Happy Halloween 2014...

So many costumes need to get ready!  Aaaaaaa!  I ended up telling the kids to dig in the costume bag and find something.  Except for Mikayla.  I really wanted her to be a mad scientist because she has such crazy, Albert Einstein hair.  Juliet was a Japanese girl.

Jack was a zombie and was amazing with the whole eye roll thing.

Maxine was a vampire.  The teeth were especially tricky but we made them work.

Mark wore an old Superman costume.

I dressed up as a pirate for the trunk or treat.

The kids got so much candy this year!  Ohmigoodness.  I'm thinking that maybe we shouldn't do the trunk or treat next year.  They end up with so much candy without much effort.

 Don't tell them though.

Little Mark turned 1!

My baby boy turned 1 so time for some pictures!  These were taken in the basement and Mark just kept trying to crawl away.  He thinks he's pretty funny.  

He's cruising and starting to get brave.  He's starting to stand up in the middle of the room.  He doesn't say a whole lot, just Mama and Dada.  He's pretty good natured but does like to bite!  Not maliciously but in a love-bite type of way.  Regardless, I've been left with a few bruises because of his rough, affectionate way.  He just laughs and thinks it's funny.

Overall, he's pretty sweet.  He'll snuggle his head into my face in the morning.  Then lean over to Merril and snuggle into his head.  Yep, we love him.

Birthdays mean cake too!  We never could get Mark to blow out a candle but the other 4 did and then we ate cupcakes.  

The kids made him a card.  Mikayla's just in panties because that's how she is lately.  She still makes a lot of puddles but we're just keeping in light and she seems excited about going to the bathroom.  We'll keep encouraging and I'm sure she'll get it eventually.

 Yum!

Grandpa Mark and Uncle Justin have birthdays in October so we had more cake and pie later that weekend.  

Tadpoles and froglets...

I didn't really think that our tadpoles would stay alive long enough to become tadpoles but they did and it's been one of the coolest things I've watched in a while.  

I'm amazed at these little creatures that grow legs and suck a tail in.  

Their mouths and skin change too.  Life is amazing.

Hike to Johnson's Arch...

Merril has recently joined the Washington County Search and Rescue team.  He's on the ground team and the high angle.  He's required to go to training for the first little while and one was held at Johnson's Arch in Snow Canyon.  Merril came home and said we should all go see it.  So we headed out for a Saturday adventure.

Mikayla and I kind of lagged behind after a while because she has such little legs and we had to stop to go potty.  She was a trooper though and kept up as well as she could.

The trail winds past a dry riverbed.

If you didn't know what you were looking for, you'd hike right past it.  The arch has sandstone right behind it.  If you look closely above Juliet and Mikayla's heads, you can see the arch.

We found a little pond that had tadpoles.  We captured a few to take them home and watch them change into frogs!

Backyard fire...

We had a family home evening marshmallow roast in the backyard.  More than cooking dessert, I think the kids just like to set things on fire.  I took a lot of pictures without a tripod and the result is blurry photos.  I still like them though. The curls coming out of the fire are fun!

To be fair, everyone loves to play in the fire.

Mikayla liked playing with sticks and flinging hot marshmallows at our faces.

Maxine rocking the top knot.

Julie the poser.

Yep, good times, even if it was just in our backyard!

Merril's 50 CC

Merril and his friend Ryan R. decided to qualify for another Iron Butt Association's long distance rides: ride from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast in less than 50 hours.  They flew out to  Savannah, GA and purchased bikes on the east coast.  Ryan's wife, Kim, is currently battling breast cancer and I'm amazed he was able to go.

 They collected water and sand from the ocean.

They ate dinner in Panama City, by the gulf of Mexico, and decided to go for a quick swim.  Neither of them brought a swim suit but Ryan had boxer briefs and so Merril borrowed some.  A true friend will lend you underwear.  

Ryan took a lot of pictures and as a result, I have a lot of Merril.  He's on the red and grey BMW in the background.

 They finished in San Diego, CA at 49.5 hours.  They took a little too much time the first day so had to bust it the second day to make it.

But they weren't even home yet!  After reaching California, they still had to ride home!  It was 3,000 miles on a bike before they made it back!  Merril said it was one of the hardest things he's ever done.  

Is there anything better than spaghetti? Indeed, not...

We knew spaghetti would be messy so we stripped Mark down to a diaper and let him go to town.  

It's wonderful that Mark can feed himself but he's still not the cleanest.  Yummy, spaghetti is the best!

Oh potty training Mikayla...again...

For 3 days in a row, Mikayla was having her morning tub and requested to get out so she could...um...go #2.  I pulled her out of the tub and sat her on the toilet and she went.  On the 3rd day, I asked if she'd like to wear panties instead of a diaper.  She said she did.  She had a lot of success that first day and a few accidents here and there.  On day #4, she didn't have a single accident all day long.  She's been staying dry during naps and at night time as well.  Wow!

Since the last time we tried to potty train her, I didn't talk to her at all about going to the bathroom, but any time anyone else in the family needed to go, we got really excited about going.  It seems silly, but the idea is to take the pressure off her and make potty training seem really exciting.  So this go round has been totally different.  She will go willingly any time we ask and doesn't fight back because this was her idea.  She wanted to do it.  So she could be cool, like the rest of us.  *wink*  It's been about a week and a half now.  She's doing well but if she has a lot to drink, she needs the potty every 20 minutes.  We're hitting about 75% success with accidents more frequent when she's playing.  I'm pretty scared for church.  Merril is out of town and the idea of being stuck on the stand leading music while Mikayla needs to go worries me.  We'll be taking plenty of back up outfits to church with us tomorrow.  

Even with the accidents, I feel like we're on the right track!  She's excited and that's a wonderful thing.

New family pic...

Once a year we have a family picture.  We didn't even have one last year because I was pregnant so my family picture on the wall is 2 years old.  I don't think it's too much to ask to have my family dress up a touch and smile.  They disagree.  Maybe I'm going about it the wrong way.  There are usually bribes involved.  *exasperated sigh*  

The first Saturday I tried to get them all together, such fits were thrown (by the older kids mind you) that I got so mad that I didn't even want to be in the same state with them.  I left in a huff and drove around mad.  

So we tried again a few weeks later.  Despite my camera being on the wrong setting and a small amount of fits followed by bribery in the form of cupcakes from 25 Main, we managed this picture.  There are a few things I don't love about it, too much sun on a few faces, but I believe it will do.

And now we have 364 days until I will threaten them to sit down and act like a happy family or else they are grounded for the rest of EVER!  And I mean it.  Don't make me come over there.

Merril's at the Autocross...

Merril bought this Audi TT to flip but before he sold it, he raced it in the Autocross up at the old airport.  Basically, you can bring your own car to race on the track and it's timed.  You get several heats to improve your time.  This is the second autocross he's been in.  His brothers, Jared and Justin, raced as well.

The kids and I took the RV, which was good because Mikayla still needs to be pretty close to a bathroom at all times.  

We raced the races from the sidelines with Aunt Rachel.