It'sa Us The Mario Family

The only picture I got of Rushmore with the mustache on. So glad we took it when we did.
Larke wanted to be a kitty cat for Preschool.
Halloween was fun this year. We debated about whether to do the chipmunks and chipettes or Mario. Mario seemed more feasible so that is what we did. I was Waluigi, Matt was Wario, Gideon was Mario, Eden was Princess Peach, Larke was Princess Daisy and Rushmore was Baby Luigi. It is one of our favorite family traditions to dress up as a family for Halloween. I don't know if anything can beat the turtles of last year, but Mario was awesome too. I learned that wearing a fake mustache is itchy and sweaty. It took some time to talk Larke into the wig, but once she got over it she thought it was pretty fun. Making hats is harder than sewing overalls, just in case you were wondering. If you have any suggestions for next year let me know.

Signs of Love

These are the signs the kids made for us at the airport. They worked really hard on them and I wanted to be able to remember how much they love us and how excited they were to see us.

Orlando

In early October Matt and I got to go on our last Scitor trip as far as we know. We spent an extra 4 days together. It was an awesome get away just because we were together. It was so nice just to have each other to please. We were reminded again that we do really like each other and that we are the most important people in each other's lives.

The Tree of Life at the Animal Kingdom. This tree is huge and covered with carvings of different animals. We were awestruck.
It was pouring buckets the day we went to Universal Studios. We thought this picture would be so ironic.
I thought standing in a coke bottle would be a good photo op. I was shocked when it actually started spraying water on me. I didn't need to get any more wet that day.
This is Rickshaw Falls at Universal's Islands of Adventure. So fun!
Our favorite roller coaster of the Trip. The Hulk! It was a crazy ride.
Hogwarts

Hogsmeade
Gotta have a Spidey picture!
Me with my favorite X-Man, Rogue.
Cyclops was the most fun. He was just a funny guy. We told him that he was better than Wolverine and he couldn't wait to tell Wolverine about it.
Indiana Jones Stunt Show

Our last 2 days at the parks were the best. Our favorite park was Universal's Islands of Adventure. Totally worth a stop if you are going to Orlando. Awesome roller coasters, Hogwarts, Super Heroes galore and tons of fun. The last day we went to Disney's Hollywood Studios. The stunt shows were awesome. We did the Star Tours ride 3 times. Oh and we ran into our old babysitter Brandi at the Beauty and the Beast show. She was there with the husband on their honeymoon. It was very unexpected and fun to see them.

It was nice to know that our kids were so well taken care of. It was nice to know they missed us and that they were happy to have us home. Jessica brought them into the airport to meet us. They made us welcome home signs. They jumped up and down when they saw us and rained us with hugs and kisses. It was such a nice way to come home.

Trampoline Nap

This is I believe the 2nd time we have found Rush asleep on the Trampoline! He just loves jumping on it and apparently wearing himself out so much he can just plop right down and sleep. So cute!

Dear Larke

How could anyone not love you? You are such a sweetheart. You are still my snugly little girl. If you are not sitting on my lap, you are often sitting right next to me. Just like you are right now as I write this post, with your head leaning on my arm. Please remember your promise to not grow anymore. Please always stay my little girl, with your you sweet smile and contagious laugh. You still love your ducky and go get it every time we get home. Rushmore loves to take your toys and hit your head and pull your hair and you often just take it until I can come and rescue you. You love to play Starfall on the computer and love playing with your toys. You do not like writing, but we are working on it. You are very smart though. I often hear you sing songs very quietly. You surprise me sometimes when you tell me a story or just talk to me about what you are thinking about. You have just always been quieter than Eden and Gideon. The older you get though the more communicative you have gotten. You can still get shy especially with people outside the family.
You love your siblings. You love to do what they are doing. You love when they involve you. I have been laughing at you and Eden lately because you have created your own language and talk to each other in that language. You often ask Eden how to say different things in your secret language. You love jumping on the trampoline with Gideon especially. You also wrestle with Gideon which I always think is so funny. You sitting on him. Thank you for being so patient with Rushmore. Thank you for sharing with him and playing with him. Someday he will be a good friend to you too. Every once in a while he will find your ducky and bring it to you. You do have some good times together.


I just found out that you like Belle. You said one day that she was your favorite because she has a yellow dress. I enjoyed putting that into your Birthday. Thanks to Grandma Jones you get to have a Belle dress to play in all your own.

You guys were all so funny about the cake. Gideon saw the undressed barbie sticking out of the cake and said "Mom, are you sure that is very appropriate?" It was so funny because it wasn't appropriate and because he thought I would leave it like that. You were so concerned about what I was doing with your new barbie. You wanted to know if you were going to get it back and I had to explain several times what I was doing. I think you were happy with the result.
I love you my Larke girl. I miss you being my baby, but I love how you are now too. I know I will still love you and even more as you get older. I just don't know if I will ever stop missing having you as my little girl. You are a bright light in my day and I am so grateful for you.

Love You Always--

Mom

Preschool

Larke started Preschool a week ago. She is having a great time and enjoying making some new friends. She has been a little confused as to why she hasn't gone to Kindergarden since she just turned 5, but she has a late birthday. I explained to her and she seems happy now. I really love the group I am doing it with. I get to have my 1st time teaching them next week and I am looking forward to it. I love this age. Kids are so interested in the world around them. Every time I take Larke to Preschool Rushmore needs a backpack too. He wears it the whole time til we pick her up again. It is pretty funny.

Peanuts

So Matt wanted to go to the opening of a new location of his favorite comic store around here. I was a little less then thrilled to go and almost left a couple minutes after we got there to take the girls grocery shopping. Everything was 50% off for the opening day and Matt was hoping to find a couple of specific things. We came across these peanuts figures in their Halloween costumes. At this store they were normally $52.00 but were on sale for $26.00. We watch the Great Pumpkin every year at Halloween time. I decided I really wanted to have them for decoration and so we got them. On the back of the box it shows a Snoopy house that goes with that make spooky noises that I thought would be a good addition. So when we got home we looked it up on e-bay. We found that we got a very good deal. Someone was selling the set for $100.00 and to get just the Snoopy house was $40.00. All this to say I am even more satisfied with my purchase, I do not need a Snoopy house and I look forward to years of Halloween and getting to put up our Peanut figurines.

Finally Caught Up

It was the 1st day of 1st grade for Eden and the 1st day of 3rd Grade for Gideon. Gideon is such a good big brother. He takes his responsibility of getting Eden to class very seriously. He is still young enough or good enough that holding his little sister's hand doesn't embarrass him. Eden still looks up to him, just as she has from the day she was born. Listening to Gideon ask Eden several times if she was excited for her 1st day and then after school, him asking her how things went. Siblings can be such a beautiful wonderful thing. They give each other something that I can not give to them. Sniff...I love these 2 ya whos. I miss having them around. School is a blessing and a curse. My younger kids seem to be without direction. They miss having the more experienced players telling them what to do, say, and think. I know pretty soon Larke and Rush will figure out that they like not always being told what to do and we will all adapt. For right now though we're still in transition.

Jones Family Fun

We did some really cool and fun things with Matt's family on our last trip for the summer. We went to Utah and enjoyed some family time playing at the pool, eating wonderful food, playing with cousins, going sailing, talking, and playing Dance Central and 5 Crowns. Some of the things we did outside the house were fun too.

We went to Temple Square and took the kids to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to see the Joseph Smith movie. We also took the kids to see the Kristus. It really is an absolutely gorgeous work of art.

We went to Thanksgiving Point to the Dinosaur museum, where the kids enjoyed swimming away from sharks, pretending to throw spears at a mammoth skeleton, uncovering skeletons in the dig area, and just plain discovering.

We also went to the gardens at Thanksgiving point where I have never been. It was stunning. The most beautiful garden was the secret garden. I can't really describe it, so if you have the chance, go see it yourself. The whole thing was just wonderful. I enjoyed taking pictures of the kids being cute.


We fed the coy fish


The Secret Garden

Rolling down the hill-ah, to be a kid


We went to see the Up house. This house building company has built it to sell and it is on the route for parade of homes. This house is adorable. There are themed girl (princess) and boy (toy story) bedrooms and a theater in the basement. There is a nursery upstairs with the same mural from the movie. They had chairs built to match those from the movie, where they sit together. My favorite room was the kitchen. I love the old fashioned looking frig and the color scheme. Like I said adorable, all of it.

All in all we had a marvelous time and thank Mom and Dad for hosting us yet again and coming up with such fun things for us to do. We miss you all and truly look forward to our next visit.