I want to play

Grandma gave Bodell this little fussball table for her birthday. All the kids wanted to get in on the action. Even Andrew was excited and wanted to join in.

Bodell is 9!

Bodell is 9 years old!!! Wow. I can't believe how quickly those years have gone by. She is such a tender hearted girl. She is so responsible and helpful. I love to watch how she interacts with Andrew. She loves him to pieces. She is nice to everyone. At her parent-teacher conferance this year, her teacher told me that in all her years of teaching, Bodell is probably the most helpful student she has ever seen. Her teacher told me that Bodell is nice to every kid in the class. Bodell loves to play sports, especially soccer and track. She is excited to start basketball this month. Bodell is a great reader and is getting very good on the piano. She still loves horses and dreams of the day when she will have her own horse. For now, she'll settle for her dog, Buddy. I am so proud of Bodell and so grateful she is my daughter! Happy Birthday!!!!

Bodell had a friends birthday party this year. She planned the party herself. She wanted an animal party so they played animal bingo, played pin the tail on the horse and had a pinata. (The pinata was probably the cheapest pinata I have ever seen. It broke on the second person.)

Here are all her friends waiting for a turn to hit the pinata. Sorry kids-- you are not going to get one.

Bodell LOVES pumpkin pie, so she asked that she have that in place of a cake.

The kids had a pie eating contest with their pumpkin pie.

On Bodell's real birthday we had cake and ice cream with the family. Sydney made this adorable cake. It was a BIG hit!

The birthday party was delayed slightly because my cousin's daughter Olivia had to go to the clinic with a broken arm. She was quite the trooper.

Bodell didn't want to blow out the candles, instead she wanted to pinch them out with her fingers. As you can see the other kids were losing patience and wanted to help put out the candles so they could eat the cake.

Samuel The Lamanite

Bodell came up with this fun family home evening on her own. She decided that we were going to talk about Samuel the Lamanite. Then after the lesson we would pretend we were Samuel the Lamanite and the rest of the family would throw pies at us. Brigham and Shae were delighted at this idea. Josh was NOT quite so excited. Presley and Sydney were staying with us while Sunny and Val were out of town so they got to join in the action.

Pure joy on that face.

Watch out Brigham!

Gotcha Presley!

Sydney looks like she is having way too much fun throwing pie at her sister.

How does it taste Bodell?

Revenge is sweet. What a nice, kind family home evening!

First Grade Trip To The Mountain

The first grade took a field trip to the mountain to study the fall leaves and wildlife. I tagged along because I love this field trip. It was one of the coldest days we've had this season, but the kids didn't let that stop them from having a great time.

Brigham thought he was as big as all the first graders and wanted to be included in everything they did.

Fall Leaves

I LOVE LOVE LOVE fall! So about a month ago, yes I am very behind on the blogging, we decided to take a Sunday drive up the mountain to look at the leaves. It was beautiful. We had a great picnic, consisting of Frozen pizza we cooked right before we left. The kids made piles of leaves and then got mad when the dog ran through them. I love this time of year!

I guess I should have washed he pizza off of Brigham's face before we started taking pictures.

Great picture of Andrew... Not so great picture of Brigham.

I love this age.

America's next top model.

Everyone Needs Footy Pajamas

On a cold Sunday evening the kids decided that they all needed their footy pajamas on just like Andrew. Maybe I need a pair too!

Andrew, where is your silly face?

I am not sure what this pose is. Maybe it is... look at my dirty floor. This is Andrew's view of the world.

The kids decided to continue the silliness on the stairs. I am not sure if this is the safest place to mess around, but like any good mother I said, "Go for it! Just don't get hurt." Yeah right.

Woops, I forgot to flip the picture and I am not about to reload it on Blogger. So tilt your head

Andrew is 7 months

Well, I somehow skipped Andrew's 6 month picture. So he has really changed in the last two months. He is an active kid now. In the last two months Andrew has decided that he wants to be a part of everything we do. If we are eating, he thinks that he needs to eat. He loves feeding himself crackers. Luckily that usually satisfies him while we are eating. I hope he doesn't get too sick of them soon. I keep trying to think of good finger foods he can eat since he doesn't quite have his pincer grasp down yet. Andrew loves to make noise. He makes this deep growling sound that we all laugh at. He just started babbling. The kids love to hear all the new sounds he can make and they love to tell me that he knows my name when he is saying, "mamamama.." ANDREW CAN NOW CRAWL...uuuggh! This stage is so exhausting, because I have to constantly watch him. He is still such a sweet baby and is happy as long as he is included in the excitement, and around this house there is never a lack of excitement!

Gotta love those dimples.

Here he is on the move....Watch out!

He just learned to pull himself up on furniture. He is not very sturdy when he does it, so he falls often and when he falls he gets SO mad!