Not too bad...if I say so myself

Well, as you can see from the title of our Blog, we had some family pictures taken. We had a gal that Kris works with come up and take them in our backyard. She sent us this one and another one and will put the rest on a disk for us, so we can make them up as we want to. But I think they turned out pretty fabulous! If I do say so myself!
Can you believe how big our kids are and how stinkin cute they are???

Its the most wonderful time of the year....

For those of you that know our family, you know that Halloween is one of our most favorite times of the year. We go all out decorating and dressing up. Things are bit more subdued this year due to moving, but we are getting in the mood.
The kids were out of school Thursday and Friday for fall break and so we did a bit of playing. Caitlyn and her friend Ciera came with my mom and I to Gardner Village in Salt Lake. We went down to see the witches on display and to have some spookey girl fun!
The theme of this turned out to be "hats", we found hats everywhere and of course the girls wanted their pictures taken in all of them.
Here are a few pictures of Caitlyn and Ciera modeling the hats






These are some of the great witches we ran into while we were at Gardner Village






All in all we had a ton of fun and the girls had a blast. Caitlyn decided after seeing all the great decor there that she wants to do her room all black and white. I think it will be elegant and fun!

Then last night we ventured out to a haunted corn maze. We went to pumpkinaze up in West Haven. It is not as expensive and we went there last year and loved it. We made sure to go when the haunted spooks were in the maze waiting for us. These are a few of the ones we ran into






And a here are a few of us, just goofing around!
Nick and Caitlyn

Kris, Cheryl and Nate



And last but not least
Caitlyn with her flashing mouth, Kris and the boys in the maze and me sporting my corn husk crown!




We hope your holidays are going great and that you are enjoying FALL!

Let it snow, let it snow, LET IT SNOW!

Well, I was just thinking the other day, that I was ready for the hot days of summer to come to a close and for the crispness of the fall air to start. I love the blue sky of autumn, the leaves changing colors and falling and getting ready for Halloween, Thanksgiving and then Christmas! But Mother Nature seems to have her own plans yet again this year! But this is Utah, and the weather can change dramatically this time of year!
Last night Kris and I had taken Nate up to his friends house, and then Caitlyn wanted to look at some supplies for her Birthday Party coming up (yeah, her birthday is in September,but she always has an october party...) So we were driving up the hill going home and it was starting to snow. I made Caitlyn take some pictures of the yard with the dusting of white.
This is the bridge in the backyard around 7pm

And a dusting of snow on the rose bushes (that need to be pruned....argg)

AND THIS.... is what we woke up to this morning. It is truely magnificent and beautiful!
WOW




So as you can see, we are enjoying the early visit of snow. It may be gone in a day or two, but I love the first snow of the season. It is cleansing and pure and blankets us with a world of frosty white!

Finally... a home!

This has been one of the longest, most challenging times we have gone through. But finally after months of wondering and working and having EVERYTHING fall out from under us, we have been blessed with a beautiful home in Kaysville, Utah. You are probably thinking...hmmm, I thought the house you were buying was in Layton. Well it was. And thanks to an incompetent loan officer that promised that all was well and great, could not get us to a closing date before our contract expired. So not only did we loose our home in Layton, but we lost about $1500.00 in fees. (that really really hurt) So, in the midst of being homeless (we were staying with the Perry family, who should be granted sainthood for having us for so long)Kris did some research and found this home in Kaysville. Every time he searched for homes, this one came up, and now we live in it!
I told Kris that I loved the feel of the home from the moment we walked into it. I had told him, if we didn't have our offer in on the Layton home, I would have taken this home in a heartbeat. little did we know what was in store. So here we are. I thought I would post some pictures because it is so picturesque that you just have to see it.
On one note...there is NO grass at this home, in this yard. The front yard is oak trees, other trees and Lot's of ivy ground cover. The back yard is like stepping into the woods, complete with river and bridges. The dogs love it. Zoe goes down into the water every day! She is crazy!
So enjoy the pictures and come see us sometime
1120 Cambridge Rd, Kaysville, Utah 84037
This first picture is looking from the backyard back at the back of the house

This next one is looking from the lower bridge on the west side of the property up to the east side of the property

This is Nick, in the river, having a great time. There are parts of it that are about 18-20" deep. Most of it is about 8-10" deep

Zoe, down in the River. Zeus got in once, I can't seem to convince him to go in again...

This is looking West from the patio towards the lower bridge.


This is looking east from the patio up towards the mountains!

miracles

Today we had the opportunity of going and seeing my neice in the hospital. She stepped wrong while jogging last week and fell and broke her hip ( I know that is not the exact details, but that is the gist of it) She has been in the hospital since Thursday (i think) and had surgery on Saturday. They had to put in two titanium plates and 13 pins and do a bone graft from her femur. When it happened they told her this is not something that happens to the young. This is an injury they see in people in their 70's and 80's. And that it is just bizzarre that it broke this way. She (Sara) has written on her blog about this experience and about the miracles that they have seen as they have gone through this. Her daughter, Grace, has been breast feeding and NOT interested in a bottle and when the accident happened, she has been taking her bottle without much of a problem. Also, they were concerned that she would not be able to have more children or would have to have c-sections, but she talked to her surgeon who assured her that the place of this break should not have any effects on having more children. She has talked of feeling the constant love of the Savior with her as well. I am so grateful we have a loving Heavenly Father who watches out for each of his children, who understands our needs, our wants and our righteous desires as well as our sins and shortcomings!!
Kris and I have seen many miracles as of late that I will share on another post. I am grateful for the promptings of the spirit and for the opportunity to have the veil so thin at times that we can feel the presence of those who have gone before us. If you doubt their are miracles, stop for a moment and reflect on the bounties in your life and how you have come to be blessed with them and I am sure you will see the Lord's hand bringing miracles to pass in your own life!

A Cute idea

I was just reading some friends blog entry of their special occasion. They had been married 949 days. i thought that was so sweet that I would figure out how long Kris and I have been married. As of today, September 1, 2008, we have been married 6299 days! AMAZING!!!I am grateful to have my sweet husband and as a result of this, we have 3 great kids and 2 barking dogs!
Let us know how many days you have been married!

HOTEL PERRY

You may have heard of the Hotel California song from the Eagles, a hotel that is inviting, but you can never leave. Well, we have a better situation than that. We have the Hotel Perry. No scary things here, except maybe zeus and zoe and some loud construction going on. We moved out of our home Saturday and ended up staying at the Hampton Inn in Layton, which proved to be a great idea. We swam and sat in the hot tub and had lots of fun watching movies and laying on the king sized bed and listening to Nate serenade us with his guitar. So, we were trying to decide if we should go stay in Sandy at Kris's grandma's house until we close on our home, or what. Teresa(Perry) had graciously offered her home before but we were nervous with the dogs and the gates being left open and kids etc, but decided we could all try to make it work. So far so good. Our poor dogs are so neurotic right now. With all of their surroundings being changed, they dont know what to think!
But hopefully it will just be a week. If it is any longer, we will head down to Sandy. :)
So, for the time being, I am open to emails and lots of comments on our blog
Oh, did I mention I am on facebook now??
Have a great labor day!