Busy, busy, busy....

Once again, I have been a little bit flakey about the whole blog thing. Computer time is kind of at the low end of my priority list, so at the end of the day it is the one thing that I usually haven't found time for. It seems like the last couple of months have flown by. We have been out of town a lot. Ryan bought us season tickets for the BYU home games this year, so we have been to Utah quite a bit. Saturday is the last game. I didn't realize how addictive this can become. I honestly love it. So much better than watching it at home on TV (although I don't mind that either).

We have been to Washington twice since September. In July, Ryan's parents moved to the tri-city area and at the end of September his grandpa (who lived in Vancouver) passed away so we travelled to Kennewick for the funeral. Ryan, along with his sister and several cousins spoke at the funeral, and they all did such a great job. It was exactly the right balance of spiritual and fond memories of a great life.

Then we travelled there again at the end of October for Halloween. We had a really good time. We went to Disney on Ice which was fabulous! I would definitely pay good money to see that again...my kids loved it! Meg was absolutely beside herself when Tinkerbell made her appearance...she would cheer and throw her hands up in the air. So funny. We went on a tour of the farm where Ryan's dad works. Unbelievable. I have never seen so many cows. Seriously...it was mind boggling. The area where they kept the baby calves went on forever. We would like to go on another tour when we have more time. We didn't get to see everything that we wanted to. After we left there, we drove to Hood River to meet my brother, Garon, and my sister-in-law, Kati. They drove from Salem to meet us for dinner. We chatted with them for a couple of hours and it was fun and so nice to see them again so soon! On Halloween, Ryan's mom threw a fabulous party with lots of yummy and scary food. We took the kids to a trunk or treat and did a little neighborhood trick-or-treating. Waaaay to much candy. It was a fun trip, and our kids are getting to be really good travellers. I'm so thankful to be alive when we have so many modern conveniences. I don't know how we would survive without DVD players in the car. Here are a few pictures from our trip. I am a little disappointed that I didn't get better pictures of my kids, but Zach had been sick before we left and I think all of the travelling was hard on him. He was a grouch and wouldn't really cooperate.

This is actually before our trip. I took the kids to my parent's house so they could see their costumes.

Any guesses where we had lunch one day?

Group photo at Chuck E. Cheese's.

Disney on Ice!

Here we are in Hood River. More pizza!

I wish I had a better Halloween picture of Meg. She was Pinkalicious (if you haven't read the book it is about a little girl who eats too many pink cupcakes and turns pink...it's a really fun story and one of Meg's favorites). I made her a really cute tutu and this is the only picture I have of her in it.

Remember how I said Zach was being a grouch? Have you ever seen such a sad face? Zach was dressed as Ben Ten, Rece was Harry Potter, and Meg was Pinkalicious. This picture was taken right before we left to go trick or treating.

Cookies Anyone?

Zach actually wanted to help me make cookies today. Usually, when I ask if he wants to help me, he says "No, I'll just eat them." He didn't want to just help, he wanted to do everything. So I let him. The most exciting part was when I added the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and he turned the mixer to high. We had flour and cocoa powder everywhere. He thought it was hilarious.

He did a great job! Thanks Zach!

Cougar Football...

Ryan and I went to the first home game of the season, and it was a lot of fun! Yes, they lost, but it was still way fun! One thing that kind of surprised me (I don't know why)...BYU fans are poor sports. By the beginning of the last quarter, close to half of the stadium was empty. I mean c'mon if you're going to support a team that means taking the losses too. Right? Anyway, we stayed until the bitter end...and it was bitter. Ryan was very disappointed. He loves BYU football. Apparently, this was their first loss at home since 2005. Ryan told me I couldn't go anymore because I must be bad luck, so he's taking Rece next week. Nice huh? Actually, Rece just likes to go, and we promised him he could go to at least one of the games. So fun! I can't wait to go again!

Monday Morning Meg

This is where we typically find Megyn...sitting on the top stair with all of her things neatly arranged around her. She likes to sit there and read a book to her dolls. Sweet!

Labor Day Weekend

We had a busy Labor Day weekend. All of Ryan's family was here for our niece, Lauren's, baptism.

She is so cute!

Grandma & Grandpa Jensen, Lauren & Meg

Meg and her handsome daddy.

On Monday, we went to Cress Creek again for our second annual Labor Day hike. I would love any suggestions for other fun places to hike that are little kid friendly.

Cousins.

My kids were not in the mood to pose for pictures.

We took a stroller for Meg, but she walked almost the entire way!

With Aunt Jill.

With Grandma & Grandpa Jensen.

Who is this handsome guy?

Just the girls. I had one with the guys too, but for some reason I couldn't get it to load on here.

Zach took this picture. I think he did pretty good! What a fun weekend! Thank you Jensens and Dicksons!

This is it!

I just had to post a few last summer pictures.

Rece's first fish! I can't believe I didn't post this earlier. When Garon comes home, they have to go fishing. Rece is the only one who caught a fish this day (not bragging).

This is the 4th of July party at my parent's house. Meg with my dad. Something funny to add: she has started calling my dad by his first name.

This is how Ryan tortures our children.

They love it.

Just because I love this picture.

I got wet. He is such a brat.

Swinging!

Ryan and Rece played a lot of catch this summer.

We all slept out on the tramp one last time. I will admit, I didn't make it through the night. I went in at about 12:30 and slept really well thank you very much! The kids loved it! Goodbye summer! We will miss you!

La-La-Lagoon!

About a week before school started we went to Utah to go school shopping and take the kids to Lagoon. We had so much fun. My sister-in-law Jill met us at Lagoon, and we spent the whole day there. It was nice because Megyn was old enough to go on all of the kiddie rides, and Rece was tall enough to go on the big rides. He was absolutely fearless. He rode everything over and over again! Ryan was happy, because there are a lot of the rides that I don't have the stomach for anymore, so he always had someone to ride with. Again...lots of pictures! There probably would have been more, but the batteries in my lousy camera died.

Megyn is waving at me!

Does he look scared?

Waiting to go on one of the "big" rides.

This one was actually one of my favorite rides. I like the rides where you get wet. Fun!

I wish the clarity on my camera was better. I love their faces!

Still waving!

This isn't a very good picture, but we were all laughing at the size of this corn dog. Zach was in hot dog heaven! He ate the whole thing!

This is the special treat we got when it was time to leave. Zach didn't want to. We had to keep in mind that it was waaaayyyy past his bedtime, and he had no nap that day. We decided to make this our annual trip. Such a fun time (crying kid included)!