How to finish the course...

I have fought a good fight,

I have finished my course,

I have kept the faith.

 

Relating our path in life to a track race...

 

 

Happy Halloween from Parker...

Fall in B-town...

This year's Fall is beautiful, as always!

It is going by to quickly, before we know it, the ground will be covered in snow.

I can usually get the kids to go outside on a walk with me if I tell them it is an

Adventure walk.

If Parker knows it is an adventure walk he has his grab bag for collectibles on the walk and his binoculars ready to scope.

One afternoon we set out on our adventure walk,

the kids collected all different colors of leaves, and berries

Rocks, branches, pine cones, acorns and a few bugs.

The colors of all the trees and plants were amazing, but changing quickly...

Halloween weekend!!!

I'm so giddy for this weekend!!!

So many spooky, exciting things happening...

 party after party after party, haunted houses, ghost tours

We've had a great kick off for the Halloween festivities with carnivals, school parties, trunk or treats, friend parties, church parties and more...

So here's to a Fantastically haunting Halloween weekend from the cutest little Frankenstein...

Happy Halloween!!!

Good find...

Another amazing cousin in the fam...

 Check out Aaron's cousin Preston

Came across this little group on a friends blog

and there is something about them that kind of catches you and intrigues you at the same time...

Pumpkin heads...

We hit the jack pot this year with pumpkins.

A few from our garden

A few from Papa's garden

And a few from the family party...

RSL...

 We had the chance to go to another RSL game with Parker's soccer team.

Their team got to walk out on the field, but Parker decided not to this time.

I think he likes going to the games, because of all the snacks he gets...

Popcorn, pretzels, cotton candy and snow cones...

GO RSL!!!

Baby Ethan...

Congrats to my cousin Jeff and his sweet wife Katelyn

on their newest addition.

There is just something so precious about a newborn baby...

You just can't get enough of them...

 Macey really liked to hold baby Ethan, I think she would have taken him home if she could have, she was a little upset I wouldn't let her walk around with him and squeeze him tight. But she loved holding him!

Tigers...

Most of the time when we hit up the zoo

all the animals are pretty somber.

But this time they were all pretty active and full of life,

they must have been enjoying the cooler Fall weather

The tigers were amazing to watch, getting in the water and playing...

It was a fun outing with all the Luke cousins...

My brother posted this, and we thought it was funny.

Maybe it seemed so funny because when Aaron would laugh he would cry 

It hurts to laugh

Too mature...

Aaron has a wonderful family that does wonderful things,

I am grateful to be a part of this family.

His cousins are very talented people, they all have the best cooking blogs, creating blogs and inspirational blogs.

I really admire one of his younger cousins, who is off to college playing soccer 

I am always impressed by the way she writes.

She posted this today... 

why do we close our eyes when we pray? when we cry? when we kiss? when we dream? because we know the most beautiful things in life are not seen, but felt by heart.

I'm pretty sure my first year of college I was not this mature at all, I'm still not.

One of my favorite posts from her on her blog...

For a Reason.

I was put in the same first grade class at Brookside Elementary as a girl named Lexi Eaton.
My parents decided to name my little sister "Tessa"
I broke my foot tripping up steps two days before state soccer semis my junior year.
I was born with a hole in my heart. literally.
I had a feeling to put my seatbelt on halfway through the drive home that afternoon driving back from Caitlynne's house last summer.
I have about a million freckles.
My parents were in the same singles ward.
I tripped over a hurdle in the 4A state championship 300 hurdle finals last year.
Springville girls took state in track a few months ago against all odds.
I have a little sister, not an older one.
A friend sent an "I love you girl" text to me the other day out of the blue, right as I was sitting alone in my dorm crying.
I decided to facebook chat my friend Brandon one summer evening just because.
Heavenly Father put me in the family he did.
My best friends and brother all went to BYU, yet here I am at USU.


...


That girl Lexi became my best friend.
My parents later found out that "Tessa" translates to "fourth born." she's the fourth child in our family.
By having to watch from the sidelines, I became stronger.
The hole could've been one of many serious life long complications, but instead grew in completely.
We got in an accident shortly after I put my seatbelt on.
I've learned to love my imperfections.
My parents fell in love.
I still have the scars and am reminded every day of what i've overcome; of what I can overcome.
We won by 1.5 points.
Tessa needs me to be her role model.
I smiled.
Brandon got in a car accident the next day, and died a few days later. that was the last time I ever talked to him.
I am deeply loved.
I'm seeing reasons I'm meant to be here where I am every single day... and they keep coming.


Coincidences you may say.


NO Coincidences.

 

Good luck Brooke

Cut in the gut...

Yesterday the hubs went in for a little cut in the gut...

Before he went under he asked me to record him when he woke up

to see how funny he was.

Well I planned on it, but when he woke up, he was funny, freakin' hilarious

just a little inappropriate,hahahaha

So a little to inappropriate to post on here.

 

He was also very sweet though

My favorite was when his eyes were closed and he was petting my face, he said even though I'm blind I can feel you are beautiful! (He's not blind by the way, he just thought he was cause his eyes were closed)

Aaron also really liked his nurse Angela, he would ask for her, and as we were leaving he asked Angela if she thought his shoes were pimp.

We made it home now, and he is doing OK. Super nausea's and sick and in lots of pain, but other than that he is good. The doc said he could be back to golf in 3 weeks, which he is pretty excited about...

Team Lightning...

This years soccer team is...

TEAM LIGHTNING!!!

They are all awesome, amazing kids!

It has been fun to watch them learn and grow.

The first few games and practices, were a little bit challenging

Most of the kids were pretty timid, and during the games  they were usually sitting on the ground picking grass and flowers or holding my hand,

but oh how things changed

The last few games and practices, these kids were animals

Aggressive, always going after the ball, not giving up, scoring goals, winning.

This was an amazing season to watch these kids learn the game and enjoy it!

GO TEAM LIGHTNING!!!

Pumpkin Patch...

 We had an adventure with a few of Parker's preschool pals at the pumpkin patch...

The kids ventured through the maze

wandered through the pumpkin patch

It was a fun afternoon with friends...

Loose...

I've always had a problem remembering how to spell the difference between loose and lose

And so to remember the extra o in loose I always rhyme it with goose.

But talking about LOOSE

Ms. Macey Mae had an adventure...

Yesterday baby girl was playing like usual, and climbing over and on top of everything like her brother

Well Macey was trying to climb on to the filing cabinet next to the desk so she could be on the desk like Parker. She had her cute little bunny footy pajamas on and started the trek to climb, she decided to use daddy's motorcycle helmet to climb on top of.

The mix between the footy pajamas and the slippery helmet ended in her hitting her mouth

OUCH!!!

Blood started coming out of her mouth so I was checking for a cut, nothing

She kept crying and more blood was coming

So I did a more thorough check to find that her

bottom teeth had been hit and were hanging out.

I could see the root of the tooth and the pocket where it had popped out.

Parker was such a big helper, he put his shoes on and buckled himself right up in the car and then the whole way to the dentist he sang songs to Macey to help calm her down.

Once we got to the dentist office they were all ready for us and took her right back.

She was a tough cookie, she sat super still while they took x-rays of her mouth 

And the dentist came in and just pushed the roots of her teeth back into the pockets of her gums and bonded the 3 teeth together, the whole time Macey didn't even fidget or cry.

The dentist said in all his years he has never had someone not cry while he was pushing teeth back in.

So now the waiting game is to see if the baby teeth will reattach or if they will turn gray and die.

Poor thing though, she can't eat much, as of now she is on a liquid diet till her teeth are more stable and not as tender.

Ms. Rae...

Oh how I love this girl!

She is the cutest!

She has the funnest, kindest and sweetest personality

I remember the day she was born, I took her older sister to visit her at the hospital

And right away she melted my heart, I knew after holding her in my arms I was so excited to be a mommy and have a little baby girl just like her.

Happy Birthday!

Parker and Macey think you are the greatest cousin ever

And we think you are the sweetest niece!

We love you!

Spur of the moment...

The night we bought our car was a spur of the moment,

(I always thought it was spurt not spur till about 4 years ago)

We had been looking for a new car for a few months 

but never found the right one for the right deal

.And then BAM! Right car for the right price...

The crazy part about buying our car was our kids.

Yes, we took our kids with us at 8pm, who does that? US!

Well once we really decided to get the car,  and finagle the price down to the lowest

the paper work began and that is when trouble started

All of a sudden Parker disappeared, and Parker is not the kind of kid to leave with anyone or go off on his own, 

so panic sunk in, we were looking everywhere

15 minutes later we found him, he had ran outside to the car, he had turned his back and thought we had left him. Poor guy

After that we still continued on with buying a car, I don't know what we were thinking

Now it is almost 10pm, way past the kids bedtimes

So to keep the kids partially still and busy we kept giving them candy,

Well all of a sudden Macey starts choking on the candy, so I start pounding her back and after a minute she pukes up the candy all over the sales-mans desk.

And then after that we left to go home in our new car.

What and adventure!

Weekend parties...

I use to not really like Fall because that meant summer was over

I really didn't like Halloween too much

But oh how things have changed...

Now I love Fall

and 

I really love Halloween...

We hit up party after party after party this past weekend

and each party was a blast!!!

First party had a candy blaster, I don't know how things could get much better than that...

Parker and Macey at the donut station...

Next was the cousin party; bounce houses, cake walk, candy galore and prizes...

Parker the pirate with his cotton candy!!!

 Then last but not least the family party with the whole family to welcome Grandma and Grandpa Great back home from there mission and then send them back off.

The kids were so tuckered out from all the parties, they passes out in the car still with suckers in their mouths...

I think we have this Halloween Party stuff down, we are ready for some more...

Life Is Precious...

 

This is why I love him...

Aaron can always make me smile or make me laugh

Even when he is gone all week and I miss him terribly

Instead of leaving me a mushy love voicemail

He leaves me messages like this...

In 6th grade I did a report on Kenya and I thought I was so clever 

Kenya by Kenna

So he still makes fun of me for it.

But that's why I love him...

And just like that we have snow...

First week of October and it snows in Utah!

 Macey isn't quite sure about this whole snow thing, but she does like her boots!

I really don't mind snow in October, November or even December 

It bugs me when we still have snow in May

So hopefully we will have a regular winter and nice spring

Wrong! Ya-right!

Well we will enjoy it anyways

Parker loves the cold snowy weather, he had 3 cups of hot cocoa today!

It's coming...

I have a love- hate relationship with this weather.

I love all the holidays that are approaching,

but dreading the cold

Just in 4 days it has dropped 40 degrees.

BRRRRR

Yesterday I stayed in my warm fuzzy robe all day, and I plan on doing the same thing today, except for the  5 minutes where I walk Parker to school, I might put pants on, just maybe.

Last night I let Parker stay up late with me, while Aaron was out of town with work

We sat on the couch cuddled under the blanket sipping on our root beer floats watching a Halloween movie, he squirmed, jumped and wiggled at every little scary part!

The kids are already excited for Halloween, 

they go out to the neighbors and practice trick-or-treating

If they keep this up, I won't have to buy any candy- ha ha

True love...

I hope Aaron and I are this in love when we are 70

And we make cute little comments like that to each other.

My favorite is when he asks her to drop her dress a little bit, hahahaha!

Thanks for the great laugh Ms. Catie

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!
Parker just couldn't get enough of these jib jab videos
This is his favorite...

This is how we do Halloween...

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

A girl and her corn dog...

 Macey has a new found love for hot dogs and corn dogs

When she hears the hot dog song on Mickey mouse she gets excited because she thinks she is getting a hot dog

Sometimes it is hard to part her and her hot dog

 Don't expect her to share either