Fall Leaves

Yesterday we went on our annual autumn leaf hunt. The day was beautiful! We went down to the Seattle Temple for our leaf hunt. They have the most beautiful trees!

Jacob was being so cute, I just had to put in all the cute pictures!

Such a happy little boy!

Emma hiding in the bushes.

The kids playing in the leaves!

I loved these flowers!

My silly little boys!

Emma and Jacob.

Noah was hiding in all the bushes and every time Jacob spotted him he would get all excited!

Jacob has finally started to show an interest in walking and decided to show off his new skills on this marble bench.

This red leafed tree was my favorite!

We used the leaves to make these wax paper window hangings. They turned out really well and the kids had fun making them.

Noah's leaves.

Happy Halloween!

I hope you all had a happy safe Halloween. Halloween was an all weekend affair for us. We had our ward Trunk or Treat on Friday night. The forecast called for lots of rain and wind, but we lucked out and it was perfect weather for us! Jacob dressed up as a penguin. He wasn't quite sure what to think of his costume and wasn't to fond of the head piece. But he put up with it for the night.

Daniel went as a horse. He was so worried about getting the horses front legs wet and dirty that he carried the front part of his costume all evening. He was quite proud of himself that he kept it clean and dry!

Bethany and Jacob.

Noah dressed up as a "shadow man" from his favorite book Fablehaven. He spent the evening "lurking about" in the dark.

They had a tractor train ride. The party was at the plant farm near our house and we had visited it the week before and gone on a train ride. This was a new driver and his driving habits were a bit crazy compared to the normal driver. This made the ride so much more fun for the kids.

Saturday we had our "Manna Halloween Party" with all the cousins that live in Washington. This is Noah, Darien and Emily.

Jacob and Alexander had fun playing with all the puzzles and blocks.

I made these mice that were super cute! They were really good too!

There was so much to do at the party. The kids all made a candy dish out of little flower pots.

I love this look on Noah's face!

Yummy little mice!

We had witches fingers, eye ball cookies (Joshua was kind enough to show them off), maggots with witches eyes, puppies wrapped in a blanket, pumpkin brains, monster face pizzas, and scabs to eat. Doesn't that just sound yummy?!

The kids also carved pumpkins.

All the fun was just to much for little Jacob and he finally fell asleep for an hour or two.

Here are all the kids with their costumes.

Daniel showing off his mummy candy dish. It was a fun day for everyone. We took the kids home and got them to bed. Kendall and I went out on a date to the corn maze. It was a fun weekend. By the time Monday came around the kids were kinda tired of the holiday and were not all that excited about going out trick or treating. I think that if the neighbor kids hadn't come over begging them to come with them they would not have gone out at all. Daniel and Jacob didn't go trick or treating at all, I don't think they cared.

Pumpkin Carving

We carved our pumpkins last night. It was really quite fun. We carved 3 pumpkins this year and it turned out really nice cause each of the older kids got some one on one help from Bethany, Kendall and I.

Daniel was once again disgusted by the pumpkin guts. But I was really proud of him, he did try to clean out his pumpkin.

Noah was nice and helped him clean out his pumpkin.

Jacob was quite entertained by the whole event. He enjoyed playing with the pumpkin seeds and holding Kendall's arm as he cut his pumpkin.

So here are the end results of night. It was a good evening and fun to spend time together as a family.

Bethany's Birthday

It was Bethany's birthday on Saturday. We made egg rolls, lemon chicken, chow mien and rice for dinner. It was so yummy! We also made apple crisp and an apple pie.

Jacob seemed to really enjoy the apple crisp!

Bethany has been a life saver this past month. She's so awesome! Jacob refused to take a nap one day last week and then crashed right before dinner on Bethany.

Also Bethany has won the kids over with her wonderful ability to read children's book for hours on end! Daniel will bring her piles and piles of books to read! By the time she leaves us she will be fluent in Dr. Seuss and have all his books memorised!

Pumpkin Patch

Every year we take the kids to the pumpkin patch at the plant farm near our home. I like it cause it's free and the pumpkins are not in a muddy field.

They have a tracker train ride.

They also have a hay ride. The kids love this!

Jacob was quite interested in the hay! The kids each got to pick out a pumpkin. I was very happy to see them pick out smaller pumpkins.

Seeing The Sites

Kendall's sister Bethany has come to stay with us and we decided to show her some of our favorite places.
We went to Ft. Casey. It was so wet but that didn't stop the kids from exploring the fort.

The kids and Bethany by one of the big guns.

Daniel wanted to have his picture taken but the heavy misty rain was blowing right into his face.

As we made our way around the island and up to Deception pass the sun came out and it was quite nice!

Daniel wanted to be up higher than everyone in this picture. He was so muddy by the time he came down!

Daniel found this piece of driftwood and thought himself so strong cause he could pick it up.

Jacob was tired after our day of exploring.

So I'm still trying to update the blog these days. Here are a few pictures of what's been happening the last few months.
Emma is such a little mommy! She loves to read books to Jacob and I don't think Jacob minds too much!

She was being so sweet to Jacob and a huge help to me by keeping him occupied while I was busy.

My brother Joshua and I took the kids to the Zoo one day. The kids had a great time and I did too. Usually going to the zoo is not something I look forward to cause it's kinda stressful with 4 kids and they all want to go in different directions. But this trip was pretty stress free.

The kids really liked the bears.

The kids got to feed the birds which was pretty cool.

We went and picked blueberries this year. The kids really enjoyed it too. They would get all excited when they found a really good bush with lots of ripe berries!

And this is what happened when I asked the kids to wash the trash can out with the hose. Emma came in soaking wet! So there you have it, a few random pictures of what's been happening.