Julia and Reflections

Julia and Principal Susan Hayes

Julia entered the PTA Reflections contest at school. The theme was "WOW.
So, Julia painted, cut, glued, etc... her art work. So fun for her!!! : ) I think she got her artsy side from Grandpa Young. He is quite the talented artist too!

Win 20 pairs of Babylegs!

http://www.babysnazz.com/contest/

For those who don't know about Babylegs: they are baby legwarmers. They are versatile in that you can use them under pants, instead of pants, as arm warmers, in place of tights, etc... They are warm and protect little knees with baby crawlers. They are awesome!!! I use them on my arms in if I'm wearing short sleeves and it's a little nippy out. Check them out!

Halloween

Harry Potter Quidditch guy!Angel Julia!

Julia was wiped out by the end of the night. We found her asleep in the middle of grandma and grandpa Halliday's piano room. How she slept through a million cousins running around her is something I can't even comprehend. : )

Alas, we didn't get a picture of Hugh as he threw up on his tomato costume. He was very cute!

Ana's Preschool Parade

Ana dressed as a princess enjoys school, especially her teacher.

Pinewood Derby

Nicholas enjoyed his first pinewood derby! Eric helped him make a truck. It was pretty fast as Eric hot glued the weights in the truck bed. Nicholas was awarded "best placement of weights."
There were hot dogs and nachos to munch on as well as the movie "Cars" playing to entertain the young kiddies. It was a fun night.

Nicholas earns his bobcat!

Nicholas enjoys his first pack meeting by earning his bobcat! He can't wait to go to cub scouts every week. And it's so nice he can just ride his bike to the church!

Eric & I

It was a nice Sunday afternoon when I convinced Eric to stop working on the dinner for a fall pose. Cute isn't he? If you want to know why we look so tired, well, let's just say we've been playing tag team. While baby Hugh and I stayed with nieces and a nephew at their home every night for 7 days, Eric held down the fort at our home with our other 3 kiddies. Ahhh, it was a little crazy...

Stephanie turns 3...???

Yes, it was my birthday. Let's just say... Eric forgot... However, to give him some credit, he did get me a gift a while back and had it in his office... a 2nd hard drive. So, it wasn't romantic, but I really needed it. Eric made a homemade fudge sauce and we made some delicious sundaes, fitting as I am not a real cake fan.

South Ridge Farms Tradition

It was UEA weekend and Eric invited his parents and sister, Darcy and her family to come to South Ridge Farms with us. It is an annual tradition for us to go to the apple farm and ride the tractor to the pumpkin patch. And you really can't leave without getting the yummy Aggie Ice Cream. It's so creamy and delicious...

Grandma and baby Hugh, Uncle Lance to right

Nicholas' Flag Football

Believe it or not the weather did warm up a bit for this game. Nicholas is one of the fastest boys I've ever seen!!! I'm not being biased... : ) He's a natural athlete with a lot of ability. The team had a lot of fun playing without all the tackling! Nicholas loves football!

Sports... Wind... Cold...

Nicholas had his first flag football game and instead of taking pictures of him, I found myself wrapped up in a blanket. The wind was frigid! Here are cousin, Olivia, with Julia and Ana.
Cute girls!

Julia, the Super Star!

Julia had her 1st Grade Super Star week and loved every minute of it!
Sept. 29- Oct. 3.
On Monday, I brought her poster to school and told a little about Julia.
On Tuesday, we brought in brownies and fruit, her favorite snacks...
On Wednesday, she brought in her favorite book to read to the class, Calvin and Hobbes. Her teacher, Miss Allen, later told me the kids were enthralled with Julia as she read to them the funny stories.
On Thursday, Julia was given a special balloon hat, made by Miss Allen, to wear all day.
On Friday, Spike, the class fish, bowl and all, sat on her desk all day.

We can say it was the best week of 1st grade so far!

BYU/USU football game

So, let's begin... the whole family drove up to Logan for this event, tickets courtesy of Uncle Marc!!! Thank you!!!! While the girls went to their cousins for a 2nd cousin birthday party, the boys and I went to the game. We arrived at the stadium and took our seats just moments before the teams ran onto the field. We were 2 rows up and right behind the BYU players!! It was great! As our team ran onto the field, I experienced something I have never experienced before... The USU student section was boooooing the BYU players. I was shocked and then appalled! After all, I have only attended games at the BYU stadium, so my thoughts were like is this really how people treat us in their stadiums??? I honestly cannot recall being in the BYU stadium and boooooing the opposing team as they ran onto the field. Not to say BYU fans are perfect because they certainly are not. But come on!!!! We hadn't even made a play yet!!! So, now I think I'm disgusted with the USU fans... And I learned that the USU and BYU rivalry is the longest one in the state? I had no idea...

The day we left Marc & Heidi's home. The kids were sad to be leaving cousins...

Asleep, Asleep...

I believe that everyone of our kids has at one time or another fallen asleep in the highchair. It was a long day... May be I need a high chair to get a nap in too... haha : )

Ana gets a creative spell...

I tell you, things always happen when I am on the computer, in the bathroom, etc... This time Ana was quietly drawing with a pen on a pad of paper, when I happened to look down to see Hugh and the colorful face ink looking up at me! : ) I really wanted to get angry! So after I told Ana that she is not supposed to write on anything but paper, I took these pictures. Besides the face ink, I found lovely drawings on the wood floor in the kitchen... Ahhh, the joys of motherhood... Ha! Ha! At least I know that laughing sends good endorphins to the brain! : )

Hugh turns 1!

I can't believe how fast this past year has flown by. Hugh has been such a sweet baby. He hardly ever cries. In fact, just recently, I was at a friends when I heard a child crying. I didn't know who it was so I went to check it out. It was Hugh! I felt sheepish that I didn't even know his cry. My sweet friend said, "that's because he never cries." And it's true! Unless he doesn't feel good or gets hurt, he doesn't ever cry. He's been such a good baby. He's not demanding unless he sees ice cream or sees the kids go outside and he wants to go to. And even then, he can easily be distracted. We have been so blessed with his sweet disposition. While he doesn't say much, he does give out little peeps here and there when he tries to get our attention. He's very subtle. In fact, just today, Eric was doing the dishes, while Hugh was playing with a doll. Then Eric heard a sound like a mouse and looked up. It was Hugh. He was so quiet and yet, trying to get Eric's attention. When Eric went over, he found Hugh looking down the stairs. The doll had fallen down there and he wanted Eric to get it. It was too cute and funny! What a sweet little baby he is! : ) I wish I could have his whole first year to live all over again. It has been a real treat!

Happy 34th Birthday Eric!

This was an inspiration from the Boston Creme Pie. Easy recipe from Kraft Magazine and oh, so delicious!!!

Ana behind the camera

Apparently, Ana found it fun to take the camera when I was busy in the kitchen. She's so cute!

Hugh and the swing

Tonight we were hanging out in the backyard just enjoying the weather. Hugh can't get enough of being outdoors. He looooves being outside especially in the swing. He does not care much for the grass and tends to crawl like a monkey to avoid touching the grass with his legs. It's pretty cute.

Survivor Ward Campout

Grace Richards, Emma Holmes, Ana, & Julia

Our ward had the best planned camp out ever! It was the 6th Ward Survivor service activity. We were divided into different groups, had to come up with a chant, wore colored bandannas, played games to earn different things... we won the "sandals of peace." It all began on Friday at noon and ended Saturday evening. We had a blast. Eric stayed over night at Mutual Dell with Nicholas, Julia, and Ana while Hugh and I went home. Hugh and I came back the next morning to play relays, eat some more, ride the zip line, and Eric even won the cake eating contest!

It was the perfect weekend. The kids had so much fun just being out in the mountains with no worry about keeping themselves clean. It was so relaxing for all of us. The girls literally lived in the sand. On the way home, Julia decided to take off her tennis shoes and sand poured out like a waterfall. Ugh!!! The kids had a good time vacuuming out the van. : )

Our neighbors: Lanae Clark, John & Mary McDaniel