advent calendar

i had forgotten that i made this advent calendar last year and was so excited to find it with all the decorations. the kids love peeking inside each box to see if maybe, maybe their mother trusts them enough to fill all 25 boxes on day 1. Ha! Fools, i tell you! Fools!

where have we been?

well, i'd like to say that we have tons of fun things to post, but alas, we're just doing the usual--church, school, and more church. we're feeling the effects of tithing settlement season and 50 or so youth interviews that have been on the schedule.

We were lucky enough to have one night to throw together our annual Thankful Turkey. We had a pumpkin left over from the garden and since he didn't get carved, he found his fate with tons of toothpick holes in his buns.

thankful things the kids came up with this year:

school, church, mom and dad, friends, food (the usual)

eli was thankful for tools (meaning his tub of play tools that he uses everyday to fix things)

he was also thankful for his zoobs

mallory was still thankful for her blankie (still can't get rid of that one) and makeup (the only thing on her christmas list this year)

isaac was thankful for the utes
and megan was thankful for her freedom and country

We had a fabuous Thanksgiving with the Hawes', chaos and all.

The kiddos love any excuse to get together with cousins and drive all the adults batty.

Isaac spent the whole day in heaven playing football with spencer, sam and jackson. that kid has found his new love. whether or not he will be participating in said new love has yet to be determined. He also got to go snowboarding the next day with sam and is set on gettting a snowboard for christmas. fat chance. this kid will soon realize that the time/expence aspect of ski/snowboarding is one thing his non-skiing parents have a hard time with. don't worry, he'll soon learn;)

Megan and Mal spent Thanksgiving trying to avoid the "football field" and getting "accidentally" tackled. They have just as much fun at grandmas playing store, school, and anything else their creative minds can come up with.

We just had to keep Eli away from all other small cousins as he attacks at will. There was only one golf-club swing to a face. No one is owning up to it, but deep down, we know Eli was the swinger.

halloween 09

black cat mallory, ipod silhouette dude megan, ipod isaac, and power ranger eli

getting ready for the big night out

m & i were gone after one picture

free candy waits for no one

especially camera wielding moms

fall goings on

after replanting thousands (i swear, not an exaggeration) of bulbs for next spring and tearing apart our playroom to make a normal family room (translation for the kids: finally breaking down and getting a tv) we had some time to get all fallish. a few of the highlights...

activity #1: having our first go at making doughnuts to spook the neighbors (side note: time consuming project, especially without a doughnut cutter...but fun and yummy nonetheless)

activity #2: a visit to the witches at gardner village with eli's playgroup

activity #3: enjoying the great weather by biking around the lake and stopping at all the parks on the way

activity #4: an afternoon spent at the new mcdonald's in the district to check out their new playplace and enjoy some fries

other activities, not pictured: walk to the local pumpkin patch, numerous nights of games with the neighbor kids, canning, canning and more canning (peaches, pears, applesauce and pie filling, grape and plum juice, tomatoes, salsa, and spaghetti sauce, and raspberry jam), throwing together "reflections" projects, playing volleyball with the young women, ward chile cook-off, and finishing up the fall soccer season.

whew! what an october!!

we've arrived!!!!

i just had to post about our most recent milestone. 10 1/2 yr. old megs has officially become our resident babysitter. last weekend, matt and i had a halloween party to be at and i was contemplating on which sitter to use. when i asked megs who she would want to come over she told me she thought she could do it. i've used her before for runs to the store and errands but never a full blown put-the-kids-to-bed, don't let anyone get maimed, lets avoid a 911 call type of job. since we were just going to be in the neighborhood, we gave her the nod and 5.5 hours of FREE, free time later, she had all the little ones fed and down (a feat not all our normal sitters have yet to accomplish), dishes done, and house picked up (well, semi picked up). we have been waiting for this day for YEARS, i tell you, YEARS!!!!

it was like a dream come true. the $40 that would have been spent on a sitter is staying put. matt and i have been planning all week what to do with our new found freedom.

so far...

early morning temple trip

run to walmart to start christmas shopping (gone for a while)

temple again tonight

night out this weekend

the list will continue

on and on

until she goes away to college and

poof

eli is11...practically an adult.

are you counting the $$$$ in savings?

cha-ching!

trip to lake powell

We've been anticipating this for months!

the kids, and their parents, have been patiently (or not so patiently) awaiting this trip to powell with our colorado buddies, the duncan's and the luck's.

we met at Bullfrog on wednesday night and spent the next 3 days soaking up the southern utah sun, getting our H2O skiing fix (it's been way too long!!!), visiting national monuments, catching up with our favorite people, hitting the dunes up moki canyon, and swimming, swimming, swimming (as if we haven't done enough this summer)

McQueens meet Rainbow Bridge





After a fun, long lost friend-filled trip down south we head home early so Matt can begin his reign as the newest "father" of the Daybreak 7th ward...if you get my drift...

i can't believe it! we're too young for this kind of responsiblitiy
we can barely keep up with our own kids
how are we going to keep up with a whole ward?

Hawes'

With my little brothers and their fams in town, it's time for another Hawes family portrait.

The answer is "yes" to all those wondering if getting all these kids to look at a camera all at once is a nightmare

we're lower left