Madison Wendy Downs!!!

Well we've waited quite a long time for this little doll to join our family. She almost held out long enough to be Cash's birthday buddy, but instead she came a day early. I couldn't wait for my family to get home from school and work to see her so I snuck a visit in to the hospital to see her earlier in the day and then when the kiddos and Tob got home we made her a Candy Bar Poster and bought flowers and headed over. Tate was so cute with her. He just loves babies. I get all sorts of anxiety having that many people in a hospital room where a new mom just gave birth. It gets too loud and crazy for me so I didn't let us all stay long but long enough to welcome Madison Wendy Downs to the family. What a beautiful baby girl she is and we could not be happier for Jordan and Kristee. They are going to be pretty incredible parents.

Toby's Birthday!!!

Toby's birthday was a little more low key than in the past couple of years. Seeing as how I threw him two surprise birthday parties in a row with friends, we thought we'd keep this one to just us:) The kids and I made him breakfast in bed and put balloons up on the ceiling as per traditions. I thought it was so cute that all he told me he really wanted to do was to go to the gym with me. So that's what we did. We took the two little boys and checked them into the daycare and then he and I went and got a workout in. Although I honestly can not believe how out of shape I am. It's embarrassing really. Even just walking on the treadmill wore me out. I've got some changes to make in the near future. After the gym we took the two little to Zupas and got a nice lunch in together. When Elle and Cash got home we watched a movie as a fam and had a good night together just staying home. I'm sure I'll sneak a date in with just him this week. :) We are so grateful for this handsome, hard working, fun, witty, loving Dad and husband of ours. He's pretty much everyones favorite around here and honestly it's not hard to see why. We LOVE you Toby!

Bluish and Co's Pinners Conference

Tara and I have been working really hard to help our company Bluish and Co grow. It has been quite a bit more work then I ever planned on, but I've also enjoyed it more than I probably thought I would too. We decided a ways back to sign up for a booth at Pinners Conference Nov 3rd and 4th and although it's a great thing it caused us to have a TON more work than even before. We had to create an entire backdrop, get all the clothes bought, organized, tagged, and brought over to the expo center, and just about a million other things I can't even name. BUT it was so worth it! We were slammed the entire time, met the coolest people, had incredible sales and just overall it was a total success. I bet both days tara and I only took like 2 small bathroom breaks each, and barely ate a snack or two here or there. It was Crazy! We had so many compliments from people telling us how great our clothes and display were and it really meant a lot to us. Our husbands and families were awesome at supporting us this weekend too. Fun but EXHAUSTING weekend.

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.