Oct. '13 Conference Weekend in Wyoming

Rhett doesn't say too much....but one thing he says very often and very adimately is 'football!' or rather "fu-ba!" He saw that Grandpa Winn had turned it on and ran over, and sat down right next to him--most content kid in the world. I'd never seen him sit that long!

 

Playing frisbee out back with Grandpa.

Inbetween sessions on Sunday, we took the kids for a walk to get some excess energy out.  Luke got mad at Kade and wouldn't turn around for the picture.

More football watching with Grandpa!

 

We did watch conference around all that, and it was lovely and great.  I didn't exactly know that DURING that weekend (during all the crafts and games that the kids needed to stay focused on good tings during conference) but mostly after conference when I read the talks.  I love this gospel!

Soccer for Kade 2013

 

 

Kade played soccer this fall and loved every bit of it.  He and his friend Adam were on the team together and their coach was awesome.  He made some great goals and learned a LOT.  Plus watching was so fun!

 



Cowboy Days in Evanston

WE LOVE going to Cowboy Days in Evanston.  The boys walk away with so much candy! 

This year we also attempted to go to the Mountain Man Festival...turns out we got there on the last day...  As we walked in we saw tons of Teepees and men, women, and kids dressed up LEGIT as mountain men, who had been dressed that way and acting that way for a few days--cute.  When Julie asked the customer service lady what there was to do, once we drove 30 minutes to get there with our large crew, her helpful response was, 'you should have come yesterday...'...okay! So we set off to find something to do!

The boys crossed the plains...lil joke...but we went to a museum

with a kids area---see Luke's excitement!

And then did some Mountain Man Shopping.  One of the little shops was a straw broomstick tent.  They were just like the ones in Harry Potter and the boys loved that.  The shop guy told them that if they could fly a broom, they could have it for free. WOO-WE!  They just about jumped all over those brooms before the man said they'd have to supply their own demonstration broom.  BUT, since he had a sneaky suspision that they may not be able too, he gave each of them a mini broom.  They were super cute and the boys loved them!

 Julie told each of the kids that they could pick out a little trinket to bring home. YAY!  They loved that.  This mountain man was awesome.  He had made a little game and was teaching the kids and Andrea how to play.

School STARTS!

Kade and Luke's 2nd year at Valley View!!! 

Rhett, Max and I walked the boys to school for their first day; which is funny---cause they're so much faster then us that really, we just followed them. 

 

But I loved seeing them catch up with their old friends immediatly once we got there.  Aren't kids fantastic like that!

Cousin Day at the Park

I love our Cousin Days!  It's so so great to live close to family!  Emily's family lives 45 minutes away now and called to see if Kade and Luke could sleep over--ADORABLE.  She even came and picked them up since I had to teach gymnastics that night. 

The next morning I drove up with Max and Rhett to join them for a day at the park. They have SUCH AN AMAZING park! 

 

With water fun that the kids could control the flow by lifting up levers that made little dams and what not.  Rhett, Afton and Max spent lots of time in them. Luke and Brody spent more time in the stream that ran off of it...exploring on their own.

 

There were so many obstacles made of rope to climb all over! 

 

 

The kids all sat on this metal disc, and Riley spun them around. Just watching them made me sick. HA HA, it also started to make Luke sick--just for a bit.

End of Summer '13 Fun

 

This was a picture of the last time the pool was up for the summer.  It was a far cooler day then they were used to swimming in but they wanted it soo bad. 

It was so hilarious to see them swimming...and trying to warm up in the sun before jumping back in the water.

One the first day of school, the Melines have a neighborhood breakfast.  Afterwards we had Sam come over to play.  The boys dressed up as superheroes and and armed themselves with the 'soccer boppers' that Grandma bought our kids. 

And went to work beating each other up on the tramp.  Look at this beaut of a shot right after a punch!

And this is so so so great. Max loves Tomatoes!  We had a few on the counter from picking that morning and max grabbed on and took a big bite!  I thought he would spit it out, but nope, he kept going.  Love it!

 

 

Jess playing hand puppets with the little guys.

 

 

Hadyn and Rhett play together about every day. They're adorable. They LOVE playing with play dough in the backyard. They work together to drag the little table under the shade of the tree....they're cute.

DIscovery Park with the Lindquists

 

Here's Rhett and Penny--one of his besties. 



Once Jess got back we planned ourselves a picnic park day with the Lindquists.  They had moved to Utah from Georgia while Jess was gone.

 

Good times.

What a dirty dirty happy face on that boy!  He kept running and running.  Turns out a 1 year old doesn't like to stay by his parents while they talk and catch up :)

We love them.

How to Host a Murder

For our friend Kelly's birthday, her hubby surprised her by renting out a limo to drive us all up to Salt Lake for an evening of 'How to Host a Murder'.  They are soooo fun! The evening was spent laughing and laughing and figuring out the murder, and laughing...

 We did have a semi maniacal limo driver...so that spiced things up.  We love love this group.

This is an AMAZING picture.  Jess learned how to frown that night which was awesome.  (Frowning is hard!  I still can't.)

Dickerson Family Reunion

Where to start...

Jess' Grandparents are SUCH WONDERFUL PEOPLE!

They love and serve everyone, and smile all the time, and are just the kindest people you'll ever meet!  We got to have a little family reunion in August which was wonderful.

This is the best picture EVER right? Ahh--he loves his grandma!

Grandpa Dickerson LOVES pickled pigs feet.  So......we....decided...we should try it.  And let me tell you....

If what you though it would taste like is vinegar flavored jello meat?  You're SPOT ON.

Melodie is such a great aunt. She's always bringing gifts and playing with the kids.  She brought the funnest outside fun--Silly String!

The boy's VaCa--While We Were Gone

I may have mentioned this before, but the reason I could go to Hungary was ENTIRELY because of Jess' and my amazing families!  I could not say enough good about them!

It was so incredibly relieving to know that the boys were happy, safe, loved, cared for and having fun while we were in Hungary.  Jess’ family and my mom took SUCH great care of them!  Julie did the cutest thing too. She taped the days of the week to her hallway wall.  The boys each had a special day that they could pick what the family did.  They all put up papers on their days of what they picked for meals and activities.  So cute.  

(They had just started posting their fun plans a few minutes before I left....)

They did stuff like have a campfire and roast marshmallows with Andrea and Grandpa.

One of the days Emily and her kids came up and Julie bought all the kids new lego kits and they had a lego building competition.  

They went to the Evanston Fair, got to play with Sophie and give her treats all the time, and go to the park. They were there for a week. Then Julie and Andrea drove our van all the way down from Wyoming to my moms house and dropped the kids off.

My mom flew solo watching the boys.  Dad was training for his new job that week in California, and Scott was working—SOOOO nice of her!!!  For the 3 days that she had the kids, among other things, she took them to Kangaroo Zoo, to an adorable little pond to feed the ducks, and to the Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point.  

So so nice!

Everytime we called the kids were so so so happy.  YAY!!!  Max was eating (rare thing for him) AND sleeping so so well.  (also, literally a miracle!)

One time we called and Luke was showing me how loose his tooth was.  I told him he should go and yank it out right then.  It was so adorable to see him run down the hall and yell “I GOT IT! IT CAME OUT!” and have him come back to the computer camera with one front tooth gone. So cute!  Plus it’s cute that the Tooth Fairy visited him in Evanston J.

Summer Dates with My Boys

While Jess was gone, I had 3 hot dates.  And it was awesome.

Kade is the CARNIVORE of the family.  So the obvious choice was Rodizio Grill.

He was HIL.ARIOUS!!!  Here's a picture of one of the times he spent "savoring" his bite. HA!

 Now Luke...well, he loves desserts--see the example on his face?  He filled that little belly with mac and cheese, cotton candy, ice cream, ice cream, cotton candy.......So classy Golden Corral it was.  Great choice!

And me and Rhett went to Trafalga!  Mini bowling, rock climbing, laser dodging, and dip'n dots!   

I love the handsome men in my life!!!