All Hallow's Eve

We had a fun Halloween night. Markham came home a little early so we could all get ready to go.

The little trick-or-treaters are out in full force around 6 so we wanted to be ready!! I guess we are nerds, or young-at-heart, or something because we still love dressing up. This year was no exception.

 "The bee and her keeper"

Kaitlyn wore a dance costume from last year. Yippee! She makes a very cute Egyptian.

Our little lion was a super good sport on her first Halloween night

 Even Roxy dressed up. Not sure if she loves it like we do.

 Being silly

 We love Halloween!!

 All ready to get out and hit the doors!!

October 23, 2004

Markham and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary in Sun Valley last weekend. It was so so perfect. A huge shout out to my marvelous parents and sister who took care of our 3 little kiddos for us.

Markham took half day off Friday and we headed to my parents to drop the kids. Our first stop was the Twin Falls temple. We haven't been for awhile so it was really nice to go. Afterwards, we made our way to Sun Valley. It was a beautiful drive. We arrived starving so we decided to eat right away at one of our favorite restaurants of all time, Ricco's Pizza and Pasta.. YUM. We shared a salmon salad and split a pizza. Mine had pesto, goat cheese, tomatoes and kamata olives. Markham's had jalapeno, goat cheese, basil and chicken. It was heavenly. We made a quick stop at the Main St. Market and then headed to the condo. We enjoyed a very relaxing and long soak in the hot tub while enjoying the orange and red leaves.

Saturday we had breakfast at the Kneadery, another favorite of ours. I had to get a picture next to the cowboy. Several years ago I was there with my family and my little sister -who wasn't wearing her contacts- thought the cowboy was real and said, "That man over there won't stop staring at me." We all laughed so hard we could hardly catch our breath. Remembering that always makes me giggle.

 YUM!

We explored a bit, the library was having a book sale so we picked up a few hardbacks for the kids. Markham scored quite a few reads too. Then we headed to the YMCA to do a little rock climbing. They have a really nice climbing wall. I had never been so I was a little nervous.

It was a lot of fun. While I was on the wall, a young guy was chatting it up with Markham and asked if he and his "girlfriend" were here alone. HA! Markham told him I was his wife and we were celebrating our 9 year anniversary. He was stunned. When I got down there was a little 4 year old who was harnessed in and ready to try a climb. I mentioned we had a 4 year old too that would probably love to climb. The same kid said, You guys have a 4 year old? We said yeah we actually have 3 kids. He said "WOW that's a lot!" We got a good laugh out of that one. It was kinda nice. I guess we don't look that old yet. lol  

 

Afterwards, we went to the movie "Captain Phillips." The most intense movie we have ever seen -hands down. I was literally shaking in my seat. By the end I was so overcome with emotion I just lost it. I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one who did. Good movie. 

We spent our last evening walking around downtown sipping hot chocolate. It was so beautiful and perfect. Happy Anniversary Markham. Thanks for 9 awesome years. I love you!!

Fall Fun!

We went to the Pumpkin Walk and saw a lot of pumpkins! There were a billion it seemed with every kind of design you can imagine from traditional, to sports teams, to Duck Dynasty. There was even a Diet Coke pumpkin. Kaity's favorite was a Hello Kitty one and Jackson found Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc. After we looked at all the carved creations we sipped hot chocolate and watched a little Scooby Doo.

It inspired us to carve some of our own pumpkins

so we did

7 Years Old!

Kaity Paige is 7 years old!! She is growing up so fast. She loves school and learning Spanish. She is still dancing and LOVES it.  Her new favorite thing of late is cooking and baking- not sure where that came from. The Carroll side for sure. She is always eager to help in the kitchen with whatever I need. She is an awesome big sister to Jackson and Addie and helps me a lot. She is a very sensitive little girl and is always concerned about other's feelings. Kaity Paige is a beautiful little girl inside and out!

For her birthday Grandma and Grandpa came for the weekend and we had a lot of fun. Saturday morning, we went to the pumpkin patch and picked out our very own pumpkins.

 Afterwards, Kaitlyn wanted to go to fun center to go bowling, play arcades and bounce. 

Grandma blew us all away with her game. Who knew she was such a bowler!

After the kiddos had played their hearts out and had worked up an appetite. We headed home to meet the cousins. Kaity was super excited to play with Lincoln, Oakley and Parker. The theme this year was "make your own." Kaity LOVES to bake and decorate. She got a Fairy Cookbook and an adorable apron from Grandma Carroll that has already had some great use!!  For dinner the kiddos created their own "Mini Murph" pizza and were quite creative with their pepperoni placement.

Meanwhile the little girls spent some quality time together

Instead of a cake, Kaitlyn wanted to decorate cupcakes so I cut them loose on all sorts of frosting, sprinkles and candies.

Happy Birthday Kaity Pie! We Love You!

Kaity was so happy to have her cousin Parker there. They have been best friends since they were babies

Grandma and Addie

2 little hams

Thanks for coming everyone and for all the fun presents!  It was a party!!

"Ninja Turtle Nephite" and other funnies

Jackson's cute primary teachers gave him this headband that said "I can be honest." He proudly proclaimed "I am a Nephite" He loved his headband so much that he wore it all day. We came home and changed into our Sunday comfies, yet the headband stayed. Later he said "I am a Ninja Turtle Nephite!" We laughed. 

The other day while driving through construction -- I know that's super hard to believe in Utah. Ha!! The land of eternal road construction. Anyways, there were orange cones everywhere. I was doing my best to dodge them, while thinking of a good friend who told me that once she took out an entire row of those blasted things, yikes. I didn't want to do that. Jackson yelled from the back, "Watch out for those booby traps mom!!" 

Today I tuned on the tv to catch a little of "The Five" on Fox. I'm afraid I'm a Fox News junkie. Jackson moaned, "Grown-ups are boring."

Our Nebo Loop Experience

Last weekend Markham planned a day trip for us down to Nebo Loop. We had never been, and it broke my heart a little. It was so beautiful. We had such a great time we decided we must make it a Carroll family tradition and go back every fall.

It was a perfect fall day. After Jackson's soccer game in the morning, we headed down to Payson, which I thought was so charming and quaint. We stopped and had a picnic in the park next to the Peteetneet Museum. It's an old beautiful building and had me curious about what's inside. From the outside it looked worthy of discovery. Next time we'll have to plan some time to check it out.

After we finished lunch we made our way through Nebo Loop Scenic Byway. Absolutely gorgeous. It was fall leaf heaven. One of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

We asked the kids to tell us what colors they could see. We heard "Orange!" Red!" Green!" Yellow!!" with some intermingled "ooohs" and "aaahs" It made me smile. We made our way to Payson Lake to give the kiddos a chance to fish. To say they were excited would be a gross understatement. They were exhilarated.

Sentimental Mom Disclaimer: I took way too many picutures here, but I just couldn't help myself. I have sweet memories fishing with my Grandpa and wish I had a few pictures. So I made sure this day was well documented.

A little instruction from dad....

"let's get a chair...this could be a little while"

She caught one!!! So exciting!!

Addie and I just sat and took in the beautiful view

Jacks turn

"I think we got something!"

The kids had great success that day -they both caught a fish. We threw Jackson's back in. Kaitlyn caught a bigger fish and Markham wanted to keep it and cook it over the coals. I didn't realize my husband was such a survivor man. I thought the kiddos would be traumatized. They were a little sad, but I was the only one that had a hard time with it. I always feel bad for the fish. I took the kids back to the van while survivor man cleaned it.

We then made our way to a campsite to have a fire and eat. We were starving.

Markham got busy making the fire while Kaity and Jacks sipped hot chocolate and "explored" the campsite. We cooked up our tin foil dinners and Kaity's catch. We all had some. It was really yummy. Kaitlyn loved it. For dessert we had woof 'ems in lieu of smores. The kiddos didn't even miss those old school smores. Addie was such a good sport and only tired of it near the end. 

  
 

When we were sufficiently worn out and smelly, we packed it up and came home. After the sun went down it got pretty chilly. It's always a little shocking to me just how black the night gets in the mountains. I was grateful we weren't planning on sleeping out there, it kinda creeps me out.  Markham loves camping, me.... not so much. I think the "day camp" compromise is perfect.

Cheers to the 1st Annual Nebo Loop Trip!