Month of Pumpkins and Candy

I'm behind as usual, but not yet a month behind, so that's an improvement. We had lots of fun during October and were grateful for some beautiful fall weather. One of my favorite Cache Valley traditions is going to the North Logan Pumpkin Walk. It holds a special place in my heart because I grew up in North Logan and have helped put together a few scenes over the years. It's so fun to be sharing the tradition with my own family now.

Navi and her friend Cache. Cute cute!

She still hasn't mastered the "open your eyes and smile" trick yet. But she's sure cute  either way!

My friend Anna with Cache and Season. Both kids are just a few months younger/older than my girls.

The cut out faces were a hit and of course Ariel was her favorite!

Parx and Trevi are birthday buddies! They were born the same day.

Season, Parx and Trevi

We went to the Pumpkin Walk in the morning with friends and then went later in the afternoon with my sisters.  (I told you I love it!)

Cute little Yoda!

This is one of my favorites for some reason. :)

Halloween

My pretty peacock

We went trick-or-treating with cousins and friends to Lee's and later to the mall.

This is on the way into Cafe Sabor. I read that they were having a costume contest and the winner would get a bike!

So we thought we'd try our luck and enter...

...and she WON!

And I can't forget my snuggly Snoopy!

Does it get any cuter?? Pretty sure it doesn't!

Trick-or-treating at Lampa's

Family Pics - oh yes, again

Welp, it's fall. And that means I had a craving for family pictures. But when one has a fabulous friend who happens to be a fabulous photographer, it's quite tempting! Thanks so much Nicole Leavitt Photography!

I haven't got the full disc yet, but check out Nicole's blog to see our sneek peek:

{click me! click me!}

Coming soon! - Trevi's 6 month photos

Father's Fiftieth!

My rad dad turned the big 5-0 on October 5. I decided it was high time to embarrass him for once, (he's infamous for doing this to others) so with the help of LOTS of awesome friends and family members, we were able to surprise him.

First off, we had to get him to a location without him suspecting anything...not an easy task. Since he's the custodian at a school, I decided the easiest plan would be to have his principal call him and tell him there was a water leak in the lunchroom (where the party was at) and he needed to get there ASAP! It was a Friday night, and my dad is also known for not always jumping right to things if it involves the school. (let's be honest, female teachers have a tendency to exaggerate problems that he NEEDS to fix) He does it, but more so on his own schedule...I was NERVOUS to say the least. Mainly because I had a room full of 50+ people waiting on him! Thankfully, Susan, his GF :), had a very smooth plan and told him they were going to dinner at 6 (party time) and on the way out the door, he got the frantic phone call and she urged him to fix the problem before they went to eat. And well....SURPRISE!!!

The party was a big success and I finally remembered to take some pictures towards the end. Like I said, I was a nervous wreck the whole time, but by the end my hands stopped shaking and I could breathe normally again. :)

My Nana is my hero. Far too many reasons to list here, but she is AMAZING.

The 50 wall. I put up pictures all throughout his life and along with my siblings (and a few from my girls), we wrote  "fifty fun facts about the old fart"

FIFTY

FUN

FACTS

ABOUT THE OLD

FART:

He was born

October 5,1961

He is the 2^nd youngest of 9 children

He has 6 sisters and 2 brothers

He was born in Montpelier, ID

He always gives me cheese puffs and cookies

-Navi

He calls me “Chunky Cheese”

-Trevi

He is the best “Lampa” around.

 - Navi & Trevi

He is the one I run to when Allie or Cade is chasing me

-Navi

He has only babysat me one time...when Mommy was desperate.

-Navi

He would never say no when I wanted to watch “The Little Mermaid” or “Beauty and the Beast”

-Laci

He wears his Santa pajama pants all year long.

- Laci

He taught me to like macaroni and cheese with pork and beans.

-Laci

He is the hardest worker I know.

 -Laci

He would wake me up for school by belly flopping on my bed and send me flying.

-Laci

He is always willing to help whenever I ask.

 -Laci

He let me think he made up the “Band-Aide” song when I was little. Then when I heard my cousin singing it, I said, “Hey! My dad made that up!”

 -Laci

He snores louder than anyone you’ve ever heard. Really.

-Laci

He shared his love of all things Christmas with me

 -Laci

He would attach our sleds to his team of horses and sleigh and pull us around the yard or while feeding cows.

-Laci

He can’t sleep without all of his little pillows

 -Allie

He loves to watch John Wayne movies

 -Allie

One of his pet-peeves is scratched C.D.’s

 -Allie

He loves movie theater popcorn and often asks for someone to go buy some for him

 -Allie

He always has to have is water jug filled.

 -Allie

His favorite ice cream is pralines and cream

 -Allie

One of his favorite foods is soft shelled tacos

 -Allie

He loves Butterfingers, Baby Ruths, and Almond Joys

-Allie

He hates snakes more than anything

 -Allie

His favorite thing to buy at a gas station is Mountain Dew

 -Allie

He’s always craving German Chocolate Cake

 -Bekka

He has a nickname for most everyone. Sometimes when I’m referring to someone, I have to stop and think of their real name before my Dad’s nickname for them comes out.

 -Bekka

He always finds a way to get his truck stuck. One winter when I was helping him in Amalga, he got his truck stuck in a ditch by a pond. When the guy came the next day to pull him out, he blamed me and said it was his teenage daughter who was still learning how to drive.

 -Bekka 

He has a huge collection of Christmas books. I always loved when he'd read them to all us kids every night before Christmas.

-Bekka

He likes to set a new "record" each year to see how long he can go into winter without turning the heater on. Last year we made it to Thanksgiving. This year he informed me that he's going to go into December before he touches the thermostat. 

-Bekka

Everything I know about animals and farming, I've learned from him. 

 -Bekka

Don't play board games with him unless you're willing to bend the rules and put up with cheating.

 -Bekka

He has his own dictionary of words he's made up over the years. It didn't take me very long to figure out they weren't real words when I'd use them around my friends and get weird looks.

 -Bekka 

He can be fast asleep on the couch and nothing will wake him up or disturb him, but as soon as you turn his TV channel, he's fully alert.

 -Bekka

A big pet-peeve of his is when I miss his calls on my phone, but I swear every time I call his phone, it starts ringing on his nightstand.

 -Bekka

He thinks he can go ANYWHERE on his 4-wheeler.

 -Cade

One of his most common quotes:

“Good thing I’m quick and agile at the same time”

 -Cade

He has driven his truck into the same pond more than once.

 -Cade

He can quote any line of “The Outlaw Josey Wales”

 -Cade

He is scared of anything that resembles a snake

 -Cade

He wants a Harley

 -Cade

His favorite TV show is “Sister Wives”

 -Cade

He knows the family tree of every cow in the herd

 -Cade

When you help him herd cows you better know how to translate all his hand motions and/or read his mind.

 -Laci

One of his favorite John Wayne quotes is: “Hurry it up! We’re burnin’ daylight!”

 -Laci

(they were all mixed up while hanging...but you get the idea)

The birthday boy, himself

My dad is a jokester and a teaser. He loves to laugh and is good at making other people laugh too. He is the hardest worker I know. He is also tender-hearted. He is sentimental, patient and loving. He is brave and was the rock in our family while my mom was sick and after she has passed away. He is generous and is always willing to help others. He is spiritual and is the one I go to when I have question about church docterine. My dad gave me wonderful childhood memories and is now creating memories as a grandpa with my girls. I love him more than I can explain and I am so grateful I get to be his daughter!

Land of Disney - 2011

Disneyland! We had tons of fun and I will refrain from making this blog into a chapter book but there are enough pictures to make it plenty long...

Right after we walked into the park we saw Snow White. Navi was still in a little bit of shock and was scared to get a picture with her. Our cute Godfrey cousins Payzli and Ayda showed Navi it wasn't scary to get a picture with princesses and that was all it took...

Casuse when Ariel came walking around the corner she all but jumped out of my arms! We watch Ariel at least once a day, and sometimes more, so she is no stranger!

She looks a little scared, but she's really just possessive of her favorite princess!

After seeing Ariel, she was a little braver to go back and see Snow White. Although, she still wanted Mommy to hold her.

Cute Harper Ella. She and Trevi were such good babies the whole trip!

Navi slipped back into scared-diness when we saw Fawn and Tinkerbell. But I think it's mostly cause she was tired and hungry.

Then we found the carousel and the world was at peace again.

Minus the fact that Navi thinks she needs to smile with her eyes closed. It doesn't matter how hard we try to get her to open, she usually just closes them tighter. But in a funny way, it's kind of cute.

And our favorite ride was the new Little Mermaid ride. Although Navi doesn't look very happy, she really did like it and we went on it more than any other.

Thanks to the fast passes and stroller passes, waiting in line wasn't too bad. (ok, and lots of snacks for the girls)

Trevi and Harper were both content to take naps in their strollers. Thank heavens for good babies!

We fondly call this the "Buttars smile".

And one of the highlights of the trip - lunch at Ariel's Grotto with all the princesses! Grandma has the only picture of all the girls with Ariel though, whoops.

Navi loved the bumper car ride because she got to drive all by herself.

World of Color was awesome! Waiting for it to start for over an hour, was not so awesome, but what can you do?

And since we were right up front next to the water, we got a bit wet. But Trevi was asleep in her stroller and Navi was a good sport. And Mom got a churro so she was nice too.

Trevi was a bit surprised by the flash on the Toy Story ride. :)

We waited in line to see "Punzel" forEVER. When we got in line it said it would be around 20 minutes. 20 minutes later we were just about to the front of the line and then it quit moving. We couldn't figure out why but by that point we didn't want to leave when we were so close. After another 20 minutes, when we were just about to give up and leave, the line started moving again and we found out it was because there had been a "suspicious looking box" that had been left next to Rapunzel's house. So they had to bring in special dogs and everything to sniff it out. It's probably a good thing that we didn't know all of this before! By the time we finally got in to see her, Navi was tired and ornery, and I don't blame her. But Punzel was really nice and talked to us for quite awhile so it made up for it.

THEN came Mommy's favorite people to meet. :) We were walking towards Tower of Terror when Nate started tapping me on the shoulder. I figured it was because Navi was whining and he wanted me to help her so I kind of ignored him. :) Finally he said, "Look!" and pointed a bit behind us showing me Kasey and Vienna from the Bachelor/lette. (yes he noticed them, and sorry Nate but it's funny) I was so bummed that I had ignored him and they had passed us. But luckily when we got over to Tower of Terror they came just a few minutes later. They sat down on one of the ledges and all of the sudden I felt a twinge of braveness and decided I should go over and ask for their picture. On the show, they were always kind of annoying, but seeing them in person was a different story! They were really nice and gracious to get a picture and shook my hand. I really wanted to ask Kasey to show his "guard and protect you heart" tattoo in the pic, but let's face it, my brave limit had been reached. Anyways, they were really nice and it was the closest I've been to a real celebrity...if you can call them that.

Our Kingston cousins were able to drive down from Bakersfield and meet us for a swim day.

It's amazing how many times Navi can create a goofy smile but they make me laugh every time.

And I can't say enough how good Trevi was. She is our little sweetheart.

How can you not have a fun vacation with these cuties? Yes, Nate too.