Frozen Jedi roller skater

What do Elsa, Luke Skywalker, Anna, and a rollerskating 50's waitress have in common?  Good question.  They sure were a cute bunch for Halloween.

Somehow Teyah talked mom into making her Anna costume for her birthday. I agreed, but said it had to be her Halloween costume too!

This costume may have been one of the most time-consuming yet, because when I sewed it, a pattern hadn't been released yet, so I had to create it from scratch.

Ellie's costume was purchased from the Disney Store by the girls pooling their money.

Since Daddy loves to dress up, he always has to get in on the costume fun!

Aubrie decided with her best friend Alexa that a 50's waitress on rollerblades sounded like the coolest costume idea ever. After many attempts by me to talk her out of the roller blades, I finally had to bite my tongue and let her follow through on her plans.

Needless to say, a badly skinned knee and many falls later, Aubrie quickly learned that trick-or-treating on roller blades is not for amateurs. Mom also used the argument that roller blades actually weren't even invented in the 50's.  But, I did sew her costume too, so you can't say I wasn't trying to be supportive.

I enjoyed Kyler's cute Halloween concert at preschool.

The kids enjoyed carving pumpkins as always.

They are becoming quite skilled as they get older!

They scored more than ever this year!

Amazing fall colors

One of the rainiest spring and summer on record, has yielded to some of the most amazing fall colors.  The pictures don't quite do it justice, as the vibrant  reds, oranges, and yellows have been incredible over the past few weeks.  This is a tree in our front yard.

The view outside our top floor window.

Beautiful colors on a bike ride.

Savoring the colors on a nature walk,

and on rides through trees.

Autumn, please stay here a little longer.  Please.

School Success Stories

Although our kids have seen challenges with new schools its been thrilling to see them rise to the occasion and accomplish some amazing things,  Teyah was beaming to be awared a student of the month award.

Teyah was also recognized at her Achievement Center school.  She has worked so hard and has made amazing progress on her Occupational therapy and core strengthening,  It was unimaginable that she would be able to one day ditch her leg braces and run a 5K last year.

Kyler has amazed his pre-school teacher to quickly pick up new concepts and contribute to the class.  This is a picture of Kyler presenting to his teacher a little presentation on his family,

We have been proud of Ellie as she decided to join the school choir this year. Her choir did a mini concert as a school fundraiser at Barnes and Nobel.

Aubrie has also been dedicated to her school's choir and extra curricular choir "Rising Stars."  

Stage drama

The decision to build the stage in the basement may have been one of our best decisions ever.  The kids love escaping to the basement and letting their imaginations take over. They often take random objects and create elaborate stage scenes with funny little dialogues. We love this picture of these little cowboys riding their horse.

This was another memorable performance featuring the boyfriend basketball player and his girlfriend.  We cherish these moments when all of our kids play so well together.

Minnesota moments with Becca

Once summer ends, it's rare we get out-of-state visitors, so our kids were thrilled to find out that their cousin Becca would be able to visit just prior to starting her semester at BYU-I. The kids loved taking her on a mini-tour of Minneapolis which included a visit to the "yellow room" at the Guthrie theater,

I love the silhouette of these cousins. One of these does not look look like the other.

We also enjoyed some time taking in the end of summer scene at Lake Calhoun.

And we savored some hikes around the lakes near our house.

And we enjoyed hanging out roasting s'mores. It was a fun visit to share these September Minnesota moments.

News schools for all

The start of school is bringing on some new beginnings for all of our kids.

Both Elliana and Teyah left the only school they have known to attend a different elementary school with many of their neighborhood friends.

Aubrie entered a whole new world as well with start of the 6th grade, which puts her into middle school.  Life is definitively going to change moving forward.

Kyler also opened a new door as he started pre-school with his best buddy, Lauren.

This is actually the first time we have had a kid in a 3-day a week, traditional preschool because we have mostly done Joy School.

Teyah is excited to be in the 2nd grade with her teacher, Mrs Votel.

Ellie is excited for her first day of fourth grade with her student teacher Mrs. Segul and her teacher Mrs. Warden.

State fair Veterans

After missing out on the state fair for the past 8 years, we made it a second year in a row with Teyah winning free tickets from our local library.

 

One favorite part was the butter princess sculptures.

We had a blast, made memories, and just might be back again next year for the "great Minnesota get-together".

Summer Memories in Pics

Summer always seems to fly by. Here is a smattering of some of our favorite summer memories. This a view from the top of the Mill City Museum in downtown Minneapolis.

Here's the view of the famous Stone Arch Bridge crossing the Mississippi river.

We had our fair share of Nelson's ice-cream this summer ... especially the Lumberjack.

Our kids fell in love with our missionaries, Elder Lee and Elder Westover, who served our family plenty as we built our basement.

And we did lots and lots of swimming.

We enjoyed plenty of nature hikes in the nearby woods.

And "being married" on the swings.

Reno visit

We were so sad to have our dear friends, the Ponczoch's move to Reno. So, when the kids and I had the opportunity to visit them, we were so thrilled!

They showed us a good time at this fun community pool. The kids lasted about four hours here!

Their kids line up nearly perfectly in age and gender with our kids. They also love to do plays like us, so many plays were created and executed. My personal favorite of the week was "Wicked."

We also enjoyed a beautiful day at Lake Tahoe.

These kids are just the cutest together!

Needless to say, we had some sad kids on our hands when it was time to leave.