Trunk or Treat!

Tonight was our ward's Trunk or Treat party. Last year our entire family dressed up as the Biggest Losers. This year Mitchell had to work, Grant wanted to be an air soft war man and Brent and I were lazy and didn't come up with a super fabulous costume. However, Max was supposed to be a bat for Halloween. I haven't been able to find bat wings for him. Today at the $1 store, I found him fairy princess wings. I figured we could spray paint them black. The spray painting didn't happen tonight so he went with his pretty blue wings.

He really wanted to run out the door and come to the party with us. He hated having to wear these sissy blue wings.

Max flew around the church parking lot flapping his iridescent wings. The kids loved it. Many of the real little princesses just couldn't leave him alone.

Eventually, Max got cold so we gave him a break from entertaining the crowds.

Brent and I wore these super fabulous glow stick masks. They are pretty high tech. Little glow sticks attach to the underside of the mask and light up your eyes. Yes, these are our lame costumes this year. We will have to do better next year :)

Crazy Sock Day!

This week at school is sprit week and tomorrow, Wednesday, is Crazy Sock Day! Sounds like fun??? Well, it would be if I owned a pair of crazy socks. I don't know how I made it to my adult life without a silly pair of socks to wear on such a momentous event. The fact of the matter is that I USED to wear crazy socks and didn't even know it. These pictures are from 1982.

This is the first day of school in 1982. Notice the lovely red socks I'm wearing..

This is the dress Grandma made for my 8th birthday...again, notice the lovely red socks!

I thought these had to be crazy socks since every time I wore them, one would always be lower than the other.

Hmmmmm.....maybe it's not the socks....maybe it was a defective right leg....

Super Saturday in Safford

On Saturday we left for an adventure in Safford, AZ. Mitchell was the driver for the entire trip. He wanted to get lots of driving time/practice in and this was the perfect opportunity.

Right before you get into the town of Safford, there are the famous Red Knolls. Basically it is a huge pile of dirt that has been subject to rain and erosion which has created unique caves and dangerous pits. This is a perfect place to take boys, especially, at night. Unfortunately, my boys were stuck hanging out there during broad daylight. Mitchell is in the middle of this picture wearing a green shirt. This can help you visualize how HUGE this pile of dirt is!

Mitchell and Grant scale their way up the dirt cliff to a cut out landing.

I checked out one of the many deep pits. And no, it wasn't the "Pit of Despair!!!"

We hiked to the top of Red Knolls. The boys are standing next to a 150 foot hole. They are hoping the sides don't cave in while they are standing so close to the edge.

Being the adventurous person that Mitchell is, he wanted to stand on this overhang to see if it could hold all of his 165 pound weight. Thankfully, it did!

After we left Red Knolls, we stopped by the Gila Valley Temple. It is well on its way to being completed this coming spring.

The BIG reason we came to Safford was for Joseph. Saturday, October 24th was his baptism day. He had a wonderful baptismal service where both of his Grandpa's spoke. It was such a special experience to watch him be baptised and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In honor of his baptism, a party was held at his house. It was the best party EVER!!! There were cookies, ice cream, a fire, s'mores, and pumpkins to carve!

Grant was put in charge of starting and maintaining the fire. Justin helped out as much as he was allowed to.

This is a picture of Missy, Joseph, Madi, Jordan (Julie's HOTT boyfriend), and Julie. They worked together to create very scary jack-o-lanterns!

Mitchell's newest best friend is Joshua, try not to be jealous. These two boys hung out the entire time carving pumpkins together. Joshua has amazing pumpkin carving skills. Even though he is only 5 years old, he carved his entire pumpkin on his own. Mitchell and Joshua shared lots of cookies together as they carved their pumpkins.

Mitchell's pumpkin creation!

Joseph is posing next to his Uncle Brett's H1N1 pumpkin. The runny nose and vomiting were all signs of the serious flu problem this pumpkin has.

Here is Joshua with his perfect pumpkin. It has one triangle eye and one square eye. Nice job!

Grant added a few stabbing knives to his spooky jack-o-lantern. Very creepy!

Here is Jordan, Julie and Missy again with their pumpkin that says "Wanna Kiss." I am told that this is an inside joke and I am not on the inside part of the joke to know what that means. However, if you want the inside scoop on Julie's big squeeze, you should call her. She has so many fun things to say!

We had a fabulous trip to Safford. We really need to go and visit Joe and Kami more often!

Max Loves Lucy

Max is such a funny dog. He wants so much for the cats to play with him. And from time to time, Lucy will indulge him and play with him. However, today she just tolerates him!

Sometimes Lucy will join in and chase Max around the house too. They are an entertaining pair to watch!

A Great Day for Mitchell!

Today Mitchell was ordained to the office of a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood. It was amazing to see the entire Priest Quorum around Mitchell plus his leaders. There were 13 people in the circle. Bishop McCook did the ordination. Others in the circle were Brent, Uncle Bob, Brother Peterson, Brother Steinhook, Brother Layton, Connor, Jeremy, Randy, Chris, Nathan, Brandon, and Thomas. Mitchell received an incredible blessing. We are so proud of Mitchell! Its possible that Mitchell will be blessing the sacrament next week.

The BIGGEST News EVER!!!

Today was a huge day for our family. We are so excited to finally be able to make this announcement! Mitchell just got his first job! He will be working for the new Little Caesar's opening up by our house. He starts next week! Yeah!!!!

Mitchell Turned 16! WOW!

Friday was Mitchell's 16th Birthday. He started off life at 8 pounds even and is now over 160 pounds and towers over me. To celebrate his birthday we went out to dinner, had a family party and then the next day, Mitchell had some friends over to celebrate with too.

Mtichell's birthday dinner was at Red Robin's. We all had huge burgers and fries. For some reason both Mitchell and Grant had an obsession with balloons while we were there and wanted to take as many balloons home as they possibly could. Teenagers can be so strange sometimes!

Mitchell really enjoyed the waiters and waitresses singing him the "Red Robin Happy Birthday" song. He got a free ice cream sundae when they were done and it was yummy!

Mitchell CHEATED this year and peeked at ALL of his presents before we opened them as a family. I couldn't believe it! One of his friends was there and witnessed it too. Mitchell did a pretty good acting job of appearing surprised and excited when he officially opened his gifts.

Mitchell now owns Guitar Hero World Tour. You are welcome to come and rock out with us. Grant loves playing the drums. Mitchell is EXPERT on the guitar and I try to carry a tune on the vocals.

We had our first jam session shortly after the package was opened. Our first family song was "Eye of the Tiger." We all scored over 85%. Not bad for our debut!

Mitchell got a purple bike rim for his back tire. It will match the front rim he already has. The next day we went to Kore Bikes to have it laced. His whole goal for his birthday weekend was to go to the bike park with his friends and ride!

Mitchell has wanted a purple tie for a long time. He was very excited that Amy and Bob got him one for his birthday. He said he was going to wear it every Sunday!

On Saturday Mitchell had some of his BMX Biker friends over for his birthday. I decorated the house just for the event. Mitchell wasn't too thrilled with that. Oh, well! How often do you turn 16? Then Mitchell was a little embarrassed that his friends and I sang "Happy Birthday" to him. Because of his embarrassment, he had trouble blowing out all of his candles on his strawberry cake and he forgot to make a wish.
What a fun birthday! Love you Mitchell!