Halloween Fun

This is really the first year the boys have been able to wear their Halloween costumes multiple times. And it was so fun! We had our ward Trunk or Treat on Wednesday night (which was a learning trial run for Kevin's costume), Rylan had his preschool party on Friday, and then we went Trick or Treating on Saturday!
Last year we thought about getting Ry a fireman costume but we couldn't find one we liked in the few times we looked. So this year we bought one as soon as we saw it...and he loved it! Repeatedly he said "this is the coolest costume" or how so and so thought he was the best fireman. He was also very excited about his fire helmet that has the smoke protector. Very cool!

The ninja and the fire fighter before the ward Trunk or Treat

Kevin needed the car on Friday which upset Rylan because he had his preschool Halloween party and he thought it was going to be too cold outside to ride his bike. He was whining and sad so I said "Rylan, you're not riding your bike to preschool, you have to drive your fire truck." He raced to school on his 'fire truck' with his sirens blaring the whole way!

Rylan with Thomas, his preschool friend

On Saturday, Kevin's parents stopped by for a surprise visit and while they were here we suddenly had a crazy downpour. That was pretty close to 5:00 which was the time we set for Trick or Treating! That was okay though because it gave us more time to visit!
Both boys did so well Trick or Treating. Charlie and fam came over after the rain settled down and, along with the rest of the neighborhood, we set out to fill the jack-o-lanterns with candy. Megan, Camryn, and Rylan raced ahead with Charlie and Kevin on their stilts following close behind. Amy and I had Gavin and Asher who were a bit slower going up and down the steps and moving from house to house. Gavin was hilarious walking into each house and taking multiple candies. Both boys were super cute and I smiled each time Asher said "thank you, bye bye". This year Rylan stayed out Trick or treating for quite some time before wanting to head home. He really must have liked showing off his costume!!


After about a half hour Amy and I came back home with our little ones. I had left a bowl of candy on the doorstep and when we came back there was one piece of candy left--good timing! We were able to answer the door for the other trick or treaters and see all the dressed up kids. I had decided I was going to eat some candy. I haven't really had candy since December of 2008!! And let me tell you, I went crazy! Saturday and Sunday I seriously had so much candy that I wanted to go another 2 years without eating it again. Blah!

It really was a super fun Halloween. The boys looked great in their costumes, Kevin's costume was a hit, and we were all happy :)

Pumpkin Time!

Last Monday we visited the Red Barn to pick out some pumpkins. It was colder and darker than anticipated but we still had fun!


Our "hay ride" over to the pumpkin patch was not really on hay, but the ride back we did get to sit on hay bales. We sang as many Halloween songs we could think of--2 whole songs! Once we got to the pumpkin patch the boys started out playing in the maze. Rylan had been there the week prior on a field trip with his preschool class but was still excited to play around again. He raced through the maze with the rest of us following to each dead end and turn around.

"How do we get out of here??!!"

The boys ran around for a bit, played on the tractor, and then we realized it was dark and gonna be hard to choose our pumpkins! Off to the patch we went. We weren't the only ones using the lights from our cell phone to pick our pumpkin. That added to some of the fun!

So last night we had our annual family Halloween/pumpkin carving party at the Holman's. We had a yummy dinner and then got busy carving pumpkins. Kevin carves ours every year while I'm busy with other stuff. This year I brought dessert so I got the cupcake decorating stuff out for the kids.

Rylan drew his own jack o lantern face on his pumpkin. Kevin carved it just how Ry drew it and it turned out so cute!

Kevin also carved his own pumpkin--spooooky!

Kevin's jack-o-lantern is on the top step. And there's Rylan's jack-o-lantern, right there by Abbi.

I made a Chocolate Lasagna for dessert because Amy really likes it and our pumpkin carving party was on her birthday! We sang to her, Kirra, and Asher. Asher will get another chance at blowing out candles on Friday!!

Garren had made some Rootbeer and Asher asked several times to drink some. So I poured a bit in a cup and gave him a sip. His eyes watered up, he backed away, pointed at the rootbeer and said "yuck yuck". Then he walked towards me with his mouth wide open ready for some more! We tried to get it on camera but only got a few chances because after a couple more sips he was done and opted for water. Good boy :)

"Yuck Yuck!"

As always, fun times!

FHE and Gifts!!

Our second Sunday Doyle dinner was at Andy's house this month...the first family dinner since the folks have been back! We feasted on Taco Salads and talked and played and then we all received fabulous gifts--FUN!
Dennis and Mary Kaye had brought back something for each person from Switzerland or a surrounding area they visited while on their mission. Asher's age group got a cute Pinocchio ornament puppet from Rome. Rylan and Asher both had fun pulling his string and I was so nervous it was going to get broken. I tried to let them have fun, though!
Rylan's age group got some fun twirly toys, also from Rome. They even light up! Lots of time has been spent playing with this toy. They took them out in dark backyard and flew them up in the sky. They really are pretty fun! I'm pretty sure Lauren was wearing this cowboy hat and Rylan took it from her. He wore it the rest of the night and had fun running from Lauren and trying to tease her...little stinker! But he sure makes a cute cowboy :)


The boys of the family were presented with aprons and a bar of swiss chocolate! They each got to pick out their apron...Kevin chose my favorite--Formaggio--YUM! The boys each put on their aprons and walked the catwalk showing their stuff. I think I was laughing too hard to get a picture of Kev--darn!

The girls were given scarves which I LOVE! I can't wait to wear mine out on the town :)

It was a really fun night and we're excited to have the parents at ALL our family dinners! Thanks for the souvenirs :)

Welcome Home!

Kevin's parents (my fantastic in-laws!) returned home from their mission in Geneva, Switzerland. They left in October of 2008 (just weeks before Asher was born) and after an invited extension they are now back home in Utah! We've missed them the last 23 months but we know the work they did in Switzerland was important...and they had a wonderful time! We were able to read their daily doings through a Doyle family blog and they were able to keep up with all of us through the blog as well. Technology really can bridge the gap across the world! Something cool...while Kevin and I were on vacation, I mean, living in Belgium, we had a family in our ward, the Kimballs. Sister Kimball was the Young Women's President and I was the secretary and they had a daughter (Kristin) in YW. We loved them dearly but lost contact over the years. Who would have thought they ended up moving to Switzerland where they would meet my in-laws? Crazy and fun! Anyways, they had a great time serving their mission in Geneva. Quite possibly the dream mission for them!

So, for the welcoming home...Elder and Sister Doyle's flight was scheduled to arrive just before 8:00pm on Labor Day. It was also Andy's birthday. So we all met up at Andy's house. I stopped at Little Caesar's on the way so we could all dine on pizza. Angie brought a salad (with some fresh garden veggies--yum!) and Steph brought a birthday cake so we could sing to Andy. It was a fun pre-party before the real party! Some of the kiddos and siblings made 'Welcome Home' signs while we all anticipated the time to leave for the airport.

The folks were told (by someone other than me...I wouldn't lie like this :)!!) that Matt would pick them up and the rest of us would welcome them at their house. We all were there at the airport waiting and appreciated the info from other passengers--"They're coming!" "They'll be here soon!". We were glad to know they were off the plane and on their way. As they rounded the corner Kevin rolled out a small red carpet and some grandkids ran right up to greet them. They were surprised! When they got some space they walked down the red carpet and started giving and receiving lots and lots of hugs and smiles. There was a first meeting with Asher and Nixon, but really, I'm sure all the grandkids had grown a lot. After we had a few minutes to take pictures and get resituated, we all headed off to their home for more chatting.

Ha Ha! I just love the look on Dennis' face--surprised? shocked? overwhelmed? longing to be back in the peace and quiet of the Geneva, Switzerland mission office?!!!

At home the kids ran crazy and the chatter was constant throughout the entire house. It was a late night but it was a fun night. We're happy to have them back!

Camping!

Camping around here is crazy! Of course, both times we went camping this year it was a holiday weekend. This is our Labor Day weekend camping trip. My mom went up the canyon early in the week and luckily found us a spot and it was perfect!
I sent our tent and sleeping bags up with Tami and her fam since our car gets real full real quick. I didn't think about that until we got up to the campsite and the Holman's weren't there yet! We knew they wouldn't be too long though. So we explored the sites and a bit of the area and took some silly pictures to pass the time.

While sitting around the campfire someone noticed a little wooly worm creeping along a chair. These unfortunate little things were caught and collected the entire weekend...the kids were so entertained with them!
We had planned on going to walk Cascade Springs Saturday morning. Well the morning turned into afternoon and we made it to the springs in the heat of the day. Good think it's late summer and not too hot. We all had a good time :) And Asher got a miniature nap...





Tami and Kacy planned some super fun and funny Minute to Win It games.




And even Asher joined in the fun!!
My grandma brought her trailer up and camped with us for the weekend. It's always fun having grandparents around.
And my grandma brought these monstrous marshmallows to roast. I've seen them in the store but this was the first time I'd had them. Holy Moly they are big! We also had an angel food cake dessert which is what is on Kev's roaster stick beside the monstrous 'mallow! I look at Asher's face in this picture and think he's thinking "Look at the size of this thing. Pure ridiculousness."
Yummy!

Goodman Family Reunion 2010

We had a quick camping trip up at Heber Valley Campground for a family reunion. They are never long enough! It was just one night but it was lots of fun. We were hoping to get up there around 2:00 but I had taken my car in Thursday night to get the brakes fixed and I didn't get it back until Friday at 3:00. The good thing about leaving later was that Asher got to take his nap :) So by the time we packed up the car and stopped at Krispy Kreme for a free donut (National donut day!) we didn't get up to the campground until 5:30.

The whole way up Rylan was asking if we were camping yet. He was so excited. Then about 5 minutes before we arrived he fell asleep. He slept in the car for about an hour while we got settled into our cabin and chatted with Deb and Josh. Abby and Asher were running around together and following each other. We woke Ry up to eat some dinner and when he realized we were camping, he perked right up! My boys love the outdoors. What boy doesn't with all the sticks and dirt and rocks? Dinner was lasagna, salad, and rolls with a birthday cake for my Uncle Jay and snow cones for dessert. It was delicious! Kacy brought her kids up for a couple hours. Adam was already in Scotland and Kacy was meeting up with him there with her three kids. They left Saturday morning...what a brave thing she is to fly by herself with all that luggage and 3 kids! Anyways, Kacy had to leave shortly after dinner and we were all sad. She'll be gone for 5 weeks...Amy wasn't able to come because her girlfriends were in town for a wedding and they were all getting together. But the rest of us were there and we had a good time together! My dad even drove 600 miles on Friday to be with us. What a good sport :)

Games and talking took up the night. We all gathered together around the campfire for family updates (and smores). It's always fun to hear what my aunts, uncles, and cousins are up to. I have such wonderful relatives and I wish we got together more often! Then the games began. Most people got together for card games, lots of people talked, and the Mitchell clan played some "Big Booty" which is always a camping favorite of ours. We stayed up late talking around the campfire and all of the kids stayed up late with us (except for good little Abby who fell asleep around 10:00, I think. I tried putting Asher down but kids were playing in our cabin and he wasn't even considering it!) Finally around 1:00 we got ready for bed. Asher was still wide awake, walking around our beds, with no sign of sleep coming. Kevin took him to the car, buckled him in and fell asleep. He woke up about an hour later and Asher was sleeping, too, so they came back to the cabin. That was around 2:45am and Asher slept the rest of the night until about 7:45. Not his normal 11-12 hours of sleep, but at least he wasn't up all night! See, good thing he was able to take his nap!

Saturday morning we were in charge of breakfast along with my Uncle Steve and fam. My mom made a bunch of quiches and then we all made some breads and muffins to go along with it. We also had cereal and fruit. It was all so yummy! Kevin is not a fan of quiche but I wish he was because I love them! After breakfast it was craft time for the kids (where Rylan made a beaded necklace and let me wear it the rest of the day!) and more games and talking for the adults. I was hoping for a volleyball game but I'm not one to round up people and nobody else did either. I did get to bump the ball around with Tami for awhile. We played the animal game, too. Lots of laughs.

I have to mention that Asher just loves my mom and dad. Even as a baby I remember nursing Asher when my mom came over and he just wanted to go to her. He's still like that. As soon as he sees either of my parents, he completely forgets about me and wants them! And my parents are so good about playing with him and holding him. On Saturday Asher kept motioning to my dad to follow him. And I think my dad followed Asher around the campground for a solid hour! It's so cute to hear him say "ga-pah" and sometimes "ga-ma" and to see the big smiles he has for my mom and dad. And it's so nice for me to get that break!

After lunch we basically started packing up. Asher zonked out while I was holding him so we left the bathroom clean up to the rest of the extended family who were still enjoying each other's company. We were planning on being gone by 3:00 since Kevin committed us to a Home Teaching BBQ at the McQuarrie's at 5:00 where we were supposed to bring a salad and dessert. We didn't get away until 3:30, made a quick stop at Macey's once we got to Spanish Fork (for packaged salad and ice cream!), dashed home to take 2 minutes showers and we were only 15 minutes late! It helped that both the boys fell asleep on the way home and stayed asleep in the car until we got to the BBQ. Who cares that they smelled of campfire smoke, dirt, and boys? The bbq was lots of fun! One day we'll have patio furniture and a grill so we can host a bbq :)

We finally got home, tired, and ready for bed. The boys took a bath and we all slept peacefully that night. So nice to be in our own beds :)

Sunday morning Kev woke me up at 7:45 to get in the shower. I was hurrying to get ready before the boys woke up when I noticed a clock in a different room. At this point I thought it was 8:15 but it was only 7:15! The clock in our bedroom was wrong! So sad thinking I could have slept just a bit longer, but so great to know I had extra time to get ready! Rylan woke up wanting pancakes for breakfast and since we had some time, I made him some. I had to wake up Asher at 8:45 so we could get to church. Both boys were super crabby and crying during the entire sacrament meeting. Ugh! I was emotional and sleep deprived myself, so I started crying, too. It was a rough hour. But I got to go to my first day of Young Women's as the new secretary. I'm excited for this calling and hope to get to know the girls. With such great girls and leaders, I'm certain it will be lots of fun!