Halloween

I never used to be a big fan of Halloween. But for the last few years, I have really started to enjoy the festivities of it all. We did a lot of fun things as a family this fall. We always love to do the traditional things, like picking out our own pumpkins, carving, etc. But we found some other fun things to do too. We went to Cornbellys at Thanksgiving Point and we also went to Farnsworth Farms one night and did a hayride, watched a video outside and had hot chocolate and doughnuts. I am really getting into the spirit of Halloween!!!

Discovering the little tools that are easier to carve with has definately made pumpkin carving a much more enjoyable experience. I could never figure out how everyone could do such intricate carvings with such a huge knife. One favorite find to make Halloween a better holiday. (I know that everyone on the planet knows about these, but I am really slow).

Costumes were a lot easier this year. My Darth Vader wanted to be Darth last year, so we got the costume together and then at the last minute, spiderman was much more attractive and Darth Vader was a stupid idea. So, this year we decided to try it again, and it worked. Luke Skywalker had the look and with a borrowed karate uniform....Tada! The other two costumes were on sale and there you go... No sewing, no going broke, and not a lot of thought had to go into these this year, who knows aobut next????

I know that these look professionally done, but no, they were done by some pretty creative kids. PURE TALENT.

Dan found a new way to take the little boys trick-or-treating this year. He thought that this was a FABULOUS idea! Since the kids run from house to house (note the child in the back ground demonstrating this fact) this would be a much easier way to keep up with them. Nice, huh?

Another Birthday

Luke turned 6 in October. It just happened to be on our anniversary when he decided to come into our family. We had a couple of small parties with the family for his big day. We were at grandmas in this pic and he was able to be with his cousins from Colorado-girls! He was a little embarrassed when we all sang to him.

There is nowhere like Chuck E. Cheese-yum. to spend a little time to celebrate. This year was not a friend party, but we took one of his best buddies with us anyway.

Happy Birthday to my big 6 year old!!!

Family Nights

Where can you have this much fun with your family? Only at home when you plan to have the evening set apart for family time!!! I love family nights. I love that my kids are sad if we happen to skip one. I love it that they get excited for an activity or treat or to plan a lesson. Now, I know that these days may pass, but for now I am cherrishing the time that we do have to spend together.

FALL

Fall is definately my favorite time of year. We went for a hike behind the new Draper temple just as the leaves were changing. It was so pretty.
We went up to Park City and I tried to get some of the beautiful scenery in the photo, (no, not Dan and Luke), but the photo didn't give the foliage justice. It was so nice up in the mountains.
One of my favorite parts about this fall was a visit from my friends the Skeens. The BYU homecoming game brought them down from Seattle. I love spending time with them. Their visit was WAY too short, but at least they squeezed me in on Sunday. We weren't too good with the self-timer, but we finally got a good photo. :)

Thanks for the visit----We love you and your family. See you soon (I hope)!!!

Hunting Season

WARNING: These photos are not for the weak stomach. But I do have to say that my nieces ROCK. Two of my nieces drew out for the antelope hunt near the ranch. So, they drove up to Utah with their dad and went hunting and got their prize!!! We were down for conference weekend and were able to witness their skills with a gun- (I guess it runs in the family)!! Their oldest brother and sister got the much loved job of skinning the animals. I know where I am going if this economy gets so bad that we all have to live off the land-They have SKILLS!

Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays

Josh is 4!! Can't believe that my baby is 4 already. He is such a bright spot in our lives. He has such a fun personality. We didn't do a traditional party for him, but he was able to choose 2 friends to go swimming with us.
Our even numbered birthdays are for family, so Josh got to pick what he wanted to do for his activity. He chose the Alpine Slide-so we went to Park City and went on the slide and then did the Coaster, which we highly recommend-If you ask Josh what he did as he went down the coaster, be ready to plug your ears because he will literally share with you the exact sound he made all the way down....AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH.
My cute Luke turned 6 on our anniversary:) Those of you that think that it was such a great anniversary present, well lets just say that it was such a great moment, then in the years to follow, not so fun to have both on the same day. We don't regret having Luke in our lives-he is wonderful. (We have been waiting for 2 years for the front teeth to come in....)
For his family birthday, we took one friend (and his sister) to Chuck E. Cheese, (his choice). Wow what a party that was. We celebrated later with cake and ice cream. Love my boys. Fall is a busy time with birthdays at the Sampson house.

Birthday Boy

Joe just turned 9 on August 4th, so on September 4th, we decided that because his birthday is always celebrated at the ranch without his friends around, this year we would have a party for him in Draper! We invited some of his friends from the neighborhood and school to come swimming with us and have a PARTY!!! It was a lot of fun for him.
This picture was taked to get most of the kids in the picture with the cake, but apparently something was going on between Luke and Joe at this moment, no, really, is was a fun party.

This is the Baby Joe Joe that I still picture in my mind. They grow too fast and I forget how little they used to be. We love you Joe- and here is to many more years to come:) xoxo

Back to school.....again

Don't we all love it when school starts again? I love this time of year. The kids are so excited to go, the smell of the classrooms, new clothes and the anticipation of what the new year will be like. This is usually true for me, but this year was a little different....
My 5 year old started kindergarten AND
my 3 year-old started pre-school! I was in a little bit of a shock when everyone was gone. Now, I know that it is only for a few hours for a couple days a week, but still it was really strange having everyone at school. I know it will be another change when they will all be in school all day, but for now I will take this little baby step before huge changes start to happen. Love my boys---

Post camp activities

Just before camp ended, Joe had a birthday, he is now a big 9 year old kid! For his birthday, he wanted to go for a horseback ride with his family. So, we rode up in the mountains to a lake and had lunch. It was a beautiful day and Joe had a huge smile on his face.
Josh doubled with Dan and Luke doubled with me. Josh was pretty much doing the splits the whole way, but he loved it too.
Another big event....my nephew (the boys cousin) Parker came home from his mission to Russia. It was so much fun to see him and my boys were so excited to have him come home. (isn't he handsome?)
After camp was over, we needed a break from our summer adventures. We went up to my brothers condo in Park City and enjoyed a much deserved weekend with our family. We went boating on Jordanelle...(just a hint, NEVER go to Jordanelle on a sunny Saturday, everyone else has the same idea). It was so dang crowded we could barely turn around, but the boys had a blast tubing.
At least it was a nice day. :) The Alpine Slide was one of the big hits of the weekend. We all had races, don't ask Dan and the 3 oldest boys who won:) We had such a great time hanging out, swimming and watching the olympics. Thanks family!

They're all mine

This was the week that we had to convince Josh that he was NOT going kayaking. He was ready to go and thought that he could make it for a week on the river in his own kayak. (Almost thought about sending him:))
This is an outfit that Luke wore for weeks. He compiled it all by himself. It is kindof creepy in this picture, but the sunglasses were added when they were giving them away at the hardware store- the gloves??? Don't quite know what to say about them, but I have to love him just the same.
Potty break in the mountains on one of our many trips up to the horse camp.
Again, these are my colorful boys that are really creative at camp. Starting to worry if camp is really good for them or not. They had so much fun with their stick horses. I think that I am raising a bunch of rednecks...........
The END!

Hiking

So after our convincing Josh that he was NOT going on the backpacking trip with the campers, or the kayaking, or the horse trip, we decided that we needed to take him on a hiking trip of our own. We walked through a river up a canyon in Capitol Reef and it was a lot of fun.
The boys could float in some parts and they actually found a waterslide that was fun until Ben got his bum stuck half way down:)
Josh was one happy camper!!!

Projects at the ranch

Ya, o.k., I know, we are the reigning beauties of the ranch. Anyway, my friend Christine came down with her family for the weekend and decided to help me with a few projects. ( I will have to take pictures of the whole finished project later). We painted the t.v. room a beautiful shade of yellow......
Christine was hard at work making me a mirror to hang in the t.v. room and....
my favorite project was painting the brick behind the wood-burning stove, although this wasn't the finished color, it made a HUGE difference in that room. Thanks Chris!!! It is always nice to have friends stop by. Anyone who wants to come down and do a project or two is welcome anytime:)

SUMMER

Summer is here. We have started the summer camp craze. The weather here is really nice.
The first week Ben went Mountain Biking and Joe went backpacking, so I had the first week with my two youngest. Josh really thought that he was going on the backpacking trip. He was devestated when he realized that he couldn't go. He wore that backpack around all day with a waterbottle inside of it. He was so sad. We will have to go on a hike later on.
We did get to go to the park in Capitol Reef. We saw a ton of deer and this tree is a favorite to climb on with its roots exposed. It's nice to have a little time with the two youngest.

End of the school year

I can't believe how quickly this school year went by. Some of my favorite things are the end of the year activities. Talent shows, carnivals, parties etc. One thing that was new this year was the "4th grade recorder program". This was the first time I had heard of this. Boy, I didn't know that Ben had such talent. It was beautiful to say the least, ALMOST brought a tear to my eye. Way to go Ben!
Another thing that we did was to see "Kung Fu Panda" . Super cute show. My boys loved it. Now, the only problem is is that they all think that Karate is great to practice on each other (not so fun when they think they know all of the moves and end up hurting themselves and others).
We also had a suprise visit from a friend of ours that just had a baby boy. ALMOST makes me want another one, but way more fun to hold and look at and then know that I don't have to breast feed, get up every 3 hours, diaper etc. They named him Lucas- he is so cute!!!
We also fit in a party for my brother Steve. It was his birthday and we celebrated at our house for a barbeque. He is really amazing and we all love him.
We are now at the ranch and enjoying this first week here. It is beautiful weather and the campers will come on Sunday. I absolutely love coming down here and experiencing the different kind of beauty here. I am one lucky girl to be with my 5 boys here for the summer. We'll see everyone in August!!!

Dentist

I wish that I had this much fun when I went to the dentist. I don't ever remember being happy or excited when I saw my dentist. I always knew that I was there for some painful reason. I would end up trying to be brave and focus on the cheap toy that I would get to pick out of the toy box after my mouth was numb as I was unknowingly biting my tongue and cheek. I have to say that I love our pediadentist (sp?). My kids are actually excited when I tell them that we are going to the dentist. What's up with that? His whole office is set up for kids. All of the assistants are cute with my boys and are so nice all of the time. (Maybe they suck on the nitrus gas on their breaks- I would actually like a tank hooked up in my closet at home so that I could take small breaks during the day:). Anyway, my kids love to go because it is one time that they get to play video games (x-box orPS2?? I don't know the difference). Then, they get cool sword balloons that they can hit each other with. I wish that I could get this much enthusiasm to get them to do chores etc. Anyway, they all passed with flying colors not one cavity in 4 sugar hungry mouths! Way to go boys.