She's Here!!!

Beautiful, bright-eyed girl!

Whew!  Glad that's over!

Proud big brother

Excited sister and a brother who said "let's put her back in!"

Proud Papa

Laynee Allyson was born on November 15 at 8:09 am.  She weighed 7 pds 2 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long.  It all started the night before when we were celebrating at a birthday party.  We had just started playing games and li'l bit was especially active.  Suddenly a gush of water...."Oh no!" I thought, "did I just wet my pants?"  But no, I think baby girl was ready to be born a week early.  I went into shock and started doing dishes.  Brian and all my friends were laughing.  Thanks to wonderful friends, we were able to leave the other three kiddos in good hands and take off for the hospital.  One night of labor and an epidural later she popped right out....literally.  The doctor only had his gloves half-way on!  Needless to say, it has been a long and bumpy road to get her here but we are so thankful!  She is cute as a button with a ton of dark brown hair...and the greatest blessing in the world!

This is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween

 Cute family!!

Cheerleader

"Smarty" Pants

Turtle

All my cute Halloween kiddos!

Mom and Dad's Costumes

We got to enjoy Halloween over the course of several days this year.  Our ward had a trunk or treat on Saturday night complete with potluck soup dinner, carnival games and, of course, trunk or treat.  The kids had a lot of fun and the weather was gorgeous.  Everyone seemed to like Brian and my matching skeleton costumes...mine complete with skeleton baby and his with a Dr. Pepper and donut.  On Monday night after eating a holiday fare of mummy dogs, we headed out to trick or treat in our neighborhood.  It was impressive...some houses were giving out full-size candy bars.  We only had to hit a few streets and the kids pumpkins were full.  It was a really fun night.

Carving of the Pumpkins!!!

Ugh!  Pumpkin guts!!

I got slimed!

Yum yum!!

Brian helps draw the face

The results...two cool pumpkin faces and one cat

We always have to wait until the last minute to carve pumpkins in this climate.  If we do them too early it's mold central!  The kids always love scooping out the guts and designing their pumpkin faces.  You will not see any pictures of me because my stomach looks like one of said pumpkins and does not like to be photographed.  My family wanted to use my belly like they use Charlie Brown's head to design their pumpkin faces but I declined.

Visit to the Corn Maze

Wagon ride out to the maze

Kids lost in the maze

Two sweet things!

A corny pose....

Colton enjoys the corn slide

Swinging on the rope

Riding in the cow train

Cute Megan

The boys enjoying the jumping pillow

Megan and Parker on the see saw

End of the trip....Colton and his friend worn out....this just says it all.....

Ride 'em kiddos!!

Saturday we were able to take a fun family trip to St. George to the Staheli Family Farm.  The kids really enjoyed all the activities including, swings, trampoline, ropes, corn slide, cow train, horseback riding and getting lost in the maze.  It was a lot of fun to spend time outdoors in the gorgeous fall weather as a family.

Fun at the YMCA

Brian playing with his jazz band

Cute Megan

Megan dancing with the high school dance team

This past Saturday, Brian's Jazz Band from Legacy High school was asked to play for the grand opening of a new YMCA in our area.  Megan was also asked to dance with the High School dance team.  Both did a great job and Megan kept right up with all the other girls!!

Labor Day Fun

Kids enjoying the E-vil petting zoo

Looks like just the right place for this bunch!

Megan and her animal friend

Getting into the spirit of the wild west

A deer and a dear

Waiting at the train station

Colton's favorite

Two cute redheads

We had a really fun labor day weekend.  Grandma Bird was able to come visit and we did a lot of fun things together.  Saturday we visited Bonnie Springs Wild West town and petting zoo.  The kids loved all the animals and Colton loved the train.  We also had a yummy BBQ and went bowling.

First Day of School

Our second grader

First day excitement

Our Fifth grader

Our preschooler...what mischeivious grin...poor teacher!

The kids were all excited to get back into school this year.  I can't believe we have a 5th grader!  The first day was a success.  Everyone loved their teachers and Colton was excited about his class pet turtle "Spaz".