We had the memorable blessing of helping with those who had been effected by the mud slides Labor Day weekend.  We were covered in mud from head to toe but thankful for the opportunity to help others and reminded to count our blessings!

Alyssa had a great 7th birthday.  Pres. Heaton (in Stake Pres. with Jonathan)  let her bring her friends to his ranch and ride horses.  What a dream birthday party for 8 horse loving little girls.

 Mom is loving pre-school time with Jane and Cannon.  Cannon finally wrote his name so we had to take a picture.  We love joining our neighbors for a field trip once a month.  Oct. was a trip to the Dinosaur museum.  It was both their first time and fun to watch them discover everything.

 He is already dreaming blue and white football.  Go Cougars!

 We had a great fall break with some cousins.  The weather was gorgeous so we headed up Provo canyon for a picnic and R&R.  So great to visit with my sisters.

                                                           Gotta love cousin time!

   Pumpkin patch was fun as usual.  We went a little earlier in the season this year so we got a much better pick and warmer weather.  We tried to try grow our own this year but squash bugs destroyed them.  I am hoping next year to go pumpkin picking in our own backyard.

 The boys had their second court of honor and earned 3 merit badges and two class  advancements.  They are now first class and on target to earn their star by their birthday.  They have been involved in Pow Wows every Sat. in Nov.  and hope to have 7 more merit badges by the end of the year.

 We had to take a picture of a momentous moment in our family, everyone eating an ice cream cone.  We got free Gluten Free cones at the GF expo so we bought some dairy free ice cream for the half that can't have milk and they were all able to eat a cone together.  We had a "contributor" wall in our house where the kids could earn stars for the different sports and lessons they were in if they contributed to a game or practice.  They earned their 50 stars and won their ice cream  party.

 Thanks to my sister MaryAnn's mad sewing skills( she made these last year for her and her husband) Jonathan and I actually had costumes to wear to an adult Halloween party we were invited to.  It was fun to dress up for a night and so fun to wear a petty coat.

Brinley family reunions!

We were blessed to spend almost 2 full weeks with the Brinley clan this summer.  We spent 4 days in West Yellowstone with Becky and Mandy's family along with mom and dad.  Dad had a friend with a cabin that we got to stay in.  It was great for the little kids to have some good cousin time with Mandy's kids.  We spent a day in Yellowstone seeing the hot springs, bison, and old faithful.  We spent another day in the wild life reserve feeding the bears and watching real wolf pack fights.  Crazy.  

 Jacob and Hunter were a hit with Mandy's kids.  Fun for them to play the role of big cousin

 This was the hotel mom and Dad Brinley stayed at on their honeymoon 50 years ago!

 There was  a great lake the kids loved swimming at one afternoon just minutes from the cabin

 everyone 5 and older had a chance to hide food on the reserve for the bears to come find and eat

Disney trip!

 We finally made it to Disneyland! We have been saving Visa points for years and finally had enough, along with our kids camp money we earned, to take a long awaited trip to the Happiest place on earth.  We went hard for 3 days and loved every minute. The hit family rides where grizzly rapids, splash mountain and thunder mountain.  Janey and Cannon spent a lot of their time on the Pooh bear ride which Jonathan and I can now quote.  We spent a day up in Santa Barbara where Jonathan spoke at  an EFY.  We loved walking along the beach.  We also took an afternoon to play in the waves at Newport beach which the kids LOVED.  It was a little cold for my liking but it didn't bother the rest of them. We slept in 5 different places (working the free hotel and friends home thing) and got very effecient at packing the car.  We made great memories and hope to someday return.

Girls St. George Trip!

 Katy, Emily, and I all went to St. George last weekend for Emily's dance competition.  Her best friend Makayla and her mom came with us and we had a great time.  We drove down Friday afternoon and got settled in the home we were staying in (a good family friends winter home) and then went out for a night on the town.  We went to dinner, and walked around the outlet stores.  We came home and watched a movie in a sweet theatre room that the girls loved. I couldn't resist a morning run, the weather was so great.  We all went hiking on the red rocks and the girls intoduced Makayla to the "Crack of death" a family favorite.  We even hit a great little garage sale on the way to get the girls changed for the dance comp.  We spent the rest of the day at the competition when the girls did a great job in their dances and had a great time being on stage again.

 Emily danced a lyrical to Hallelujah!

 Emily had fun playing hide and go seek in the locker room while waiting to perform her hip hop "Sassy Girl"!

Doughnuts for A's

We found out a great secret this month, Krispy Kreme will give a doughnut for every A. The kids scored 6 doughnuts each fresh off the conveyor belt.  We had fun watching the doughnuts go from rise to glazed.  I bought Katy some gluten free doughnuts for her 4.0 and we had a great family night treat!

Happy Birthday Emily!

Emily is 10! We have always called her M&M so this year we thought we would have an M&M cake.  We had fun designing, making, and most of all eating it.  Her birthday landed on a sunday and we had the boys ordination the same day so celebrated bothwith her favorite dinner, sloppy joes.  Grandma and Granpa Moon, Jessica and Josh, and Uncle Don all joined us.  It was a great day from start to finish.  She celebrated the next day by going to the movies with her best friend Makayla and big sister Katy.  She is growing up all too fast.  The picture of her dancing in the snow, freezing her feet, without a care is such a great picture of her personality.  She is loving and carefree and always has a great story!

My boys are 12!

Jacob and Hunter had their 12th birthday on Valentine's Day.  They chose to go to dinner with Jonathan and me rather than have a party.  We had a $20 gift card to Chili's so we loved the idea.  We had a great time being with just them.  They received the Priesthood on Feb. 19th (Emily's Birthday).  Jonathan gave them each beautiful blessings and it was hard not to be the proud mama.  They both looked so handsome last week as they passed the sacrament for the first time.  Niether one seemed nervous and both showed great respect for what they were doing.  It was an awesome and overwhelming experience to watch Hunter pass the sacrament to his dad on the stand as well as the rest of the Stake Pres. and bishopric.  I love having 3 priesthood holders in our home.  They have done baptisms for the dead twice and both love it.

For the boys birthday they wanted to check out a new park near our home.  I was freezing so I sat in the car and they had a blast climbing all kinds of crazy contraptions! 

Valentine's Day at School!

Janey, Alyss, and Cannon had fun coming with me to help celebrate Valentines day at school.  We brought donuts into the boys class for their birthday and stopped in to Emily's class to see her cute  boxes.