Grandparents Weekend

 We had Grandma and Grandpa Whimpey and Uncle Brad come visit us for dinner before the grandparents headed back to Washington.  We were worried because our power was out all morning long and we did not know if we were going to have a fancy meal or be dining out that Sunday night!

We love this crew!

Grandpa time with Bex

 Grandpa cuddling with Emily

 Our crazy bunch!  I think this is the last photo of me before Jacob was born - thus I look like I am about to explode!

These two have definitely become great pals of late! 

 Matt and Bex reading in the backyard together

Trunk or Treat Finale

 Rebecca loaded her pumpkin bucket up a couple times - she totally scored on candy!

 Sam and Brad held down the trunk of our van!  Those boys had a great time together especially with our creepy talking creeper!

 Katie and Bex go a round

 Matthew asking nicely

 It did not take long for Rebecca to get the hang of this trick-or-treat thing!  She went right up to everyone so fearless!  And they all thought she was adorable! 

 Cleopatra's take a turn - The Beetlejuice guy was my favorite!

 These girls were so cute!

 Rebecca on her own

Jake, Katie and Matthew

It was a beautiful day for a baptism and a wonderful night for trunk-or-treating and games inside.  We sure love being with family!

Weekend Before Halloween

The weekend before Halloween had our family visiting our cousins in Houston for Maren's baptism.  She looks beautiful and it was a wonderful meeting! 

 Cousins playing around the tree after the baptism

 The awesome Long Family:  Brady, Amy, Parker, Jake and Alex and Maren 

 Cousin Crew:  Katie, Emily, Rebecca, Maren, Alex, Matthew, Jake and Parker

 Sam and Rebecca exploring the church grounds

 Grandpa and Grandma were there too!  I love this picture of Grandpa hugging Emily!

 Uncle Brad was there too!

 After a quick change at the Long's house, the kids got their Halloween costumes on and went back to the church for the ward's trunk or treat program.  Emily and Maren had no clue that they were both going to be Cleopatra for Halloween!  What a fun surprise!

 Bex the adorable monkey

 Lots of soup!

 The trunks are getting decorated

 Matthew helping Rebecca around

 Katie looking ghoulish like a lost soul

 Jake, Katie and Matthew

Our Halloween bunch:  Katie (lost soul), Matthew (ninja zombie), Emily (Cleopatra) and Bex (monkey)

6th Grade Volleyball Tournament



Katie has been playing volleyball in PE class the first 9 weeks of school and joined a team to play in the all-day Saturday tournament.  This was a busy day where I took Katie to the middle school and watched her first 2 games, drove home to take Matthew and Emily to church for Primary practice, ran back to watch Katie play and eat lunch with her, then back to the church to pick up kids and we all went back to watch Katie's final game! 



 

Here she is getting ready to bump it over the net!

 

Looking aggressive and ready to block at the net!

 

 She did a great job serving and scored some good points there!

 

Although her team did not win the whole tournament, they did a great job and it was fun to watch Katie play!  She knew all the positions and really helped boost her teammates on!

Moustache Man

 

 Matthew was able to raise some money for their elementary school fun run this fall and his favorite prize was this moustache.  I still don't understand the hype behind these things!

I think he was happy to look like Mario

He kept sneaking up behind me to scare me all Saturday long!  I was thrilled when he decided to take that huge fuzzy thing off to eat his dinner!  Yep, I will never understand the moustache frenzy. 

Katie's Movie Poster

At the beginning of the school year, Katie was given a big assignment to read a book and make a movie poster out of it for her English class.  It was due the 2nd week of October and she was the first student to turn her finished product into her teacher.  She read her book so fast and outlined the characters and plot so quickly!  We just had to find the pictures to match and add all the quotes with my favorite as, "Rated C for Creepy".  I just love it when she is excited about a project with no procrastination and this was a fun one to help her with!  Of course she got an A on it!  What a super student! 

Uncle Brad's New House

We had a pizza party at Uncle Brad's new house in Spring, Texas.  We were thrilled to discover that he only lives 20 minutes away! 

 After living in his small home on the other end of Spring for many years, close to the airport which was convenient for his commute, it was a pleasant surprise to see him in a more modern home with lots of new features!

 The host pouring everyone's Root Beer

 After touring through the house, Katie snuck into one of Brad's boxes and found his captain hat!  He hasn't had to wear that thing in such a long time!  We had a great laugh with that!

 

Sam, Brad and I talked around the dinner table for a long time while the kids ran crazy through the house after eating ice cream.  They eventually slowed down and landed on the couch - Katie almost fell asleep, but Matthew and Emily jumped on her just in time!  It is so good to be close to family!