Parley's story....

Ever since my mom and dad left i have tried telling Parley about where they have gone and for how long and everything. He has mastered the story and i finally caught it on tape, i love it! and i think mom and dad will too! my favorite part is when he says, we miss em soo bad!

halloween parties...

We had 3 different Halloween Parties in the last 2 weeks. First my family has a tradition of having a halloween party and the kids all dress up and do a costume parade, then they go on a treasure hunt outside! It was perfect weather this year and the kids had a lot of fun, We had a yummy dinner at the Brown's and they did a great treasure hunt that Parley loved! Mom and Dad called while we were all there, so we all got to talk to them and see them on skype, it felt like they were in the room with us. Mom even said the prayer on the food, it was so sweet and so fun to hear mom's sweet prayers again!

Parley and Boston
Parley is a Pirate this year and has mastered the AAARRrrrgg matey!
Brigham is our sweet little pumpkin.
All the cousins, i don't know why this picture is so dark but it kind of makes me mad.
there was 5 pirates this year, this is everyone except samantha.


Then for my friends play group this month we did another costume party/ Tate's bday party! It was a lot of fun and jade had everything so cute, she worked hard!Parley was scaring all the little girls, sorry macie and mckayla!
some of my high school friends, i love these girls, Melissa, me, Nichole, jade, heidi
the cute bday boy and his mom that worked so hard on everything, thanks jade!
attempting a picture of all the kids, an impossible task.


Our last party was Family night with the Shupe's, and since their house is being remodeled we had the party here, it was a lot of fun, we had yummy pizza and salad. and had an fhe lesson, and played some fun games. then gma shupe had a little treasure for all the grandkids, i think my kids think halloween is everyday lately, they are going to be really sad when its all over ina couple of days, but i will be thrilled especially since i won't have to put their costumes on them again for another year!
Playing fun games and decorating ghosts and pumpkin cupcakes.
all the kids, another bad picture, bug!

Parley and Charlie, the pirates!

Pumpkin Patch...

A few weeks ago we went to the local pumpkin patch for family night with Heather and Kyle and charlie! it was a lot of fun. the boys loved the hay maze and loved picking out pumpkins and pulling the cart around.i love this time of year.

Ra Ra Ra Ra Ra Ra Ra GOOOOO Cougars!

This is just a shout out for the cougars big game tonight against TCU! It is also a shout out for my dad who is a true blue, diehard BYU fan, he has been a member of the cougar club since i can remember and i have many fond memories of attending the games every saturday or watching them on tv, or listening to them on the radio at my saturday soccer games. As you know my dad is now serving as mission president in the phillippines and doesn't get the opportunity to watch his cougars each week, and i know it has been hard for him but he also knows he is involved in a much more important work! But he does manage to call someone from my family at the end of each game to see what the score was even if it is 5:00 am in the philippines! We love you dad, thanks for raising us true blue! parley and brig have even caught on to the cougar spirit, Parley loves doing the ra ra cheer! and brig just claps for him! We think about you dad everytime we watch or listen to the games!

Brigham's walking....

So our little Brigham started taking off last week. He is at such a fun stage right now, i can't believe how big he is getting even though he is still very little.

CVM Mission Reunion..

Travis hosted a mission reunion this last weekend, he was so nervous about noone coming and wasn't sure how to get the word out, he actually had nightmares about it for 2 weeks, so i am glad it is over for his sake! But it turned out better than we all thought. Travis absolutely idolizes his mission president as i think all missionaries do, and we were lucky enough to go out to dinner with his mission pres and wife before the reunion started, so it was fun for me to get to know them better and so fun for travis to hang out with his mission pres again. We went to Lonestar with another missionary and his wife, it was a lot of fun. The reunion was at a church in west bountiful, and me and this other wife had to provide the desserts for it, it all turned out great. And the best part was that about 40 elders and sister showed up from the California Ventura mission, so travis and his mission pres were well pleased! We had a mini zone conf. as travis called it in the chapel and travis conducted, it was so fun to watch him, i could just picture him as a 20 year old missionary up there, all the elders and sister stould up and recited standard of truth and it was so cool to hear them, they all still had it memorized. It was awesome listening to pres. clarke and his wife as well, i have just as much reverence for them as travis does. I couldn't help thinking about my mom and dad in the phillippines and knowing that this is how their missionaries look to them, so cool!
all the elders and a few sisters. all their spouses were there too plus some kids, we had a full chapel, it was awesome.

us with pres. and sister clarke

"Damily Night"...

Parley can't say his F's right now, so for family he says damily, and for funny he says dunny, anyways the other day I bought a bag of plastic bugs for parley to play with, i was out of the room doing something and when i returned this is what i found on the couch, he then went on to tell me that they were having damily night, so cute, a little bit later each bug had one smartie next to it and he told me they were having damily night treat! i love this kid!

mission calls, baptisms, & primary programs...

Three of my favorite things all happened in one weekend!
#1. Mission call: My nephew James received his mission call on thursday last week and the whole family gathered at the wagstaff's to watch the event, plus all the wagstaffs which shockingly out numbers my family, plus all of james's friends, it was a full house! Mom and dad were even there on Skype, which was awesome, they had some of their missionaries sing called to serve to james! Angie had some maps up and we all had to take a guess of where we thought he would go! angie even fed us all pizza, salad and brownies! I decided that this is seriously one of my favorite things to watch, i love the spirit that is in these young boys and i love to see their faces as they see for the first time where they are going to spend the next 2 years of their lives, i love to see them know that that is exactly where the Lord wants them to go!I love to see their eyes fill up with tears of joy and sometimes fright :)! This is the oldest grandson in my family so it was so much fun to watch this and now it is going to be so awesome to watch him in the next 2 years! James is probably the most righteous 18 year old that i will ever know, i can just hope and pray that my boys will follow his example! We love you james, Good luck!
Oh and he was called to serve in the Bogota, Colombia mission Leaving Dec. 19, one week before christmas! wow!!
James talking to mom and dad on skype! technology is amazing!
Standing with his dad!
he was so nervous, and shaking so bad he could barely open the envelope.


#2. Baptism: On saturday my family all got together again to witness my niece Alivia be baptized. I decided again that this is another one of my favorite things to watch! i love the spirit of these little children as they enter the waters of baptism. and then to watch their dads or whoever perform such a sacred ordinance! i love to see the light in their eyes when they come out of the water! it always reminds me of my own baptism! i always seem to be very emotional at baptisms and i am not quite sure why but this one was no exception, i was asked to say the closing prayer and barely made it through it, i am blaming most of the emotions on my pregnancy and i have decided to blame the other part of them on me missing my parents really bad!! particularly my mom! WE sure missed them at these big events in our family but could feel their spirit!We are proud of you alivia, thanks for being a great example to our family!

#3. Primary Program: On Sunday it was our wards primary program, another favorite for me, always has been!i always look forward to this sacrament meeting! i love the spirit of all those kids and to see them wave at their families and to see all the grandparents in the audience and to go over the meeting by 30 minutes! I love the simpleness of all the songs and all the parts that they work so hard on. Their first song was I am a child of God, and as they started singing it, Parley perked right up and gave them his full attention, he then started singing along quite loudly! It was the sweetest thing and just brought tears to my eyes (pregnancy again) !