Halloween Fun!

Halloween is always so much fun...and a little overkill. And this year was no exception. We had pumpkin carving at the Foxes, Jenna's preschool party, Kenzie's school party, our ward trunk-or-treet carnival, Aaron's work party, and of course trick-or-treating. Every event was fun, but I'm so glad to say this week is over!

Kenzie the cat

Jenna the fairy

Caleb the bat

Even Aaron and I managed to dig up something to dress up as. Of course Aaron is the only person I know who has a tux tucked away in his closet! (Not to mention, he's also the only person who would fit into a tux from his Junior Prom)

My kids don't really know the meaning of shy. This is them on the stage at the school halloween carnival. This video cracks me up!

They've thought they were in heaven all week. Dressing up, going to parties and getting candy...hmmm, how could you get any better than that!

Fall Leaves

Fall is probably my favorite season of the year. I love watching the leaves change. We went down to Oak Creek near Sedona last week to enjoy a picnic and fishing. It was a great afternoon!

Caleb is as always at his best in front of the camera.

It was a great relaxing day.

And the kids, as always, got wet and had so much fun doing it!

Random Recent Pics

Here's a sampling of what we've been up to the past few months. We've been busy, but it's been great fun!

We went out to Grandpa and Grandma Kelly's ranch for conference weekend. It's one of my absolute favorite places to be and my whole family feels about the same way. Aaron and the kids got a little fishing in (and caught a huge fish!), of course we ate a lot of really good food, we celebrated Grandpa's birthday and we were able to relax and catch up with the family.

While we were down that direction we of course visited the Tucson Zoo...in my opinion, one of the best zoos ever! Aubri and Alisa and most of the cousins were able to come meet us there. Always a good time!

We went and visited great grandma and grandpa Fox in Tucson. It was good to see them again and Caleb would not stop loving on Grandma...she loved that!

We went ice skating again (back in Flagstaff). It's been a long time, but the girls remembered knowing how to do it, so they were surprised when they couldn't just skate right away! They learned again quickly...we really need to go more often!

Caleb couldn't really skate at all, but we got skates for him anyways because the last time we took him, his feet got cold from the ice. He could kind of hold on to the walker while we pushed him.

We walk to pick up Kenzie at the bus stop every day and Jenna loves to ride her bike.

Here's Kenzie sporting her very cute school uniform!

We crash Alison's house quite a bit these days and it's always a favorite for the kids.

Of course they can sleep in the tent...why not?

They enjoyed the Phoenix warmth...and we enjoyed the view!

This one's classic!

Proof that we've been going, going, going...

Another day...another mess!

We visited the lava tubes here in Flagstaff...it was a great outing!

The kids loved the Caves
Kenzie had been asking for months to visit the lava tubes. I think it was all she had hoped.

After his daddy's own heart

If Caleb looks euphoric, it's because he was...this was right up his alley.
We went to the Coconino County Fair and had a great time! We took the kids to see the demolition derby that was part of the fair and it was a riot! They were so confused why cars would try to run into eachother! They did get into it though, and even though they thought it was way too loud, they thought it was pretty fun.

The girls got to pick one ride...and of course it was the merry-go-round.

We went on one last camping excursion before the weather turned cold. Of course it downpoured all night!

Caleb thouroughly enjoying himself

We went out fishing and canoeing at Lake Mary...didn't catch anything, but had a lot of fun!

Whew! And that's it!

Birthdays and Parties

Well, both of my girls are one year older...

Jenna's birthday was actually in August, but I never posted the pictures. My baby is 4. I don't care how old she gets, my Jenna girl will always be my baby. Of course, she is just as sweet as ever...with a little 4 year old attitude! For her birthday party, she wanted a princess theme, but still wanted to invite the boys, so we had a princess and knight theme. Honestly, I had a great time with the girls planning and preparing for this party. We made princess hats for the girls, knight helmets for the boys, and a gift of a sword from her cousin Gus made the party complete when they could go kill the dragon pinata with the sword. Apparently, I've become very good at spinning a tale, because in telling the kids about the dragon in the basement who ate all of the candy, I terrified one of the little girls to tears (of course, Aaron was in the basement roaring as well)! Woops! The girls and I had many mommy times making hats, helmets and the pinata. It was fun!

I cannot believe that Kenzie is 6! How did that happen? She is almost completely toothless now as well. She just keeps getting bigger, learning new things, and becoming more and more fun! I had one of those flashing mom moments the other day with the thought of how much fun it would be to hang out with my girls and go shopping and out to girly movies as they get older...they're so much fun! For Kenzie's birthday, she wanted a girl party complete with painting toenails and all. So she invited her friends over for a pajama party (they didn't stay the night, just came in their pajamas). Her party ended up on a holiday weekend, so only 3 of her friends could come, but it was probably a good thing for my sake...Lavita was here to help, but that was still a lot of fingernails to paint. They decorated little bags to take home and of course we did a pinata. Again, it was great fun making the bags and the pinata with the girls. Everyone had a great time, particularly Kenzie. Birthdays are a huge deal around this house and I really like it!

Here's Caleb trying out the new birthday gift...Kenzie and Jenna both have one now so they can take up sword fighting. :)