Oh what do you do?

You know the Primary Song that says, "Oh, what do you do in the summertime, when all the world is green? Do you fish in a stream, or lazily dream on the banks as the clouds go by? Is that what you do? So do I!"
Well, whenever we sing that song I think we should change the beginning to say autumn time or something:)
Here in the valley of the sun, there is nothing to do but go swimming or stay indoors in the summertime. Now that the weather has finally cooled off we have been LOVING doing as much as we can outside. It is wonderful.

Here's some of the things we love to do outdoors:

Kyson loves bubbles! He sat here and blew bubbles for a good hour.



We go on a lot of bike rides.


Sometimes the bike rides turn into this...


(Actually the sprinklers came on and the boys just started running through it. At first we were hesitant to let them get soaking wet in October, but since it was still over 80 degrees outside we decided to let them have some fun:)

And last but not least, one of my favorite things to do outside...go hiking!!!


One thing about Arizona, we have the most beautiful sunsets!

Anna...one year!

I can't believe it! My niece Anna is turning ONE in a couple weeks. She is so adorable and smiles constantly! It was so fun taking pictures of her because I didn't have to do much to get a big smile!

Baby Claire...so sweet!

A few days ago I got to take pictures of my new niece Claire. I enjoyed it so much! She was a little angel. At first she was wide wake but we finally coaxed her into a deep sleep. As I was taking pictures of her I just kept thinking of the sweetness that surrounds her and I just wanted to soak it all up! She is so precious and I could snuggle her all day.







And last but not least sweet Claire with her Daddy, Dallas...

Halloween Festivities

Our Halloween week began Monday night when we decided to carve pumpkins for FHE.



Then on Wednesday we attended our ward play group Halloween party. Caleb and Kyson were just excited to FINALLY get to wear their Buzz Lightyear and Woody costumes!



Saturday was a VERY busy day! In the morning I took senior pictures of my brother Jason, and 1 year pictures of my niece Anna. When we got back I made chili for our ward party. Then we headed to Paige's baptism (Jared's niece). As soon as that was over we headed to the ASU football game. We only stayed until halftime since ASU was already ahead 28 to 0! As soon as we got back we dressed the boys up and went to our ward party. We ate dinner there and then took off to the Moore's (Jared requests that we go there every halloween. It's a fun place to be!) We trick or treated around the neighborhood and then headed home. We were ALL exhausted!

Here's some fun pictures from that night!
My happy Woody! Let me just tell you that he was NOT happy earlier so I was very grateful to see him smiling. I think a little sugar gave him a second wind:)

Caleb couldn't have been more excited to go trick-or-treating with his uncle Stephen! I told him Stephen would be here earlier in the week so every day he asked me when it would finally be Halloween:) Here he is so so happy because he is finally trick-or-treating with Uncle Stephen!

My sister Natalie came out with us for a little bit. She dressed up as a farmer and Claire (12 days old) was a pumpkin. SO CUTE!!!

And this is a picture of my two youngest siblings, Stephen and Amber, and all of the grandkids.

State fair

Friday night we decided to go to the state fair as a family. From 12-6 they have happy hour where the rides are $1 and some food is only a buck. We got there about 4:30 and let the boys pick three rides they wanted to go on.
The first ride they chose was the "elephant ride!"


After the elephant ride, they wanted to go on the big boat. Poor Kyson was not tall enough so he couldn't go. (He actually wasn't tall enough for the other two but no one said anything so we let him go:)


The last ride was the Goliath slide! I was proud of Caleb for going all by himself!


After the rides we ate some greasy food (is there ANYTHING at the fair that isn't deep fried?) and then we headed to get seats for the demolition derby. We found seats and then had to wait 50 minutes for it to start. That was a LONG 50 minutes for our boys. We sang songs, played I Spy, and whatever else we could come up with:)

Once it finally started they were so excited! It made me laugh when this car completely lost it's wheel and the tractor just came and picked it up and hauled it away with the driver still inside!

Here's the line up of cars...all about to be smashed to pieces...

And the winner of the night was this orange car. The only car still able to move in the end.

All in all we had a fun time together. We are so grateful AGAIN to hopekids for the free entrance passes. It's good to be able to spend time together as a family.

The sweetness of newborns

Two weeks ago my amazing friend Karli had her third baby boy, Maddox. Of course I don't have any pictures of him because I didn't take my camera with me when I went to visit her. He is super duper cute though and I wish I could snuggle him for hours!
Now, if that wasn't enough to get me baby hungry...my sister had the sweetest little baby girl Monday. They named her Claire Nancy. I love that name! Her middle name is from our Grandma (Nancy Fish). I can't think of a better person to try and emulate. Our Grandma has been through so so SO much lately dealing with cancer. From horrible surgeries, to chemotherapy, to just feeling downright awful, she has endured a great deal. We love her and I'm so glad Natalie and Dallas could honor her in this way.
Here are some of the pictures I took when I got to meet Miss Claire:

Family picture!

Grandma...

Aunt Jamie

Sweet cousins:)


And me!

Congrats to Karli and Jared and to Natalie and Dallas! We can't wait to see you and your sweet babies again!

New pics!

Just thought I'd share the pictures I took of my boys the other day!







And... my absolute favorites!!! Aren't they handsome?