Parent's visit

We are always super excited to have visitors come. I had mentioned to the kids that my parents were coming, but didn't make a big deal about it until the day there were scheduled to arrive. Before Brayden left for school I mentioned that they were going to be here later today. He was surprised to see them when he got of the off the bus. I don't think I have ever seen him run home so fast. He just couldn't wait to give them both a hug. Jared flew to Utah to attend his Grandmother's funeral so we just hung out Thursday evening and the kids loved to have two extra playmates. On Friday, I was able to got to school with Brayden for a bit in the morning to help in his class. I always love to go and see how he does at school. After school we took Grandma and Grandpa to the Root Beer store. They have so many different types of root beer. The kids also got a root beer candy cane made from the candy store they visited while in Colorado at the beginning of the month. 

After we went to the YMCA for Reagan's final soccer practice. Since it was her last practice and they are only 4 year olds, her coach decided to have a pizza party to celebrate their season. Reagan had a blast and was super excited to finally get her own medal.

 

On Saturday we spent the morning at Toys R Us letting the kids decide what they would like to put on their lists to Santa. Then we headed to the airport to get Jared. We grabbed a bite to eat and then it was time for Reagan's last soccer game. She really likes soccer, but loves to wave at us as she runs by. I think she has had a great time and wants to play T-ball this spring. This month our family has also been adding leaves to our thankful tree. He it is at the beginning of the month.

 

Here is a new tree that was higher off the ground so Dallin couldn't pull it off several times a day. Here are our added leaves when Grandma and Grandpa came. Some of the leaves were family members, toys, football, Disneyland, and church.

Sunday while we were getting ready for church Brayden surprised me with this hair do. He has been wanting a mo-hawk since football season, but we have family pictures coming up so I had to tell him no. I am sure I am bias, but I think he looks cute with any crazy hair cut. 

Monday Brayden went to school so while he was gone Dad helped me put together my entry bench and coat rack. I am so excited to have a place for all of our stuff to go. Now I just need to paint the entry and hang some pictures of the kids. We also took Reagan to gymnastics and dance. I think she really liked having them their to watch her.

After school we met Jared in Puyallup to go on a hike. It was pretty cold, but it was nice to get out and hike around. We went to a park that is right in the middle of town, but once you get on the hill you feel like you are far away. I wish we did stuff like this more often and not just when visitors are here. That is probably part of the reason we love visitors so much, cause we get out and see new things. Grandma and Grandpa left Tuesday morning after Brayden got on the bus. It is always hard to say goodbye to visitors, but it was nice to know we would be seeing them again in just a few weeks.   

Catching up with the kids

I am sure I am little bias, but I have the best kids. They are so much fun. I wish that I didn't have to do any housework or make dinners and I could just play with my kids all day long. Reagan loves to take pictures with my phone. I love that Dallin is giving us his "cheese face" in one, Reagan has her tongue out in another and finally we kind of all mange to pull it together for one of the pictures.

Brayden had a great time this football season playing tackle football. He loved having Jared be the coach and working hard, and making new friends. He learned a lot about the game. He got better at tackling and being a bit more aggressive, but more than anything else he loved it. He can't wait for next year. This is his trophy for completing the season, Jared got a signed football. They both had a great time. The coach that called Brayden up said, "he might not always be able to physically do what he needs to do, but he always knows. He was a true coaches kid. When asking the team what something was called he was usually the only one that knew." I am really proud of him for working hard and being such a great football player.

Dallin has been a little challenging lately. He is at the age where he loves to get into everything, he knows what he wants but doesn't know how to communicate that very well, and he has been sick with a cold. There is usually one thing that will make him smile and that is food. He loves to eat. He is a pretty big eater, and he especially loves juice and treats. We were in a hurry one morning trying to get out the door and we have left over donuts so I let him eat one while I finished getting ready. I knew he would be content for a few minutes while he ate his donut so I wasn't to worried. He was quiet the whole time, when I came down I saw that he had thoroughly enjoyed his donut. He is so funny. He loves his binkie too, especially if it is covered in chocolate frosting.

Lately, Reagan has been struggling to go to bed. She has always sang songs and talked to herself as she has fallen asleep. That was fine when she was in her own room, but now that she shares a room it can make it hard for Brayden to go to sleep and it can cause them to both start playing instead of sleeping. During football season I was able to get Reagan to bed before Brayden got home and we avoided this problem. I have had to give Reagan some rules to follow at bed time to try so we can avoid it becoming play time. On this particular night I had given her the reminder that she could only have one toy in her bed. When she went to bed she didn't have any toys. As you can see she left the room to get all the toys; which she knows not to do.  She did however follow the rule I gave her that night, of only one toy in bed. She didn't put them in her bed but rather on top of her bed. I was a little shocked when I went in to check on her, but was glad she obeyed the rule. Not sure if I should be happy she was so obedient to the rule or worried that she finds ways to do what she wants without breaking the rule. 

Reagan is playing soccer

Reagan is so excited to be playing soccer. It is finally her turn to have practice and have a game. She has to make sure she always has a water bottle for practice too, just like brother did. Here she is going to her first practice. Jared tries to be at all her practices; which I think is really special for her because she saw him always coaching at being with Brayden at his football games. 

 

Here she is at her first game, she is number 10 closest to us in the picture. Indoor soccer with 4 and 5 year-olds can be challenging, but she is having a great time. She mostly runs around and gives Jared and I thumbs up the entire time. She likes to play goalie and is really good at stopping the ball. So far she has made one goal, we were all pretty excited for her.

 

Halloween

Fall is my favorite season, so it is easy for us to love Halloween at our house. We started our Halloween festivities by going to the pumpkin patch. It was a field trip for Reagan's preschool, but all the siblings came. There were 11 kids and three adults. We were a bit out numbered. The kids had a great time seeing all the different pumpkins, going through a rope maze, getting really wet having duck races, and checking out all the animals.  

I love Dallin's cheese face. He has been giving us this face for a while now. I can't get enough of it. I makes me laugh every time. You will notice it in most of the pictures. 

I took the kids to the library to decorate a spooky gingerbread house. The kids had a lot of fun making their house's scary. They are both looking so big.

 

I didn't think I would be able to mange the decorating of three houses so I had just gave Dallin a graham cracker with frosting and a candy to play with while I help the other kids. I turned around a few minutes later to find him covered with chocolate frosting.

The night before Halloween we finally carved our pumpkins. Brayden's pumpkin was Darth Vadar; which was pretty difficult to carve. Reagan's pumpkin was snow white. Dallin's didn't carve a pumpkin this year. We put glow sticks in our pumpkin this year and they looked super cool.

Earlier in the day we had a preschool Halloween party at our house. Dallin had to be in all the pictures. The kids had a great time having our spooky lunch. We had witch fingers (string cheese with red bell peppers for the nails), ghost juice (juice box wrapped in white crate paper with ghost eyes drawn on it), jack-o-lantern jello, and mummy pizza. They had a lot of fun seeing their friends in costume.

 

Brayden was a Special Forces Army guy. He not only had the costume, but the attitude as well.

I was able to get one picture with a smile, what a great smile he has!

 

Reagan was Snow White, she loved acting like a princess too. We colored her hair black and she even got to wear some make up. I think she is the fairest of them all.

Dallin was a cow, with a big bum. It was so cute, but he didn't think it was all that cute on Halloween. He wore it at our ward party just fine, so I think he was mad cause he was a bit tired. So he soon became mad cow, and he ended up wearing a orange Halloween sweatshirt. He did like the candy bag, and he had a death grip on it the entire night. Once we got home it was near melt down just to get it out of his hand. That boys loves his treats. All the kids went down the street and back, then Dallin and I came home to hand out candy. Brayden and Reagan went for another hour. They came home with so much candy. This is one of the first Halloween's that I let him have candy when the label said "may contain peanuts", so we found out really quick he liked eating the "Skit Skats" or also known as Kit Kats. Here they are with all their candy. Once they got home they had a great time handing out candy to the trick or treaters. We had a great Halloween!

 

Still allergic and still has a rash

These pictures are a little sad. Reagan has had a rash since May and we haven't been able to get rid of it. Some days it looks worse than other, but it never really goes away. I know that she is really uncomfortable and it itches really bad. I just wish we could figure out what it is so we can get rid of it.

Brayden recently went to the allergy doctor and we found out very quickly that he is still allergic to peanuts. The peanuts were tested at number 62 and 81. It is kind of hard to see in the picture, but there is a white welt below both of those numbers. We were disappointed to find out that he is also allergic to macadamia nuts and pecans. I am glad we know, but really bummed out that he isn't showing any signs of growing out of the allergy. We will be back in a year to test him again. I was really impressed how awesome and brave he was during his test. I am sure it doesn't feel good, and once he starts reacting it gets really itchy and uncomfortable, and he was a trooper. It was just another sign of how grown up he is getting.

My solo trip to Boise

I had the opportunity to get away for a quick trip to Boise, by myself. This is a rare occurrence for me, so I didn't know just how I would like it. It was crazy to sit in an airport, on a plane, go to bed, eat breakfast, take a shower and not have little ones crawling all over or asking a million questions or needing a million things. I had so much extra time and it only took about 5 minutes to be ready to walk out the door. I got in really late Thursday night so I tried to sleep in on Friday. Why is it that when you have the opportunity to sleep in you can't sleep. I was able to hang out with my mom, dad, sister and my nephew most of the day. We did some shopping and some eating. That night I was able to attend the 30 year Mane Line reunion and Julie Steven's retirement dinner. It was so much fun to see so many good friends. It was a wonderful evening to celebrate Julie as well. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to learn from her and be friends with her. She is a remarkable women and she continues to be an inspiration to so many.

I was on Mane Line for four years; from the fall of 1995 until the spring of 2000. During that time a man by the name of Harvey Neef sponsored the dancers and paid for our schooling. It was a blessing to be able to go to school and dance. I met and became friends with some very special people. We have some great memories that I cherish.

On Saturday I was able to go to a BSU game for the first time in several years. It was so fun to be at the game. I wish Jared would have been able to be there with me. I really want to get him back to a game soon. Before the game we headed to the indoor facility to join all the Varsity B members. We were able to get one more picture with Julie.

 

Rachel and I struggled to get a good picture together, but had to include one. She is an amazing friend, mother, and example to me. I was also able to see a few old friends before the game. I would have loved to see everyone I care about, but my trip was just to short. Jared and I both love so many people in Boise and it will always have a very special place in our hearts because of the experiences and the family and friends we have there.

   It is crazy how much the campus has changed since Jared and I moved. I have spent so much time at the stadium and it was a little weird to see all the changes. I am really excited to see the program building and excited for all the new facilities.

 

We had a great time cheering on the Broncos. Our quarterback got hurt on the first play and so it was a little scary at first, but they came back to win. I wasn't nervous I kept telling myself what I was always told, "we don't lose on the blue." Broxson did great at the game too, he was so cute dressed in his blue and orange. It was so much fun and I am so grateful for the opportunity to go.

Tacoma Children's Museum

Our neighbor's the Williams had mentioned how fun the Tacoma Children's Museum is. So on one of the Brayden and Jared's days off we invited ourselves to the Children's Museum with our neighbors. The kids had a great time and especially loved the water area. Dallin was soaked by the end even with the water bib on.

Reagan had fun painting and building blocks and it was fun to have some one on one time with each of the kids. Even if it was just for a few minutes.

They had a really fun play area, they kids were able to make the large wings move and would pretend to be in charge and fly. They were all very entertained. 

 

They also had an area in the back with some magnetic building shapes, Brayden was there for a really long time. He loves to build things, and he is way better at it than I am. In the back there is also a contraption that is air tight and will push balls and scarfs through. If you open up a hole it will make the scarf take a different path and it will shoot out of a different opening. The kids had  a lot of fun playing with that as well. We finished the morning with a late lunch. We had a great time with the neighbors. 

Reagan's first day of dance

Reagan was very excited to be able to been in dance class this year. She was in gymnastics all of last year and really liked it, but we decided to also add dance. She is in a ballet/tap combo class and she is in heaven. It was so much fun watching her on her first day. I have never wanted to push dance on Reagan, and I don't think I ever will, but it was really fun watching her enjoy something that has brought so much joy into my life. Here she is all ready, she wouldn't hold still, she was just too excited showing me all her moves.

 

When we get home she has so much fun showing me what she learning in class. It has been so much fun, I hope she keeps enjoying it!

Reagan's first day of preschool

Reagan is so excited to start having preschool. We are doing a small co-op with a few of her friends. She thinks it is so awesome that she gets to do it with her friends. They are a really cute group of girls. I can't believe Reagan is getting so big and independent lately. She is so helpful with Dallin and since Brayden has started school they have become even better friends. Reagan tries really hard to be a good listener, but sometime she just has too much energy and she just has to run around and be crazy. She is all girl, but then can be rough with the boys if she wants. A lot of Sundays she comes into my closet with me and will ask me, "What are you going to wear today?" Then she will give me her opinion and she loves to look through my necklaces and bracelets. She loves her long hair and taking care of her babies. She is going to have a great time at school this year.