Halloween

What a fun time of year! With carnivals, truck-or-treats, school parties and Halloween night, we stayed really busy! Here are the kids in their costumes. Jaxson was Jinga Fet(or something like that), Grace was a bride, but had to be beautiful and not dead or scary...boring!!, Isabella was a mermaid and Brock was a Lion!!


For the past few years, Halloween candy has been such a sugar nightmare, we came up with the Great Pumpkin. Each year, the kids put all their candy, except for 10 pieces, out on the porch for the Great Pumpkin. In the morning, they run out to see what he left them in exchange! This year after Isabella got a pink baseball glove, she exclaimed, "I love the pumpkin man"! Jaxson got a remote control jeep and Grace got brown boots. They never miss the candy and are so excited to see what is left for them. Here is the amount of candy that was collected...we even had already handed out all they had gotten at the truck-or-treat the night before! AHHH!!

Yea for missionaries!!

We are so proud of our missionaries and love to hear their experiences and relive our own missions! Elder Nathan Gill is serving in Canada and Elder Tarryn Acker is serving in the Ogden, Utah mission. Here are some pictures of them. Anyone recognize the tall black man with Elder Acker?? Just to give you an idea of his height...Tarryn is 6 foot 3!

Dressing up at Nancy's!

Each month the exchange students in Sophi's group can get together for an acitivity. This month was a Halloween party at Nancy's house(the lady in charge). She let everyone go through her dress ups and then we went to a senior center and had them judge everyone for the scariest, funniest, and prettiest costumes. Here is what my kids came up with. Jaxson won for the scariest! Sophi and her friend Evelyna did win second place on the pumpkin carving contest and Bella won third place! It was a fun afternoon!

Grace cheerleading!

Heights HS Cheerleaders did a fundraiser and had a cheerleading clinic last Saturday, for any girls interested from 1st grade-5th grade. They performed the cheer and dance at the Friday night football game! I am trying to download the dance onto the website but it's taking forever so I'm going to post a couple of pictures and as soon as we can figure it out, we'll post the actual dance! She sure can shake those little hips!! There are also pictures of us sitting on the bench, Sophi brought a friend to the game named Nadin.

Bella's soccer game!

Finally we have pictures from Bella's soccer game! Only one game to go!! Go Lions!

Halloween Party at Robbin's!

Robbin had us all over to her new house for a Halloween party. We had fun decorating, eating witch's hats, a skeleton made from vegies and really enjoyed the pumpkin, apple snowcones!!! We also watched a Goosebumps movie and E.T. since that is the new sign Brock has learned(thanks Kensie!!). We had a lot of fun and are so happy to be able to spend the day at Robbin's with no concerns about the neighbors below!! Thanks Robbin!!

TAAZ!

Thanks Torrie for the very addicting website, here were a few of the transformations we made!

Here We Come!

Thanks salt lakers for the cute note in the mail and Stacie for the fun pictures, here it is so I can always remember:

35 hours in the car was such a blast
But we're sorta glad it's in the past
We left in the dark with only one bark
And that was before we got to the Park(City)

A few more yelps and the driver finally stopped
We all plugged our noses
Because the restrooms weren't mopped

We had a seat full of treats but that wasn't enough
We made 10 more stops
To get runts, duds, and relief for poor pops

Once we arrived in Wichita
We were so amazed
Gas for under 3 dollars?
Wow! Look what dad will save $Ch-Ching$

Meeting Sophia was such a treat
Her Nutella cake can't be beat
Meeting Franzi on the cruise will be such a blast
But don't tell the Michels, they are still the outcast

We loved Carlos O'Kelly's and Chuck E Cheese
But the real highlight was the Secret Life of Bees

We liked watching Bingo and Milo at play
We're sure the bone will show up in an unexpected way

Haleigh was able to get the stink out of her skirt
But for all of her trouble, she wants a new shirt(KIDDING!)

Sorry we took you to the mall and put you in a rush
Making you forget MORE than just the brush

Thanks for starting the massage tradition
But if it ever stops, we will start a petition

Soccer, cheering and the baptism were so much fun
But, chasing hamsters was second to none

Alligator heads and Feng Shui
Don't hold a candle to Derek's burritos, Ole'

Thanks for the beds and hospitality
Now it's your turn to come to Salt Lake City

Jaxson's baptism and confirmation!

We had such a great weekend. Patti and her girls, Jan, mom, and dad drove 17 hours straight from SLC and Stacie, Jess and Milo drove 11 hours from Mississippi to be here this weekend for Jaxson's baptism. We had a great time. Grandpa had promised Bella he would take her to Chuck-E-Cheese so after a nice long 4 mile walk, we spent the rest of the afternoon having basketball and dance competitions and having Chuck-E sketch our photos.


We ended Friday night at Carlos O'Kelly's, Patti's favorite restaurant and going to see "Secret Life of Bees", which is great! Then just before we were going to bed, Kensie ran upstairs saying the hamsters were loose in the basement. I keep forgetting to buy them more food(opps) and they finally managed to escape the cage in search of something to keep them alive. After much searching and Jess' skills with his hat, we were able to find and catch both hamsters and return them to the cage. At that point we put carrots and lettuce in the cage and put them in the garage just in case they escaped again. Well, sure enough, Sat. morning, one was missing, we looked all over the "busy" garage and no hamster. Jaxson tried to cancel the whole day of soccer and baptism because he was so upset. We told him to put on his clothes and say a prayer. After the morning activities of soccer and cheerling clinic, we came home and the other hamster had escaped...we started looking around the garage and found both hamsters, safe and alive again! Quickly Derek took the kids to the pet store for food and the rest of us taped the cage up white triz style with black electrical tape to keep those things from escaping again! Some hamsters don't live a month and for some reason ours are outliving starvation and being eaten by the 2 dogs and escaping into the basement and garage with dark holes...why us?? Jaxson was very happy, however, to have his prayers answered.
Then at 6:00pm was Jaxson's baptism at the church. It was beautiful and there was a lot of support from the church members and even some neighbors. We then went out to celebrate at Freddy's Frozen Custard. Sunday he was confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost, from his dad. He looked so handsome in his little suit carrying his new scripture case.

We were sad to see everyone leave, but we knew they had a long drive ahead of them and they headed back home right after sacrement meeting! We appreciate the help and support from those that were here but missed those from both sides of the family that couldn't make it! Jaxson is a such a great kid, but is still very much of a curious and mischievous boy. This weekend alone...we have a dart board stuck into my living room wall, my ceiling fan has a big chunk of finish taken off from his flying GI Joe's being taped and flown off the fan, right after the baptism at Freddy's his little cousin found salt in her icecream...Jaxson had a hard time admitting to that one...and fingernail polish on the new leather sofa! Oh ya, that wasn't Jaxson!!;) Thank goodness for repentance! I'm sure there will be a lot of learning opportunities to come as well! We love you Jaxson and are so happy for you in your decision to be baptized and confirmed!

Jaxson's Birthday Party!

Jaxson wanted to play Laser Tag for his birthday so we went to All-Star Sports. We played laser tag and raced go carts, had pizza and played video games. He invited Seth and Samuel Rather, Ryan Hanneman, Luke across the street and Bryan Gonda. Sophi's sister, Franzi, was also visiting from Washington D.C. where she is a nanny. We had a lot of fun! It was so great to meet Franzi as well!

Busy Soccer Saturdays!

With soccer games and coaching and General Conferences...today was a busy day! We were so proud of our three soccer players, all have scored goals and won their games today! Here is a picture of Jaxson making a fast get away to score his goal! Bella's picture will be next week....I promise I won't forget again!

Jaxson's sugarfree cake!

I am so proud of Jaxson!! If you look closely, he is holding up a sugarfree cake. He has quite a few cousins on both sides who have given up sugar and Jaxson came home from Nanny's house stating that he too was giving up sugar. He wants to be a good athlete and healthy like his cousins!(THANK YOU SO MUCH GUYS FOR YOUR GOOD EXAMPLES!!)
It's been over 2 months and he still has not cheated. Now, his dad and school teacher have joined him because he is so strong and inspiring! It's not because he doesn't like sugar and sweets, he was as addicted as I am, he just wants this more! I am so proud of his strength and self control!

Jaxson's birthday at the park!

Jaxson wanted to play tennis with Derek on his birthday so we all went to the park to play. They were all having such a great time and the weather was perfect. I decided to read since everything was going so smoothly, I'm deep into Angels and Demons when I hear a loud scream. I look up and kids seemed to all be playing fine, but I couldn't see Brock, then Bella, who is swinging starts crying and I jump up and Brock is face down in the dirt in front of her. She was swinging and he walked in front of her and she plowed him over. He had dirt all throughout his mouth and nose. Bella felt so bad, poor thing! So Derek has now banned me from reading at the park. Brock recovered after a few mintues and was as happy as can be, but it left a mark!!

Happy 8th Birthday Jaxson!!!