, or the magnificent mountains or beautiful fall colors I am so grateful that Heavenly Father loves us enough to make the earth beautiful for us to enjoy.  :)