::grand opening::

As I'm sure we all know, H&M and Crate & Barrel came to Utah! Of course we had to go check them out! We didn't go for the opening day (on 11-11-11), but we went the next day. Grandma Kitty met us there. We took her to lunch @ Cheesecake before we went into the mall.




It was crazy busy. As we expected. We had to wait  half hour/45 minutes to even get into H&M. Once we were in it was kinda fun. I sort of felt like I was on the clock...like I only had a few minutes to shop 'cause I knew there were people waiting. We found some clothes. Chloe got a sweater, the little boys got matching Mario shirts, I got a black blazer (I've been looking for one) and a sweater, and Avie and Matt didn't get anything (haha-how rude!). Then we went to a few more stores. They had a few stores open this week, but they weren't as big of a deal. H&M stole their thunder. Chloe was a pretty good sport. We shopped for probably around 6 hours. I wore heels. So dumb. They were cute though.

(as the lady who took our photo said "3 generations of shoppers"  But I really I love the guy behind us-ha!)

(the line outside of H&M)

(Crate & Barrel Christmas tablescape.  I bet I see this on Mom's table at Christmas dinner)

And that was our Saturday. 

When we came out of the mall, it was snowing and starting to get dark. I was glad to get home to Matt and the other babies and our warm home. My feet were glad to be out of the shoes.


In other news... 
You know how I mentioned Bubb's uvula being attached to his tonsil? He told Matt this morning that his tonsil is stuck to his tonsil. I was telling Port that Bubb will probably need to get his tonsils out next year (we don't know for sure-he goes to the dr. next week), and all about how they do it and how Chloe had it done and all about the hospital and the whole nine. So he said he might need his out too. And I told him I didn't think he'd need to have his out, and he said "Mooom! Yes I do or I'll never get a loose tooth!" What?? So I had to explain through my laughter that tonsils and loose teeth are not related.
Also... 
I'm not feeling too hot. I have a cold. So does Avie. I felt it coming on yesterday morning. It always starts with a sore throat. We both have stuffy noses, coughs, sore throats (at least mine is) and headaches (at least I do). So all the kids and I stayed home from church today. Matt had to go to a meeting and teach a lesson. He laid Ava down for her nap, and gave strict instructions to the big kids that I was not to be bothered while he was gone for the hour and a half that it took for the meeting and lesson, and the kids needed to let me sleep 'cause I was sick. No sooner did the garage door go down than Ava started crying-it's tough to sleep when you're teeny and sick, and the big kids come up carrying Bubba who was dripping blood from his foot. He cut it downstairs on something. So we had little drops of blood on the carpet from downstairs all the way up to my room. So I fixed his toe, fixed Ava's nose and diaper, fed her, made lunch, and then Matt came home. 

There ain't no rest for the weary.

::she's mo-bile::

Our Avie-Mavie is mobile! She skipped the wounded(Chloe)/sneaky(Porter)/drunken(Bubb) soldier stage (like the other kids) all together and just went straight to crawling. She's been at it for a good week and a half and she's getting faster.

 
 

In other news...

Is it boys, or just my boys, or just Bubb?  They're ALWAYS hungry!   Always.  Bubb in particular.  As soon as the big kids leave for school, the "I'm huuuuuungry" cries begin.  He will have just eaten his cereal, all of his juice, the rest of Port's cereal, Port's juice, an apple, a second bowl of cereal, and half a banana.  The whining goes on for a good couple of hours or so-usually until Port gets home and I feed him lunch.  Then he stops.  This morning, I came out to the living room (where I left him with his trucks and Bubble Guppies) after a shower and found him helping himself to Amberlee's cookie dough (she bought it from  Port's school fundraiser).  He got into the fridge, opened it, peeled back the plastic, and sat at the counter with a spoon and had himself a little snack.  Ugh!  I swear!  Also, I'm pretty sure he's going to have to have his tonsils out.  He's a snorer, even during the day when he's awake.  Which is kind of funny.  I tell him to open his mouth and stick out his tongue so I can see his uvula (that hangy down ball in the back of his throat), and it's attached to one of his tonsils; so I'm a little worried about that.  He goes to the dr. next week for his 3 year (3 year!) check up.  We'll see what they say, I guess.  That'll be fun.  Bubb as a patient--oh man!

::Chloe's baptism::

"We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost."

~The Fourth Article of Faith

Chloe was baptized this last weekend!!

(the invitation)

I want to start off with a few photos from the little photo sesh we did back in October at the Salt Lake Temple. Some day, when I get a few hours, I'll update that ol' photo blog of mine, but until then, here a few faves of mine from that day...






Baptism Day!
We woke up to some new snow! A big cold front came through and dropped a couple of inches of snow on us. Most of it was gone by mid afternoon.  I don't know I just thought it'd be a fun thing to remember about her baptism day.


Her dress.
We got it about a month and a half ago. It's beautiful. Very Chloe. We went to this little girly boutique-y store. It had lots of mirrors and plenty of space for twirling. She tried on about 6 or 7 dresses. It made me a little teary to see her so beautiful and happy with herself in the mirror. She trotted out of the dressing room and twirled in front of the mirror. We talked about what we liked and what we didn't about each one. She decided on this one because it has little sparkles all over the whole dress and also it had a flower that picked up the top layer of the dress, and none of the other dresses had that. It was a fun little shopping experience with her. The other kids came too. The boys told her she was beautiful every time she came out in another dress. They're pretty sweet brothers.


All of the family in attendance...


We all met at our house afterward for lunch. It was my Aunt Jeri's spaghetti (which has quickly become a family favorite), salad & bread sticks (both compliments of The Olive Garden :) ) I didn't happen to get any photos of the spread, but you get the idea.

We also had a belated family birthday party for her too-since we were all together. She got to blow out some candles on a Barbie cake and open a few presents.





I'm so proud of her.  I'm so proud of her eagerness to learn more about the Gospel and about the scriptures.  I love that she wants to read them all the time.  I love that she gets so excited about family home evening every week (well almost every week).  I love that she understands baptism and the sacrifice made by our Savior so that we may return to our Heavenly Father.  She understands how important setting a good example is.  She understands that we are going to make mistakes and that we can repent and that we will be forgiven.  I love that.  Also, I sort of can't believe she just got baptized!  I remember her baby blessing!  I remember doing very similar things in preparation for her blessing, and here she just got baptized 8 short years later. 


sigh.


It was one of those days.  It was so great.  I cried a little while I watched Matt baptize her.  I thought about my own.  I'm sure she doesn't understand it all, but someday she will.  I'm sure she won't remember it all, but I will.  I appreciate so much all the family that was able to come and support Chloe.  We missed  those who weren't there.  We had her grandpas as the witnesses, Cousin Korissa give a talk on baptism, and Papa Kitty said the closing prayer.  Her dad (along with her uncles, grandpas, great grandpa, and bishop) confirmed her.  It was a beautiful program.  She had a couple of her little friends come-both of which will be turning 8 next year.  It was just one of those days.  

I love those kind of days.

::just another day of the week::

We celebrated Matt's birthday last Friday.  

He's not much on his own birthday.  He always says it's just another day of the week. 

I disagree.

I feel like it's kind of a big deal.  

He's kind of a big deal.

  

We did dinner together-just the two of us-since we had Chloe's baptism the next morning (more on that later).

(The Mr. & I.  November 2010)

 

We ate.  We talked.  We took the long way home.

I love him.  He's means the world to me.

::halloweeeeeeen::

Halloween was so fun this year!!  Our kids knew pretty early on what they wanted to be.  
We had Barbie, a black cat, Mario, and Luigi.

The school Halloween carnival was on Friday night.  We went.  There were lots of games.  It was fun.

Halloween and Red Ribbon Week (the anti drug campaign) are always at the same time, so they get to dress up in crazy stuff all week.  2 schools.  2 different assignments for 2 kids for 5 days. whew.  They wore their costumes one of the days (Friday for Chloe, Monday for Port).  Portie's school has a Halloween parade.  The kids walk through the school to monster music and the parents take pictures.  His teacher was a crayon box.  Cute costume for a teacher, I thought.

 

 Chloe's school has like a pre-carnival on Friday.  The kids get to do the carnival in the afternoon before all the families and everyone else does later that evening.  They don't wear their costumes to school, they change into them after lunch (??), and then go play.

 Halloween Night!!!!
We had our usual Jack-o-lantern pizza, got dressed and then took a few photos...
 

The Black Cat...

Barbie...

(Ok, so here's the story on Chloe's costume.  She wanted to be a Barbie.  She knew that a loooong time ago!  It was kind of tough because Barbie can be anything!  So we just picked a look that we thought was very Barbie.  It was the Toy Story one-legwarmers, heels, high ponytail, bangs, unitard, belt.  We talked about how people might wonder what she is because she might look like a girl and not necessarily a Barbie.  So she was wearing all that stuff at school (no picture of that look), and some 4th grader (ugh, 4th graders!!) said, "what are you supposed to be, an 80's girl??"  First of all, how would she even know what an 80's girl is??  Chloe told me she just ignored her, but thought she was so rude.  But the girl was kind of right though-the Toy Story Barbie was an 80's Barbie, right?  Anyway, I packed up all the kids and we went to the store to revamp her costume.  We just got some big ol' earrings with the Barbie logo on them and a few other Barbie licensed items for her to wear and felt like we did a little better.  Chloe felt much better when she went to the carnival that night.  This photo is Halloween night.  She wore black to the carnival.  We felt like white might be even more Barbie-ish.  I think by Halloween night, we finally got it right ;) )

Super Mario Bros.

Aren't they all so cute??  We had such a fun night!  We trick-or-treated in our neighborhood (Avie and I stayed home and handed out candy), then we went out to another subd., and then hit our usual friends' and families' houses.  The kids had so much fun!  Bubb was so excited all day.  He LOVED it!  He's such a sugar man anyway, so Halloween is probably going to become his favorite holiday.  I kept telling him all day yesterday about how we say "trick-or-treat" (and only trick-or-treat, not the whole smell my feet thing that the big kids taught him) and to say thank you, and that we (they) were putting on our costumes and going trick-or-treating when Dada got home. He thought we were going again today.  

The weather was perfect.  The kids ate lots of candy and got to bed late.  All was right with the world :)

::cornbelly's::

Last weekend we went down to Grandma and Papa Kitty's house.  Probably partly because we got a new car (FINALLY!) and wanted to take it for a good long drive, but mostly because we don't see them too often, and we were due for a good visit.  Matt was deer huntin', so it was just the littles and I.  Mom and I talked on the phone while I was driving down to her house ('cause we always do), and she thought we oughtta call Billy and have him bring his kids over and we should go to Cornbelly's (at Thanksgiving Point).  So we did. 

We haven't been in a couple of years, and I swear it's even bigger than it was last time we went!  There were lots of things to do.

Haystacks.Lifesize lincoln logs.Story telling.Bouncy houses.Slides.Pig races.Grain train.Corn cannon.Mechanical Bull.Jumpin' pillow.Wooden climbing structures.Corn mazes.Rock climbing walls.Scary dinosaur "ride." etc.etc.etc.

(Coop-almost 3, Port-5 1/2, Chloe-8, Ava-7 months)

In other news...

It was my birthday last Monday.  29.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  Actually that's not true.  I know exactly how I feel about being 29.  I love that I'm 29, and not 30!, but really anxious about how fast this next year is going to go by.  I remember how LONG I felt like a year was when I was little.  I felt like it was forever!  Now I feel like I could blink my eyes and it'll be over.  I'm pretty sure 30 will be a tough one for me.  Hopefully not, but if I know me, I bet it will. 

Anyway,  I had a nice birthday.  Matt only called me old a few times.  :)  The kids picked me some flowers after the florists stopped by our house a couple of times during the day.  Then he took me to dinner. We went to Logan so we'd have to drive through the canyon, which is really beautiful.  The leaves are so beautifully red.  They're just starting to get past peak and fall off, but much of their brilliance was still there.  I got new boots.  I think I love them (I picked them out).  Chloe says they're cute.  She wants some just like 'em.

::lock n load::

Yesterday, the Mr. and I (and Matt's dad and Reid-a huntin' buddy) went up in the mountains in Mantua to shoot some guns. I've shot a gun once before in my life, and I think Chloe was a baby then. So it's been a while. We took a short ride on the 4 wheeler up the rocky dugway and shot into the mountain.

I couldn't resist getting a photo of the beautiful fall that's going on up there. I love it. I've lived here for going on 10 years, and still can't get over the fall colors. We didn't have that in Texas :)

(no artificial color saturation in this photo, just fyi)

Matt shot a few with the big gun. He hit the target a few times(I shot with that gun too. It was loud. I was scared. I closed my eyes. I'm pretty sure I missed the target. No photos of that).



We all shot the little gun too. I was still scared. I closed my eyes. I missed the target again. I'd probably do better if I'd keep my eyes open.

(Ready...)

(Aim... )

(Fire!! )

Matt's going deer huntin' on Saturday with his Dad and Brandon (and some others). He doesn't have a rifle tag, he's just along for the ride. Next year he might try to get a rifle tag and take the little boys. They'd love it!  

In other news...
We're on Fall break around here. It's been kinda nice. We'll probably go to the park today and then maybe to a pumpkin patchy type of place tomorrow.

::Port's last game::

This is Pioneer Park (in Brigham City).

We've been here every week since June, and now we're done until next summer.

Thank Goodness!


Port played his last flag football game last night. They had a really good little season. All the kids are just learning, so it's pretty cute. He pulled a few flags, scored a couple of times, and learned a few things over the 8 game season. I think Matt enjoyed it. He held practice once a week, and taught the kids a few plays. He was way excited last night because they successfully ran a reverse (?) play and ended up scoring twice! We wondered if he shouldn't have coached because Portie sometimes does better when he learns or takes direction from somebody other than his mom or dad, but he did well for the most part.

(The team. There were 12 kids, but a couple of them left before we grabbed this photo. & Port's football tag. Sweet!)


In other news...
We've had parent/teacher conferences this week for Chloe and Port. I just thought I better document how they're doing:

(these are folders they decorate with their report cards, some assignments, and their assessments inside)

Chloe's teacher said she's great to have in class and very smart. She started off the year with a spelling test with 40 or so words all different levels of difficulty. Chloe scored 100% on it. Her teacher called me and told me about it and about how rare it is that a child gets 100%, and asked if I would mind if she had a more advanced spelling list than the standard for the class. I told her we'd be glad to take on an advanced list. On her report card, she scored a few 3's (which is the at grade level score), a few 3.5's, and some 4's (which is above and beyond grade level standard). We were way excited about that! Her teacher showed me one of Chloe's worksheets that asked questions about a story they had been working on. It was about a girl who moved from Korea and had to adapt to American standards as far as writing and spelling. She didn't like it much, she missed Korea-particularly the writing (from Korean symbols to English letters). I love Chloe's answer to question #9:


Porter's teacher says he's doing great too. He had several worksheets (shapes, numbers, letters, segmenting, blends, etc) with 100% on them. She was excited about his reading and how he already knew how to read when he came to kindergarten. She said he's a great kid in class (which surprised us a bit :) ). His report card showed a perfect citizenship grade and 3's for everything else. He's been learning about shapes (which he already knew from preschool days). When I asked him one day what he learned about in school and he said shapes, Matt asked him (what he thought was) a tough question: "how many sides does an octagon have?" Port said kind of casually "8." We were a little surprised. Then he told us all the numbers of sides for all the shapes.

(I love how he writes his name)

I love parent/teacher conferences. I love to see their classroom, and they get so excited to show us stuff in there and stuff they've been working on. Portie was excited to show us where his classroom was (even though we already knew) and show us his desk and everything. I'm so proud of both of them. I'm glad they're doing so well in school-it makes me feel good and a little like I'm probably doing a good job with them at home too.