October 2019

One of our sweet neighbors Jeanie Mather passed away very unexpectedly in September. I went door to door on our street and let people know what had happened and collected money for Shane. People were very generous! We were able to give Shane a money tree and a little memory box for his home. I hope he feels loved.

 This is Dean reading the picture scriptures. We try to read and pray every night, but it usually doesn't look like this. I had to capture that quick moment when all four boys were listening intently.

 When the big boys are in school, we try to get out and play! Ezra loves water, any way it comes. This fountain is at the downtown library.

 One of my favorite traditions we have is to go to Park City over conference weekend. This time we went over Guardsman's Pass to hike, then into Park City to ride at this bike park. I don't have Thomas pictured, but that kid had no fear! He went down the steep hill first thing, and crashed pretty hard off the first bump. He then had some fear. But got back on his bike and kept working at it. They always get pretty good by the time it's time to go.

 We tried to hike the Bloods Lake trail. But were told by other hikers to turn around because there were two large moose on the trail ahead. I was excited to do the trail, and see the moose, but Lincoln thought it better to turn back. As it turned out, we were short on time and it was freezing cold up there. We still got to enjoy the autumn mountains.

 After our fun in Park City we drove to East Canyon and stayed in a condo there. It was perfect for our little family. Score Four was the game of the weekend.

 The pool was COLD, but there was a hot tub, that the kids got kicked out of.

 The "resort" also had sand volleyball which was a great place to play in the sand.

 We also played shuffle board, pickelball, basketball,

 and miniature golf.

 Sunday morning we had our traditional German Pancakes. These four boys are my life!

 We went on a fun little bike ride on Sunday between conference sessions.

 Lincoln's tire was flat from the day before, so he was a good sport and got in the trailer with Ezra.

 And this...this is a classic picture of everyday life with the Graham boys.

 Not a bad view! We had the condo reserved for a full week because it was a timeshare my mom let us use. We had to get back to school on Monday morning, but we still made it up to use the facilities with some friends on Tuesday morning.

 We tried to go on a hike, but it was closed, so we took a break for some posing instead. This is Graham Duncan, Thomas, Daniel and Paisley Kushlan.

 What is a giant sand pit if you don't use your head to bulldoze it?

 Paisley and Graham are less experienced mini golfers than my boys who golf on our pass monthly.

 Because the leaves were amazing this year, we took another trip up to East Canyon after school one day with the older boys and the Bird family.

 It was simply amazing!

 We hosted Thomas' playgroup and played with flour. This group of kids is my favorite! They know how to have a good time and they all get along perfectly!

 Ezra has become a good helper in the kitchen. After a couple of months of making doing the dishes impossible. He now legitimately unloads all of the dishes and puts them away in the right place.

 This is Thomas' preschool class. They had a field trip to the apple orchard. It landed on the very coldest day of the year.

 The three of us played a round of laser tag. It was just me against Thomas. Ezra just ran around crying because I kept running away from him. Thomas is so competitive and so much fun!

 Cyndi paid us a visit one Sunday. She promised she would stay for dinner, so I made her a pie with her initials.

 Fall Break was so much fun! We had a Get Out Pass Day with Jodi and her family. Started at this trampoline park.

 Then the Loveland Aquarium.

 Then foam ax throwing and hot wheels adventure.

 Then climbing

Lincoln really is getting to be a good climber!

 And lunch at the Layton Hills Mall.

  Then we finished the day with haircuts and a movie.

 On Friday we went downtown and visited the police/fire station, then went to the library.

 Another fun tradition we have is to go to the South Salt Lake Spooktacular. It's a pretty fun city party and for some reason, there aren't very many people, so we can go and enjoy. It's a good thing I took their picture here, because I didn't get a chance to take their pictures on Halloween night before they ran out the door for trick or treating.

 I told Lincoln I would spend $5 on his costume this year. As luck would have it, we found a Dracula's costume online for exactly $5. He bought his own teeth and I happened to have face paint. Oliver was excited to be Charlie Brown Ghost, and I was happy to comply as we had this sheet in the closet and I've never used it. And Thomas used a costume that was given to us from someone, at sometime. I guess we like Star Wars?

 There was a costume contest for the best Dracula. We had to stay until the very end of the party for Lincoln to compete. But the good news is, most of the other costumes were gone by then, and Lincoln wont he prize pretty easily.

 And my mom put together a last minute Halloween party for the grandkids My how they are growing up!

 It finally warmed up enough to go to the park for an hour. Julie and I pushed two kids up to the playground, it was a tough workout!

 We spent a day in Syracuse with Troy and Marissa's kids. They are getting ready to move, so we tried to get the kids out of the way for a few hours so they could work on house projects. We went to a pumpkin stroll where hundreds of pumpkins were on display. Katelyn is one of my favorites!

 Thomas won this pumpkin at the SSL Halloween party. We finally got around to painting it. He wanted to use some red fabric paint and I told him it was just for writing letters. He decided to write the word "Dinner" on the pumpkin.

 More playgroup!

 Another Pac Meeting. Oliver was asked to be a volunteer.

 Lincoln got another award. (He loves this recognition)

 Then let the games begin!

On Halloween, I volunteered at Oliver's classroom party. He was by far one of the more skilled cookie decorator. I think he must have more practice!

 I didn't get the rest of the boys in costume on Halloween night, but I did get these monkeys. Lorna and Ezra were the cutest two monkeys on the street for sure.

 I was surprised at how quickly Ezra caught onto trick or treating. He was very good at taking one treat from everyone and he always said "buh-bye." We beat his brothers home by a long shot, so he got to enjoy a few pieces on his own.

 It was absolutely unreasonable the amount of candy the other boys brought home. (That is their mother speaking.) They left at 6:00 and didn't get home until after 8:30. It was clear why they wanted Dean to go with them, and not me. I took three or four giant handfuls of candy from each of their bags and donated it to soldiers. They had no idea it was missing because there was still so much there! Thomas woke up the next morning unable to walk because his Achilles hurt so bad. He crawled around the entire day. I can't imagine how many miles they put in.