halloween 2015

 This was our halloween dinner. We had monster spaghetti, bread, veggies, and monster cookies for dessert. After we had the kids close their eyes and feel and guess what they were holding. For example peeled grapes were witch eyes. The kids loved it all.

 Halloween fell on a Friday. I helped it Levi's and Jordyn's class. Levi was a nice clown during the day....

 .....and a scary clown at night. He wasn't afraid of the mask like I was.

 Jordyn was a flapper girl. I already had a flapper costume for Macie, and Jordyn wanted to be the same as Macie. Luckily I had bought this flapper dress last year after halloween and it fit perfectly.

 Such a cute flapper girl!

 Sydney is an emoji. She wanted to be an angry emoji. So I made it out of cardboard and her costume was done. I love Levi's pose.

 Here is our little 2 year old flapper girl and not wanting to pose for the camera

 She loved the candy and I think she had a piece of candy in her mouth for 4 hours straight.

  

 We had about 6 families over for an outside potluck and then we all went trick-or-treating.

 Here are all the kids that left from our house. We pull our fire pit to the driveway and put our candy on a table so trick or treaters can pick up some candy.

 After the kids poured their candy out and the trading began.

Vertuccio Farms

 Our outing to Vertuccio Farms. This year Macie really was able to enjoy it too.

 All the usual things were a ton of fun: the slide, pillow jumpy thing, hay ride, other ride, corn maze, and the other activities for families.

 Getting around in the corn maze and playing a game who can get the most points.

Macie's 1st dance clas

 On Wednesdays Macie went to ballet and then a gymnastics class with Miss Jen. Macie went with her friend and neighbor, Posey.

 Getting into class was sometimes rough, but once she started she was good. I wasn't allowed in the class but I could see from the window.

 The last day of class, in December, the girls did a routine for the parents. It was so cute and Macie loved it, and of course the candy cane after.

 Our sweet, little angel.

Fall Break-Carribean Cruise

 Before our cruise, during the summer, each child got an island (the girls each got two and Levi got one). We went to the library and researched each place, they wrote a little paragraph about it, made a poster, and then an oral presentation. After we danced the different types of music found in those places and had a lot of fun.

 The kids loved this cruise and having all the family that came with us, the Gers, Rueckerts, and Mom and Brooke. They loved the activities on the boat, ice skating, seeing Shrek and Fiona, all the food, boogie boarding, rock climbing, swimming, jogging on the track, and seeing a few shows.

 Our first port was Haiti. We spent our time in a Cabana at the beach. Our 2nd stop was Jamaica. We definitely had a cultural experience here and it was everything I dreamed for for our kids. We had a local guy take us around. We saw Discovery Bay, that Christopher Columbus discovered. Our favorite and impromtu stop was at a local elementary school.  It was "jamaican day" at the school so it was like a holiday. The kids were very accepting and loved seeing some American kids visit.

 They loved showing us around their school and classrooms. Someone or a few were always holding on to our kids. They were definitely  not used to that.

 All of us with Discovery Bay in the background.

 Sydney showed the kids her gymnastics routine and tricks. About 50 kids were gathered around watching and were mesmerized. Sydney loved the attention and performed like they wanted her to do.

 All the children were so cute, friendly, and you could tell were humble.

 The next day we went to Grand Cayman. Had another beach day in front of the Governor's house. We did some snorkeling, swimming, playing around, and even jet skiing. ALL the kids loved that and we couldn't go fast enough for them.

 eating at dinner was always a treat. one of our favorite lines was from Levi, he asked the waiter, "Can I have steak and hot chocolate."

 One night Grandma came to our room and spent some special time with us. Their room was next door and some of the kids would sleep with them. We brought a walkie-talkie, so we would leave it with the Gers and they could contact us if they needed so Jeff and I were able to go out at night.

Jeff and I loved trying the surf thing. Me, brooke, and Luisa did lots of karaoke and dancing at night. It was a blast and wish I could post more pictures.

St. George Marathon

 The week after Jeff's Moab trip, we drove to St. George for his first marathon. He trained the whole summer in Arizona. I was so proud of him for sticking to his training schedule even though it was hard to run in the heat. He's all smiles the day before the race. haha. We made these signs for Jeff and took a picture the day before just in case it didn't work out on the day of his race. I'm glad we did because it wasn't a spectator course. I only was able to keep tabs on jeff with a race app and calling Jeff during his race. We didn't see him until he ran through the finish line.

 He made his goal and came in in 3 hours and 29 minutes. He did amazing! As he described it, he felt good until about mile 22. Slowed down and then at mile 25 mile he needed to stop and eat for a few seconds before he finished.

 Just glad he was done. He was sore for the next 4 days.

 My parents came and saw him too. We spent the rest of the day resting and eating.

 Saw my friend Lizzy cross the finish line and get her PR.

moab and soccer

 Jeff had the amazing opportunity to have a guys trip in Moab. They went on some of the hardest mountain biking trails in the US. He survived but he came home with some crazy stories and scabs to prove the tough terrain. The Whole Enchilada was the hardest trail. They had a late start and that put them in the hardest part of the trail at the hottest time of the day. Jeff ran out of water and was dying by the end, he had to carry his bike for a lot of it as the trail just had too many tall boulders and was unridable. One guy truly was dehydrated and another needed assistance out. After 2 days of mountain biking they enjoyed white water rafting down the CO river.

 While Jeff was doing that, I had the privilege of a soccer saturday in Gilbert. 3 different soccer games at 3 different times while toting a 2 year old is no easy feat. We managed and everyone was great.

By the end of the last day, we were all spent.