Crazy Weather...

I LOVE the weather we have had the last few days. Mid to high sixties...perfect.
This collage does not reflect the wonderful weather of the last few days. These pictures were taken 8 days ago at the beginning of our snow storm. I was not happy to see this along with my dead garden a few days earlier. To say the least I am not a big fan of winter (I wouldn't mind if it lasted from Thanksgiving to New Years, but after that I am done. But the kids had a lot of fun in the snow. I couldn't get them to all smile, but they did all stick out their tongues to get a taste of the snow, for me.

Halloween craft day #2. My friend Shayla and I got smart this time and stuck to one craft for the kids (rather than four). We also had some, easy to make, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (three ingredients: spice cake mix, chocolate chips, pumpkin puree).

Doesn't Ellie look fancy? Both my girls love to accessorise, they didn't get that from me (maybe they got it from my sisters, who are all very good at it). Notice her lip gloss, too. When I am doing my make-up, both Ellie and Arianne insist on putting on some lip gloss (they usually prefer a mix of about three different kinds).

I love this scrunchy nose smile of Ellie's.

Arianne is also sporting the lip gloss here.

I love the picture on the right, where Ellie is trying to love Arianne, but it is turning into torture.

The picture on the left is Arianne's classic reaction to the sight of a camera pointing her way (I have more of these pictures than you could imagine). Last night we went to a park and let Arianne ride her scooter and Malachi ride his bike and Ellie enjoyed the stroller. Notice Arianne's little Disney Princess discman. She had to listen to her music while she was riding her Disney Princess scooter. Who doesn't like music while exercising?

I feel bad...right when I tried to get a picture of Malachi riding his bike, my camera's battery died.

A beautiful getaway...

So, this post is a little out of order. We went to our nearest mountains(not near enough)a week ago Friday. Grandma and Grandpa Davies brought their four-wheeler up and they also rented this green trail cruiser. It was the perfect time of year to go to the mountains. I love the colors of fall. The pictures that I took didn't do it justice.

The kids had so much fun. Malachi went exploring and found the caterpillar (shown in the top right). He is definitely a bug lover. He will touch any bug that he finds (but if he plays too long with the bug, it usually ends up dead; luckily this caterpillar fell into a crack and got away alive).

The weather was perfect when we got here. No wind, 70 degrees, just perfect. Two hours later, all of the sudden, the wind picked up and there was a down pour of rain and it was freezing. So, our little haven in the mountains was short lived, but none the less, we had a great time.

By the time we got to the bottom of the mountain, the weather had calmed down and I could not resist stopping here and getting a few pictures. I love this old truck, with the barn in the background (how much more perfect can it get?). And if you look really closely you can see a rainbow up by the roof of the barn. The sun was setting, so there wasn't too much time to get pictures and no one was really in the picture taking mood, but I just had to get a few.

It even looks cool in sepia...

A family picture without Malachi. He absolutely refused to be in this picture (or any pictures by the truck). I felt so bad, because we hardly ever get a picture with all of us together (Don't mind my smeared make-up, remember we were just in a rain storm).

Isn't that a sweet picture of Roger giving his dad a hug? Notice the top right picture...what do you think? Perhaps our family as a future in modeling, huh? Ellie is usually the one that is most willing to be in a picture (I hope she stays that way).

We ended our trip by stopping for a burger. No, Roger did not eat this whole hamburger. We actually split it into four. Can you believe, they actually make four pound burgers here, and there is a picture of a guy who ate one all by himself along with some fries(I don't know if a picture on a wall is worth it).

noth'n but fun...

 

The other day was the perfect kite flying day. It was windy enough that there was no running or even walking involved. The kids just held onto the handle and Roger and I threw the kite in the sky and up it went. The kids had a blast. We gave Ellie a try, but she didn't like the tension and so she just let go and it went flying off and onto the top of a building. Luckily, all Roger had to do was pull the string a little and it started flying again.

Isn't Arianne's outfit lovely? She picked it out herself. Notice the pink cape, and the polka dot capris with a levi skirt.

 

Yesterday we went to our friend's (the Mabey's) and did some fun Halloween crafts to get our kids in the Halloween spirit. We did four different little projects and decided after, that one would have been plenty. It was a lot of fun. Thank You Shayla and boys.

 

The other night I sent my kids to get into their pajamas and they came back looking like this. How could I resist taking a picture?

Arianne has been tagged...

Little Ashley "McSplashly" Pitcher tagged Arianne.
Five unique things that we love about our Arianne.


1-Sometimes her life is a musical. Arianne loves singing (and dancing). Most of the time when she is singing, she is narrating everything that she does or is thinking. Only about 10% of the time does she sing a song that really exists (and even then she throws in a little twist). The other day in the van she started singing "I like to move it move it..." (from the show Madagascar). She sang that line over and over again and then Ellie joined it (it was hilarious).

2- Arianne loves gum and she is good and chewing it. She never even swallows it. When she is done with it, most of the time she will try to save it and put it a little Ziploc baggy. One time I even found her little Ziploc baggy in the refrigerator (who knows maybe she thought it would preserve better).

3- If you tell Arianne something that happened to someone, and she finds it fascinating, then she will pretend that something similar happened in her own life. For example, I am always telling my kids about stories of things that have happened to other kids when they were doing something dangerous and then all of the sudden Arianne will be telling me about her friend who fell out of a window or something like that. And she says it like she believes it.

4- Arianne loves books. She loves to be read to but, she also loves to look at the books and make up what she thinks is happening. She is quite good at it, too. Sometimes I am amazed by her vocabulary and at how descriptive she is.

5- Anyone who knows Arianne could tell you that she has ATTITUDE. When she really means something she will definitely let you know. (but she can also be so nice and sweet too and I can't help but smile when I see her beautiful smile)

Five little friends that Arianne would like to tag:

1-Lexie Day
2-Hunter Mabey
3-Reddek Allred
4-Isabella Weinand
5-Cole Schulmire
(and anyone else who wants to do it)

"Say Cheese"

Last week my mom and sister Candace visited. It was so much fun to have visitors (so if any of you ever one to come and stay with us you are more than welcome). Most of the pictures below were taken while they were here.

Ellie, Lily (Candace's youngest), Arianne, Madeline (Candace's oldest), my youngest brother Elijah, and Malachi

Arianne, Maddie, Elijah, and Malachi

My brother Elijah. Yes, it is true I have a brother that is six years old. My mom was just about nine months pregnant with him when Roger and I got married. It is pretty funny, because Roger's family is the same way, but he is the youngest. So, I have a sister-in-law that is about 54 (or somewhere around there) and a brother that is six. Making our siblings span about fifty years in age.

Malachi is all boy. He loves all the action that he can get. He loves jumping off things (luckily he is jumping on to a tramp, which you can't see below him). Later he decided to jump off of the railing (which I didn't approve of) and I didn't get a picture of that.

Elijah taking his turn. I just love being able to get pictures of kids in action. It almost makes me want to be a kid again (almost).

My sister Candace and her two beautiful little girls.

Maddie and Lily

Lily

Lily

Isn't she sweet?

Malachi "cheesing"

Arianne enjoying the best soda out there (root beer).

And what's better than root beer? Root beer and pizza (mmmm:)

Ellie being a great poser...

Arianne is going to be Dorthy for Halloween, so I had to get the ruby red slippers, but I knew that there would be a war if Ellie didn't get a pair, too. Don't Ellie's little chubby feet look so cute in these?

Ellie feels that a cute pair of shoes (no matter the color) goes with anything and I think, in this case, she is right.

Do you know the #1 song the day that you were born?

If you don't, click here. I got this on an email and thought it was fun to find out. The #1 song on the day that I was born was "Funkytown" by Lipps, Inc. I love this song. It is such a great dancing song. Dancing was one of my favorite things to do in college and I was always excited when this song came on. I still remember the day that Roger asked me if I liked to dance (while we were dating) and I said I loved it and he was so disappointed because he hates to dance. After six and a half years of marriage, I don't think he hates dancing quite as much. Maybe in another six and a half he will love it like I do. Anyway, let me know what the #1 song was the day that you were born.

I have been having so much fun with my new camera, so down below are some pictures that I have recently taken. I have a lot more pictures than these that I want to put on my blog, but I didn't want to overload you all with pictures, so I will probably post some more in a couple of days.

My friend Shayla's two little boys (Shayla is kind of a long lost third cousin twice removed or something like that)





My friend Megan's newest baby, Porter (she is also a long lost third cousin twice removed or something like that)

Six things you probably didn't know about me...

My friend Mindy did this tag and it looked like fun.

Six random things about ME (I tried to think of what are some of the most unusual things about me, so let me know if you are similar in any of these things or maybe I am just really weird in some ways).

1. I chose my wedding date in high school. When I was in high school my soccer number was 2, and it didn't take long before it became my favorite number, so I decided (I think it was in 1996) that I wanted to get married on 02-02-02. And it just happened that I met Mr. Right (Roger) nine months before and we were married in the Salt Lake Temple on 02-02-02 (its seems like it was around two in the afternoon, too). I also chose my first boy's name (Malachi) and my first girl's name (Arianne) around the same time.

2. I cannot step on a drain with my bare feet. For some reason drains just really gross me out, so when I am in the shower, I will NEVER stand on the drain.

3. I have to shake my shoes out before I put them on (I know, something else to do with my feet). I think I am kind of scared that some poisonous spider will be in there and bite my foot. Out of the thousands of times of shaking my shoes, I have never had a spider or any other bug fall out, but I think I did see a spider web once.

4. I have broken two people's arms (not something I am proud of). Both times were to do with soccer. In sixth grade I was playing soccer at recess and I had the ball and this boy jumped on my back and was pretty much choking me. So, I threw him off my back and kicked him a few times. I stopped when I noticed that he was hurt. I felt really bad after and brought him a candy bar and tried to help him with some of his writing (it was his right arm). The second time was my sister Jessica (she is five years younger than me). Jessica was probably nine or ten. We were kicking the ball back and forth to each other and one of the times she stopped the ball with her hand and I guess it hit just right and broke her arm.

5. I sometimes crave the taste of dirt and chalk. I know it is weird. I have had people tell me that it means that I am deficient in some sort of nutrient (I don't know if I buy that). It's not like I want to make a meal out of it just a very small sample. It can't be any old dirt, either. It has to be very fine and dry. Even though I like the tastes of dirt and chalk, I do refrain (most of the time, anyway).

6. I fear public speaking more than death. I hate when all of the attention is on me. I don't mind small group things, but the idea of a lot of people listening to, only me, terrifies me. I have never given a talk in sacrament meeting (well, not since primary). I am working on this problem though, and feel like I am progressing, so hopefully one day I can let you all know that I am over it.








The next five pictures are of all my kids. I was trying to accomplish the impossible (all of my kids looking and smiling at me). Here are the results...






I had to get a picture of Malachi holding his Tinker Toy creations. He can spend hours playing with these. Even though he has Transformers, he creates his own out of Tinker Toys (His creations above are of Optimus Prime and Megatron).