October 2009

1) Tierra's new haircut!  Tia cut her own hair back a year ago and it finally grew long enough to be mostly one length so I cut it.  It turned out SO cute!  What a cutie!
2) We had the pleasure to go to our sweet friend Aimee's baptism.  Here are a few good friends together at Aimee's baptism-- Karina, Tierra, Autumn, Aimee, Riana, Sariah, and Savannah and Alexis in the back.
3) We put Riana and Sariah on the same soccer team and they had a wonderful time together!!  It was so fun to watch them work so well together.  Sariah had no problem keeping up and Riana also found a lot of success.  Their good buddy Autumn was also on their team.  Fun times!

It is always a pleasure to have our friends/these three sisters over!  In fact, we love their entire family!  We had so much fun with Brooke, Aimee, and Hailey!  Riana and Sariah love hanging out with Aimee.  She is absolutely hilarious and keeps life fun!!  Tierra and Karina enjoyed playing dress-up in the Halloween costumes with Hailey.  And Brooke makes life easier for everyone around her.  She spent the whole time asking me what she could do for me.  And I love talking to her!  Even though she is only barely 13, she is mature way beyond her years!  I feel like I have a friend over!  ;)  We sure love these girls!

The girls had a really fun time hitting the pinata at their cousin Ethan's birthday party over at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Riana even broke it apart!  Luckily, she chose to go last, so everyone had already had a turn. 

1) Adorable Aurora snuggling with Daddy!
2) The girls were so excited to ride over to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Auntie Liz and Uncle Mark's van.  They took up all the seats in the back.
3) Aurora chillin' with cousin Kate, on Grandma's cute little bench.

We attended a fun adult Halloween party.  And though I'm sure you probably can't guess who we are because we look nothing like them, we are Bella and Edward from Twilight.  We didn't know what to be, and I had to wear my boot, so we decided on them because then the boot could be part of the costume.  So these are our low budget costumes.  LOL!  Also, our friend Vanessa (Mom of the girls pictured above) was a witch so she posed with the "brew" we brought to drink.  (There was a bowl full of cranberry juice and Sprite inside.)

We chose to go to "Lattin's Cider Mill" to get pumpkins this year, with my Mom, Dad, and little brother (Uncle Joe.)  Things I didn't like: having to pay to park, it was very busy, there were just too many things going on, too many booths trying to sell things, and the mud!!  Things I loved: the apple fritters, the apple cider, the apple fritters, they have the most adorable apple tree you have ever seen, the apple fritters, the little merry-go-round (which Aurora especially loved!), the apple fritters, the bunnies, the apple fritters, the pumpkins, and did I mention the apple fritters??  They were SOOO yummy!!  Being the donut lover that I am, I can not believe that was my first time eating one.  YUM!  I'm definitely going back on the off season when you don't have to pay for parking, the chaos is gone, and hopefully the mud is gone too!!  :)

Grant brought home the makings for Carmel Apples so for Family Home Evening, we made and decorated  them.  Then we carved our pumpkins.  Each of the girls chose their own pattern from a book we bought.  They all helped clean them out.  Riana carved her pumpkin and Aurora's tiny one and I carved the other three.  She was very happy with the way hers turned out!  They were super cute!

The girls had a dentist appointment in October where no one had any cavities at all!  I don't think that has ever happened, which is pretty sad!!  We try very hard to brush their teeth every night, take flouride, etc.  However, their teeth have some inherited closeness and grooves which are prone to cavities.  Anyway, we went out and celebrated!!!  We took the kids to Charlies Safari and they had a blast together!!  We figured it was much cheaper then paying for the cavities to be filled and has inspired them to work hard to earn it again.  Hopefully, with their help, we can keep up the no cavities.

Here are some pictures of the various Halloween costumes the girls wore this year.  Some they wore to parties and some they wore to Trick or Treating.  Riana was a Juliet (in two different costumes) and wore my poodle skirt (from when I was young), another day.  Sariah chose to be a vampire for the Ward party because she thought she would win scariest costume but since they didn't have a contest this year, she decided to be a princess on Halloween.  Tierra was a cheerleader and then Dorothy.  Karina was the cowgirl named Jessie from Toy Story.  Aurora still doesn't care and so we dressed her as a little lion.  She learned how to say "Roaaarr!"  It was so cute!  We stayed away from the Trunk or Treat this year because Mommy was feeling a little worried with the swine flu spreading around our ward.  The kids even appeased me and didn't eat any candy for 24 hours (Swine Flu lives for 8 hours and I figured so many people had touched the candy and they were going to open it and then stick it straight into their mouths.  We were lucky enough to not get the Swine Flu, while it was spreading quickly around here.)  Anyway, we had a great Halloween and ended up with way too much candy.  So much for no cavities!  We should've waited until after Halloween to get their teeth cleaned.  LOL!!