Blast from the Past

I was so lucky to see my good friend from high school, Ashley Mefferd.  "Meddy" and I had a bunch of classes together and we also played Varsity soccer.  She lives in Colorado now, but she was in Salt Lake City competing in an Irish Dance competition (which she placed 1st in)!  We met at Cheesecake Factory and spent 3 hours catching up.  It was so fun!

Taryn

I was able to take Taryn on a date a couple weeks ago and I surprised her at the Puppy Barn.  I had never been there, but I knew they had a bunch of puppies you could hold.  You're supposed to be over 18 to actually hold the puppies, so I had to hold them while Taryn petted them.  She did love it (and I am super awkward with animals.  They are pretty cute, but it's SO not my thing).  Although she loves dogs, I learned that she loves treats even more.  Once we spent about 20-30 min there, she was done and wanted to go get her treat. :)  Yep, that's our girl.

So the following picture is not from our date, but it proves how much Taryn loves treats (and all food, really).  She spent the day at Oma's house and sadly, Oma did not have any sweets in her house (which is unheard of).  Taryn expects treats when she goes there apparently, because she asked Oma if she at least had fun dip.  She didn't even have that!  So Taryn had the brilliant idea to make their own.  They took blue food coloring and simply put it in some sugar.  And that's why her fingers are blue. :)

Randoms

We don't normally put all 3 kids in a tub together, but these were desperate times.  I went downstairs to find Taryn LAYING in a bed of insulation (our basement is unfinished).  There was insulation everywhere!  I'm not sure what they were thinking, because they know they aren't supposed to touch it.  Needless to say, I yelled for Taryn to get off of it and told them all to immediately go upstairs and strip down and get in the bathtub.  Looking back, I so wish I had taken a picture of it.  It was pretty hilarious.

Our surfer boy.  He has since had a haircut since he couldn't see, but I miss his long hair.

Corbin has gotten a lot more social lately.  Playgroup helps.

The first snow.  Playing with our neighbor, Macie.

Another pack meeting I brought Reed to.  The Raingutter Regatta (they blow recyclable-built boats down the gutter).  Reed thought it was awesome.

Raking and playing in the leaves.

MJ

We just love our baby!  The pictures confirm how much her big sister adores her, but her brothers love her just as much (I'm just bad at taking pictures).  We call her MJ, but my mom and dad still call her Mazie.  It sounds so weird to me.  She certainly has been our best tempered baby and I thank Heavenly Father every single nap she takes that she is such a good baby (thanks to her wonderful, wonderful little thumb).  She is picky about sleeping in her crib but when we are home, she's a breeze.  She does cry on occasion, but I'm usually taken back when she does.  She is nearly 6 months and rolls a little and smiles a ton!  She has the world's best gummy smile!  She usually opens her mouth as wide as possible, but sometimes, she pinches her little gums together.  I love it!  We all love our little "putt-putt."  (Siblings come up with the weirdest nicknames).

Happy Halloween

The last few years we have been going to Heath and Sarah's neighborhood to eat dinner and go trick-or-treating on Halloween.  It has become one of my favorite traditions.  This year did not disappoint.  MJ did start to lose it by the end, but luckily the other kids were ready to head back as well.

Basilisk (from Harry Potter)

Hobbit

Cheetah

Pumpkin

Eating his spoils

October festivities

Plate spiders!  We've done way more crafts now that Taryn is a little older.  Reed was never very interested in art but Taryn and Corbin love it.

Kevin turned 35!  We ate great BBQ and played at Nickelcade.  How is it that all boys love video games?

We went to a cute, local pumpkin farm with some good friends.

Reed and Josh

Painting our tiny pumpkins,

We took a quick but fun trip with Heath and Sarah's family and my mom (pics to come).

We braved the great and spacious building aka Cornbellys.

Caught Corbin sneaking M&Ms from Grandma's purse.

I was able to help out in Reed's class for his Halloween party.  I loved being there and Reed did too (he hugged me like 10 times).

Reed

Reed is growing up too fast.  I love how I can have semi-real conversations with him.  He is so smart that sometimes I ask him questions that I don't know the answer to (particularly about weather, volcanoes, riptides, electricity, etc.).  He is always reading a book any chance he gets-the kid is obsessed with Harry Potter (we gave in and let him read all of them).  Reading is his happy place.  In fact, sometimes I have to make him stop reading so he'll do something else.  Since starting 1st grade, he seems to be a bit more independent and like I said, he tends to curl up on the couch after school and read.  It makes me a little sad that he doesn't spend a lot of time with us just playing.  But once in a while, Kevin and I get to take him on a date or spend some quality one-on-one time with him.

I took him to pack meeting (scouts) with me when they had the best carnival ever.  Reed ate his weight in sugar-cookie, donut, and candy.  We were supposed to go out for dessert afterwards, but I scared him about the effects of sugar overload.  I felt kinda bad.  

He's really into games and dominoes.

This is as crazy as it gets for "Crazy Hair Day" at school.  He's a pretty conservative kid.

He volunteered to play goalie.  Twice.  Enough said.

His team the "Blue Dragons" don't win a lot, but they have the best coach!  Coach Trent gives out little patches for best offensive and defensive player and sportsmanship.  It's pretty awesome.