Pumpkins!

Well there is nothing like waiting 2 days before Halloween to carve pumpkins! Travis left for band, I put Brynley to bed. Definitely easier without little hands to "help" maybe next year we will let her join in the fun.

Our neighbor grew a bunch of pumpkins and let the kids some over and pick one so we didn't have to buy them!

This year they were more willing to gut their own pumpkins! I scrapped down the walls and they had to dig them out.

This kid is not a fan of dirty hands. I think he was making the "Are you serious" face! 

Madison avoided using her hands and opted for a spoon! She did dig in once with her hands, yelled and proclaimed how gross it was, and ran to wash her hands!

She was pretty proud of doing it by herself this year!

There was some debate on what to carve. I wasn't in the mood for elaborate designs, I wanted to be done and they needed to go to bed.

Since Brynley is a cat this year for Halloween, I turned her pumpkin into a cat! The kids kept asking me if the ears were the eyebrows! 

All lit up and ready for the porch! Zachary's little pumpkin was really thin, so the whole thing glows!! Madison said it looked like a lantern!

Tomorrow is the big day! I will post pictures probably on Thursday! The girls costumes are AWESOME! And Zach's is pretty cool too. 

Open House

The Boise Temple has been close for renovations. It had taken about a year to complete. After a Temple has been closed for renovations and before it is dedicated, there is an open house. Everyone and anyone is welcome to come and take a walking tour. You can see everything. The tour and video takes about an hour. This was the kids first time to be inside the Temple. They were so excited. Even Brynley was quite and cooperative!

Travis's older sister and her kids come to town for the weekend. So we planned a big family day, and went together to the open house. 

Since parking is limited, we had to park a few miles away and then ride a bus there and back. This was the kids favorite part by far! I just noticed that Brynn is sticking her tongue out!

Our family along with Nicole and Shannon's families.

Our Forever Family!

Since we were not allowed to take pictures inside, here are a few that were posted at  

mormontemples.org

This is the new entry desk. The stain glass is beautiful!

This is the Baptismal Font. The kids liked this room the best!

This is a Sealing Room where couples are sealed or married for time and all eternity. 

This was a wonderful experience for our family and friends. If you live in the area and haven't been, be sure to go!!! Click on the link above to learn more!

Siblings Separated at Birth!

***CAUTION LOT'S OF PICTURES......AND CUTE KIDS!***

This past weekend we headed to Utah! Our good friends moved down there a few years ago. Our kids are just older than their kids. 

While Travis and I took Madison to General Conference (Saturday afternoon, see post below!), Kristen and Robert watch Brynley and Zach for us. they went to the park and made Halloween cookies. Madison was excited to help frost them when we got back!

All lined up and ready to frost! Brynley was at the table behind the kids!

Brynley and Courtney were given a cookie and a knife with frosting. They both chose to eat the frosting and not actually put it on the cookie!

Brynley and Courtney enjoying milk with their cookies!

I bought the girls matching Halloween shirts and made matching bows! 

These two would not sit still long enough for us to take a picture. They are only 2 weeks apart (Brynn being older). They played like they see each other every week and not once a year!

On Sunday morning of Conference, Kristen gave each of the kids a packet of activities. They were playing bingo with skittles! Gotta love the pj's and bed head!

This is what the little girls did most of the time. They both loaded up their strollers with their blankets and "babies" and pushed them around the house!

As we were loading up the car, these two kept themselves busy playing in the van! This is Courtney's "cheese" face!!

The boys were hiding from the girls!

These two had so much fun together! Madison and Carly have been friends since before Zach and Brandon were born! They are so much a like it's scary! Madison is 6 1//2 months older than Carly.

Again, another set of twins! I called them brothers from another mother! Zach and Brandon have been buddies since they were 1!!! They are now both 6. Zach is 2 months older than Brandon. 

Sadly it was time to go and these 6 were sad for that time to come. This has become a annual tradition. Either we go there or they come here! We all have so much fun together, even the adults. Travis and Robert play flag football, and watch a Duck game every time we visit!! Thanks again Kristen, Robert, Carly, Brandon and Courtney!! We had a blast! Let's not wait a whole year next time!

6 weeks are finally over!

For the past 6 weeks Travis has been at POST for training. He was able to come home every night, most people had to stay there on campus in the dorms! The days were long and the food was horrible! He left the house every day just after 5 am! And most nights he would come home exhausted and go to bed by 9p or earlier!

He was elected class president (voted by the class), and had the privilege of speaking at graduation. He was ranked 4th in the class, which was a total combined from everything they did and was tested on. 

The President giving his speech! He did really well. 

Here they are being sworn in, repeating the Peace Officer Oath by the judge.

All lined up and ready to receive their certificates. 

All DONE!! He was glad to be done! There were 9 in his class. 8 guys and only one girl! He made some lasting friendships, and great memories. 

We are all gad that he is done. His first week back will be very busy then we will get back on a regular schedule. 

Utah 2012

Every year at about this time we make a trip to Utah. Our good friends the Crockett's moved down there a few years ago. Our kids are all the same age. So it was like having 3 sets of nearly identical twins!!! 

This year when we went it was Conference weekend. Our friend Raja got us tickets and Madison and I were able to go together! Travis waited in the standby line and wasn't able to get in. :(

Ready to go in! We were there early. We had to be in our seats 30 minutes before, or they would give them away. We said goodbye to Travis, we went in and he went and found the standby line!

Madison wanted to take a picture with the glass fountain before we went to our seats! She had so many compliments on her dress. She got tired of saying "Thank You!"

In our seats! It looks far away but actually we were pretty close. We could see face, we didn't need to watch the big screens!! Madison kept saying how awesome it was!

It was starting to fill up! Madison wants to sit way up high next time!

I think we will wait for Zachary to turn 8 before we go again. 

She was really excited that it was "half time" only 1 hour to go!!!

At the end! It was a great experience! Thanks again Raj for getting us tickets!

Since Travis wasn't able to get in (no ticket, and the standby line was toooo long!) we agreed that we would meet by the reflecting pool! This is one of my favorite pictures!