All Hallows Eve (and some other Halloween related things)

Halloween is a favorite Holiday of mine, and while I'm a bit sad that it has come and gone, I am beyond excited that Christmas is a mere 2 months away! I already can't wait.

We were able to go to the pumpkin walk with Adyson (for her first ever field trip). This was my favorite one (it's uncanny how much this pumpkin looks like the guy in the commercial, do you see it?)

Notice anything different about this picture?
Take a closer look. Yes friends, my girls are holding hands. No fighting, no teasing, and I didn't even force them. It's a beautiful, beautiful sight.

The ladies both got good use out of their costumes this year. They each had to dress up for dance, school, the ward carnival, and oh ya, Halloween. Here is Enna bug with some of her friends at school. Do you LOVE the peacock costume as much as I?

Each year Amy and I take our kids to see their Great Grandma during lunch at her assisted living home. She LOVES getting to show them off while all the other tenants look on. And they love getting to show great gram their costumes.

Do you also love Simon's smurf costume as much as I? It's awesome.

And finally, Halloween came. Here is Adyson all ready to go out and get some serious candy. (and she did get some. Seriously).
Her costume fits her to a T. And I find myself wondering how can someone who has this much crazy make-up on, and such crazy hair still look so beautiful? How? How?

Pretty Enna bug (or should I say Enna bee?) ready to go. I just love this kid!
Don't you just want to squeeze her?

Here's hoping your Halloween was fabulous, and wishing you a very happy, healthy, and swine flu free week.

Did I mention that we think Adyson has the swine flu?

Boo.

Dance party. Halloween Carnival. Crazy hair day.

The other day I had a 2 yr old, a 3 yr old, two 4 yr olds, a 5 yr old, and a 6 yr old, all at our house for a few hours. I was babysitting these little cuties below, and a few neighbor friends came over at the same time. I'll be honest, I was a bit nervous that there would be mega damage to the house, or fighting, or dramatic crying (they are girls you know), but they came up with an idea that made my life so easy, and made for some cute pics...

A Hannah Montana Dance party in the back yard. (I'm sure my neighbors were thrilled!) They blasted the music from the deck, and then one girl would dance to a song while the others played audience. I thought it was too cute. I just love having little girls!
This past week we had our first Halloween party of the year. The ward Carnival. The ladies couldn't wait to get in their gear.

Here is our little clown, isn't she cute?

And the buzzy bee. Adorable, yes?


They loved the games.

We had to laugh watching Enna do the doughnut eating contest. While everyone else was trying to eat it without touching it, she walked right up, untied it, and stuck it in her mouth. It's all about the food!

And of course, they loved the prizes.

And lastly, today was crazy hair day at Adyson's school. We took a page from Sanjaya's book and opted for a little Mohawk. I think she looks divine!

Here's wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

I hope I win.

www.sweetlifeinthevalley.com

Click here for your chance to win a free trip to Disneyland!

Meet the Kidman Clan

Last weekend we headed to Tree town to get our pictures taken with Trav's fam. I was pregnant with Sienna last time we had them done, so we were excited to get an updated family pic. They turned out pretty cute. (Tiff's friend Mandi Ward took them, and did a great job).

Here's Grandpa and Grandma with all their grand kids. Love this one. Miss Adyson

Enna bug.
The girls, a rare moment of hugging.

The photographer asked them to kiss....then thought about it, but started laughing instead. cute, cute.

The ladies in b & w.

The whole fam.
Cousins.
All lined up.

Our little fam.

unloading the camera.

It's been almost 2 weeks since I last blogged, and I still have nothing to blog about. (It's pretty dull around here!) So I've decided to unload my recent pics and show you all what you are missing.

Caution: You weren't missing much.

A squeeze from the plaid wearing ladies. (Plaid is back baby!) A beautiful smile. (I could eat her).

And a rainy afternoon activity. The girls doing each others hair.

Interesting, to day the least.

Adyson combed and combed, and combed some more, and just couldn't figure out why Enna's hair wouldn't go straight.

She was awfully frustrated by those lovely curls.

Then Sienna got a turn. Can someone tell me why they whine when I do their hair gently, but when they each rip at each others hair with a brush, they enjoy every second...

Yep, that's all I got. Hopefully something exciting and blog worthy will pop up in the future.

Till then.

And I really am going to close this baby up when I find the time. Hopefully Trav will help me do it this week...if we aren't to lazy, or too busy.

And for those of you wondering how to invite more than 100 peeps, you just have to get another e-mail, and invite yourself to be an author again. Each author can invite 100 people. (or so I'm told, I will try it and lyk).

The end.

Wanna help?

I've written about my friend Lacie, and her daughters battle with cancer a few times. (Click here and here to read my previous posts).

Well, my friend Kylene, who I'm learning has a heart of gold, came up with a VERY easy, and awesome plan to raise some money for this family. All you have to do is link Taylie's blog to your blog so people become aware of what this family is going through with a message about helping one another. Next, link Ky's blog, so they can link back and let her know they have done this. An anonymous donor will give 2 dollars per link to the Abbott family. (They so deserve this!) And, Kylene will do a drawing with all the names of people who participated, and the winner gets a pretty little prada purse.

It's a win/win. I'm just sayin.

Click here to link taylie's blog.
Click here for Ky's blog.

And my message about helping each other out is simple. Travis and I have been on the other side of things. Every penny helps. Every kind act helps. Every prayer helps. I know that in the darkest of times we've thought about those small (and large) acts of kindness and felt so much peace and hope. Can I add yet another thank you to all of you who have done these things for us? Thank you. Really, thank you. I hope that many of you will choose to do this, because this family has a tough road ahead of them. I just can't even imagine.

Off to hug my kids.

{UEA} {Private}

{UEA}

I pushed my snooze button 4 times this morning before finally crawling out of bed. And then I woke Adyson up 5 times.
How is it Monday already? How?

Even though we are back to the real world, I am still feeling all relaxed from such a lovely weekend. I officially am a fan of UEA. My sister and her beautiful kiddos came up this weekend, and we packed in as much fun into 4 days as we possibly could.

Friday. was. awesome. We got babysitters for the whole entire day and spent the day kid less, lunching, shopping, and laughing. Only Amy was missing this trip and it's never quite the same without her! That was the highlight of my weekend, but I left the camera home...so here are a few more fun things we did.
We made homemade caramel apples. I don't think I've ever eaten one before...and I realize how much I was missing out. Delicious.
We celebrated Kutter's b-day (he turns a very old 6 in a few weeks). Here he is showing off his Backugan from Adyson. (Don't worry Jody, we did get his haircut this weekend!)

and here he is with his Backugan cake. Can you tell he's excited? He and Adyson just had to have a piece with yellow, red, and black fire on it. Of course.

Sienna munching on her cake. Yum.

These 2 are still the best of friends. I will never understand how they get along so well because she really is all girl, and this kid really is all boy, but they totally make it work and just adore one another.

The girls spent the weekend making necklaces. (We are so very crafty!) Here is Breje perfecting her pieces.

I love this last picture. Look closely. Those lumpy blankets all over the floor just happen to be the cousins sleeping. 4 on the floor, 1 on the couch, and 1 to be added to the other couch a little later. Trayson needs his piece and quiet so he sleeps downstairs. This is my mom's heaven, to have the kids lounging all over her floor, messing up her house, and staying up way too late giggling. These cousins sure love each other!

I wasn't very good with the camera this weekend, and didn't manage to get pics of Brielle, Simon, and Tray, but rest assured, they were all having a great time. Brielle is so cute she just gets her way because none of us can resist her, Simon loves having boy cousins to play with for a change, and Trayson makes sure he gets all the game time in he can with Trav and Cody. It was a fun time for all...but we sure missed Jody and Amy who both were out of town. I hope your long weekend was lovely as well!

{Private}

The other day I received a letter in the mail from someone asking me not to go private. Someone in their family has kidney cancer, and so they enjoy my little blog. Truthfully, I don't want to go private. I love having people know whats going on, and I love meeting new friends this way. But, my kids are now in school, and I'm not with them every second of every day. It scares me to know that strangers could easily know their names, and so even though I don't want to close this blog up, I still am. I now know (or at least think I know) how to invite as many people as I want, so if you are a friend of a friend, a random linker who just thinks my girls are the cutest (I don't blame you), or someone who has cancer, and finds a little hope in our crazy life, I'd be happy to invite you. So really, I'm closing this baby up in a few more days. Leave me your e-mail address in the comments section, or send me an e-mail. Sorry to drag this thing out!

A very fine day.

Saturday my little ladies woke up bright and early to ride on a float in the USU Homecoming parade. Cute, yes? They were so. very. excited. Mostly because they got pom-poms. And because they did a "Go Aggies" cheer.

Sienna actually says "Go Ady's".

It makes her happy, and it makes Adyson happy too.

They take dance with one of our favorite friends Lillian (on the left), and the 3 of them cheered their cute little hearts out together.

Did I mention that the USU Homecoming parade lasts hours?

It does.

But our little ladies loved it, and that 2 seconds of fame was worth the wait.

I guess.

Right after the parade we took off with my family for our annual fall zoo trip. Besides the fact that their was a Utah game and a BYU game, and construction. And our drive too SL took a good 2 hours, and an accident on the way home made our drive a good 2.5 hours....we had a fantastic day.

We are foodies in our family, and Cody served his mission in PA. His favorite food is the Philly Cheese steak. He loves them, and misses them terribly. He was beyond excited when he saw Moochies on Diners, drive-inn's and dives. It was worth the hellish drive just to be with him while he enjoyed his first cheese steak in years. Delish. If your wondering.

Then we were off to the zoo to check the animals out.

Simon, Sienna, and Adyson The ladies.The animals were in fine form. Ask me in person about the monkeys...they put on quite a show for us.

Adyson on the carousel. Always a favorite.
Little Enna. She could ride on this all day long.The sweet baby elephant. So adorable!
It was a lovely day, and a great way to say goodbye to the warm weather. Now we are ready for fall.

Bring it on!