Happy Halloween

Well, better late than never.  Here are some pictures of us from Halloween.

 Kids at the pumpkin patch.  Despite the look on Sam's face, I think they were having fun.

 The city does their own trick-or-treating downtown with the businesses a few days before Halloween .  Stina was a princess (under all of the layering), Alexis was Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Sam and Dayne were Darth Vader (however, just for the record, Dayne said he was a nice Darth Vader).

 Stina, helping out with the pumpkin carving.

 Halloween parties at school.

 Ben and I dressed up for our friend's party.  Ben was Fat Albert and I was his side kick, Dumb Donald.  The black 'fro and rose were not part of my costume - we won those for best couple costume.

Parents in Town - War Eagle!

When my parents were in town last week they were lucky enough to have the privilege of experiencing a little Auburn sports mania.  It was so great!!  The first event we took them to was the opening of new basketball arena.  We had some great seats and the main attraction was the Harlem Globetrotters (notice I didn't say the basketball team - we'll see about them this season).  The next night we got to take them to an Auburn football game and they got to see what REAL tailgating is and how CRAZY everyone is for football here. 

THE OPENING OF THE NEW BASKETBALL ARENA

 

Charles Barkley came to the opening of the arena.

 

Alexis and Laura dancing to YMCA - some things never change.

FOOTBALL GAME:  AUBURN VS. ARKANSAS

Mom and Dad learning how to be real football fans!

Ben aspires to look like this guy.

Auburn vs. LSU

When you guys are watching the game tomorrow (CBS, 2:30 Central) I want you to look for this sign.  Ben will be at the game with it.

Parents in Town - Birmingham

My parents were in town this last week - one last time before they set off for their mission to Guadalajara, Mexico.  I'm so glad we got to see them again before they left.  We packed in so much for them during the stay.  The first thing we did was go to the Birmingham Temple.  It was an all day affair because it takes 2 1/2 hours to get there in the first place.  It was great getting to be there with my parents and was worth the drive.

I don't even know what they were looking at, but I love the looks on their faces.

Horseback Riding

Horseback riding at the Auburn Equestrian match.

 

 Maybe she was a little annoyed that she didn't get to ride on a horse.

Rocket Run '10

This last Friday was the annual Rocket Run for Alexis and Sam.  It's the only fundraiser that their school does during the year.  The kids have to collect pledges and then they try and run as many laps as they can (the goal is to run at least 20 laps).  Alexis had her run at 8am and Sam's run was at 10am.  My friend Cameo really saved the day.  When I got to Alexis' run I realized that my camera had broken.  I had to go to the university and get Ben's camera from him.  They don't have parking where Ben was - Cameo came with me so I could just leave the van and go inside to get it.  She also stayed with me during Sam's run.  It was such a blessing because Sam really wasn't motivated to run and I had to go out there and run with him.  Thank you to everyone who pledged - we're so grateful!  (Sorry, no pics of Alexis because of the camera casualty.  She ended up running 39 laps.)

Sam did fine once he had a little motivation.  He ended up running 31 laps!

Cameo hanging out with the kids.

General Conference

 This weekend was General Conference for our church, so we got to watch it on the internet.  As usual, it was very inspiring and I loved it!  The day was so gorgeous that for the last session, we went outside with the laptop and watched it in our backyard.  Alexis said she listened better outside because it was more fun.  At least it got everyone to sit still for a while!

Birthday Ben

We celebrated Ben's birthday a few weeks ago.  I meant to put pictures up earlier . . . oh well, better late than never.  This year for Ben's birthday, I tried to redeem myself from the cupcake fiasco of a few years past.  This year I emailed his professor to see if it was okay and made sure of how many people were in his class.  It happens to have been the same professor that I tried this with last time.  He thought it was really funny that I was going to do it again.  Ben was completely surprised because his birthday was on a Saturday and I took it to the class he was assisting with on Thursday.  It turned out really good and I didn't have any problems getting them to the school. 

On Saturday the kids and I made him breakfast (crepes) and then afterward went to a tailgate that was before the football game (we didn't end up going to the game).  One of Ben's requests for his birthday was that we take the family to see the Tiger Walk before the game.  It's where the Auburn football team walks from the bus to the stadium with fans lined up on both sides of the team, cheering them on.  It was fun, but would have been a lot more fun if it hadn't been so dang hot!  Later on Ben and I were able to go out to eat . . . by ourselves!  =)  That night after eating out, we came home, had cheesecake and Ben opened his presents.  I think the day turned out pretty good and I hope Ben enjoyed his day!

 This is Jorrell Bostrom.  He plays on the Auburn football team (#76) and he's part of our congregation.  He's one of the only players from the west coast and the only married guy on the team.  Obviously we're not at BYU anymore.

Ben photo shopped this and thought it would be funny to label Steve in this.  It's just because he wants him to visit so much! =)  Cam Newton is our quarterback and so far, so good.  He's a transfer from Florida (I think).

 

The band played while everyone was waiting for the football players to come out.

 

I made this cheesecake (according to directions - no weird hippie substitutions) and Dayne didn't think that it was decorated properly, so he helped me out.

Loosing Teeth

Last week, both Alexis and Sam had teeth pulled.  On Tuesday we went into the dentist's office to have them look at Sam's teeth because he had a permanent tooth coming in behind his baby teeth.  I thought they were just going to check it out, but 20 minutes later Sam came out with one less tooth.  He handled it so well - I didn't even prep him for it.  Alexis was scheduled on Wednesday to have 2 of her teeth pulled.  I thought it would have been really obvious when you looked at her that she'd had the teeth pulled, but you can hardly tell.  She recovered really well from it, but she didn't like being numb. She even ended up going to a church activity (Achievement Days) later that night.

Fall Festival 2010

One of the things I will miss when we leave here is the Fall Festival that the school district puts together.  The kids love it because there are a bunch of booths like a carnival (only with less weird people) and lots of animals/creeping crawly things.  This year I thought we would go early to miss the crowds . . . turns out that's when the crowds are there.  Oh well.

Stina was really into the band.

Stina's first fishing trip.

This snake was really cool and docile.  Not that I love snakes, but if I did I would have one like this snake.  I love the look on Sam's face. 

Someone needs to get this kid a farm.  He was so in love with all of the animals.  His favorites were the cow and the goats.

I saved the best for last.  This is an African cockroach.  Ben was really freaked out by it, but all of us (except Stina) held it so he didn't want to get shown up.  It wasn't so bad - way cooler than the cockroaches that sometimes find their way into our kitchen.  =)

Auburn Fall Sports!!!

I'm so excited - this is the best time of year in a college town!  Our family loves going to the volleyball games and watching football.  A big plus for this year is that Ben and I have season tickets for football.  Last weekend I went to my first Auburn football game.  It was soooo much fun!  I can't wait for the next one.

At the Volleyball game, Ben made sure that he showed his school spirit.  I think he wears the wig so nobody will know who he is when he's cheering.  He's pretty intense.

For the game last Saturday we actually didn't use our season tickets.  A friend of ours gave us some tickets that were awesome.  We were 11 rows up near the end zone.  Our season tickets are in the student section which is definitely rowdier than where we were on Saturday

Dayne was rolling a fake Toomer's Corner at the university library the day before the game.  The library had a tailgating party.  Dayne had tons of fun and he got lots of stuff!

Hanging out at the church's tailgate that they had - even the missionaries got to kick back for the day.  It looks like Dayne was a little preoccupied. . .

If you want to rent this parking spot for tailgating it only cost $2,000 for the season.  If you don't reserve a spot like this then you can reserve a spot on campus.  It's free, but you have to spend about 48 hours before the tailgate to stake out your claim. 

Before every home game they release the "War Eagle."  He circles the stadium then lands on the 50 yard line while everybody is screaming, "War Eagle."  It's the coolest football tradition I've ever seen!