November in a nutshell

We went to the Arizona Science Center.  The boys loved donning real lab coats, goggles and gloves to dig bone marrow out of cow bones…

Those lab coats were not designed for maternity wear.

 

About this time we decided our phone cameras take the crappiest pictures ever.

Case in point:

 

I finished sewing my new pillows!

They normally look like this:

 

We discovered that Boston makes the most adorable and charming Superman:

I mean, really.

He also makes a hilarious clown.

And a precious cowboy.  He rode a pony for the first time at the Fall Festival at Stephen’s school.

Stephen also enjoyed his first pony ride.

But really he is more of a pilgrim type.  He loves his new neon blue and orange shoes. 

I got to feed him dinner one night since he wouldn’t eat it otherwise…don’t we look absolutely thrilled??  Tinfoil dinner with chicken, potatoes, and carrots.  I am so mean.

 

Here is the “bad crib” I found on Craigslist.  I could go into the nasty details about it but we will suffice it to say that it was an epic Craigslist fail.  I had buyer’s remorse before we even had it loaded in the van.  Why did I get it?  I DON’T KNOW!!!  I cried for a few days about it.

 

Then two or three days after the “bad crib purchase” I got a phone call from Babies-R-Us saying that I had won a free crib and $100 gift card.  Say what?  Since I didn’t recall entering any contests was skeptical at first but after a little phone call to verify that I hadn’t been hoaxed we rushed over and picked up our lovely new prize!  Isn’t she beautiful?  Just goes to show that even when I make dumb mistakes, Heavenly Father still loves me.

 

Even with my bad use of precious money this month this lovely husband of mine never offered one critical word about it.  He is a keeper. 

October and the Halloween Fascination

“Mommy, take my picture!”

 

I love this haircut.  Wow, he needs a haircut NOW!

 

How does this boy get so dirty??

We went to the Hot Air Balloon Festival in Scottsdale again this year.  Stephen dressed up like a scientist.  (A chemical engineer, inspired by Uncle Stephen).  And Boston was a glow-in-the-dark skeleton.

 

Check out the ID badge I made for Stephen…I love it!  We had to make sure to call Stephen “Dr. Smith” the whole time he was wearing this costume.

We made a bad call at the festival and dragged the boys along a “haunted trail.”  A high school choir dresses up in scary costumes and pops out as you walk along.  They do it as a fund raiser.  Last year we went through the same “haunted trail” and the boys were fine but we got to ride in golf carts that time.  This time we had to walk the whole way and it was a little too intense for the boys…

Even after much explanation that “those bad guys” were not coming to our house and that they were just high school kids dressed in costumes, Boston had to sleep with Daddy’s baseball bat.

 

Pumpkin carving.  Daddy carved the big one and Stephen and Boston got to design their own with markers.

Hmmm…. slight resemblance?

Stephen was the only one willing to dig out the guts.  Boston wanted nothing to do with it.

Scary Jack

 

Halloween night means trick-or-treating with the Canters in Grandma and Grandpa Smith’s neighborhood (which also happens to be our ward!)  It was at this point that we decided a new camera was a must!!!!  Horrible pictures…

 

 

We loved watching Boston walk in the dark – his cute little “bones” were all you could see and it was so funny to watch them walking along!

I am really glad Halloween is over.  It was getting really old to have Stephen freak out about every Halloween decoration in every store and having to calm the boys down each night to get them to go to sleep.  Is it just me or is Halloween way more intense now that when I was a kid?  I don’t ever remember being that scared during the month of October.

Chery and Stephen’s Wedding!

The two weeks leading up to the wedding were very intense for my mom and I.  We were working out all the details for the reception and it was a bit overwhelming at times.  I can’t begin to guess how many movies I let my boys watch during this time! 

Here is one fun project we did:

Before:

During:

Aaand after:

Gorgeous photography, courtesy of my talented sister Celsea!

Another project was this ribbon backdrop.  We stapled all this ribbon to a board to be suspended between two trees in the backyard.  Since it was 16 feet long there was no good place to store it except on top of the entertainment center at my parent’s house.  He he.  Makes me laugh to see it up there like that.

 

 

Chery and Stephen had their photos taken the night before the wedding.  Here is Stephen’s reaction to seeing Chery all put together in all her glory as a a bride.

 

I feel certain he approved.    I am sad I didn’t catch it with my camera but there was also an adorable little eyebrow lift from Stephen in the very first moment he saw her. 

 

This is what the sky looked like as they were having their photos taken at the temple.  There is no editing in this picture. There was a big storm rolling in and it was so windy! It rained later that night which nearly gave us a panic attack since the reception was to be outside.

It cleared up by morning and was a beautiful, perfect day for a wedding.  I stole all of the following pictures from Celsea…they are way better than mine!

 

Can’t help but smile when you see a newly wedded couple, eh?

Stephen, still looking manly and exceeding happy while holding Chery’s bouquet.

 

Janna, Chery, and Emily.

 

Cute Stephen Steele.

 

My whole family. 

 

Celsea got her braces off the day before the wedding!!! My sisters are such gorgeous girls!

Seriously.

 

The sign in table…

 

These weddings are exhausting.  At least someone had a nap.

 

Here is a peek at what the yard looked like.  It really doesn’t do it justice since when the sun went down we turned on the strings of globe lights and it was so romantic!  (Think Italian bistro).

We had sooooooo much help from Chery’s wonderful friends.  I love them.  I will forever be grateful to them for their work.  We literally could not have done it without them!

 

After this point in the evening it became too hectic for me or Celsea to take any more pictures…there was a professional photographer there so hopefully we will see those photos some time soon!

It was a beautiful day!