Melissa's Bridal Shower Games

We had fun at the shower watching the guests play the games, I just hope they did too. What do you think? This is Kaley, Lindsey (they rode up with me from Utah), Sara, and Rocio and of course the honored guest herself, Melissa playing the picture melissa on her wedding day game.  They had to draw Melissa as she would be on her wedding day with as much detail: hair, groom, dress, etc with a paper on your head.
Then Melissa got to be the judge. Lindsey's drawing was deemed worthy of the award. I think hers was the bottom purple.
The next game was another imagined event although this time Melissa is to have been on her honeymoon in Nauvoo and the power has gone out and she is trying to get dressed in the dark, hence the blindfold. We put together some items she might encounter in her bag. Wool socks, boxers, boots, scarf, gloves, hat, bra (we had to make it believable.) and she had to try to put them on.  
Here is the result of her efforts.
And this is her reaction to seeing herself in the mirror. We went for the full length option. 

We also played the question game to see how well Melissa knows Chris. She earned chocolate kiss for each right answer and usually a big piece of gum for the wrong ones. Chris informed me that Melissa was getting some dental work done earlier in the week and thought the gum would be cruel so we just rewarded the right answers. Melissa did amazing and only got the answers wrong because Chris gave me the wrong answers to begin with. 

We also played the famous guess how many skittles are in the jar. Rocio amazed us all and guessed the number with only 2 off 564. 

We finished up with ice cream and peach upside down cake. Yum! Hope you had fun Melissa.

Chris and Melissa come for conference!

Chris and Melissa came down for conference in April and took the kids out to stretch their legs between the sessions on Saturday! I don't really need to mention that they had a blast, but they did. Chris is teaching Zach to embrace his love of beening a mountain goat and Zach is latching on with both hooves. He even started growing horns.
Hang on Zach!
Meanwhile the girls are relaxing and playing with the dog. Melissa is so great with the kids and Kirsten is eating up the attention. Thanks for the breather Chris and Melissa!

Horses and kids

After Kirsten's parent teacher conference we went back out to the van. However, the horses drew the kids away from the car and to the fence next to the school grounds.
This is cookie the horse with one blue and one brown eye. She seemed pretty even tempered as she let the kids stick their fingers through the fence and give her a love. The view of the mountains is beautiful! I forget we live in such a spectacular place!

Zachary's creations!

Zach loves to create with just about anything, from connects,to legos and even magnets. Here he is with his pyramid.
He had to build it again with dad watching and of course Caleb's attempt at helping.
This is his big lego robot, which we had to take a picture of in order to use the legos for more building. It was sitting on the shelf in the spare bedroom for quite a while.
This is his little lego tower. He does really well with making the color and shape symmetrical.  

"Look Mom No Training Wheel"

On Friday, October 17,2008 Kirsten tried once again and succeeded to ride her bike unassisted by me or training wheels. Hurray Kirsten! We knew you could do it and now so do you.
Zach, wanting to be like his sister, tried to ride solo too, but still needs some more practice. Maybe next time.
Caleb had fun observing. At one point he too had to have a helmet on, but watched from his stroller. 
Both kids insisted that it was easier to ride in the street, which it is. However, this goes against all of my mommy rules to play in the street. Oh, well, I guess you have to let them grow up eventually.

It's Pumpkin time!

The kids have been bugging us to go get pumpkins, so we finally relented last week and went to the pumpkin patch by our home. The kids had fun making a trek across the field in search of the perfect pumpkin.
And here are the lucky pumpkins that were chosen for the job! The hay stacks behind were made into a maze that the kids could try to forge through or climb on as was the case.

Kirsten's 2nd grade habitat exhibit

Kirsten and her 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Anderson are posing in front of her gorilla exhibit. The kids all chose an animal to research using the internet and library books. Then they drew a background for their animal to be displayed. We all went to see her hard work. Caleb liked the set up exhibits, until he remembered that there were real turtle and fish exhibits in the back of the room. 

Hammers, Nails, and fire trucks..Oh my!

We decided to weather the rain and go to Home depots activity and weren't disappointed. We build these cool firetrucks with the top siren lights used as a whistle. The kids also got to practice "stop, drop, and roll," and explore a  real fire truck. Caleb was speechless.

Bridal veil Falls stroll continued

The kids had a great time on the trail to bridal veil falls. They climbed on the trees and tried to get as close to the river as they could.
Ethan enjoyed the stroll. He mostly slept in the quiet and peacefulness of the trail.
Kirsten and Zach Had fun running ahead on the trail. All power to ya. Get all your energy out now and hopefully crash later.

Bridal Veil Falls stroll

While corinne was visiting in September we took a hike... I mean a walk up to bridal veil falls. We weren't disappointed with how beautiful it was and the weather wasn't bad either.

We stopped at the bottom of the falls and then walked across the water on rocks to get a closer look at the falls. I think it was only Zach who missed a rock and got his shoe in the water.

Visitors!

We love visitors at the stitt house! Corinne came for a couple of days on her way to St. George for a Cook girls retreat which happened to be on my birthday. I'm so lucky. We all drooled over Ethan. He is so cute.

MJ surprised us by strolling through the garage and through the kitchen door without us being aware he was even in town. Now that was a great surprise. The kids had a quick visit with him before he had to leave. Caleb even warmed up to the MJ charm!

31 and still kicking!

It's true I had another birthday and am now 31 years old. We celebrated with family and a Chocolate pie. Nathan decided that it would be easier for all involved if we just but 3 and 1 candles. Do you get it... for the 10's place and 1's column. Creative huh? Anyway the pie was delicious if I do say so myself. No, I didn't bake it, I can buy for my birthday rather than bake it myself...I am getting too old you know. Aubrey, camille, and Corinne came to celebrate. I love my sisters! Here's to another year...Cheers! 

Presents: It is a tradition to get chocolate from the kids. This year I got a box of Turtles and a big bag of peanut butter M&M's yum!

Friends Fun!

Caleb and Hailey Larsen were having a play date. They are both so cute and get along like any 2 year olds. RULES of 2 year olds: If I touched it once it's mine, if I lay it down and walk away it is still mine, If I am playing with something else the previous toy is still mine and if you break my rules I'll scream LOUDLY.  Really they did fine with a few minor encounters with the above rules. Why do we all including babies want to play being bigger? If we only knew being bigger isn't always more fun!

You go Hailey, Pop a wheely!

" I can ride the bus too."

Whenever the boys and I get ready to take Zach to his bus stop caleb insists on putting on his "batpat" too. So we had them do a little pose. Aren't they cute. Caleb can't idolize his brother more.

The bus driver saw how much caleb wanted to ride as he sprinted toward the bus with me in hot pursuit. The bus driver let Caleb ride the bus with Zach around the corner by the church while I raced down the street to meet them on the opposite corner. He was in heaven and in awe that he rode the big yellow bus.