The rest of October

More soccer...(my friend Ashley sent me these...hence the good quality!) I love that you can see his tongue sticking into his cheek...very common when he is concentrating.

Hallie got to play goalie for a couple of games. She did very well.....because Wes taught her how to play that position (otherwise she would have been lost...the coaches certainly didn't help her learn that position). She got to wear Wes's old goalie jersey.

We tried to get a better team shot with Kamryn's team...their team pictures were so lame this year...just a collage of individual shots.

 

 

Our friends rented out the skating rink for their daughters birthday. We had so much fun! Kimber had a ton of fun just walking around the rink. Jaxson learned to roller blade, though he fell many, many times. Kamryn and Addison used the roller skates you put on over your shoes. Wes and I even got in on the fun-I haven't roller bladed since I was a kid. I was surprised how much fun I had!

 

 

 

Red Rock had  their Fall Fest in the middle of October. The kids had fun playing all the games and seeing their friends. The girls chose to get their faces painted

 

 

 

Just a cute picture of Kimber

 

This little girl has been pretty cranky the past several weeks, it seems. She always wants to be held. I always feel like I have so much to get done on my days off, but I try to remember it's ok to stop what I'm doing (often) and snuggle her. Also, she is obsessed with my phone and will steal it and run away with it.

The weekend before Halloween my parents came to town to see the kids participate in our Primary program. It meant a lot to have them here. Somehow I didn't get any pictures of them-lame! We took them to the flea market, and the kids got to ride the horses. Addison was scared at first, so I went around with her a couple of times, and then she was fine.

Hallie had a piano recital the week of Halloween, where they all got to dress up and play spooky pieces. It was fun and different from the normal Christmas recital. She had one solo and then we played a duet. I told Wes I haven't played in a piano recital since I was 12!

I helped in Jaxson's class during his Halloween party. It's interesting to see him at school....my girls are always super excited to see me, and very clingy....Jaxson couldn't care either way. They ate food and played games...this picture below was musical chairs...he was dancing while the music played which surprised me, but I loved being able to be there to see it.

Halloween 2014

Halloween "season" seems to drag out longer every year between all the school/friend/church parties. I have to say, I enjoyed it more this year...maybe because I wasn't sick with morning sickness or having a newborn, like I have for the past several years...

 

Wes and I got invited to a murder mystery party. My parents happened to be coming into town that weekend for the Primary program, and so they were able to babysit for us, which was so nice! We miss having grandparents around to babysit! The party turned out really fun, even if acting isn't my strong suit (an understatement). Our host went through a lot of work, and it paid off...lots of laughs that night.

Wes was Robby Charles, a retired chocolatier (I made oreo truffles for him to bring). And I was Pat Couric, news reporter. My mom brought me a blazer of hers so I would look more legit.



We carved pumpkins with kids while my parents were here, a "boy" pumpkin and a "girl" pumpkin, per tradition. Addi carved her pumpkin that she got a party she went to with her friends (no pics of that, but she had so much fun there).

Hallie-a black widow



Jaxson-the Hulk

 

Kamryn-the cutest Annie you ever did see (she even won 1st place in her age category at the trunk or treat)

Addison-a good witch

 

Kimber-a candy corn, (she fell against the edge of a bar stool rung that day and had a terrible looking nose to prove it)

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!



My crew-it only took me 2 hours to get everyone ready for the ward's trunk-or-treat...but most of that was doing Kamryn's hair that didn't want to cooperate. I'm just glad it ended up looking ok.

The kids also had school parties, the Fall Fest, and actual trick-or-treating on Halloween. This marks the FIRST time that we have ever taken the kids. We went with the James' and the dads stayed home with the babies while the moms took the kids around. Despite crazy weather, the kids had so much fun and we still have candy coming out our ears!

Jaxson's 7th birthday

He opened presents in the morning, before soccer games. My mom got him a hulk costume which was perfect for Halloween coming up!

 

We got him a basketball hoop, since he would be starting basketball season soon...

Jaxson's birthday fell on a Saturday this year, which was perfect for a day of celebrating!

 He chose donuts for breakfast, and King Dragon for dinner.

 

Funny boy....he chose King Dragon because he wanted fish sticks for his birthday dinner.

 

After dinner we headed down to the Arts Crawl downtown...basically all the art shops open up at night and you can browse through the streets. Jaxson even got to go to a haunted house with Wes and he lived to tell about it!

 

Ice cream cake is a tradition for Jaxson's birthday...

October Break

We had a few days off of school at the beginning of October. First was General Conference. I made cinnamon rolls as usual and played a few games with the kids, but we didn't go up to the ranch like usual.

 

In between sessions on Sunday I braided the girls hair

and took the kids down to my in-laws to play outside in their side yard. Jaxson promptly kicked his football onto their roof and I had to lift Kamryn up there to get it down (she loved it and wanted to stay up there and play). He wasn't too happy about it, because I told him if he did it again I wasn't going to get it down.

This girl was happy to be outside in nice weather

A few days later we went up to the ranch to spend time with Camie and her kids who were visiting. The kids had a blast playing with each other, minus some poor weather.

Lots of fall colors around McGaffey:

Skyler and Diana come to visit

We got to meet their newest addition, Parker. He is such a sweet baby

  

Kimber and Lia are about 6 months apart

Hallie loved holding Parker:

We went up to the ranch for a few hours to enjoy the beautiful weather. We played a lot of hide and go sneak, and Skyler and Diana went on a little ride too

Skyler and Diana came to visit at the end of September. They were able to watch some soccer games (the only visitors we had this season),and us girls were able to go to the Women's Conference.

Grandpa Tom

My Grandpa Tom passed away November 4th. He was battling colon cancer the last several months, but I am glad he didn't have to suffer too much at the end. He is the greatest, most Christ-like man I know. I love him so much-he has always been a huge part of my life. I am going to miss him so much.Grandpa was always more concerned with others than with himself. The last time I spoke to him on the phone a week ago was to kind of try to say good-bye (I wasn't able to actually say the words). All he wanted to talk about was how the kids were doing, and about Wes's elk hunt. He was always interested in our lives, and tried to know what was going on with all his grandkids and great-grandkids. 

Some of my favorite memories:

the walks to the "lion's den" during our Grandkids Christmas party
playing chicken foot on rainy days after school
our rides in his gray S10 pickup where he would drop me off at piano lessons every Wednesday. he always had a Werther's candy for me.
taking us to McDonalds for happy meals
showing up on an almost daily basis as kids to see how we were doing
watching him care for my Grandma Georga in her old age
getting to bring the kids to visit him at his house
receiving our birthday cards. I don't think he ever missed any of our birthdays.
 I remember more than once we went to the old gym to clean (a Saturday routine), only to find our Grandpa already there, doing it for us. We were quick to repent of our poor attitudes about cleaning the gym.

 I never felt anything but love from my Grandpa, and I hope we knows how much we all love him too.
I know it was his time to leave this earth. At almost 95 years old, he lived a great life, and I know he was looking forward to being with my Grandma again. I am thankful that families are forever, and that I know I will see him again. He has left us all a legacy, and I am going to try my darndest to live up to his example.

This summer when we were visiting, the last time I got to see him...*I could go on and on. Grandpa Tom spent his life serving others. We always thought we were special as kids because he came by our house almost everyday to check on us. Then we found out he did the same thing to all of our other cousins. He spent so much time supporting us in all of our afterschool activities and really helped a lot when my dad was in school in Nashville.