Fabulous Fall Fun

Autumn up here in Cache Valley is unbelievably goreous. The colors are to die for, and you can't beat the scenery of the country during harvest time. Chelsea and Dave and I decided to take the kids and go for an autumn drive up Blacksmith Fork Canyon last week (the day before the swine flu attacked us all.) I got a few okay pics of the kids too.

Logan also has an annual Pumkin Walk that we went through this past week. It was super cold, but pretty fun. All the displays are made by different companies in the county and are made almost completely out of pumpkins.I took this pic for my dad:

Yep, that's Michael Jackson and his whole "Beat It" crew... pumpkin style.

This one was super cute too.

Tonight we headed up to the Millville church house for our ward's trunk-or-treat. It was really fun. I wanted our car to be super cool, but we ran out of time and dashed up there at the last minute. Turns out we were the one of the only ones who even decorated our car at all.There's our little princess!

And our cuddly little teddy bear.Ashlin was refusing to take a good picture tonight. Or keep her pumpkin costume on. Or be nice for that matter.
We came home and said the kids could have a few pieces of candy while we unloaded the car. This is where we found Kenz lounging and having a loli-pop:

Comfy.

Have a Happy Halloween!!!

Swine Flu

Yep, it's definitely attacked.

I've been sick with a sore throat, headache, and achiness for several days. But when Kenzi came down with a fever of 101.9 yesterday and both Ashlin and Jamison felt warm too, I knew something was up. I didn't quite know what to do with myself since I had 3 sick kids but felt like dying myself. I called my mom to let her know what was going on and asked if she could do a little homeopathic energy work on us. A little while after our call ended, she called me back and said that my super-wonderful Aunt Ramona was on her way to take us all to the instacare in Logan.

When we walked in, it felt a little like I picture history books about epidemics: everyone was wearing a paper mask over their mouths, there were lines and lines of sick people, the estimated wait at the clinic was 3 hours. After waiting for an hour in the lobby, they called us back to take all our temperatures, blood pressure, weight, etc; then sent us back out to wait for another hour or so. Once we finally got called back in to see a doctor, I felt ready to pass out. Then came the news: Swine Flu. It's so widespread right now that the only one of us who qualified for the medication was Jamison. To be treated, you have to be under the age of 2, older than 65, pregnant, or have a chronic medical condition.

So we came home and suffered in silence. Ramona was a serious blessing and helped us out SO much. Then this morning I woke up and felt like I was practically dead. Trevor had to go to work so my mom drove up from Salt Lake to take care of us all. She's been washing all our sheets and blankets, disinfecting the house with Lysol, and making sure we're all taking tylenol to keep our fevers down. She made us a delicious dinner of homemade chicken soup and she's spending the next couple of nights up here to make sure we're all surviving. She wears paper masks and has to sanitize her hands every hour or so. It's absolutely crazy. I'm so thankful for all the people who are here to take care of us, and willing to get sick themselves.

So, that's what's going on up here. The doc said we should be better in 5 to 7 days. Maybe we'll see some of you then! I hope you don't get it too, but if you do, call me and I'll totally bring you some chicken soup =)

The Rockstar Party of the Century

Our Miss Kenzi-K is 4 years old now!! I can hardly believe it!! We celebrated with a sweet Rockstar Party this past weekend. I sent out invitations in the form of backstage passes that the kids could wear around their necks. . Kenz invited 25 of her closest friends. We had a pretty good turnout with 17 of the 25 showing up to party. When the arrived, we had a "security-check" to make sure they were all VIP's.

All the kids got "rocked-out" with colored hairspray and rock tatoos. They played a fun freeze-dance game with Chelsea and then we ate from the "back-stage buffet" table, which was full of all of kenzi's favorites: pizza, go-gurts, corn dogs, chicken nuggets, french fries, soda, chips, and other yummy goodies.

Then they all got to design their own rock t-shirts with fabric paints (not the best idea in hind-sight,) jewels and sequins, and other embellishments.


Then they all headed upstairs for the "backstage after-party." We had a live music jam session, complete with a disco ball, and a ton of dancing.



Check out Kenzi's awesome cake!
Two tiers of chocolate and strawberry with almond icing, topped with a replica rockstar Kenzi made of fondant. Yep, Chelsea truly outdid herself.

Kenz got tons of great presents and had a total blast. Thanks to everyone who was able to make it up here to make Kenzi's birthday so special!