Pumpkin carving

One of our family traditions is that the Monday night before Halloween, we always carve pumpkins. Some years are more creative than the others, and this year we didn't have a lot of time (Hello 9:00 fhe- We don't seem to have enough TIME here in Texas!!). But, Mark took his usual role of getting this pumpkin party started, so we did it despite the late night (thanks daddy for being so awesome!)

We did discover a couple of things during this "activity": In our move we have misplaced our really cool pumkin carving tool set and so we had to settle for my dull kitchen knives and permanent markers. We also discovered that the inside of pumpkins totally gross out Jonathan and he didn't want to touch it (ew!!! was over-heard several times- Mom to the rescue) And last but not least, Austin LOVES anything dirty, gross and challenging. Just look at his huge smile on his face in this picture and then look at the other boys. They are SOOOO over it.


















Look at that cutie. I can't believe he will turn 7 this year. He has been begging us to carve these pumpkins since I bought them last week. (note to self: do not buy pumpkins until the Day of the carving)


















Here is Austin trying to look like his pumpkin. Good job!



















And here is Rachael making a face without realizing that it looks EXACTLY like the pumpkin we made for her. Happy pumpkin carving everyone!!!

Easter 2009

Because I am behind on my posts, I do want to talk about what we did on Easter before I forget. It was a wonderful day because we were able to have my parents who were visiting from Idaho, my brother and his family, Mark's brother and his family and TWO sets of missionaries. In total counting our family that is 22 people....and it was a blast. We had a BIG dinner with lots of ham, potatoes, salads, etc... And of course CANDY. We split up the older/younger kids for an egg hunt and had the elders hide the eggs for the older kids (um..I think there are some eggs we haven't found yet..seriously). Here are some pictures of the hunt. Jane, Rachael and Kimball were all eating their candy as they went. It was hilarious. They were stuffing their mouths as fast as they could and loved it. It was so fun and am so thankful that I live near family this time around in Texas. I still can't believe my parents DROVE all the way from Idaho to be here. It was great to have them here.