This is Halloween...Boo!

This year for the parade at school I didn't try to fight the crowds in the gym, instead I stood outside and caught each one as they were going into the school!












I didn't understand that when Brig wanted to be "Quidditch" Harry Potter for Halloween that it might have something to do with "Hermione".

















Ben wanted to be a phantom, but it came with a mask and flashing red eyes that he couldn't wear to school. So instead I applied his make-up in the car on the way to school. The dark circles are only partially make-up, since we stayed up way past our bedtime at Heather's fun party last night.

















Jake begged for this Luke Skywalker costume that we ordered online; I tried to talk him into Han Solo in keeping with his Harrison Ford tradition, but to no avail. It's a sad day when peace-keepers like the Jedi, aren't allowed to carry their lightsabers at school.













A group shot right before the boys went trick-or-treating. It was raining really hard, so they all wore ponchos over their costumes.

Rachel had a fun party with 15 of her closest BFF's. We ate lots of spooky treats, told scary stories, played games, and watched awesome Halloween clips from Youtube that I figured out how to stream to our TV (I'm so proud of myself for learning how to do this!) We decided to give out cotton candy this year for our treats. So Paul and I ran the cotton candy machine in the garage and the trick-or-treaters stopped in for a fun treat out of the rain. The cotton candy was a HUGE hit, but we were unbelieveably sticky!!! I think that is why I carried my camera in my pocket the whole night, and didn't take a single picture (I'm very mad at myself for doing this!) Anyway, we had a crazy fun Halloween and still made it to church the next day! (Thank heavens for the 1:00 schedule.)

Heather's Shower

I love the invitation that Lindy made. How many baby shower invitations do you get with a pic of the mom-to-be with her first kill!


















Heather and her live-in Nanny.














These two turned out pretty well despite my dire predictions when they were 3!













The cutest winter hat and boots for the baby so she can go out to build a snowman--girl clothes are so awesome!

















I finally got to meet Benson-what a cutie! (just like his mom).














Rachel had a great time playing with Henrie. She loves other peoples brothers!













It almost fits-just a few more weeks! Thanks to Heather for doing the hard work so that we could all get together and party.

Ben's Prayer

A couple of nights ago Ben offered a fantastic prayer at bedtime. Here is an excerpt:

*Please bless our Grandpa and Grandma...and our other Grandma
*Please bless Rachel...wherever she is
*Please bless all our cousins...even Mallory
*help us to love our brothers and sisters...and Jake

It is really hard to model appropriate prayer behavior when little pearls of wisdom such as these are being shared.

A New Leaf

 

Every year my kids beg for "scary" Halloween decorations. I am not a fan of Halloween, in fact, it is one of my least favorite holidays, so the thought of spending actual money for skulls and tombstones gives me the shivers. This year, however, we are lucky enough to host two Halloween events, forcing me to decorate for Halloween. I have to admit that I had a really good time, and my kids were thrilled with the spider webs with fake rubber spiders, plastic rats, skulls, spooky portraits, orange/black lights, etc...I had to draw the line at inflatable lawn ornaments, but there is always next year and who knows...

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like...Halloween

BEFORE SCHOOL














AFTER SCHOOL













The best part about snow in October...it's usually gone soon!

 

Sunrise, Sunset, sniff-sniff

 

It seems like just yesterday that I was borrowing neices and nephews to experiment on, ahh, I mean, take to parenting classes (Tara and Heather I sincerly hope you haven't suffered any lasting effects). Rachel loved having Landon go to Junior High with her. He was such a good sport and big boy! We are so lucky to have such wonderful family members!

What happened to September?

So much for things slowing down a little when the kids went back to school. Here is a little recap of our month. Paul was very excited to take all three boys to the first BYU football game this year. Even though he had to buy them 50 dollars worth of snacks it was worth it to start a great father and sons football tradition. (Hopefully in years to come there will be more to cheer about.)(Curse you Harvey Unga for leaving the team right after I bought your jersey x2.)

We went to Park City for conference weekend. Paul has a meeting there every year at a really nice hotel. He worked while we enjoyed the beautiful weather and the swimming pool.


On the way home we stopped at Octoberfest in Snowbird. Since it has been so warm the leaves aren't as vibrant as they have been in years past, but it was still fun to ride the tram up above the treeline and hike through the tunnel to see the great views.

Bonnie and Charlie's wedding was so much fun. I hadn't ever been to the Draper temple before, so that was awesome.
One final note: as we were walking through the temple parking lot, Martha noticed this car. I don't know if you can see, but it has a University of Utah sticker, and Obama for President sticker. We thought it was a good thing that they had decided to attend the temple that day, because they obviously needed direction! (totally just kidding Utah/Obama supporters)

You can tell how old you are by how excited you get buying new appliances. Let me just say this was pretty exciting. I have wanted a really big capacity washer since the little boys were born, so when my sad, little Kenmore had it's last breakdown Paul bought me this little beauty (with the matching dryer, just because I'm worth it). I can wash 32 towels in one load! I don't own 32 towels! I have to go buy more towels!

Back to School

Rachel started 7th grade on the 24th at American Fork Jr. High. She was very nervous about opening a locker, and finding all her classes, but she handled it like a pro. She is very excited for her CTE class (new-fangled Home Ec.) and can't wait to take a pre-schooler to class with her (hint, hint Landon :)) She spent several hours picking out just the right outfit, and she looked really cute. She was a little overwhelmed with how far apart all her classes were, and quite indignant that she didn't have time to eat her lunch (30 min), but by her second day, she was doing better.

Brig's teacher is Mrs. Hatchell and he couldn't be happier. He is very excited because she does a lot of art projects.

Ben is in Mrs. Shores 2nd/3rd grade class this year. He was a little bummed that none of his friends are in this class, but he is excited to learn new, harder math!

Jake's teacher this year is Mrs. Frisch, and she is awesome. Brig had her last year and he told her not to get Jake in her class because Jake is a knucklehead-ahh, brotherly love. We are glad she didn't listen.

Helpful Reminder

Jake left this little note for me at the bottom of my shopping list. I keep "forgetting" to bring home legos with every trip to Target. Thanks for the reminder!

Summer Shakespeare

For the last two years Rachel's class in school have studied and presented a Shakespearean play. I have been promising to take her to Cedar City to see a play, but it is really hard to get a free night and a babysitter for the boys. Yesterday my wonderful neighbor, Sheila Beckstrand, watched the boys for 8 hours, and then my mom slept over night so that we could make a quick trip to the Shakespearean Festival and see, Much Ado About Nothing. It was so much fun, the play was absolutely wonderful. When we were enjoying the quiet ride down we stopped for gas and Rachel said, "You know what I love? Being an only child! You know what else I love? The Beckstrands!" Thanks to all who made this fun night possible!

I Need More Time !

I can't believe we only have one month of summer vacation left--there are still so many things that I still want to do, but we can cross Bear Lake off the list. We had a great weekend up at Paul's parents'cabin. We spent two days on the lake with the wave runners and everyone had such a great time.

We left friday afternoon, right after the last day of Karate Camp where the boys all advanced to yellow belts.

Friday evening after we unloaded our stuff at the cabin and had yummy raspberry shakes for dinner, we rented a bicycle built for six and (some of us) pedalled around the town enjoying the nice weather and the wildlife.

The boys liked digging in the sand so much, we really had to coax them onto the wave runners.


We couldn't have asked for a funner weekend!
P.S. Rachel made me promise not to put the picture of her in--Ahh, teenagers!

Summer Entertainment

We took Grandma K. to Scera Shell Thursday night to see Willy Wonka. I couldn't believe the boys were mezmerized the whole time. We really had a great time.



Friday night we went to Despicable Me, Fabulous movie!

Last night we went to see the Orem Owlz play the Casper Ghosts-I love minor league baseball. We had great seats right behind home plate, hotdogs, and drinks for all six of us-$36! It would have been a bargain if all the boys wouldn't have needed Owlz baseball caps.

Fabulous Fourth...and Third and Fifth

I love the Fourth of July. I have since I was about 4 years old and we lived in Provo. I used to walk to the corner of the block every day (starting on about June third) and see if the carnival was set up yet. We always went to the parade (this was before people camped out for spots and you could just go at a reasonable hour on the morning of the parade and find a decent spot...but I digress), then we would go swimming at Lee and Milt's pool. At night we would watch the fireworks from our back deck on the second story of the house so we could see over the tall apricot tree. These are some of the best memories of my childhood, I hope that I am making some good memories and fun traditions with my own children.
Since the actual 4th was on a Sunday this year, the festivities went on all weekend.
On Friday the 2nd we went to the balloon festival. This is one of our favorite things-worth getting up at 5:45 for. This year there was too much wind for the balloons to take off, but it was fun to walk around and see them all inflated.


On the evening of the third, we went to Jeff's annual "watch-fireworks-and-eat-homemade-ice-cream" party. Rachel went to the Stadium of Fire with Bonnie and Allison to see Carrie Underwood--she had a great time. We had a great time visiting and eating. Kevin was so patient with the little boys lighting fireworks, and dancing around in the smoke. Paul thought it looked a lot like "Lord of the Flies", but they all escaped without injury
On Sunday we went to Grandma Keith's for dinner and more visiting. Rachel stayed over night at Grandma's so that she could go to the parade in the morning--We took the boys to the Orem City Summerfest Parade in June, so don't feel too bad for them.
Jen and Eric's party on the 5th was fabulous as usual.
We were talking with the little boys on the way, asking what their favorite part of the party is...the water balloon fight, the sack races, the fishing pond, tattoos and hair coloring...I said, "the food" Jake responded, "There's Food?" Obviously my kids are so busy having a great time they have missed out on one of the all-time great summer pot lucks-more for me!
Patriotic hair styles, and cotton candy
Fish pond frivolity

I love this baby!
Ben and Brig with their leader, Spencer
The hotly contested sack races
Sarah and I in our matching outfits-yes my shirt is see through-it's just that kind of a party!