Halloween 2017!

This year we have a Little Red Riding Hood (with her Big Bad Wolf Westley), Michael Jackson, Super Tate, and Catboy from Pj Masks!!! It's always an adventure when you let the kids pick out their own costumes. And how about Tate choosing to be "Super Tate". He could have been any super hero he wanted to be and he chooses to be his own super hero. I love it so much. He is one of a kind. - We had another successful Halloween Night. The kids didn't last quite as long as in the past and this was the first time that Elle and Cash kind of went off on their own trick-or-treating with their friends. How sad is that?! They still came back and did a little with the little boys. And of course we had lots of food and fun going on at our house. Halloween 2017 over and out.

Halloween Party at Grandpa and Grandma's Cottage

Ever since Grandpa and Grandma moved to the cottage and left their old house in West Jordan we added a fun new thing to do at the traditional Halloween Party. The Haunted Hallows. The older boy put on quite the spook alley down in the Hallows at the golf course and Grandpa loads the kids onto the golf cart and they take turns going on spooky rides down there. Even us adults get to ride and check it out. This year they dressed up as a full on Big Foot, Dinosaur, a Clown, and a Big Bad Wolf. Oh my gosh it was hilarious and scary at the same time. We also ate donuts from a string and the kids all bobbed for apples. Which I will never forget because Tate, 5 year old Tate, missing four front teeth was more determined to snag that apple in the water than any kid I've ever seen in my life. Of course he was having a very difficult time snagging an apple but he would not give up for anything and kept his head under the water for EVER and just kept trying and trying for ever. Such determination and all of us cheered him on for the longest time. We finally wised up and cut the apple in half. That seemed to do the trick! I was so freaking proud of him. Another successful Downs Halloween Party in the books!

Our First REAL Girls TRIP!!!

I CAN NOT believe that we actually made this happen!!!! Elle and I have never done anything like this before! But you know what? The stars just kind of aligned and I took a couple of deep breaths and just went for it! I was honestly a bit nervous to drive down to St. George without Toby. But the boys had games going on and Toby had stuff, but Elle and I had nothing so we packed up and headed down to St. George on Thursday. We got a late start so we spent the night in Cedar City at the Marriott. It was perfect because I only had to drive 3 hours in the dark and we got to wake up and get free breakfast! Then after breakfast we drove straight down to the temple and Elle and I did baptisms together. It was such a special experience to be there with her and tell her the stories behind the St. George Temple. After we went and checked into our condo where we ate, talked, swam, and watched movies for the next two days. We ate Cafe Rio that night, Elle played her Ukalele out on the balcony and we just enjoyed being together. The next morning we did some shopping, laid out by the pool again, and then went over to see the Kelsch's new house which by the way is pretty dang incredible. Elle was in love with the backyard…and so was I. Then Michelle and the girls and I all went to Puppy Love to hold the puppies and to TJ Maxx and then to dinner at the Olive Garden. We also got Zeppes for Dessert. It was so nice to just be able to focus on her, hear all of her fun stories about school, and friends, and help our relationship even grow stronger. How lucky am I to have a daughter like her?? She's incredibly smart, talented, uninhibited, strong-willed, beautiful, and witty. She's the perfect traveling companion and I can't wait for all the girls trips we'll have together.

Tates Fieldtrip

For Tate's Preschool Field trip they went to the Pumpkin Patch down the street from us. Awesome mom got there a little bit late AND forgot to bring the boys coats, so I had to leave and turn around and run home because it was a lot more chilly than I was planning on. My favorite part of this field trip was watching Tate being so loving and thoughtful towards his little brother who obviously wasn't in the class but they said sibling could come. He held his hand everywhere they went and kept saying "Come with me Kemp" and "Do you like this Kemp." You could tell he felt so much responsibility and pride in including his little bro in his special day. It was awesome. Had to snag some of this pics to remember and show these boys when they are older.

The Haunted Ski Lift and Gardner Village

 

This was our second time going to Sundance for Halloween. Jordan introduced us to it last year and the older kids really wanted to go again. Tate didn't because he said he'd be way too scared. So Tob stayed back with the littles and I took the bigs. This time Grandpa really wanted to see what it was like so he and Grandma came along as well! And Josh and the girls. And Jakers! It was fun! I'm not sure they had as much stuff going on below the ski lift ride. But they did have hot chocolate and suckers so you know…it was a total success. :) -  The other pictures was from my spontaneous date with the two little boys to Gardner Village to see the Witches. This little outing taught me I need to do this kind of stuff with them more often. Honestly it was one of the better days I've had in a long long time. Just me and then, walking around all the cute little shops, seeing all the witches, looking at all the displays, letting them play in all the fun things they had set up for kids. It was just awesome. They were so happy and so dang cute and we sat and got lunch together, and then went to the canal and watched the ducks, and fish, and turtles. I sure love those two. They bring so much joy into my life. Tate had one little freak out when I told him I'd pay to get his face painted and he did NOT want to do that so I said that's okay but Kemp can…and that was a no go too. He said he was too scared and did not want Kemp to get his done either. Okayyy then. Near the end Jamie and Kellen came and joined us and it was fun to see him having such a good time too. Here's to taking the boys out of our house more than just once a month from now on. (insert laugh)

The Play House is Done!

This has been a dream of mine for about as long as I can remember. Probably ever since Uncle Ed built one for his girls in Preston Idaho. We spend so many days and nights out in their playhouse playing everything and anything and I LOVED being in there. It had a loft and electricity and a little water pump right outside of it. When Elle was little I imagined having one in my backyard for her but with the backyard we had, and our finances, it just wasn't feasible. But I never stopped dreaming and collecting pictures of different ones that I liked and when we moved in this new house I kept pestering Toby about it telling him how badly I wanted one for our kids. Even with Elle all grown up I knew she'd love it. She could do her art work in there, play guitar, have sleepovers, hang with the boys, anything and everything. And I knew that my boys would love it too. - We saved up our money and after 2 years of living here and finally getting the landscaping done we thought it would be okay to start looking into having one built. I got a couple of different names off of ksl and called one or two of them. One of them really intrigued me. His name was Jake, he was young, and he was a one man show but I could tell he was hungry for the opportunity. I did not make a mistake of choosing him. He exceeded our hopes and MORE!!! He built this from the ground up, without any blueprints, just off of pictures I showed him and ideas I had in my head. HOW COOL IS THAT?! It turned out even more beautiful than I imagined. The loft inside is amazing. He built the cutest bench and dog bed for Westley. He just did an incredible job at an incredible place. The kids all really took to him and we are just so happy with it. The day it was done Elle pretty much packed up her room and moved out there and the kids have already had a sleepover in it. I imagine lots of tea parties, playing house, playing games, late night talks, and I can even picture my little grandkids playing out there someday. I am absolutely in love with it.