Hallo-weinie 2013

 Here are some pictures from our Halloween this year. I'm happy to report the weather was beautiful! This is the first time in all my life that I remember trick-or-treating without coats. We were able to go as a whole family and the kids loved our neighbours on our street. It was great, and we are so lucky to have creative kids. Max was Enderman from Minecraft; Sam was a fox; Elle a pink unicorn; Ady was a spider. The Young Women auxiliary in our ward put on our trunk-or-treat, so Dustin and I even dressed up for that. We did an opening song, prayer, scripture and costume parade. The kids then went around inside the church to different rooms that were decorated like houses. Clever!

Max's helmet lights up with purple lighting around the eyes. It was a box with his bike helmet attached with zip ties, so it wouldn't fall off. That was Dustin's job and he did super awesome!

Max's lit-up face!

Yep-those are twigs from the back yard. #costumeinfiveminutesorless

That is a rainbow on that cute little face!

"What does the Fox say?"

TBT

Elle turns 3

This year we celebrated Elle's birthday in Utah. For breakfast she wanted Lucky Charms. Then, just before lunch, we took the kids to the pool in Brigham. We brought a cooler with watermelon, strawberries, raspberries, cracker and cheese, and chips. We tried to get there early and snag a table, but there was a line up 20 minutes before the pool even opened. Despair! We lucked out, though, and a table was available by the time we got in. Elle loved eating all of her favourite foods with her cousins and grandma and grandpa. It was way hot, and the waterslide was perfect for cooling us all off! I made vanilla cupcakes with pink icing and sprinkles at Elle's request. The heat was too much to bear by about 3 so we headed back to my parents' for the opening of gifts. She got a cooking set and skirt set from the Wilde Grandparents and a tinker bell with accessories from Max and Sam. Wendi and the kids brought her a puzzle, a fart maker, necklaces and bracelets. She was in heaven and we were so happy they came to play with us!

One Day Late for a Throwback Thursday

Look what I found today!

Summer 2013

This summer we did some fun things. Some of them we even thought to take pictures of! The first week of July we went down to Utah for a family reunion and to say goodbye to my little Niece, McKenzi. She's not so little anymore! She is now serving her mission in Posadas, Argentina. We're so proud of her. Not proud enough, though, to have taken any pictures. Dumb. Anyway, we had a ball down there and this is what we did take pictures of. TEMPLE SQUARE!

climbing the pillar in the tabernacle

single-handedly singing as the MO-TAB

feeling the marks in His feet

"That's a statue of Jesus!"

Outside the Conference Center boiling our faces off.

Stealing the phone at the Lion House Pantry

In August, we went camping for a Wilson reunion in Sylvan Lake. It was a nice campground, and the kids LOVED playing with cousins. There was even a time that Sam and Wilson were totally lost, and all of us were looking for them. We had fun at the campfires, waterslides, and the beach! Dustin, Ed and I drove up to Edmonton on Saturday morning for the End of Summer Volkswagen show. It was a bust, but we were able to pick up some VW parts we needed and got to stop and see Rem and Peg on Soy boy's Birthday Party. Dustin and Ed loved Becky's homemade corn dogs! Good trip.

Action shot: assemble the tent!

We were here!

"I'm three and I get to eat marshmallows!"

Ninja

Ady. After being eaten by mosquitoes with a  bewildered look!

His shirt says, "Who pooped in the park?" That was a family favorite.

Ady and Reggie resting at the Waterpark where snack Nazis reigned. 

You remember our post about Marlan and A&W? Well, at the end of August A&W does Cruisin' for a Cause to find a cure for MS. Anyway it's a big deal with a show and shine, and the fire department came with the big truck etc. The kids loved the burgers and mostly seeing Marlan. It was a good day. Here they posed with the fire gear on.

It was stinkin' hot. Even without the flames in the back ground!

 Next post: Elle's third birthday!

YW New Beginnings: Part One

This year, we planned our New Beginnings around a "Colour Carnival" theme. We decided that we could do eight carnival games centered on the eight values. This was very exciting for me because I had wanted to do a carnival for ages! It worked great. First, I talked to my very talented friend, Tess at the Burrfect design. Check out her blog here. She created some WAY cute invitations and the signs for each game. Like I said, TALENTED! The invitation was printed as a 5x6, and it worked great!

I printed these on 8x10 sheets from Costco. I wish I had made them bigger.

Orange- Choice and Accountability

Blue- Divine Nature

White- Faith

Red- Individual Worth

Purple- Integrity

Green- Knowledge

Gold- Virtue

Yellow- Good Works

She also made the tags for the food. These were printed as 4x6 and cut in half for display.

We made cotton candy with Marlan's cotton candy machine, ( I know, right?!) and little ice cream floats with different colour sodas. Colours, get it?

This was cute, because Marlan made little sliders and cocktail weenies. Her first time making buns and they turned out perfect!

I made the girls each a caramel apple to take home. They ate the popcorn during the games while they cheered each other on.

For decoration, I made a bunting out of really cute fat quarters I found at Village Quilts in Lethbridge. They have some really adorable stuff!

We were both proud of our artistry that day!

Set Up:

We met Wednesday night at 8:00 and stayed until 10:00 to set up. It was a blast to work with these two creative ladies!

The bunting up and stunning!

These were packages of the values, so for the coordinating game the girls could keep score on the back. The scripture that goes with each value is written on the front. The pages were colour co-ordinated, of course!

My chalkboard "art". It was to distract from my talk. =)

Cake Walk. Like musical chairs, but when the music stopped, there was a lego head stuck underneath random seats for a little cupcake. We changed them around each time the music started while the girls closed their eyes.

Hoop toss

Carol practicing the bean bag toss- or temple toss, as we called it.

Most of the gym set-up.

Marble Madness. Handmade by Marlan's dad.

Some pictures from that night.

Tamarin and her friend, Carli (both coming into YW this year) beneath the second bunting. Letters courtesy of Tess, again.

Nicolina. Our beautiful Laurel who LEADS!

Me, in my natural habitat among the balloons.

So, there you have it. That activity took a long time to plan! It was so worth it and when I do my second instalment, there will be pictures taken of the games and everything. Oh, and here is a little last minute treat, brought to you by the Helium industry.