Thanksgiving in Rexburg

We went to Rexburg for Thanksgiving with the Holloway clan. We spent Thanksgiving day at my mom and dad's church. It was so much fun. There was a fun blowup jump toy, popcorn machine, cotton candy maching, volleyball, basketball, lots of food, and tons of talking. It was great. Jumping Fun!

We then made our way to the Cabin in Island Park. We had fun in the snow as you can see.

We also got to cut down Christmas Trees. We let the kids each find their own for their rooms. They loved that! The only rule was that they had to carry the tree from where is was cut down back to the truck. This rule will always be in place.

Allieand Daddy's B-day

Aaron celebrated his 29th birthday along with Allie celebrating her fourth birthday. Allie had a Little Mermaid princess party. She invited a few friends over and they played put the crown on the princess, musical cake walk, and other fun games. They had fun with the blow horns, as you can see.

Of course we did a cheese cake for daddy's 29th birthday. Good job babe on blowing out ALL the candles.

She had a lot of fun helping me make the Ariel cake. Good thing my friend Raquel had the stuff for me to do this.

The birthday person gets to pick what they want of where they want to go for breakfast. Allie chose IHOP like her brother (of course).

More fun at Hoodsport

Good thing Grandma brought a bunch of toys from her house to play with. Allie was in heaven with the doll stuff, of course. I think Grandpa was worn out. It must have been the rain.

We also had some nice games of charades. Don't ask me which one this was. I guessed kickboxing, but I was wrong.

We even got grandpa to participate, but he would only do it in his chair.

We also did some crabbing and seashell finding. All in all, it was so much fun. Jackson did come on the trip (even though he is not in many pictures). He is the little blue ball in Grandpa's arms in this picture.

Hoodsport Flooding

It rained so much there, that is was flooding. The river was blown out and was flooding over the roads. We had to take a trip to walmart to get more rain gear for Grandma, Grandpa and the kids. We loved driving around and looking at the fish swimming across the road. Look close and you wll see the fish swimming across.

Hoodsport, Wa Fishing

We took a family trip up to Hoodsport, Washington where there is great salmon fishing (Chum, Kings, and Silvers depending on the time of year). It was rainy, but the kids had a blast. Grandma and Grandpa Bowman joined us and we loved having them there to create and share memories. Grandpa, what a great catch (this is a fish skeleton).

Aaron also mananged to catch a seagull. It was hilarious. He was casting his fly rod and caught the wing of the bird in mid air. They had a heck of a time trying to get the hook out. The bird kept pecking them. I tried to tell Aaron to just catch the fish, but he wouldn't listen (ha)!

I even got to fish a little and I actually caught some.

Halloween and Fall Fun

Halloween was so much fun this year. Jace as Darth Vader

Allie as Belle

Jackson as a pumkin.

We went trick or treating with our friends, the Koehler's, and our babysitter Briana. We sat in the back of their truck with blankets and mattress'. Then we ended the night with a party at our place. The kids did doughnut eating contest, fishing pond, and ate candy. The boys watched sports and did a pie eating contest (Zach won- Good job). The girls sat and talked. We had a great time.

This was our Halloween carnival for the ward. Aaron and I dressed up as "bad to the bone Biker couple" (my hubby's idea of course).

Parenting Idea

Our class today was on Teaching Children Responsibility and Work. It was awesome. I can't begin to give you everything from the class, but I only hope to just give a little bit that can maybe help. I am basically going to just quote her. "We need to start giving our children responsibility and teaching them hard work at a young age. The best time to teach them to work is before the age of 11 years old. The best way to do this is by getting involved and helping them do the work. It will take a lot longer to do the task with them verses just doing it yourself, but we must not let this dictate wether or not we have our children work. The problem with children now days is that we feel like they are worked too hard. When they get home from school we think they need a break because they have been working all day at school when in reality (compared to back in the day) school is more play then work. Don't do all the work while your kids are napping or at school. Save the work and do it with them when they get home. So next time the dishes need unloaded or loaded wait for the chance to teach your children that responsibility. Next time the laundry needs folded wait and do it together with the children. Give them the chance to work hard. We need to do large family projects every few months. (ex. clean garage together, paint a room, do the garden, etc.) Train them to do exactly what you want them to do and show them how to do it. Throughout the week have them do their daily chores, but on Saturday have that be the day they work really hard."