Tough Mudder

One of my friends from Ragnar invited me to do a Tough Mudder race.

I am so glad I agreed! I was worried because I do not have great upper body strength but I put for the effort and followed their training schedule and I survived the 12 miles and 20+ obstacles. 

 Above the before picture and 

below the after pictures. 

 The shot of my legs is in case the picture above made you think there was not actually mud.

There was plenty and there was a lot of water and even some electricity. 

 Here is our team after. This was the 3+ race for 3 of the guys. 

The picture before the race before we got muddy! 

I loved this race because it was not timed- it was all about finishing and getting through the obstacles. I did so much better on some of the obstacles than I thought I would. I had some crazy bruises for the next 10 days after but they were well earned and totally worth it. It is a team event because you could not make it through most of the obstacles without the help of other people- just like life really. 

Trunk or Treating and Trick or Treating

We hosted our annual Unofficial Ward Trunk or Treat and had a great time.

We moved the location to the elementary school by our house- it has a much better parking lot and still has a playground.  It was a great location. 

 The kids all ran and ran and played and played. 

Lily was our princess, fairy, ballerina.

 I was showing my true colors as a witch (or a cooking witch - that is what Lily called me due to the apron I wore).

 The whole crazy crew!

 Jedi Jon

 Pippi Longstocking- Arabella 

 Hans Solo

 He had a rough night with the generator and cotton candy machine but he looked good in his not costume costume. 

On Halloween, I took the kids around while Peter stayed and passed out cotton candy to the trick or treaters that came to our door. Our friends the Schmidts joined us for the fun. Joseph opted to stay home and invite some youth from our ward over and they watched Ghostbusters the original. We all had fun and had plenty of sugar! 

Peter Celebrates Another Birthday!

That ball of fire atop the apple fritter is not 38 candles but a sparkler candle- fancy! It was impossible to blow out but it was fun to watch! 

We were able to surprise him with donuts for breakfast and an unexpected gift of a indoor trainer for his bike. 

Peter is so good to all of us. He is hardworking, handy, handsome, helpful, happy and much more. The Sunday after his birthday he ended up making his own birthday dinner because I had church meetings. He wanted spaghetti and meatballs with homemade french bread and cauliflower. He ended up smoking the meatballs and they were delicious! 

Here is to many more birthdays my dear! 

Halloween Fun

A friend sent me a link to some fun Halloween haridos and this one was one of them. I had just purchased a package of rings and so we gave it a try. 

 It looked so good and was really easy. We did Arabella's hair like this the next day. 

 Lily's class has a field trip each month and this month it was to the pumpkin patch.

I forgot my phone in the car and so I did not get pictures of the hay ride but it was really fun! 

 They have a ton of character cut-outs and we took quite a few pictures. 

 I loved this carriage. 

 Lily the driver.  

Samantha was worn out from all of the pumpkin fun! 

Zoo Day

We had Columbus Day off and our zoo pass is about to expire so we took advantage and had a wonderful day! 

 These kids make me want to pull my hair out plenty but I would not trade even the craziest moment with them for anything. It was a really good day at the zoo and they were all so well behaved! 

There is almost always one giraffe that hangs out really close to this spot in the enclosure. It is so fun to see if it will come over and let us touch it. 

At the end of the day, Samantha was all about pushing the wagon instead of riding in it. What a silly girl?! I love my kids and I love that my boys still enjoy a day at the zoo- I hope it lasts a little longer. 

Family Camping

I had a Friday night that I did not work (I have worked a bunch lately) and we took advantage and went on an overnight camping trip. 

It was wonderful! The weather was perfect and our friends joined us.

 This girl even found a reusable grocery bag and stuffed some of her clothes in it because the big kids were doing that to get ready. She also was really helpful with unloading and carried the ketchup! 

 Dinner was delicious- dutch oven tater tot casserole. 

We had s'mores of course for dessert. 

 Time for some fishing which lead to many stuck lines and the need for the canoe to get them unhooked. Total we caught 2 fish but neither were big enough to keep. 

 I am not sure who that big girl is but she looks a bit like my baby girl Samantha. 

 Peter in the canoe with his kids! 

 Good morning- nice bed head! 

 Oh she thought she was so cool riding in the canoe. 

The weekend was a success in that we all had fun, the weather was great, and Joseph finished off his canoeing merit badge. I hope we can find our way back to an overnight trip again soon. 

Lily's Stand

There is a little boy in our ward that Lily has played with a few times and they create pretend stores or stands.  Well, Lily decided she needed a real stand and told Peter he needed to build it for her. She even went as far as telling him he needed to come home from work early to build it. He came home from work at the usual time and she wanted to know where her stand was. He said she needed to make him some plans. See her plans below. 

 In reality, he had already come up with a basic design and was ready to buy the supplies and build it. 

 (A close up of the plans. The ones on the bottom were mistakes.)

Behold the stand for selling holiday items (that is what she says). She was one super happy girl and I fell in love with Peter a bit more watching him make her dreams come true. 

We have made a few things and I think we will make cookies this weekend and give the stand a try!