The Backyard

So I'm back tracking like normal because of my procrastination when it comes to blogging. It seems like after Halloween hits, there's not enough time in the day to do holiday things, clean the house, take care of the kids, make dinner, etc... and then I have to blog after all that is done? No thanks. Anyway, much has been happening now, but I wanted to backtrack to when my parents came because I wanted to share with you what my dad is like when he comes to visit. I'm a lot like my dad in the fact that I always have to be going, going, going all the time. I always have to have a project I'm working on or be busy around the house which is just like my dad. This does not bode well for us when we're on vacations because relaxing just isn't in our mental capabilities. So it was no surprise when we woke up one morning and my dad had already started working on astroturfing our backyard! It was actually a great idea because the previous renters didn't do anything to the backyard so there was nothing but dirt and gravel. It's a pretty tiny yard so we just didn't really think to do much to it ourselves either. Brighton was always asking to go outside but it was just gross out there and I hated the kids playing outside. Anyway, I wanted to show the progress of my dad and Kyle's project so here it is:

Before...dirt, rocks, potholes, yuck.


Step 1: Pouring sand into the entire yard to even the ground out.
Brighton even got in on the action. We all had to "walk like a penguin" as she calls it in order to press down the sand.

Step 2: Laying out the astroturf. It's coming along!

Step 3: Nailing the wood plank sides to secure the astroturf.

And ta da! Now we have a backyard fit for a football player! Brighton loves it back there. She always asks if I can cook on the grill so she can have an excuse to play outside. Now if only it would warm up in Texas so we can enjoy our yard! Thanks mom and dad for coming out and doing everything you do!

Happy Thanksgiving

For family night this week, we decided to make a gratitude turkey and add a feather for each thing we're grateful for (thanks for the idea Clarissa). Brighton was pretty proud and pretty grateful for all of the things in her life as are we! We hope all of our family and friends out there know how much we appreciate them. Have a Happy Thanksgiving today!

Braum's

When I was little and we lived in Oklahoma, we would always go to this amazing Ice cream shop called Braum's. I had very fond memories of going with my dad after softball games to get a scoop and loving it. So when I found out that there were Braums's in Texas, you can imagine my excitement. We made sure on our trip to Dallas we hit up one at least once and it did not disappoint. It was delicious and it took me back to my childhood. And Brighton and Porter loved it as well. I guess they inherited my love for ice cream! Thank you Braum's!

Nana & G'Pops Came to Town

When we were in Dallas, my parents came to the Nascar Race there so we met up with them and drove back to Midland for their week long stay in Texas. But before we left the Dallas/Fort Worth area, we stayed the night at the Great Wolf Lodge. For those of you who have never heard of it, it's this indoor water park attached to a hotel. The whole hotel is super kid-oriented so there were forest animals everywhere and storytimes and craft rooms and everything else you can imagine. We thought Brighton would like it more than she did because she learned how to swim last summer, but I guess it's been too long because she was pretty apprehensive about getting in the water the whole time. Honestly she probably would have been happy if we'd have left her in the craft room the entire trip. But she did enjoy the storytime and little critter replicas everywhere. We had a pretty good stay and it was just the beginning of my parents' stay here! More to come on that soon!The happy camper taking a break.

The waterpark

Daddy and little B by the big clocktower for storytime.

Here's brighton's 2 favorite things... crafts and nana. She was proud of her finished product and happy to be doing it with nana.

Me and P

G'pops and Brighton enjoying the water

We decided to snap one last family shot before leaving. What a fun trip it was!

Meeg Weekend

2 weekends back, we were lucky enough to go see our favorite friends in the world, the Meegans! They live in Dallas which is only like 5 hours away (which is better than when we lived in Alaska and they lived in Wisconsin. Now that was a distance!) We haven't seen them in about 2 years so we had been looking forward to this trip for some time. Also, they just had a brand new baby and we were able to be there for the blessing which was a great thing for us. The girls got along great and it was like old times at BYU-Idaho again. We sat around and talked for hours while Kyle and Pat played chess. I forgot how much fun we had with them and being around the Meegs made me miss them even more. I guess I'll just have to wait for the day when we're neighbors again!Me and Miles. If you can imagine, he's even cuter in person.
Gracie, Brighton, and Alli all in their Sunday best
It's a tradition to always get a self-portrait when Clarissa and I are together and it almost never comes out very well. Oh well.
Pat, Claw, and cute baby Miles
Aren't they cute sisters?

Backed Up

I've been backed up lately and I don't mean intestinally. We've had so so so many things going on and I have had zero time to share it with the blogging world. SO here it goes...

We had a total of 4 Halloween parties during the Halloween week! By the end of the week Brighton was exhausted! I won't bore with a ton of details, but here are a few highlights. There was a party at storytime where they had all the kids go trick-or-treating around the library. God times were had by all except for Porter when I wouldn't let him open up the candy and eat it.



The unveiling of the Halloween costumes... A tooth fairy, a piece of candy, a tooth, and a dentist. We tried to go for a theme but I'm not sure if we hit the mark. Oh well, it was fun anyway and we had 2 super cute little kiddos.
We had a ward trunk-or-treat and carnival that was a hit in little B's eyes. She loved going and finding "buried treasure" at the sand box (which was filled with old grain by the way and was the best idea.) All the little kids seemed to migrate toward the treasure pit.

Porter loved burying his hands in the grain.

Have you seen a tastier piece of candy corn?


And lastly, we topped off Halloween night by wearing skeleton pajamas to bed. It was a whirlwind of a week but fun for all.

Fatigue

This is what happens when church is at the same time as nap time and you're trying to eat lunch before you finally get to go to bed. He looked like one of Dwight Shrute's bobbleheads the way his melon was trying hard to stay balanced as he was trying hard to keep those peepers shut.