An Apple a day...

Another brave mom and I decided to take the trek to Dixon Apple Orchard with all of our kiddos. It was a loud drive, but we had fun (and so did the kids). It was a "fun" challenge to juggle all the kids, push a wheelbarrow with about 150 lbs of apples in it, and keep everyone happy, but we did it... I need a nap!

The kids posing for a picture. It's so hard to get five kids to look at the camera at once. I don't know how professionals do it!

A cute picture of my little man.

Carly had tumbling today too. She LOVES it and LOVES her teacher!

Hmmm...

Maybe THIS is why his belly is giving him problems....

Pecos National Forest

For Labor Day we went on a fun day trip to Pecos N.F. It's just northeast of Santa Fe. We had a lot of fun!

We went with 3 other families which made it more fun. The kids LOVED having the other kids there to latch onto and we enjoyed having other adults to talk to.

After hiking we let the kids play in the cold water.

Some of us adults braved the cold water too.

Spencer coming out of a Kiva

At one of the mission church ruins.

Ruins again.

Some of the kids

The family.

Just SOME of the reasons that I'm going crazy...

Don't let those puppy dog eyes fool you...

Oh yes folks, this goes down the hallways too.

Yep that's Carpet and NOT crayola washable markers.... and it wasn't the one year old who is the culprit.

And this is how he looks 95% of the time.

I think some solitary confinement would be just about right about now- where do I sign up?

Just things

We went to a family picnic for Kyle's work. It was really fun and it was great to see and meet people who Kyle works with. They had a lot of fun activities for the kids. Spencer loved hitting the pinata.

Carly doing the spoon-egg race. Notice how she made sure the egg didn't fall off her spoon.

3 legged race.

3 legged race contestants.

Getting ready.

On Friday I decided to brave hiking with the 3 kids by myself. Spencer took this picture. All I can say is that Parker is one heavy kid! My shoulders are still hurting me!

We hiked up to the petroglyphs. Spencer is learning about the Mimbres Indians in school and so I thought this would be a fun field trip for us.

Parker likes Cheerios. These are courtesy of his nice big sister.... too bad you can't see the floor.

And Spencer started school on Thursday. They are in a nice, new building this year! YAY!

Before heading out to school.

Titles Shmitles

It has been a less-than-exciting time in our household. So here's the less-than-exciting pictures:



Parker breaks out into a rash and hives every now and then for no apparent reason at all... oh, and Benadryl does not make him tired.

Flat tires on a Sunday afternoon jaunt suck. (I hate that word, but it seems appropriate here.)

Green Chile season is alive and swinging in the land of enchantment. It may just be my new favorite thing. It's awesome on pizza, in alfredo sauce, and of course breakfast burritos. I say don't knock it til you've tried it. Yum! (If you want to try it, I just bagged 86 bags of this delectable treat and I might be willing to part with some... for the right price.)

The new dog "Lady" is still part of our family. The kids LOVE her.

And there is nothing like going to the zoo and petting some llamas.

Never Say Never

Because if you do, you'll end up taking it back.

Super Duper Utah FUn

We just got home from Utah last night. It was so fun- here's the proof.


Parker turned ONE while we were there. We had to celebrate a few times. Here is one shot after eating/playing in his train cake.

We celebrated Pioneer day with Kyle's family. Here we were at his Aunt's house playing music on the pipes. Shortly after this, Spencer stuck his finger in one of the pipes and couldn't get it out. That ended the music session.

We went to the Oquirrh Temple Open House.

Parker devouring his cake.

My sister Katie made this cake for Parker since we were away from home. Didn't she do a fantastic job?! So Cute! Thanks Katie!!!!

The party-goers at Red Robin celebrating Parker's b-day.

Parker opening presents

My mom, Katie, and I took the kids swimming while the boys went golfing. We had fun and got sunburned.

Parker's first time swimming. Here he is wearing my moms hat.

At the Hinckley parade. Cousins.

At the Rodeo

Stashing all of her loot from the parade.

Quick family pic at the rodeo.

The men in their cowboy gear. It was so fun to see them all dressed up. Even better was watching 3 of them do the greased pig competition! Even though they didn't win, it made for some great video and even better memories~ I'm just hoping that smell washes out of Kyle's pig clothes.

It was SO GOOD to see family! It makes us realize how much we miss them all and how hard it is living so far away from them. Thanks everyone for making it a great vacation!!!