Carving pumpkins

With all the excitement of moving, we were a little late carving pumpkins this year, but the kids had a blast.

Pizza and Painting

We finally bought a house!  Yay!  We have been thinking about it for a while and since our contract was going to be up on our rental in November we decided it would be a good time.  We had debated buying our rental, and the owners really wanted us to, but in the end we decided that we really needed something bigger.  We knew we wanted to stay in our neighborhood so our choices were pretty limited, but we ended up really like one house and put an offer on it in August.  The owner's were nice enough to let us delay closing until our contract on our rental was up.  We were able to take over on October 15th and decided that we wanted to repaint before moving in.  The house is 10 years old so it needed a new coat of paint badly.  Annie was my saving grace!!  I COULD not have done it without her.  The house we bought happens to Nate's sisters so she spent several days helping Nichole clean before she moved out and then countless days helping me paint!  We really were hoping to get the painting all done over UEA weekend, but we also thought we'd have more help from family.  Then Grandpa had his accident and that all went out the window.  There are only so many people you can ask to help you paint.  Annie was here helping me until 2 or 3 a.m. several nights.  Not to mention she took the kids several times too and helped us move everything in.  I am so grateful for awesome friends and neighbors who dropped everything to help us with our kids, clean, and move!  My amazing visiting teacher text me almost everyday to see what she could help with.  I finally gave in and asked her to help clean up our current house and do some laundry so my kids would actually have clean clothes to wear to school.  It was a LOOONNNGGG week to say the least.  We all know how well I function without sleep so I'm proud of myself for making it through! We love our house and our space!  It has been awesome for the kids to have their own rooms and a finished basement!  Lesson learned though... next time we will hire painters!!

Homecoming Parade

The girls were in the homecoming parade for dance.  They were so excited, especially Bailee.  These aren't the greatest pictures, but they loved their pom poms.  When they saw us, they cheered as loud as they could.  We even managed to convince Cole that Big Blue wasn't going to be there so he would come watch. (he has a crazy fear of Big Blue!)

Soccer

Cole loves soccer.  He played this fall on a fun team with lots of friends.  He is not afraid to go after the ball and play his hardest.

Brooke played too, I don't know why I don't have any pictures of her team.  She finally scored a goal on her last game of the season.  She had been trying to hard and was so excited.  We were so proud of her!

Cole is 6

Wow time flies!  Cole is 6 years old.  His birthday lasted about a week this year!  Matt got to go to school and do a spotlight for his class.   He got to have his first friend birthday party on Friday.  We went bowling with about 15 little boys.  Talk about chaos!  It was hard to get them to hold still for pictures.  They had a lot of fun though!  From mom and dad he got Fire Plans, from the new movie Planes 2.  Saturday we went to Pizza Factory will all of mom's family.  Sunday (his real birthday) we celebrated with Matt's family and Cole asked for an army man cake.

Cole at 6

• Loves sports of any kind
• Disappears outside for hours
• Hates to wear shoes and is always losing them
• Loves fishing
• Learning how to read
• Has feet that are as big as Brooke's
• Doesn't really like to eat out, prefers to stay home and cook

Bailee's First Day

Bailee was excited to finally go back to school today.  She was pretty nervous and didn't want me to leave, but the teacher said she did great once I was gone.  She usually struggles at first with new situations, but once she adjusts she usually does great... hopefully that will be the case with this school.  Even though she went to preschool last year, it was more of just a social setting and all about interacting with other kids.  I am hoping that this year she will start learning more of the academics like letters and numbers.  My baby is getting so big!

School Blues

I have had a hard time letting my kids go back to school this year.  I miss them.  Especially Cole.  It has been a hard adjustment to having him gone all afternoon when I am used to getting one-on-one time with him while the babies sleep.  He hasn't even wanted me to walk him in to class.  Today I stood at the end of the hall and watched him walk in.  I know he loves it and it is good for him (and Brooke too) but we miss them while they are gone!  Oh well, Bailee and I will just enjoy our alone time for now... diet cokes, sixlets, and naps aren't all bad!

Catherine's First Half

Catherine has been running with a track team for a little while now.  This year they were going to be visiting during the half, so I asked her if she wanted to run it.  I was planning on running with her, but she told me I should just run, that she would be fine by herself.  It was pouring rain when we went to pick up our packets so I was a little worried about race day, but it turned out to be beautiful!  Catherine ran 1:58.  Pretty stinking amazing for being (almost) 12 years old!  I can't wait for her to get older and run more!  It is hard to believe that she was just 2 and in love with the "purple bacuum" when I met Matt.

My race was less than stellar and I was a little disappointed in myself, but I guess that happens when you don't train.  I really wanted to keep up with Amy Zollinger, but after the first mile I knew there was no way that was going to happen.  Someday!  Then, I was trying to keep up with the girl in front of me for most of the race and I finally took my headphones out and started talking to her to distract myself.  We ended up finishing in 1:35, and sprinted the last 200 yards because neither of us wanted to get beat :-).  I still placed 3rd in my age division and I was pretty ticked that I had to stay for awards after I had a bad day.  The girl I ran with came up to talk to me after the race and it turns out she just moved here from New Zealand and asked if I would like to run sometimes.  Since Meridith is pregnant and out of commission it will be fun to have a new running friend!

First Day of School

I wasn't ready for school to start this year.  We had such a great summer I just didn't want it to end!  It will be nice to get back into a good routine, but I will miss our lazy fun days at the gym and the pool!  It is so fun having kids that are old enough to all go places and not need naps.  The kids were excited about going back and seeing their friends and teachers.


Bailee - preschool (but she doesn't start for a couple more weeks)
Cole - Kindergarten
Brooke - 2nd Grade

Play Day

Rick and Candice are back!  We are so thrilled to have them back in Utah.  Bentley and Brooke are going to be in the same class this year.  The day their moving truck got here, I took the kids for the day so Rick and Candice could move.  We had so much fun!

We played in the canal at the park and had a pizza picnic.  Then we drove to Brigham to get snow cones because Trek was so tired and needed a nap.  On our way back from Brigham we stopped in Mantua and got out to see the lake.  Then we went home and changed and watched a movie.  After the movie we picked up Artic Circle for dinner and got to the new house just as a the movers were finishing up.  The kids got to honk the horn in the truck and wave goodbye.  It was such a fun day!  We love our friends!