Picture hunting

One perk of the kids have an entire week off of school for Thanksgiving is that we can spend a lot of time with family while we are in Utah, not just dinner.  While up in Logan we decided to do some exploring under the guise of finding a location for family pictures.  Our first stop was first dam.  We decided pretty quickly that the lighting wouldn't be quite right, but that didn't stop us from hanging out a bit.  

Jeremy talked McKenzie into going golf ball hunting in the water.  Can you tell from this picture of her dashing out that it was cold?  The water was only about 44 degrees.  

I can't tell if it's because she's accepted her fate of being cold, or if she just wanted to look like a boss with Jeremy's glasses on but she looks pretty cool in this shot.  

We walked over to the bridge as Jeremy told the kids stories from his USU days.  He and his friends would always go jump in first dam on New Years.  Since the kids didn't want to jump in, they asked him to swing them above the freezing water instead.  I'm afraid that if these pictures are taken out of context I'll be in trouble!  But it was their idea and they were having a blast!  

Cambrie was so inspired by Jeremy's stories that she actually came back the next day to jump in.  I was a little afraid that the water would be too cold and that she would panic.  She definitely came up gasping for air but she made it to the side with no problem.  She was very thankful for seat heaters in the car!  

Next we stopped by Rendezvous Park down in the southern part of the valley, and while we didn't find a whole family picture location, my mom and Daxton look pretty good.  

Our last stop was out by Benson marina.  Jeremy admired all of the great bike riding roads out there and will definitely be planning a ride when it gets a bit warmer.  I don't really remember spending any time out there but the views sure were pretty.  Hopefully, you'll be seeing some Johnson family pictures with that same background coming out in a week or so.

Fall Festival

We are still loving Kelton's preschool.  To celebrate Thanksgiving, the kids did a fall festival program.  Each class sang a couple songs about turkeys, dinner, and being thankful.  

The kids were super cute.  And I may be biased, but my son is the cutest!

Chilly cheeks

Only toddlers look just as cute from the front...

as from the back...

Dantley & Cydney's wedding

Ever since Dantley found this amazing girl, Cydney, we've been anxiously anticipating the wedding.  We didn't want her to get away!  Finally the big day arrived.  They were married in the Draper Temple, and even though it was slightly windy it wasn't raining or snowing so that was great.  

During the sealing the kids all hung out at Alysha and Brody's house.  Liam and Landon watched them and we were shocked when we came to pick them up and found that they were almost completely dressed and ready to go!  What a great surprise!  

We took everyone back to the temple, new little Pippa included, for some family pictures.  It was a bit bright and still a little chilly, but the kids were troopers.  

All of the Rogers grandkids looking dapper.  

Hanging out waiting for our turn to be in the photos.  

A little candy bribery going on here.  

I can't wait to see what pictures the photographer took.  Dantley and Cydney are simple gorgeous and so photogenic that they're going to look amazing!  

After some built-in relaxing time back at the house, we drove down to Wadley Farms for the reception.  Cydney and her mom did a great job decorating and it was so pretty.  The kids even had an entire room to themselves where they could watch movies, eat animal crackers, and color the coloring books that Cydney designed.  They ran around completely carefree helping themselves to the desserts.  

Here's a picture of some of the men of the bridal party.  Senator Hatch is Cydney's grandpa and loves his granddaughter enough to wear the crazy unicorn socks.  

The climax of the evening was when they got to light sparklers for the newlyweds departure.  Daxton had never seen fire on a stick before and couldn't tell if he should love it or be terrified of it!  

Congratulations Cyd & D!

Happy Halloween

It is Halloween!  Here are some of our pre trick-or-treating activities.  First off, trunk-or-treating!  Daxton saw the candy go into the car, his candy bag go into the car, was excited to wear his Jack Jack costume, and was incredibly disappointed that we had to eat and play games before we could go outside and get some candy!  When it was finally time to go outside, and I rounded up the kids who had been roaming the church, he made it to two cars before he called it a night.  Apparently it was way too scary!  

We went with the Incredible family theme this year.  Because we have an extra family member we added Edna Mode to the mix. 

McKenzie was super pumped to be Edna Mode, because she is Jack Jack's little buddy.  

Cambrie put on her Violet costume for our family pictures, but her heart was set on her Vin costume with her mistcloak and she wore that for all of the parties and festivities. 

The other kids though had a blast like always.  They played with their friends, went out together, and did the traditional candy exchange before calling it a night.  

 Even though we went to the pumpkin patch weeks ago, it was only the night before Halloween that we finally carved those things.  The pumpkins were pretty slime-free so cleaning them out was a breeze and I didn't have a single slimy complaint this year! 

 The kids all chose their own designs, and while the younger three needed help implementing their visions, Cambrie did hers all by herself.  She didn't even have a pattern, just a great imagination.  

Kelton did the ghost.  Daxton did Frankenstein.  McKenzie found an adorable witch.

 Cambrie did the owl.  

And by the time I got around to mine I was out of steam and ended up making a rather funky face.  

Kelton's preschool put on a costume parade on Halloween morning.  The weather was clear and not too cold so the kids walked around the courtyard.  The teachers had decorated the ground with chalk and the kids all had a blast.  

Even Daxton tried jumping in the parade.  

The girls helped me make jack-o'-lantern pancakes before heading off to their more normal days at school.  

Before going trick-or-treating, we went up to the Werner's house for a fabulous Halloween feast with some friends.  Luckily there were plenty of adults available to get a picture of our crew!  We can't be the Incredibles family without proof!  

Cambrie really wanted an action shot of her mistcloak so she could see the movement of the tassels.  It looks like she's levitating here!  

Finally it was dark enough that the kids could go claim their candy.  I stayed home passing out candy while my fam was out an about.  More than once I received a comment about my Elastigirl costume and that they had seen other Incredibles out there that night.  Yup, that's my fam!  

We gave the kids a deadline when they had to be back because we were hopping in the car as soon as they finished to drive out to Utah for the wedding.  They still managed to do some serious damage though and filled their bags to bursting.  

Daxton fell asleep somewhere along the way, and I can't say I blame him.  Happy Halloween folks!

Those middle schoolers

Even with middle school woes, these four girls are love going to school together this year.  For spirit week they dressed up for twin day-even it meant having two sets of twins.  

They played volleyball together again this season.  

And at church they always seem to gravitate towards one another.  What a fun, fun time for Cambrie.

Free Saturday!

This is what happens when soccer wraps up for the season-friends on Saturday!  McKenzie invited over her three besties after basketball and they played all day!  Cambrie even got in on the action.  Their favorite game was actually camping.  They took the play tent across the street, set it up, and totally told spooky stories and everything.  It was adorable.  

And the boys?  Well, Kelton and Max liked spying on them from nearby trees.  Oh wonderful freedom!