Grandpa Christley and the Fire Station

Several months ago (Yep, I totally forgot I had these pictures on my camera) my grandpa came out for a visit and while here he received an award from the fire department.  He was the fire chief in town way back when.  We ended up having a birthday party for him as well at the fire station.    It has been several years since we have been able to get all the family together and it was so nice being able to catch up with everyone.  I love my family so much.

 

Grandpa going for a ride.

Me and the girl cousins

 We had many races to see who could get suited up first.  Here is Claire and Ri having a race. 

Claire won this time. 

Claire has the best cousins.

 

Of course my little man wanted in on the action too.

The highlight of the day for the kiddos was definitely getting a ride on the fire truck.  The great grandchildren were loaded on top and were taken on a ride around the block.  Despite the look on Crue's face, he really did love it and still talks about how cool it was.  So why the sad face??  He had just bought a root beer from the vending machine and was not allowed to take in on the fire truck.    Talk about a traumatic  moment in his little life...he also still talks about how sad it was that he had to leave his drink behind for a whole five minutes.

Halloween 2013

I guess it is time to get the rest of the Halloween pics posted before things get busy with the other holidays.    We had a great Halloween.  Crue was old enough this year to really get into the whole thing and it was fun to see how excited  he would get.

 

My dad and Holly invited us out to the trunk or treat that they attend at the drive-in theater near their home.  It was our first trunk or treat experience and we had a lot of fun.   We  didn't end up staying for the movie that they show after but maybe we will next year. 

 

Caitlynn, Ashlyn, Ben, Rilynn, Claire, Crue, and Luke getting ready for the fun to begin. 

 

Claire, Grandpa, and Ben

I think poor Crue was about done with the Halloween festivities by the time we went to the trunk or treat.  (We had already had one Halloween party earlier that day) I asked him if he wanted to go get some candy and he replied,  "I just want to sit here and eat my dinner." 

 

My boys!!  They are the best.

We carved pumpkins with Grandma.  I think Crue was just excited to be able to hold the carving knife and stab away at his pumpkin. 

 

Claire and her puppy pumpkin.

 

Luke made sure to get off work early on Halloween so we could take the kids around together. 

 

Their happy faces.

 

Their silly faces.

 

 Getting ready to head out for some trick or treating.  They were both so excited. 

 Dorothy

Claire liked trick or treating but was the first one to call it quits.  She liked handing out candy back at home just as much.

 Redsox Baseball Player. 

Or if you asked him he would tell you he was "The Sandlot" or "Smalls with a shiner".

Crue thought the whole knocking on doors and getting candy was just the coolest thing ever. 

Family Halloween Party

 

Just some random pictures from the family Halloween party.  Great food, great company, and so much fun. 

 

Most of the grandkids posing for a picture with grandpa. 

 

With most of our stuff still in storage, Luke and I didn't do a whole lot this year.  But I don't think we did to bad either since we decided right before the party to be zombies and thirty minutes later this is how it turned out.

 Everyone lined up for the three-legged race.

Even Crue and Ashlyn got in on the three-legged race fun. 

 

Claire and Rilynn

Toss the donut onto the stick being held in someone's mouth. 

My momma was a zombie too.

Luke trying to get the most "eyeballs" (grapes) separated from the "guts" (spaghetti noodles).

He made us proud and won the game.  Of course, the second the game was over spaghetti noodles starting flying.  Six pounds of spaghetti noodles sure makes for one awesome food fight.

The kiddos trying to get the most candy corn in their cup.

Getting ready for Halloween

We seriously love Halloween around here and had lots of fun getting ready.  We loved helping my mom decorate her house.  And Claire and I even made a few new decorations to put up in our new house next year.  (Can I just tell you that it feels like it is taking them forever to get our house built.) 

 

My and my ma putting the spiders and webs on her house.  Of course we chose a cold and windy day to do it...not one of our smartest ideas.  I need to take a picture of the house with it all decorated.   It really looks cool covered with the webs and the spider invasion .

Claire and Crue had a blast raking and jumping in the leaves. I couldn't get Crue to sit still long enough for a pic. 

Claire making "monster" cupcakes.

Crue enjoying his sister's creation.

Our little Frankenstein cake. 

Zions

Last year we went down to run a race outside of Zion National Park and at the raffle that they do at the end of the race I ended up winning a two night stay at one of the lodges at Zions.  We have had it booked for about five months but I had the wrong date down so we ended up missing the first night.  Total bummer!  But we still headed down and enjoyed every minute of our short little trip.  And lucky for us, Utah's Governor reopened the park that weekend we even though the government was still shut down. 

 

This Is The Place

A few weeks ago was UEA weekend and I wanted to go do something fun and fall-ish since Claire was not in school. We ended up going to This is the Place Park.  The last time we went was about four years and it was the middle of the summer.  Between the heat, a horrible rain storm and a little girl that had an agenda of her own, we didn't get to see a whole lot.  We were not sure what to expect this time around and honestly was not expecting a whole lot but we ended up being very surprised.   

We LOVED it. 

October is definitely a fun time to go.  The kids were able to go trick or treating in some of the historic buildings, make crafts, the candy cannon, train ride, horse ride, story and songs by a friendly witch, and of course learn about how things were done and how people lived long ago.  It was a great day.

 

 

Just had to show Claire's cute hair for the day.  And to think that I was terrified of having a baby girl because I couldn't do hair.  Seriously, six years ago I couldn't do a decent pony tail on someone else. 

 Claire wanting to do silly faces while we waited for our homemade donuts.

Claire and Crue in the old schoolhouse.

My cute kiddos.  I am so lucky to be their mom.  I am so grateful to be able to spend each and every day with them.  They are my life.

 

Claire playing a Halloween game.  They got extra candy if they got a hoop over a witch hat.  Crue was determined to get the extra candy so he grabbed the hoops, walked right over to the hat and placed the hoops over it, and then walked straight over to the worker and asked for his candy.  It was so funny. 

 

The kids with Grandma listening to the witch tell stories. 

This was definitely the highlight for Crue.  Several weeks later he is still talking about how he was able to ride a real horse all by himself. 

Look at that happy face!

My other little munchkin on her horse.

Why, yes....a certain little somebody did miss naptime.

The Box

Its funny how the most simple thing can bring hours of entertainment and fun. 

Let me introduce the box.

A pumpkin box (Its huge...barely fit in my van even when folded up)

From Walmart (Said no one had ever asked for a box this big)

 

  And suddenly the box becomes a fort/playhouse/giant coloring book.

The kids love it.