mesa falls

mesa falls is beautiful. and always has some dried animal poop to play with. nice max. (jakob was staying at nona's and wasn't the least bit upset he missed this little outing because "who wants to see a bunch of water go over a cliff?")

beaverdick park

i know. i know. the absolute worst name for a park ever. they should really name it something else. anything else. moving on. we went to go check it out, and it was flooded. completely underwater. the monkeys were thrilled. because it is pretty awesome when your bum skims water when you swing.

please disregard riley's "sport's illustrated swimsuit model pose". where does she come up with these things?!

the spray park

we usually like the spray park here. it has 3 slides and a giant bucket that dumps water on you (max is not a fan) and there are always friends to play with. but let's be honest, the water is freezing! the monkey's teeth are constantly chattering and they always end up wanting to go over to the swings so i can push them forever and ever and ever.

the carousel

riley and max get free passes from the library to ride the carousel. they love it. and that makes me happy.

my doods

there are about 5 little boys in the neighborhood right around max's age. he calls them all his "doods". that's much easier than remembering everyone's name. he definately has his favorites, though. silly little boy. can i get a picture with your tongue in your mouth? no? ok.

thawed out

we were trapped inside for far too long. we ventured out sometimes to go sledding, but that was about it. i have to admit, i was getting some serious cabin fever. but the sidewalks are finally melted and maxwell just wants to "wide". so i let him. all. day. long.

fight club

i had the boys bedroom window open while i was upstairs cleaning. and i heard the rules being laid out. it was 25 cents to sign up. about 6 boys from the neighborhood were sectioned off into brackets so they would know who would fight who. and when. the winner takes the money, minus 50 cents for the manager. jakob. i must admit i was shocked. and oddly proud.

the solar system

zoe was pretty nervous to start at (yet another) brand new school. but once she got into her groove, there was no stopping her. the entire 4th grade had to make solar systems. almost everyone made theirs out of play dough. zoe thought yarn would be much more aesthetic. i had to agree. she got 100%. of course.

jakob's poor little fish

i told him fish don't live very long. and that's true. but the 50 kajillion beta fish pellets (these happen to be goldfish) couldn't have helped. i don't want to point fingers, but maxwell looked awfully suspicious.

since you asked...

i'll start posting some pics of the house. first up is the living room. so if you were over in ks or tx, this should all look familiar. we got new slipcovers while we were still in tx. brought the "strawberry fields" sign indoors and hit up ikea for the bookcase. so, let's take a quick look around. shall we?

and these are a few of my favorite things:

we're moving to iderho!!

the hubby interviewed at byu-idaho in october. we found out he got the job in november. and we'll be outta here mid december!! snow, mountains, sub-zero temps (oh my!), here we come!!

outdoor theater

the hubby thinks it's fun to bring the tv outside. (and he's right.) usually we just watch a movie on a blanket, but this time they lugged unco dano's futon out there. you can see who got that luxury.

(riley eventually snuck her little self in there. can't let those boys take over everything, can we?)

halloweentown

zoe was a pajama girl this year. she was adorable, but one picture was enough for her thankyouverymuch. (gotta love this girl for spending nada on her costumes.)

although max loved his firefighter costume, he just wanted his picture taken with "scawy gween teef". so i obliged. maxwell could not get over "trunk or treat". everytime he got a piece of candy he ran back to show me. "mom! mom!! look!! that guy gave me a piece of candy too!!"


this was the first year that jakob was not a star wars character. so he let me take a picture or two of him in the cute little deadly ninja costume.

sweet little riley grace-face was ariel. and she. is. in. love. sometimes she sleeps in this costume, but has yet to ask to wear it to church. thank goodness.

you're going to have to excuse the immodesty of that last shot. but that kind of thing doesn't "embawass" little miss thang.