I love this man!

Can you see why I love this big hunk of love? For a chemist, he sure has a lot of personality! This was Mike after his last MUDDY football game. (I have yet to get his TORN shirt clean.) This was the first game I missed and from the sounds of it, Mike played really well. (Though he may be trying to impress me- as if the torn shirt wasn't enough!) His intramural team has made it to the championships!

Halloween

Colton was playing the part of a football player tonight at a party when he kept raiding the snack table. Those Dorito's sure are good!
Ready to GO! He hardly let that football out of his hands all night! He'll make a great running back!
Lydia was supposed to be a dog, but like all indecisive children, this afternoon she decided she wanted to be a princess. I guess she was Cinderella putting on her lost slipper.
Please excuse these pictures that are all out of order. Colton enjoyed carving a pumpkin and standing on the table. I think standing on the table was the best part for him.
Getting ready to hit those houses! Note who is wearing the dog costume.
Snarfing a cupcake from the cake walk. Colton is in the middle of the circle doing the same thing. I think my children like pastries.
Cupcakes Lydia and I made for the party we went to. The sort of fun, and easy treat I can handle. (spider webs if you can't tell.)
The result of a fun filled night. Lydia's bag on the left, Colton's bag on the right. We all have our priorities.
Carving the pumpkin.
A Pirate Party at school. They even dug up treasure in the playground sand. It was so cute!

Thank you Mama

A little gratitude goes a long way. The last two nights, Lydia has thanked me profusely for dinner. "Thank you Mama." She says repeatedly. I'm amazed at how happy it makes me to hear those three words coming out of her mouth. Never before has she noticed that night after night a meal is placed before her. Never before has it been acknowledged that I took the time to plan her meal. This is the payoff of being a Mom. Seeing your child grow and learn and become aware. I'm sure that when Lydia says thank you her gratitude is the result of a pleasant taste in her mouth and a full belly, but to me it means thank you for staying up all night to feed me when I was a baby. Thank you for giving me comfort when I have fallen down. Thank you for taking me fun places, getting the stains out of my clothes, cleaning up my spills and answering my incessant question of 'why?' Well Lydia, thank YOU for letting me be your mom.

I love autumn

The trees are turning colors and I LOVE IT! Mike was kind enough to act as chauffeur on a photo shoot where I got this picture as well as the last one. I love leaves crunching under my feet and watching them fall quietly to the ground
Along with leaves come those fun fall activities. We made bats out of black construction paper and hung them in the window. (Very exciting for a 3 year old.) Today we picked out a pumpkin and Monday we raked leaves for a widow across the street. Growing up in Idaho, I did not rake too many leaves. We raked the leaves from just one big old tree and it took us an hour. The pile was almost to my shoulders and about 10 feet long. When I took Lydia to school the next morning, the grass was covered again! I guess we will be back, but I think we are all excited about that because it felt so good to do some service.

A quick trip

As many of you know, I was in Idaho last week for my Grandma's funeral. Though my parents feel bad because they were busy with funeral arrangements and potato harvest, I had a wonderful time coming home. Mike had to stay in Indiana in order to finish some things up at school. The kids were great on the plane and excited to see their Grandma and Grandpa "playdough" The kids liked seeing Grandpa at work. What is cooler than driving tractors, motorbikes and big trucks around?
It was fun to see the potato harvest again. Nothing brings back memories like the smell of a dirt cellar.
This is a totally random picture. Colton loves this hat and always wants to wear it when we go out.
Swinging in the backyard at Grandma's. The kids will sure be excited when they can swing on the swingset Grandpa has made for them.
Oops, forgot to rotate this picture. Colton is in the rabbit cage. I had opened up the cage to give the rabbit the core of my apple, but Colton wanted to see the rabbit up close, and then that apple looked pretty good too, so he took a bite and then gave it back.
My brothers laying flowers on my Grandma's casket.
My siblings at the funeral.
Now I know these are not flattering pictures, but while I was home several people mistook me for my 9 years younger than me sister. We took these pictures one late night and I must say, we do look alike, even in our too tired I feel goofy state.

After our time in Idaho, we went down to Provo to see Mike's sister. Here are all the kids together enjoying popsicles.

We went to this fun place with all these trampolines all connected together. Afterward the kids were all very tired.