Owen's Pirate Birthday Party

Aaargh! Owen turned 5 years old! And to celebrate the occasion he had a pirate birthday party. He had a great time being the "cap'n" and having his buccaneers join him aboard his ship in search of the treasure. After the treasure hunt, which they did find, the pirates enjoyed pirate pizza, peanut butter planks and cannonball grapes. A couple of pirate games were played and then the cap'n got to open his presents. He had a great time and I think all the kids did too.

Cupcakes were very easy to make..Owen even helped.

Ethan and Luke

Ethan, Nicholas, Kaleb, Riley, Hallee, Isabella, Owen

Luke, Ethan, Arianna, Brody, Bridger

Owen's party was actually a day before his birthday so he had 2 days to celebrate. All Owen said he wanted for his birthday was the lego airplane...and he got it. We must really love this kid! Happy Birthday Osie...we love you and are so happy you are in our family.

HalLowEeN!

For Halloween this year we didn't even go to the pumpkin patch; nobody wanted to go. We were lucky enough, though, to have a pumpkin vine spring up at the side of our house. So we ended up with 2 pumpkins. The only boy brave enough to put his hand inside and help me scrape the seeds was Owen. Zach and Ryan wanted to design the jack-o-lanterns, but they didn't want to help clean them out. They did, however, want to dress up like girls for Halloween and they are quite cute.

Granny, ghost and cheerleader...I love it!

Zach posed like this for EVERY picture. He really got into character.
Ryan started the night with granny-style high heels, but couldn't keep up with his friends trick-or-treating so he had to take a detour and change his shoes.

Our cute little (friendly) ghost, Owen.

Zach and his friend Boston.

Zach with all his squad...and the slasher Jason, who apparently didn't get the message about what to dress up as.

Donut Falls & Friends

We took advantage of the beautiful summer-like weather and headed up the mountains (before they are covered in snow) for a short hike. The trail to donut falls is only about 3/4 mile and the kids all had friends to keep them company so there was no complaining. We really enjoyed being in the beautiful mountains and the kids loved climbing around the falls with their friends.

On our way up to the falls we saw 4 moose incredibly close to the trail.

Ryan and Josh

Parker, Brayden, Boston and Zach

Fall Soccer

Owen has told me many times that he will not play football because he's been to so many practices and games for Zach and Ryan that he's already sick of it. He will only play soccer and maybe basketball...we'll see. But for now he is playing soccer and loving it. Although, he's so intent on scoring that he yells at his teammates to pass him the ball and gets upset when they don't. I love watching him run down the field. It's amazing how fast his short, little legs can run.

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

I can hardly believe that Ryan turned 9 years old this year. My boys are growing up way too fast. This year we had a birthday dinner for Ryan and Aunt Patricia because their birthdays are so close. Ryan didn't mind having a flower on his cake, as long as there was a football helmet too. We love you Ryan, with your fun, energetic, loving personality. We love your strut and they way you make everyone laugh. You make our lives happier. Happy Birthday!

First Day of School!

Even with our long 6 week summer it seemed to just fly by and here we are at the beginning of another school year. Zach is in 5th grade, Ryan in 4th and Owen in his second year of preschool. I tried to get Zach and Ryan to wear "normal" clothes and NOT sports clothes, but to no avail. They know what they think is cool...and on the first day image is everything, right?

Notice that Owen is wearing different clothes than he was in the morning. He has school in the afternoon and he'd gotten so dirty that he had to change.

Millcreek Cookout

For our last activity before summer ends and school begins we went up Millcreek Canyon for a open fire cookout with our family. Since we weren't able to go camping this summer we had to get all our camping activities into one day. The kids loved roasting hot dogs and smore's over an open fire, chopping wood, shooting the BB gun, exploring the mountains and just getting dirty. It is amazing how dirty a kid can get in a matter of a few hours.

Looks like someone is having fun!

Grandma and Liam

Jared and Patricia

What a cute boy Luke is and only minimally dirty.

Silver Lake

We live in a wonderful place...a 30 minute drive up the canyon and we're surrounded by the beautiful mountains and a stocked lake to fish in. We weren't able to go on our annual camping trip to Christmas Meadows this year and therefore hadn't been fishing and the kids were protesting. We got a canoe, packed a lunch and spent the day at the lake. We had a great time and caught quite a few fish.

Only 4 people could fit in the canoe so while the boys were out fishing I sat on the shore and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings. It was a hot spot for the ducks and they were not shy.

Just minutes after I took this picture of Owen he stepped back into the hole behind him. Much to our surprise the water was chest deep, but he survived and loved just floating out in the canoe while the older boys fished.