* Apparently Karen needed some make-up tips.. which is always so successful with 7 kids running around. 
*And the biggest project of all... Whit decided to fix my kids. (They are slow as molasses and so I end up doing everything for all four of them... gets very wearing.) Whitney knocked on the front door one morning before school and introduced herself as "Miss Independence". She was all dressed up with the craziest get up and make up. My kids' eyes were like saucers... they'd never seen anything like it. She explained what "independence" means and showed how she got herself dressed that morning. She had made up a little incentive program (magic beans... which they still think will "grow a surprise") for them to get dressed every morning by themselves before the timer rings. Dallin and Ella ate it up and took right to the idea. Way to go Miss Independence!
It was a Stapley Christmas this year and the kids made a cameo appearance in the nativity play. I secretly loved Ella's scandalous angel costume with her bare mid drift showing!
Thanksgiving weekend was quite enjoyable this year. We started the morning off at the gym trying to offset the damage we were going to do to our bodies that afternoon. I guess we pushed the twins a little too hard on their exercises because this is how we found them during lunch. 
And although dinner wasn't at Grandma & Grandpa Farnsworth's home like usual, we still had a Farnsworth size feast. (Not that I ate anything other than rolls, mashed potatoes, and pie... why waste my stomach room on the "extras" like turkey and vegetables?) 
After our meal we went on a family stroll to take advantage of the nice weather. Although Auburn decided she was done walking and would prefer a full blown tantrum on the side walk.
By the end of the lovely day, Auburn's attitude seem to spread to the rest of the family. Troy did spend the evening in the ER with Ella and ear infections...so at least she had an excuse!
Nevertheless, I am grateful for all the wonderful blessings in my life...I have many.
I just got my first 
For Veteran's Day we went to play tennis with Karen. All the courts were locked except for one that was being used. By the time we made it around to check all the other locks, the unlocked court became available. We tried playing but were horrible! We thought we had lost our obvious "skills" but then realized that it was so dark we could barely see the ball. (At least that's our story, and we're stickin' to it.) 
Halloween always begins with Trick-or-Treating and a special Halloween lunch at Grandma & Grandpa Farnsworth's. 
Auburn loved sweeping up GG's rocks... almost as much as she and Allison loved throwing them all over the patio. 
My favorite part of Halloween this year was the Goody Ghost. Every few nights we would go out delivering treats to unsuspecting friends and neighbors. Dallin and Ella loved wearing their ghost costumes to run to and from the doors. They would practice over and over at our door... ringing the doorbell as the other one feigned surprise that there were "goodies" at the doorstep. (Ella didn't understand what a "goody" was.. and she said it so funny...gu-dy.) Then they would switch and the other would have a turn... this went on all night. (I was trying to remind myself it was a good thing that my doorbell was ringing every 30 seconds for 45 minutes straight.) But it was so nice to see them excited about giving. Although it did begin with a meltdown thinking ALL their treats were being given away... but once they were assured that one was waiting at home for them.. the giving spirit was back into effect! Hey.. it's gotta start somewhere.
The Smith's had the coolest Halloween party! There were tons of kids, games, and amazing food. And it wasn't any of that nasty kid Halloween stuff.. it was so eerily gourmet & tasty:
I don't know how Laura pulled it all off. I would have been a frazzled wreck with so much going on... but her personality allowed it to be so comfortable and fun for everyone. That girl is so talented!
Dad invited us to his office's Halloween pumpkin carving party. It's just tradition to carve pumpkins with Dad. He is known for his creative carving 'visions'. This year I think he was feeling a bit stifled by the kids' inability to 'get outside the box'... but he handled it well and the kids had a great time.
For Troy's birthday we took a last minute mini road trip. We headed north to one of Arizona's hottest tourist spots...Payson. :) And we left no sight unseen. Our first destination was the old bike shop that you pass on the highway. We'd always wondered what the heap of junk was...and we found out it was just that. "30 years in the makin" the toothless woman told us. Over 10,000 bikes! She even let us climb the old car trailer to get an aerial shot. It was actually quite impressive, and once we started walking around we found that there was some semblance of order in the lot. There is just something cool about large amounts of things, collections of any random sort become novel.
Next we hiked Natural Bridge which was absolutely beautiful. We went all the way through this time since we didn't have the babies on our backs. 
Everything was so lush and green and the waterfalls made you feel you were somewhere exotic. We couldn't have asked for better weather and the company was ideal. It was fun just talking with Troy using uninterrupted sentences. 
We enjoyed lunch at a little roadside diner and walked through The Old Randall house. Then we went up to Pine and visited the graves of Troy's grandparents. Next we were off on the hunt for my "starter cabin"...unfortunately, it's just not meant to be...yet! :) After inhaling our brownie sundaes we headed back into the valley.
We stopped by Troy's office and I tried to do a little housekeeping while he worked, much to his irritation. Apparently setting up shelves and filing is not what he wanted done on his birthday. Go figure.
And no birthday would be complete without a trip to the local pawn shop. ??? Troy heard on the news, that with all this economic mess, pawn shops are being infiltrated with good stuff. So he wanted to go check it out. What makes this even more random is this is SO not Troy's style. First off, he doesn't ever buy anything, second, if he ever did buy something, he would know exactly what he's going to get, style, color, price etc. So randomly going to see what a pawn shop had to offer just threw me for a loop. But, it was his birthday... he ran the show (and I almost got a new platinum diamond ring out of the deal!) :)
Heather & Colby are always so good to invite our crazy crew to all the fun birthday parties they have. We look forward to them even more now that we barely see each other. It's always nice (and rare) to have friends that both husbands and wives equally enjoy each other. They have been a unique find for us! 
It was a great break from the everyday routine and always fun to hang with the Bowers!
Usually when we make things I tell the kids what we're making and we follow my directions, this time I just gave them popscicle sticks and glue and they were in heaven! Among my favorite creations were Ella's model of herself and Dallin's 4 wing-fighter. 
