One Spooktacular Night

Braxton, Ethan and Daylan are TOTALLY READY!!!

What a wonderful Halloween we had this year, it is a holiday I normally dread for one simple fact, IT IS USUALLY FREEZING!!!! So we have these adorably cute and excited kids who can't wait to get out and go trick or treating, but every other year it usually involves bundling them up in their winter coats and ofttimes hats and gloves thus covering up much of the cuteness!!!! This year is the first since I've lived in Idaho (Gulp....Seventeen and a half years....sigh, it looks like we aren't moving out of Idaho after all) that is was really nice weather. Some kids wore light jackets, that fit remarkably well underneath their costumes and we were able to trick or treat until our feet got tired rather than when our hands, feet, ears and noses were frozen solid and it literally took an hour to unthaw...We had a lot of fun...we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a potato bar before we went out trick or treating and then someone (okay maybe it was me!!!) misplaced the camera...The kids did go trick or treating with friends in the "hood" and got a stash of candy :) Brandi was awesome and helped out in containing the holigans as we went out trick or treating...

Pumpkin Carving

Brandon was gone until the night before Halloween, so that left me to get the costumes going, get the pumpkins carved and make sure kids get to basketball practice, pack meeting, get Lindsey off to a debate competition in Walla Walla Washington .... I was grateful to Adrienne who called me Monday and reminded me that there was only a few days left to carve the pumpkins that she so generously donated to our debilitated cause...

We ended up carving them on Thursday the 30th of October (which you might note is technically still before Halloween) and the kids did an awesome job...Daylan did a great job and really got into it as did Brandi who was a great help to us in our endeavor to find the perfect carving patterns.... I particularly love the faces of everyone as we scooped out the insides. I'm sure glad that we got a few photos of the pumpkins before we put them out.....The night after we put them out a bunch of kids stole them off our front porch and I'm quite sure they are somewhere on the Bingham county roadways... ( Brandon did get a description of the vehicle if any of you are CSI experts although I'm not certain that he got any fingerprints or DNA samples!!)

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!!!

It all started a few weeks ago when Braxton had a very, very, loose front tooth

Then his dad assisted the process and the after effect was......

A couple weeks later the companion tooth was ready to make his escape, however Braxton was not quite as willing to have assistance, bribery did not work for this one....While sitting in Stake Conference Christa offered $5 for him to get it pulled out, to no avail, Brandon even offered him money but he was displaying his fabulous stubborn side....

The moment of truth..... I ask if I can wiggle the tooth ( it literally is hanging on by a thread) and I casually pull it out he yelps a little, but when he sees the actual tooth is gone he starts sobbing and carries on for the next 10 minutes. ( I wonder where he gets that dramatic side from....)

I asked him not even 30 minutes later if it really hurt to get it pulled and he was like no (why would I ever ask such a dumb question ?!?!?!) Plus he was sooooo excited to call his Grandma and let her know...

Home Coming

Lindsey had never intended on going to Homecoming, but she was pleasantly suprised when a nice kid from our nieghborhood invited her to go with him to the dance. It was fun if not a tiny bit painful finding a dress for the dance, but they looked cute together and I think it was over all a fun time for all.....although I think David was a bit bummed when Brandon made him promise to have her back by 11:30 p.m. in fact, while they were out he said maybe when she is a senior she can stay out until 12:00!!! There was a lot of funny things that happened on the date, and I have deliberated sharing them here, but sometimes you've got to let the kids tell their own stories.....

Powderpuff

There was the all exciting powerpuff game, our first as parents with a child involved... There was the endless practices the trash talking between the seniors and juniors, the arguement over who had the cutest t-shirt (this was of course of ultimate importance to the game esp with girls)

Check out the photos and catch some of the excitment :)

The night of the game finally arrived, it was an exciting game (if you had a kid on the team and for the first time in a long time the juniors were victorious!!!!!

Brandon turns 40!!!!!

10 trips to Wal-mart..................................check

5 trips to the dollar store...........................check

High School mullet pictures.......................check

Numerous phone calls to friends...............check

Food and drink preparations ....................check

Arranging golf exp for Brandon.................check

Decoy visit at the golf course.....................:) check

Family detour dinner................................... check

Brandon, still clueless........His face when he finally realizes what is going on.......Priceless

The end result, Brandon's 40th B-day... worth all of the effort!!!!

Night at the Fair

Anyone who knows anything about Blackfoot knows that when the Eastern Idaho State Fair hits Blackfoot, it is a BIG deal...This year we opted out of the wrist bands for the kids to ride the rides and decided to keep some of our money, by making fair food at home I'm sure we saved some money but definitely not calories!! Instead of eating one Tiger Ear we had an unlimited supply and scones and honey butter, Funnel Cakes, Kettle Corn, Navajo Tacos it definitely was not our pocketbook that we were concerned about....Watch out for the Waistline.... I know that I ate myself sick on more than one occasion. Lindsey, who worked every morning of the fair to pick up trash earned some free ride tickets that she was kind enough to give them to Daylan and Braxton to use (they owe her huge!!!) So we took the kids over one night of the fair checked out the booths and even saw the hypnotist show!! (Brandi's request) Here are the boys as they hold on for dear life as they try out the Scrambler!!!Braxton was dying to go on this ride...The Spaceship 3000. However in this picture it looks like he is terrified, He loved the ride and ended up going on it twice :)
Check out the entrance to the Spaceship 3000...Looks pretty amazing lol!!!!!