Happy Halloween!

Another Halloween has come and gone! What a fun crazy holiday. We have stretched this one out way too long and I think we're all ready for November. (Especially Allie). We went to the trunk or treat at the church then came home and the kids, their friends, and the dads went around the neighborhood. My friend even stayed to visit with me and the little ones so we could hand out candy. What a fun night. We only got one trick when some neighbors showed up and yelled: "Merry Christmas". ;) I was a lonely witch- next year I will convince some friends to dress up with me! I did score some points with my primary kids who really think I am the coolest primary music teacher!
Here's the boys- Mr. Potato Head and a Pumpkin. Shouldn't every baby be a pumpkin when they are that darn cute?!

And the cowgirls- yep ones even riding a chicken. That was a hit this year! You should see her do her chicken dance.

Our gang ready to load up on candy. Notice how we don't even need coats. How great was the weather in Nebraska this fun fall day?!

Have I mentioned that I love our backyard?

It was so nice outside this morning- we just played outside as long as we could! I just love having this fun backyard. I just laid on the blanket in the warm sun with Lance and watched the kids play all sorts of creative games.

We had two of our friends over and the kids were having lots of fun giving them rides in the tractor and digging for tokens in the sandbox.

I can't believe its Halloween tomorrow- we won't even need hats and gloves- Yipee!

Makayla was being quite the poser- anytime she saw the camera, she would run over and get in the picture!

What a fun fall morning!

Time Out

This weekend was another great Time Out for Women conference. Quinn spent Saturday with the kids and I drove up to Omaha with some friends to spend the day. There were some fun speakers and great music, and just the Time Out needed for mom! There were a lot of girls from our ward there, and a fun group from another ward- so we all got to play together. One friend even came back from Utah to play- It was so fun to see her again! I got to sit it the "mom" section with some fun friends. Emily and Stacy and I had fun coming in and out of the conference with our babies!

My good friend Tanya and I and our cute boys. They were loving spending the day with their moms! This was my third Time Out, but the first one I've had a baby at- kept me a little busier! We went to lunch with some friends during the lunch break at the conference. It was a beautiful day in Omaha. Im glad I got to go to this fun Time Out!

Makayla on the Run

Just after school started, Makayla joined Girls On The Run. A national physical fitness program for girls in 3rd- 6th grades. Makaylas team met two days a week after school. Each day they would talk about healthy choices and RUN. They always had fun ways to make the girls run and enjoy it. At the end they all joined together for the GOTR cheer. Here's Makayla and some of her friends at the end of one practice.

The goal of GOTR is to have all the girls complete a 5K run. This semester, however, the run is on a Sunday. We knew that when we signed up but she wanted to do it anyway. So shes been at every practice and worked hard. Yesterday was the last day. Makayla told her coach she wouldn't be at the run and he coach asked her why. Makayla told her the run was on Sunday and she had church. The coach asked, don't you just go to church in the morning?- The runs in the afternoon. But Makayla told her she doesn't do fun runs at all on Sundays. Her coach asked what church she went to and Makayla told her The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.

Maybe one day that coach will meet some missionaries and remember the 9 year old girl on her team that didn't go to fun runs on Sunday. Way to go Makayla!

I did send an email to GOTR of Nebraska and asked if they could find some runs on saturdays- and I guess in the spring they have one. So we are looking forward to the spring when she can join this team again!

SIX MONTHS OLD!!!

I can't believe Lance is already 6 months old. He is such a fun baby and everyday he makes us smile. The other day he was laughing so hard he kept snorting! So we all kept laughing, so he kept laughing- it was pretty funny. He seems to be pretty glad he's in our family- and we can't imagine our family without him! After I took his 6 month picture, Allie wanted a picture of her too- and then wanted to take a picture of me- so here you go- my picture by Allie the photographer!Now I know he looks small, but at his 6 month appointment Lance weighed in at 18# 15 oz! Yep- that's right- he's pushing 19 lbs already!
Allie our cheeser. Can you believe she's almost 3?! She tells everyone she sees that "It's almost my birthday and I will be 3 in November" We told her when shes 3 she can't suck her thumb, so we'll see how that one goes.
Love these kids!

Just checkin if youre paying attention.

So theres a little spot over there -------> that says "about me" and tells about our family. For the longest time it has said we were married in June of 2007, Funny how we managed to have four kids between now and then! That was one busy year!
Congratulaitons to my brother for being the first one to point it out. Better pay attention while reading our blog- there may be something fun hidden there!

The Pumpkin Patch

These pictures are from conference weekend, but I'm just getting a chance to post them now.

We went back to the fun pumpkin patch that we found last year and had a fun day playing and looking for pumpkins. Quinn was bummed the kids wouldn't do the 'scary' haunted house with him, maybe next year. If you go back to last Octobers posts- you'll see the kids in this same picture spot!
Cute as a pumpkin. Lance was great the whole time! What a good baby.
Taking a hay ride out to the pumpkin patches. Allie picked a white one this time. Lance was kinda trying to nap.
Another pictures spot! It was fun to see so many kids running around in their Great Pumpkin Run shirts. I think every kid in town must have been at that fun run earlier in the day.
The weather has been great. It's getting cooler now, but the trees are beautiful. I had the kids go find me leaves outside yesterday so I could laminate some for singing time today. We're singing autumn songs today. Its a nice time of year, but I'm not sure we're ready for the cold and snow yet...

Picture Time!

Here are some fun random pictures from the last few weeks at our place. We seem to keep pretty busy and always have something going on!

These cute boys are just 9 days apart. This is Lance's best friend! You can tell because they love to grab and chew on each other! We love when we get together with these fun friends- all our kids play so well together- Even Lance and Montey!









Last Friday was Family Fun Night at the kids school. It was pretty busy but the kids had a blast. Here Allies was taking a break and having some cotton candy-










Ummm.. Sorry Lance, this happens sometimes when you have big sisters!


We've been trying some new hairdos in Makaylas hair- this one was at the end of the day- but it still looked pretty!

A Zoo Trip!

I guess I've had so much fun making my family with big heads dance that I haven't got any new pictures up for awhile! Last week I took the kids to the zoo here in town and we had a fun afternoon there. It was actually our first time and we've lived here a year now. Maybe next year we'll get a membership- I think the kids may enjoy it next summer. First we started off on the train that goes around the zoo. (We did ride this train last year but this time went into the zoo when we were done!) Lance liked it until they blew the whistle in the tunnel. Too loud for him.
The kids favorite thing- feeding the animals.
A cute photo opp!
Now this monkey was FUNNY! I guess its really an ape, but he was sure entertaining. When the kids would turn around with their backs to the glass, he would jump down to scare them! We stayed here about 15 minutes laughing at this funny guy. We'd turn around pretending we weren't paying attention and he'd jump right down and all the kids would laugh and scream. He is a clever little monkey.
I do love these cute kids! Here they were worried we were going to get locked in the zoo because they kept announcing they were closing, but I made the kids stop for a picture. I was pretty sure they'd let us out. It was a fun afternoon- we'll enjoy this weather as long as we can.

That's my boys!

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Our rising star

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Husker Babies

Quinn was so lucky to get accepted into the Ortho program at Nebraska with two other GREAT residents. The three of them really get a long and our families have become good friends. In fact, all three of us had babies within 6 weeks of each other!

This weekend we all went to dinner together with our new husker additions. It was a fun night to visit- and Im sure the guys appreciated NOT talking about school! The cute babies left to right: Ben McCallister, Kate Warren and Lance Draper!

Thanks for the cute pic Emily! We sure had fun with you guys- we need to do it again!

Allie the Gymnast!

Yesterday I took Allie to meet some friends at play day at the Gym. They open their Gym for two hours and just let the kids play. Allie had never been, and since she has decided the couch makes a good trampoline, I decided we should go. I told her all week if she didn't jump on the couch I would take her to the gym- and she loved it! She tried out the rings and thought she made a good monkey!
She wasn't afraid to jump off the tramp into the foam pit. Here she is with her friends climbing around!
In the 'small' gym room were some fun toys. She liked trying the forward rolls. (P.S. See the cute mom behind her? That's her friends mom. She is actually due in 3 weeks with her 3rd boy. Its sickening isn't it? She is so tiny! I'm glad I wasn't pregnant at the same time as her!)
Allies friend taught her how to balance and wanted to catch her. But when Allie jumped to her they both crashed. Pretty funny. Then Allie decided to just jump into the pit!

It was a fun day- we may go there every Friday morning!

The Great Pumpkin Run

We were up early this morning to head to the Great Pumpkin Run. A fun 1 mile run for kids in Nebraska. It is a huge event! They had about 2,500 kids signed up. Mom ran with Makayla with her grade, then Dylan wanted dad to run with him in his grade! Makayla did great and ran the whole time! She even sprinted to the finish!
Makayla made it in 11 minutes 20 seconds and she got a medal!
Here comes the 2nd graders! Can you find Dylan and Quinn in there! It starts off on a big down hill and the kids took off! The race is out at Pioneers park and is a fun course through trees.
Every time Dylan heard us cheer- he started sprinting!
Dylan made it in 10 minute 15seconds and here he is with his medal! What a fun morning- the kids did awesome!!!