Family Pictures

 We got family pictures. My dad did an excellent job. I wanted to do them at the Library with that nice brick, but there was an event going on so we had to improvise. We went to that park right next to Independence High. It was really pretty. Sadly, Rod was in a TERRIBLE mood, we got zero smiles from him the entire time. Also. Our colors are kind of weird  It looks like Justin's jacket is grey--it's really black and white. So we really do kind of coordinate, it just doesn't look like it. This is the first time we have done a dressy type clothing theme. I don't know how I feel about it. Sitting in a skirt is NOT my forte. Oh well.

 

 Jax was a GEM the entire time. Completely obliging and all smiles. He looks SO handsome and I just love his semi-toothless grin!

 

  I have more pictures of Rod, but it's not because they are better than Jaxton's, because they are not. But because we had to take so many trying to get even the slightest glimmer of a smile. And then he was being SO dramatic and ridiculous we took pictures of that too. The goob. He has SUCH a huge beautiful smile. I'm sad we couldn't get it.

 

Those last two are him being our little drama boy. Oh please Rod, oh please. :)

 He still looks darling even if he's indifferent.

 

We couldn't get a good one with the boys together either because, again, Rod wasn't cooperating. But they are still gorgeous to me. :)

And then of course, the happy couple. Wooty-woot to thant. :)

THANKS DAD!! 

We love you!! And we love you with your camera!! :)

Halloween Pictures

Jax has been really obsessed with Halloween this year. Anything to do with Halloween will do, but he gets really excited about ghosts. He is SOOO happy to be a ghost this year (obviously--look at the pictures). And his costume was really pretty easy to make, (with my mom's help, I can't even do the simplest of things without my mom's help...) so it was a win-win for both of us. And cutest ghost ever, I might add.

 He can't wait to go trick-or-treating. We have a paper chain that he has been tearing so that he has a time frame on when Halloween is, he is SOO excited there are only 2 days left!! All the Halloween parties we have been to have really made his waiting easier. He loves to watch any shows with a halloween theme or anything "scary". And he's suddenly become afraid of the dark. Go figure.

And it just doesn't get cuter than the below picture of Rod in tights. I HAVE to find excuses for tights for my boys, and Halloween has fit that bill more than once. I. love. chub. in. tights.

 His ginormous "bum" was the cutest--why didn't I remember a picture of that?? Oh well, his cute face more than makes up for his cute bum. :)

 Oh my cute cousins!! Everyone say "Halloween Party's rule!"

  Rod(pumpkin) Mai (fairy) Max (dragon) Hazel (doggy) Jax(ghost)

  Thanks for snapping the pictures for us Dad!! Our camera is broken, so notice the excellent picture quality on these, not from our iphones---love our phones, but no, they can't do that.

We went over to the Grama Gause's on Halloween night and got some cute pictures with the cousins!!

 Lincoln was Dopey from Snow White--halarious and SOOO cute!! 

Oh man those kids are darling!! 

Jason was Thor!! And Brooke was Gorgeous!! :)
Happy Halloween!!

Family Fun Weekend

 Long post, cause it was a long weekend.

So this last weekend we did a lot of fun things.

 Starting on Wednesday night, we drove to St. George to watch my dad play in the senior games--racquetball's his game. 

He did AWESOME. He came in un-ranked, without anyone knowing him, (he doesn't do competitions often/ever.) But everyone knows him now! 

He played 5 games on Thursday while we were there, and 3 games the day before. That is A LOT of games for anyone, but for 51 yr old, it's pretty brutal. He was SUPER impressive, and I was SOOO glad he didn't die. Those 8 games made up a kind of round-robin; with the 4 winners (with the most points) going on to fight for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. on Friday and Saturday. He made it through, and was in the top 4, but he injured his elbow in the last 5 minutes of his last game on Thursday. So he dropped out of the competition. So sadly, we weren't able to see him in the medal rounds...next year we will. :)

Ironically, the only pictures we have of him playing is the one match he actually lost...sorry dad. :)

Since we didn't have any racquetball games on Friday we were free to do whatever we wanted until Justin and I and my boys had to leave at 2pm. So we decided to go to a park. It was a SUPER cool park. The only pictures I have are of my silly Rod (Jax was there too, but rod was really in an element and being really goofy) in the water fountain in the 60 degree weather. You just can't pull some kids away from water no matter how cold it is outside....

It was A LOT of fun to just hang out with my family and see and do such cool stuff with them. I had a great time.

Then...

We came home that evening and on Saturday, we went to the Vivint employee party (where Justin works)...Oh my huge, and Oh my good time.

They had a carnival, J-dawgs,  all the junk food you could eat, and this crazy BMX "rodeo" and just tons of prizes and entertainment. I think it might have been Jaxton's favorite day. Ever. He was REALLY happy the entire time. And what's not to love, lets be honest.

The below picture is the 1st ride of the day--look at Rod's face! :)

  

Jax was trying SO hard to "smile" in this picture.

 This below picture was funny. So Jax climbs all the way up this big slide. Stands there. Sits. And suddenly decides "it's to scary". So he starts going back down where everyone is coming up (do you see the line of kids in that narrow climbing section??). It was bad news.

 

 And Jax got to ride the PONY!! He was really happy about that--so was Rod, who rode the pony too. Those kids don't get their bravery from me--I'm pretty sure I didn't touch an animal by choice until I was about 17.

 

 And this is where it gets even MORE exciting. So we all head over to the BMX rodeo. It was a crazy rodeo--BMX kinda covers a lot of bases. Motocross, BMX bike stuff, and Razor racing; just to name of few of the activities. Anyway, these first few pictures are where we were seated BEFORE the show started. Notice we are a bit further up. Jax is still stoked out of his mind (again, best day ever for him.)

When the show started, they drew 10 names out of a huge jar. These people would be the "owners" of the Razors that would race at the end--except the Razor that won, the person driving that razor gets it.  SO, Mr. Lucky-duck Justin (remember how he already won a 7 night cruise??) totally had his name called!! For Razor #6!! So we were able to move down to the very front row in these reserved seats and get extra candy and goodies. And we had a 90% chance of  going home with our own free razor. What?! Yes.

 This is the changed view--we are now in the very front!! And yes--my boys LOVED the whole thing. They looked like the below picture basically the whole time.

 And THEN they shot off the most amazing fire works show ever--which we had a front row seat to. My boys loved that too.

And OUR Razor didn't win!! So just like that, we are the owners!! And it is sitting in the front/side of our house as we speak! I was originally wanting to sell it (we don't have a trailer to haul it on, or a truck to haul it with)...thinking of all the things we could do to our house with the $ from it...But, Justin drove it home and I could tell he was SOOO happy. So, my dreams for our house are going to have to wait. And that's okay. It's defiantly one of those things we would never buy for ourselves--though it's SUPER fun, we couldn't ever justify it. But regardless, Justin would always be drooling over them. So how cool is that, that it was just handed to us. I know, SUPER cool. :)

So now, Jax always want's to ride on the "laser". And we do, and it's fun.

So after the rodeo, Justin had to go pick up his prize, (this took an hour) and so I took the kids on a few more rides (it was 11pm by this time and they were still going strong and loving life--again, Jaxton's best day ever.)  I love their little smiling faces. It's incredible how much enjoyment--PURE enjoyment we can get from our kids--just WATCHING our kids be happy. It blows my mind.

 

 Thanks for making me so happy kiddies!!