Happy Halloween!!!!

We've had a very fun Halloween for a few days now...

Thursday night Ashton and I made sugar cookies for his class...he had fun making pumpkin sugar cookies!

This is him with his preschool friend CJ, at school on Friday.

For Sierra's class I made Snack Lanterns, cleaned out and carved oranges and filled them with fruit salad. I got the idea from Family Fun...they were a hit!


I helped a few other mom's decorate Sierra's classroom, Sierra is coming in after Recess and is loving it! :)

Sierra's Snack Lantern

They also made spiders out of crackers and cheese, raisins, and pretzels.

Then Friday night we went to my Dad's Ward Halloween party. My mom had bought two Pirate costumes and Ashton decided he wanted to be a Pirate instead of Speed Racer again so he and Nixon were Pirate's, pretty cute Pirate's I might add!

Sierra did not want to put her white face back on. Her mouth was sore too because she had an ortho appointment. She was a good sport! She loves her baby cousin Rossi!

On Saturday we carved our pumpkins at Grammy's house and we always leave them there to glow because that is where we party! Ashton's is the little orange one and the white one, he told me what to carve and I carved it (triangle eyes, triangle nose, scary mouth and mouth with teeth) and Sierra's is the orange one down below, you can't tell but she wanted a vampire leaning down to bite a women's neck and that is what we carved, pretty cool!


This year we had Christy and her girls and Carla and her boys over and it was so fun, there were so many kids! We had a few falls and major scares (one house had a Freddy looking guy with a knife and he moved, Rocky went up to the house with the kids and came running crying and completely terrified, went to look at this Freddy and he was truly really scary) during trick or treating but overall it was a great night! Lots of yummy food and treats and great company!

When we brought the little kids back because they were done the big kids wanted to go back out, so Christy and I took our big girls back out just the 4 of us and it was so FUN too!!!

Calli and Sierra

TODAY

Today we had beautiful Ms. Miley while Heather is recuperating from her surgery. She was such a joy, so happy and we just loved her. Ashton loved to hold her and talk to her and make her smile. He would lay on the floor by her and talk to her and he would tell me, "mommy I'm watching the baby" Miley loved our kitty and when she saw the kitty her eyes were glued and she would just talk and talk and smile like she was talking to the kitty. We took her over to her next babysitters house, Tricia Gaye, in the afternoon and Ashton was telling me the whole way over that he did not want to leave the baby with another babysitter. After dropping her off, we got back in the car and Ashton was in tears and the bottom lip was curled under.

mommy: honey, what's the matter?

Ashton: I don't want to leave the baby with another babysitter, I just want to keep her for the whole day!

She was loved at our house, Heather! :) Thanks for sharing her with us!

When Sierra got home from school today we went to Lombardi's Ranch. Ashton has gone this season with his preschool class but Sierra had not yet so we hurried along because Halloween is on Saturday. This little girl has a hard time deciding and she was searching and searching for the perfect pumkin for about 20 to 30 minutes. She even asked Grammy to help her. I gave her a limit on price too, they each had $5 to spend, so she would see one that was perfect but then she would look at the price and it would be $15 or $7. She finally found one and it ended up being $4, PERFECT! Ashton picked up practically the first one he saw and said "look mom, 3, 5, 0." I told him that was great, less than $5. Then as we were walking away he saw the white pumpkins "ghost pumpkins" is what he calls them and said "wait, i want to trade" so he quickly chose a ghost pumpkin, proud to pick one up that was only$2 but Grammy and I encouraged him to get one that was a little bigger and had a stem on it, gave him a few choices and he quickly chose his favorite and Sierra put the other one back for him and he got one that is $4 too. Great shoppers!

SEARCHING...

Trunk r' Treat

Tonight was our Ward Church Halloween Party! Our annual Trunk r' Treat! Sierra a Vampire and Ashton Speed Racer, they were so excited to get their costumes on and had so much fun at the party! :)

They are getting ready to go on the costume parade

Ashton, Lincoln and little buddy Koby

Sierra Ashton, Lincoln and Rocky after the Trunk r' Treating :)


Amanda, Brynn and Sierra

Silly Rocky :)

The kids all participated in a cupcake walk and these are the cupcakes my kids chose after their numbers were called, very EXCITING!

They both happened to choose the same cupcake, that is a rubber mouse, so FUN!

A very fun night! With very yummy chili, cornbread and treats!

TODAY

DISNEYLAND!

Splash Mountain (sorry taken with Jake's cell phone, too cheap to buy the photo and not motivated enough to lug around our big awesome camera for the 25th time) In the photo Jake is in the front giving #1's, then me, Ashton (not a great photo but really in the pic his face is terrified, even though this is his 3rd time going on it) and then Sierra, so cute, screaming!
We had some firsts at Disney today! Actually California Adventure, Sierra went on California Screamin'. I tried to convince her all day to go on it and she said "no way" and was completely stressed out at the thought of it. I knew she would love it so I just kept on her and then the key words came out of my mouth "wouldn't it be awesome to tell your friend's at school tomorrow that you went on California Screamin'". She was quiet for about 5 mins. and then after watching it she said "it doesn't look to fast, I want to go on it!" :) Then she saw the loop di loop and very nervously said "there's a loop di loop?" I told her it would be fine, she will be fine, it's fun, you won't fall out!" This is their photo, she is screamin' her head off! She came off smiling and said it is her new favorite ride, she loved it, can't wait to go on it again! Later her dad asked her what made her change her mind, she said that she thought it would be fun to tell her friend's that she went on it! :)

We went and talked with Crush (the sea turtle from Finding Nemo) and another first Sierra got to ask him a question.
Crush: What's your name?
Sierra: Sierra
Crush: All right Surfin' Sierra what's your question?
Sierra: Do you have any pets?
Crush: I have a pet rock. Do you have any pets?
Sierra: I have a cat and I have a fish that I donated.
Crush: (pause) donated to what?
Sierra: my classroom!
Crush: Oh! You sent him to school! Well that was good, very nice of you! What is your fish's name?
Sierra: Alvin
She was so excited that she finally got to talk to him!
A FUN DAY!

Mom is so EMBARRASSING!

So this is my hair this morning, pony tails=cutsie, I know not sexy or beautiful! We pull up in front of Ashton's preschool and he says to me in a tone like he is totally stressed out, "Mom can you take out your hair?"

Mom: Are you serious, why?

Ashton: Just take it out!

Mom: I can't, my hair will be crazy and I don't have a hat!

He didn't say anything else, that was the end of that...

Hart High Show Choir Kid's Clinic

This last Saturday Sierra participated in a Kid's Clinic for Hart's Show Choir. She had so much fun and she did so great up on stage. She looked like she was really having a ton of fun and in her element, she loves being on stage and she loves to sing and dance. She says she wants to be a Rockstar when she grows up! and she wants to be on TV right now :)

Spongebob?

Tonight we went with Grammy to Golden Spoon and we were sitting outside and the boy's were running crazy and Sierra comes over to me and my mom and said, "I'm surrounded by boys, why am I the only girl?" Grammy said, "Hey what do we look like chopped liver!" Sierra says, "You got that from Spongebob!" :)

M3 Triathlon

I did it!!! I swam 1.2 miles in Castaic Lake! Today was the Magic Mountain Man Triathlon and I was on a team with Me doing the swim, David Flick doing the 56 mile bike and my mom running the 13.1 miles. It was challenging, it was so FUN! My time 41 minutes 13 seconds.

A few days before the race I looked at this map and my stomach started hurting, OH my GOODNESS! I have to swim like the whole length of the lake. I was scared! So happy I did it!!!! :)

After my swim we went to go watch the bikes, I had 3 sweat shirts on, I was freezing! (pic courtesy of Heather Keil) :)

Some of our team participants and great supporters!!!
My sisters, Sophi and Briana swam on a team too, there time was faster than me 36 minutes, way to go! :) I think I was having to much fun! :) My cousin Amanda's husband Monte did the bike for Briana's team and they had a friend run it, they got 3rd place for the mixed relay teams :) and Ben K. rode for Sophi's team and a friend, Pat B., ran it. It was such a fun day, just enjoyed everybody and cheered everybody on!

Lombardi Ranch Field Trip

Today Ashton went on his first class field trip to Lombardi Ranch. He was so excited and has talked about it for days. When we were driving there he would say "does it take a long time to get there, where are we going, we're almost there-getting warmer, warmer, warmer, when are we going to be there?" While we were there he was so excited and was pulling on my hand and wanting to run everywhere, he did and I just followed him. :) Ashton and Nora riding the train, this was so EXCITING!

The herd of children waiting to go in the Petting Zoo. Ashton lasted like 5 minutes! We was carefully walking around all the poop, held his nose one time, didn't touch one animal, came to the fence and told me "I want to get out now!" Not his favorite part.

All of us silly mom's taking pictures of the class on the haystacks


So fun to climb to the top of the haystacks!

Ashton's class with Teacher Helper Ms. Eugenia and a substitute. His teacher wasn't there. :(

I loved going on a field trip with my Big Boy! So fun to see him having so much fun!!!

So fun to pick out a pumpkin, he got to be one of the first and then when everyone was done he asked me, "Mom can I get a different one?" So we put his back and he grabbed a different one. When we got home he immediately got out a marker and drew a face on his pumpkin. A fun morning!!!

Do I really look that awful?

My son loves pretty! He loves it when I wear makeup and earrings! He will compliment me when I look pretty! This morning I was throwing on some sweats to take him to school because I was then going to come back home and clean the bathrooms. He said to me, "No not those clothes, put on pretty clothes!"

Havasupai!

This last weekend I had the privilege of going with my dad and Tori and Sophi to Havasupai. Havasupai is an Indian Village (Indian Reservation) at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. We went along with Bingham's, Larry and Diana and Casey and Carly and Mark and Shelly Reeve. We left Wednesday and stayed in Peach Springs for one night, a small town that is off route 66 and was inspiration for the town Radiator Springs in the Pixar movie Cars. We hiked down the canyon and into the village on Thursday and after getting settled in our room in the lodge we got our bathing suits on and hiked to the first waterfall. Beautiful!!! The water is a turquoise color. The Indian word Supai means "the people of the blue green waters" and it is so true. The color of the water is breathtaking. We found a water hole to swim in and Sophi and I decided to go down some tiny rapids. They were tiny with huge damage. I went down feet first how I've been taught and my upper left thigh and lower right leg got majorly scraped up. I stopped myself on this big rock and climbed up and then I was stuck. Then came Shelly, and I was freaking out because I knew she was going to hit all the same rocks that I hit. She did get a little scraped but not as badly as me. Then Tori was on the bank and she asked "okay how do I get down there" and I said "no, you do not want to come through these rapids, I'm stuck can you help me out?" She reached for me from the bank and helped me out. THANK HEAVENS! I asked the girls, Didn't you here me screaming as I was getting scraped by rocks? and they said yes we thought they were screams of joy! :) Friday we hiked to the other two waterfalls past the first and again they just took my breath away. My dad was a great photographer as usual, he takes pictures of everything. :) Thursday and Friday night Dad, Tori, Sophi and I played several grueling games of hand and foot. Saturday we hiked out in the morning and drove home. The village was so interesting, dirt everywhere with horse poop everywhere too. No cars, just horses for transportation and we saw one tractor and a helicopter that would make trip after trip getting supplies to them. We saw him bring several trips of hay for the horses. There is 1 diner to eat at and the food was extremely average, good fry bread though, everyone liked the fry bread. There was a tiny grocery store with Wheaties that cost $10. There was an elementary school, for high school the kids have to go out of the canyon for the 4 years. A great trip, a great experience, so happy to be a part of it, loved being a part nature and enjoyed every minute of this beautiful world God created for us!!! Thanks Dad and Tori!

And so it begins...our adventure!

The hike down we stopped every 5 minutes to take pictures, so beautiful!

These mules carried our bags and others down to the village for us, good horsies!

This is the lodge we stayed in, it was a good home to us for 2 nights.

The famous and very necessary helicopter...

The first falls we hiked to on Thursday... (me, Carly, Sophi, Dad, Tori and Mark)

The roaring rapids :)

Waterfall #2 (I'm terrible I only remember 1 waterfalls name)

This took our breath away, Sophi kept saying "you've GOT to be kidding me!" Waterfall #3
This was Friday, we continued on to Mooney Falls and then came back here and went swimming, we (Shellie, Sophi, and Casey and I) swam behind the waterfall :O so scary, so exilarating, so glad I did it, what an experience!!

(me, Sophi, Dad, Tori, Shellie, Mark, Diana, Casey and Carly) (Larry was behind his awesome camera that was in a waterproof case)
Okay I know the name of this one...Mooney Falls...TERRIFYING :)

You had to crawl through caves...

and hang onto chains to get to the base of this waterfall! Made me a little nervous...

so happy when I reached the bottom! :)

This is a great story...Sophi and I went in the store to get some Powerade for our hike out. The girl behind the cash register had some great earrings on and we saw her with different ones on the day before, so cute! Sophi and I leave and discuss if we should ask her if we can buy her earrings, we decide YES! We go back inside the store and Sophi says "can I buy your earrings?" She grabs her ears and says, "I don't know" with a huge smile on her face. She takes them out and says "okay". Sophi gives her $20. Sophi bought Indian earrings right out of the ears of an Indian. :) I ask her if she makes them and if she has more, she does make them and she had more at her house. I asked her if she could take us there and I would buy a pair too. She did, she took us to her house, walked along the dirt road and under some barbed wire and she brought out about 4 pairs of earrings, Tori and I both bought a pair and I told her that next time I came down I want to see her earrings for sale in the store, she smiled. Her name is Alta but people call her Donna, she has 4 kids.

The LDS church

The hike up and out, STAYING STRONG!

When I got home I found this card that Sierra had put together for me and her whole class at school signed it :)

(inside)

My kids are so cute, when I told Ashton I went to an Indian Village. He said, "you saw Indians? Are they nice to people or do they try to fight you?"

Sierra said, "Were there Cowboys there too?"