brain-ee-AAK!

we opened our door to a suspicious knock friday night and found this!

sick huh?!

we were admiring it and I had just said "I bet this was Jen's handiwork", when the whole Lindell clan knocked on our door with these!

how cute is Jen? we love our neighbors and it's just icing on top that they happen to be stinkin' talented!

Mr. & Mrs. Pumpkin Head

so this year we tried something different with the kid's pumpkins.

we wanted them to be able to do a lot of it, and when I saw these at target I knew it would be a hit!

thanks to toy story our kids are obsessed with Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head.

I was especially excited when I got home and confirmed that the pieces would indeed work with their potato heads after halloween was over and they were no longer needed for the pumpkins.

first up was ali, how cute is justin?

she watched mesmerized and helped daddy...do you think she was happy with her princess potato pumpkin or what?


then it was cole's turn.

he was able to do a lot of it and thanks to his pirate obsession...

he was one happy boy too!

they then decided they were so scary they needed to roar at them. I love how ali looks to cole and copies his crazy ideas. partners in crime these two.

all in all, it was a success. It was fun to try something different, and we will still actually carve mommy and daddy pumpkins, but they were able to do all of this and it was a hit.

cole insisted on labeling his pumpkin, and when he was done ali said "do mine!" so hers was labeled by cole as well.

(If you look closely you will see that both the pumpkins and cole and ali are holding hands.)

and for all those not close enough to hear the say it in person cole and ali have a message for you!

happy halloween!

how do you like them apples?

our friends the greens invited us over for a "sweet" FHE.

we took this.

dunked it in this and added deliciousness.

and ended up with this.

yeah, they didn't last long.

fall

oh how I love you fall.

there is just something about fall that is making me so happy this year.

I love the quote from you've got mail that says something to the effect of loving new york in the fall "I would send you a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils..."

it's just the overall feeling made up of a dozen tiny little random things that are making me smile.

like seeing pumpkins everywhere. halloween preparations are in full swing and while I am a HUGE wimp about all things scary, there seems to be enough that I find fun to outweigh all that scary business. collecting costume pieces means shopping and the thrill of the hunt for that perfect costume addition.


...and making these. pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. yum.


and the way fall is making me want to constantly craft. my current obsession has been searching for halloween cuteness and making felt play food for a certain someones christmas gift. doesn't this felt pumpkin pie make you want to craft? and while mine will probably be a little less polished it will be made with love, that counts for something right?




I also love the way fall smells. pumpkin patch candles are filling my house with the scent of fall and I am soaking it all in.

this fall brought with it the release of this classic from the disney vault. fall makes me want to curl up and watch movies with my family.

while listening to my favorite thing about fall...the rain. we have been poured upon the past few days and I am loving it. I have had excited little ones at my house as they crowd around the windows to watch. the rain took a break today and I have my blinds closed imagining it is still gloomy and wet. denial? yes, I know. but it makes me happy to think fall is finally here after months of 100+ degree heat. I mean you have no idea how excited I was to bust out the fall clothes the past few days.

so fall keep it coming I am thoroughly enjoying every moment of you.

a little night music

this is that we were up to last night!

we LOVE tuacahn and we were so excited to take the kiddo's to Tarzan.

It lived up to our expectations in every way.

cole and ali were in awe. ali saw the "monkeys" swinging in over her head and looked up pointing saying "it's my monkey!"

cole was glued to the stage. in awe of it all. he loved the "little tarzan" and clapped like crazy after every song.

ali was also amazed by the music. but she takes after her mother obviously, and wanted to be up there doing everything because as soon as a ballad would be performed I could hear her softly singing, it was so tender.

she really liked all the swinging about. she kept saying "the monkeys are flying!"

we all LOVED it.

Cole really wanted to see the characters up close but froze, star struck when he saw them. It was so obvious that he was in absolute awe.

he did muster a hi-5 for kala and young tarzan, but the others got stares and wide eyes as he took it all in.

the show was amazing, the music was great, and all the interaction above the audience with the high flying was incredible. we had great seats and were so happy the kids loved it as much as we did.

ali did eventually konk out about a 1/2 hour before it ended but I am sure she has sweet dreams full of high flying apes.

and she has already asked to go see her "monkeys" again.

something old, something new.

at the beginning of this month we got to go down to San Diego and spend some quality family time together.

one of the days we were there we headed down to old town. I had not been there in forever and this was justin's first time. grandma volunteered to watch ali so cole could have time with just mom and dad. we had fun looking in all the shops, but the highlight was definitely the mormon battalion. having grown up there I have been to this many a time, but it was nowhere near as cool as it is now!

for example it is way more interactive now...here is cole getting outfitted in his battalion uniform.

and holding the way heavy gun.

the window to the side of the picture was actually a screen that came to life as the characters in the battalion's story told their tale. this happened in several of the rooms we were in.

(I know this picture is dark, but I loved the hat on him.)

then after all the rooms inside we headed outside to pan for gold! It was adorable. the kids got to keep whatever they wanted from the "stream".

daddy and cole both thought this was pretty great.

he was loving all that there was to do.

then he washed off his finds at the pump.

and headed off to make some bricks...or build with them rather...such a boy.

daddy got pretty into it all too.

it was a really fun FREE activity.

and we all loved it.

they even take your picture for you at the end and email you a file as well.

time well spent.

warning: maddux overload.

before we begin, I know that this is out of control. but there were too many good pictures that we wanted our families to see. so this post is for those who are not opposed to obscene amounts of pictures of the maddux family.

val and mike came down again with there cute kiddo's and we were thrilled to get some new family pictures! we decided we had to do some at the red rock to document that we live in st. george. so the first half were there and the second half were at the airport...just for fun.

and we are obviously very happy with the way they turned out. the funny thing is that every time val has done our family pictures and our kids have been well, kids... I think, man I hope we get at least a few that aren't a disaster. and then I spend forever pouring over 20,000 good ones wondering which ones to put up in our home. she is good.

so let's begin the picture fest.

how cute is he? he turned it on as soon as the camera was on him!

he loved having stuff to climb on, that's for sure.

he reminds me of a lizard with his pose here.

I can hardly stand how perfect this one turned out...hence my posting 3 versions!

we were shocked when we saw what val got out of her...considering what we thought ali had given her was a bit crazy!

I love her 'lil smile

a lot.

I LOVE this little moment caught on film. it totally looks like she is telling him a story and he is laughing away. they are so dang cute to each other.

haha...she did not hold back on what she thought of this whole thing.

ok, justin loves this because he says it looks like cole is trying to explain his crazy girl friend like "look guys, she's not that bad, just give her a chance." haha

melt.my.heart.

(as chandler bing would say:)

could they be any sweeter?

she was giving daddy kisses.

and then it was father-son time.

again...melt.my.heart.

I love his little expression here.

and then daddy decided to put cole in a rock.

really high...which he didn't mind.

must be a guy thing...

oh but wait...ali got in on the action too...look at this proud dad face.

and mom hiding her terror.