Fall Break

Fall break was a "staycation" this year and it was a blast! The kids had Thursday and Friday off from school and Powell was actually home for both days....miracles have not ceased! We didn't want to spend a lot of money so we looked for things that were cheap. We drove up north on Thursday and stopped at Olive Garden because we had a gift card there. We haven't taken our whole family out to eat in a "sit down" restaurant for a long time so the kids really enjoyed it. All of them loved their food (which was nice). Next we went to the Hill Air Force Base Air Museum. It was free and it was amazing!!! There were a lot more planes than we ever imagined. Everyone had a good time. We promised Brin that we would take her to a jumping place on her birthday and it never happened so we looked for one in Salt Lake. We went to Airborne. Afterwards the kids were starving again and we found out that kids eat free on Thursdays at IHOP so we stopped there.We ate out twice in one day....hurray!! We drove home with some very tired kiddos. Friday was a rainy day so we just stayed home. Saturday we invited the Henkes to ride the Heber Valley Railroad. Peggy got 7 free tickets at Relay for Life. Wahooooooo! It's expensive to ride so we were glad for the free tickets. We did the ride all the way to Vivian Park. We packed a lunch and ate it while the train turned around. They've added a few things to the 3 hour train ride to make it more interesting. We went home and the kids played some more with the Henke kids.

Can't believe I have a daughter who looks so old!

This boy loved the soup!

Mckenna threw a tantrum when we didn't dish her up any salad. She has to be like everyone else.

Notice the empty plates

Example of the Wright Brother's plane

We took our small camera so a lot of our jumping pictures turned out blurry.

Love that her feet are in the air

Sunk herself in the foam pit

Rubbing her belly....she was so tired without her nap

Might be time for some deodorant for this guy

IHOP....Hunter is having a momemt.....it was the discussion over who was having a kids meal and who wasn't!

Brinley was amazed at all the different kinds of syrup and put all of them on her pancakes. Notice the syrups lined up in the background.

Ready to ride the train

BFF's.....Brinley and Hailey

A shoot-out......notice Kerry Ellertson

My old English teacher Bruce Jensen was a pretty good actor

Still some fall colors

Singing cowgirl was actually really good.

Gun Club

Powell, Dad and Hunter went to the gun club to shoot Powell's new gun.

Hunter loved it! Don't you just love this picture with dad in the background?

Nice job pops!

In case you care, the new gun is a Springfield m1a socom....whatever that means!

Mckenna turned 2!

I'm mourning that my last little one has turned two! It makes it even harder that she has been such a pleasure in her two short years. I will say that I'm seeing some "two year old" behaviors start to creep in but all I can do is laugh about it. The tantrums don't seem so bad when you know it's the last time you will have tantrums (lol, at least until she is 12 right?) Mckenna's personality has flourished in the past few months. She LOVES baby dolls and little girl things. She likes to dress up with jewelry and hair bows. She knows about make-up and combing her hair. I was worried that she wasn't really talking but she is saying EVERYTHING! She will repeat anything we say. The problem now is that you just can't understand it! At her 2 year old visit she was 24.6 lbs and in the 26 percentile. She was in the 53rd percentile for height. ....our smallest one yet! All I can say is that I'm in love with this girl. We are doing a Friday "Music Together" class so we have time alone. She is singing all the songs so well.....on pitch! She loves Elmo and watches Backyardagins with Brinley. In the playroom she likes the baby dolls and puzzles.

This girl LOVES cake and Ice Cream

She was confused about the "hot, hot, hot" candle

"Pretty" black shoes form Ga Ga

Brinley showing Mckenna her new Elmo panties!

Help from Ga Ga and Denise watching

New Elmo Potty book

Her expression when she sees her new Elmo coloring book is priceless

Still sucking her thumb....ugg

Hunter helping her with the care bear toothbrush that cee cee gave her

Mckenna would have been happy with just the m'ms....aren't kids funny?

New bunny slippers

So glad that daddy was home for her special day. She is such a daddy's girl.

You can tell by her mouth that she is saying "La, la". That is what she calls Elmo because he sings that song....la, la la la.

What a great birthday. She said "Happy Birday Kenna" to herself all day long and for days afterwards.

New baby princess Belle that Brinley picked out

Flying Fun!

Hunter got invited by our friend, Ty Yorgenson, to go on an evening flight in his small plane. Ty used to fly at Skywest and now flies at Delta. They live in our neighborhood and it was super nice of him to think of Hunter. Powell would love to take the kids up in a small plane but it is expensive so this was great. If you haven't been up in a small plane, it is very different from a big plane. Personally I don't love it.....scares me a bit! Hunter liked it.

Tylee, Hunter, Bentley and Connan

Hunter and Bentley seat belted in together

Off they go!

The plane

Brinley Turns 5!

 Brinley had a fabulous 5th birthday. She was really bummed that she couldn't have another party like last year but I promised her it would still be very special. She wanted lots of barbies for her birthday and that is what she got. Barbie dolls, Barbie movies, Barbie coloring books etc. Savannah never liked Barbies so it has been fun to watch how she plays with them. We were working some of the day on the Red house....painting so I was really pressed for time on the cake. I wanted to do a Barbie cake but I didn't really know what I was doing. I was seriously down to the last minute frosting it before everyone came for cake and ice cream. It was a little crooked but I think it turned out pretty good considering I was really winging it. I ended up needing more cake mixes that I realized. The only thing I didn't figure out is how to cut it without it tipping over!

The Barbie's body was inside a pink plastic tube so it didn't get ruined....kind of cool.

The finished product

Birthday girl in her dancing clothes posing with her cake

Don't worry.....this happened after we ate

Typical Brinley in the morning.....even on her birthday.

Lots of presents!

Melissa made this darling shirt but scrapbooking it and printing on special paper.

Back of the shirt

All you can eat french toast at Kneaders was incredible!

Special breakfast at Kneaders with mom and dad and then off to pre-school.