Our Thanksgiving

It was great. It started with Andi having her little Thanksgiving feast and presentation at her preschool.



Cory made hor d'ouvres (horsey doovers) at 12noon for a little snack. Then we went on a walk to the park down the street. It was beautiful weather. No sweatshirt needed!




Cory decided to be funny and climb up the play structure. He kinda got stuck trying to swing his leg over. I think he realized he's not as agile as he used to be. I guess no more acrobatics for him!



How many people can fit on a slide?



Since we stayed home for Thanksgiving this year, we invited another "Family-less" family over from our ward. They're great friends of ours and their 3 girls are the same ages as our older 3.
Cory and I cooked the turkey, apple sausage dressing (bad recipe), traditionas dressing (good recipe), pumpking pie, carmel apple cream cheese pie, corn, and the mashed potatoes and gravy. I must say... it was DELICIOUS for our first time ever Thanksgiving dinner! Angie and Ric brought over yams, green bean casserole (a classic) and banana cream pie. We then followed the evening up with some guitar hero. Over all, it was a great day.

Had to get a picture of this tree on our walk. So vibrant!

Beautiful 4 yr old

This is our sweet dear Andi 2 months ago. Beautiful, wouldn't you say? Well, I would.



Yesterday I found this on the bathroom counter:


And now this our dear sweet Andi:


I'm not too happy about it. I told her she's very lucky I could fix her "cut off the piggy tail" episode into bangs. I'm not too fond of bangs- too much work!

Time for Fall

Is it weird that our garden is still producing peppers...

...and strawberries?

When I look out the kitchen window, this is my view. The changing colors of the trees sure tell me it's fall.

Halloweenie

Yes, ours was great. Especially since the weather was a nice 68 degrees. No jackets needed for Trick-or-Treating this year! The kids had a nice time dressing up:

Ashley: SuperGirl
Ainslee: An academy award winning actress (she had the little statue, too)
Andi: Tinkerbell
Spencer: Skeleton
Avery: A cat. Actually, it's the same cat that all the girls have dressed up as. We have pictures with each girl in that costume!

Cory really likes dressing up. But it always happens about an hour before it's time to go to the Ward Trunk-or-Treat. Last year he was a cowboy which was good because he had everything for that. This year he wanted me to dress up and I actually did. I'm not the costume type but I'm getting over a lot of my fears in my old age (not scared of Mascots anymore!). So we dug through some old boxes from High School. Cory wore a football practice jersey (from his glory days, from what I hear) and I wore his Letterman jacket. I also wore his class ring around my neck. Yes, high school sweethearts. Even though we weren't, but it's just a costume. Pretty sure he called me Lori and Joanna once that night :)

Earlier in the month I took a trip with the younger 3 to a pumpkin farm. Great times.

We even carved pumpkins for the first time since having kids. We've always just "accidentally" forgot to carve them because it would just be total chaes. But it wasn't this year. No blood and no screaming. Success!!!

p.s. Aunt Karen: we only took 1 Butterfinger for our whole family! Bummer that we missed you.

Mr. Spencer

That's the nickname I gave him. It's not very good, I know, but it at least sets him apart from all the misses in our house. He said something so funny the other day. Let me give a little background... When one of the kids is doing something naughty but funny Cory and I will turn to one another and say, "Look at what your daughter (or son) is doing." Because of course it puts the blame on the other one. It's all in good fun and we can't say it without a smirk on our faces. So the other day, Avery found her way to the trash can. She had pulled something out and I wasn't paying any attention. Then I here Spencer say, "Mom, look your daughter doing." Ha Ha Ha!!! So funny! I thought for a 2 yr. old that was very wise of him! He knew exactly when to use the phrase. Man, what would it be like without him. I can't (and don't want to) imagine it.

Seriously, what are the chances?

I am so giddy with excitement. We're finally getting family pictures taken in 2 weeks. The last time was a year and a half ago. Spencer was only 6 months old! It's been a while, I know. And I booked this fantastic girl who's got great style. So now it's time to check the outfits and see what we've got.

And of course this has happened:

Anyone got any 'teeth adding software' I could borrow :)

Additional Happiness is...

listening to a song by these guys (not girls):

and eating:

Happiness is not:

remembering you have more student loans to pay off!!!

(I'll gladly accept paying off loans for higher education and job stability)

Happiness is...

paying a student loan DILIGENTLY for so many years then one day getting a letter saying that because we've been so consistant and on time (no late payments!) at paying that they will forgive the rest of the balance. That is 1 whole year worth of payments done early!!! That's in the hundreds of dollars saved!!! And it was such a surprise!!!!

Finally, a reward for being financially responsible. Hey, since we've been paying our mortgage perfectly but can't refinance because we haven't been deliquent while others CHOOSE to not pay their mortgage just to be able to get their loans modified... I guess this little surprise helps make up for it.

No more baby

That's it...she's done it.

Avery turned 1 yesterday!!!

We can't believe it either. Time flies.

Something I thought I'd never have to say...

Yesterday I said something that never crossed my mind. I can't believe I had to say it! Not until you have kids does it make sense. I actually had to say:

Nooo!!! That's not hairspray- that's cooking spray!

NOT a good thing.

The start of school

I feel a little sickish. I just dropped Ashley and Ainslee off for their first day of school. I don't want to let them out! This is what I really want to say to them:


Stay here with me where I'll protect you from the terrible things that happen in the world! Then again, life is a growing process and you can't grow to your full potential with just us here. You'll have wonderful experiences and you'll learn a lot. I just hope that you are nice with everyone and you remember how special you are. I miss you already and it's not even been 2 hours yet!



Ainslee off to 1st grade




Ashley off to 2nd grade

Man, how time flies

Are we really this old??

Happy 10 year Anniversary!!

So Mixed Up

Does anyone else think:

"Oh my gosh, somebody take my kids! They are driving me crazy with all the bickering and screaming. By the end of the day they'll be up for sale!!! AAAAAHHHH!"

AND

"I love these summer days with my kids. Taking it easy, letting them sleep in,and just letting them be kids. I'm so happy I get to just look at them all day long and I don't want this time in our lives to end"

at the same time???

I do.

Does he really want to do it again?

Let me tell you a little story. . . A long, long time ago- 8 years ago actually (before we had kids!) Cory and I took a long, long plane ride to a distant land. We had some really nice company. . . Allen & Denise (Cory's mom & dad) and Chad & April (Cory's brother & his wife). We took a 10 day trip to Spain. We had so many adventures while we were there: Cory bought a really wicked looking sword, we were within inches of getting our very small minivan wedged in the alleyways, we got a police escort out of a city for driving the wrong way, walked 1000 steps to a beautiful church on a cliff in the ocean, I was throwing up constantly in the car (I am still SO SORRY & EMBARRASSED!!), we relaxed at La Perla Day Spa on the beach in San Sebastion, visited a few castles, bought a Lladro, ate blood sausage (okay, not me but the boys did), crossed into the sea side town of Bearritz, France, visited the capital of Madrid, toured El Prado Museum in Madrid, and many many other things. But the whole reason we went in the first place was for this. . .

The Running of the Bulls

Crazy, I know, but Cory had the time of his life. He's looking into doing it again! What the heck?!? Wait a second. . . "Hey Cory, when is that life insurance policy going to be active?" Just kidding. These next 2 pictures are him in the arena with the bulls. I know there's a ton of people in there but we circled him if you enlarge the picture.

Here is Cory in the middle with his dad on the left with the dark brown hair and his brother on the right.

That was a great trip and it's so fun thinking back to great memories.

We survived!!!

And we're alive today. I'm talking about the car drive home from Utah. We were there for the week (the girls had a BYE with their meet). Actually it was Cory's turn to do man work up at the farm with his folks. He was craving the fresh air and hard work so we decided to drive out to Utah where he could meet his parents. Then the 3 of them left for Hermiston while I stayed with the kids at my folks' house. Cory had a great time- even bought himeself a new cowboy hat. We also had a great time although the weather was weird. It rained 4 out of the 5 days we were there! Here's a little photo history of our trip:

Monday:

We met up with Cory's parents, Allen and Denise. We picked out yummy treats at Allens office and then we went to Chuck E. Cheese. The kids had a blast. Later that evening, we went to a Bees Baseball game. The kids have shown a lot of interest in baseball lately. We met up with both grandmas and grandpas for the game. We even got to see Alyshia for a little while (the kids love you, Lysh).

Then the 3 big girls had a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa Rice's house. Priceless!

Tuesday:

We celebrated Father's Day with Allen and Cory. We went to Bucca de Beppo. Thanks, Allen, for working so hard for all your family. We notice it and appreciate it!



Wednesday:

Cory and his parents were off to the farm! We went to the aquarium with my mom and Katie (she's in the picture with us). It's not huge but has just about everything little kids would want to see. We were all way too freaked out to touch the sting (manta?) rays.






Thursday:

We had a picnic up at Tibble Fork Resevoir in the Alpine Loop. BEAUTIFUL!!!! We walked around the lake (halfway) and the kids enjoyed feeling the snow run off.


Spencer's on his man perch ponding life with girls with a few root beers in that cooler.

Funny story for you. . . As we were driving home, my mom had the girls all singing a nice little tune. And BOY were they singing! Just having a grand old time! Spencer sat the whole way (25 min) with his index fingers in his ears. He didn't scream, cry, or fuss. Just plugged up the ears. Too funny!

Friday:

We picked up some baseball mitts with my Dad and went outside and practiced. They need a little bit more time (if you know what I mean).

Saturday:

It was monsooning (is that a word?) so we went indoors for the day. We hit Cabelas (aka the museum) for the kids to see lots of dead animals. They chose it, not me! Then we were off to the Dinosaur museum which we'd never been too. Very neat! Ashley's right at that age where she wanted to read every little sign (aaahhh!) and Spencer just wanted to run and climb on the exhibits (did they get that on the security tape? Ooops). And Ainslee,Andi, and Avery just went with the flow.

Sunday:

It was of course Father's Day. Cory came home from the farm and my dad treated us (and him) to grilled steak. Then we went out for more baseball. It was a great day.