dear santa

We're making our list and checking it twice ...

my favorite veteran

Since it's Veteran's Day today, I thought I'd post a photo of my favorite veteran.  So proud of my dad ... a veteran of World War II.

I'm honored to be your daughter.

halloween

We had a happy halloween around here.  Of course we carved pumpkins:

And Sam and Luke went trick-or-treating:

Emery was MIA since he's too old to trick-or-treat.  He spent the evening with friends watching scary movies.

We were so happy that my mom and dad, Ben's mom and dad, and Preston and Kambria came and hung out with us, ate chili, and played games.

And the next day Sam and Luke held their annual candy inventory and exchange:

Happy halloween!

school pictures

Yes I'm a total sucker for school pictures.  I know they aren't the best photos and they're pretty much a rip-off, but I can't help it. 

Why?  Because I love that just one look at that blue-ish gray-ish background (that has been used since I was their age) instantly tells you it's a school picture, and I love the expressions that can only be captured by a picture taken in front of their entire class.

So here they are ... school pictures 2011-2012.

halloween parade

One of the few things I remember about being in elementary school was the annual Halloween parade.  I loved dressing up, going to school, and marching through all the classrooms to show off my costume.  I remember the parents lining the halls taking pictures of all the cute and spooky costumes.  So I've been so sad that my kids have never gotten to experience this fun tradition.  Their schools have never had a halloween parade ... until this year!  I was so happy when I learned that there would indeed be a parade this year ... so off I went, camera in hand, to the elementary school parade.

Luke was a vampire.  But no need to fear ... he claims he was a nice vampire.  And Sam was a 7-11 employee.

And since they go to the same school as a couple of their cousins, we got to see them, too.  Jake and Logan were both darling clowns.

It was so fun to see all the cute kids parading in their costumes.  Plus, I got some great ideas for next year.  :)

Grandma Phyllis

Ben's grandma passed away October 12, just 4 days after her 91st birthday.  She was the cutest little pint-sized lady!  She wasn't quite 5 feet tall, but her goodness definitely made up for what she lacked in height!  Ben and I were lucky to live in her basement apartment for the first year of our marriage.  We would often come home to find that she had left us a little treat on our counter (something like a bowl of assorted nuts), or an article she had clipped out of the newspaper that she thought we would be interested in.  She was known for her interesting gift-giving ... she once gave Ben a birdcage, birdseed, and a fake bird for his birthday.  She was a little gal with a lot of personality!  She truly loved and blessed everyone she met.  In her funeral, her daughter said, "Lots of people collect things.  Some people collect stamps, some collect coins, but Phyllis collected people."  I love that because it's so true!  Phyllis loved people and they loved her.  She was one of the most compassionate and generous people I've ever known.  We will miss her!  As Grandma Phyllis would have put it, "We love your guts!"

fall soccer

Sam and Luke both played soccer this fall.  Sam's team went undefeated ... Ben claims it was because of excellent coaching.  He was the coach.  :)
 

Luke's team had a great season, too.  Won a few, lost a few, but had fun playing since lots of his friends were on the team.

lake powell

Once again, (I think this is the 5th year that we've done this) we spent a few fabulous September days at Lake Powell with dear friends.  And once again, we had an amazing time.  :) 

Beautiful weather, smooth water, cliff jumping, waterskiing, wakeboarding, fighter-tubing, ladies-tubing, ice cream at Hall's, red-neck-submarine rides, delicious food, and lots of laughs.

We sleep in these:

But spend our days on the lake:

 

New this year ... Emery cleared the wake while wakeboarding.

Here's a photo of all the kids (minus 3 ... Tates had to leave early).

One afternoon we explored the Moqui sand hill:

And we even stayed an extra day and made the trek to hole-in-the-rock and Rainbow Bridge:

 

Loved the trip. Can't wait for Powell 2012.

nine

Happy Birthday to my sweet Luke.  Nine years old today.

Sam on (or should I say off) the tube

As I was looking through my photos from our boating outings over the summer, I noticed an alarming trend.  A trend that should not be overlooked.  (Because as the self-proclaimed official family photographer, I feel it's my job to document important things like this.)

Let's go ahead and count the number of times Sam falls off the tube (and, for the record, these are just the times I actually captured on camera) ...

1)

 2)

3)

4) 

5) 

6)

7) 

Summer wrap-up

We love summer-time around here, so before the boys headed back to school we managed to squeeze in a little more summer fun.  Here's a re-cap: 

more boating

wakeboarding:

And meet our newest wakeboarder:

waterskiing:

Sam almost learned how to slalom!

tubing:

one of my favorite photos!

and a beautiful sunset:

backyard golf ... the boys loved this golf hole we put in the backyard.  They even designed an 18-hole course around this one hole.

Davis County Fair/demolition derby

braces ... Emery would probably disagree with this being included on the "fun" list.

and last but not least, the alpine coaster with the Thomas family