Notable Quote...

It's not such a "cute" quote because it's so hard to explain...but Ammon and I keep chuckling about it and I really want to remember it.
Cooper was playing with a Star Wars game that Ammon has.  You press buttons and it plays Star Wars sounds.  Cooper hit the button that played the sound of Darth Vader breathing.  In and out, nothing else.  Cooper's face lights up and he exclaims "it said coooo-perrrr."  Now he wants to hear Darth Vader breath all the time.
We wonder if we show him a video of Darth Vader breathing his name if he will be excited or scarred for life.

Good Arm Kid

Whenever you say, "No, no Cooper, give that to me." or "That's not a toy." or "Please put that down." his knee jerk reation is to throw it.  HARD. As you can imagine, the results are...not good.  We've had instances with a pool ball, many a cereal bowl, make up, car keys, any number of toys...and this doozy:

Isla's cute pink piggy bank that played "It's a Small World" when you inserted a coin. RIP.

Halloweentown

Of course we always have to start the season off with a visit to the "pumpkin patch"...er...or mall parking lot with a few bales of hay, some scattered pumpkins and unbelievably overpriced carnival rides.

 

Of course we all loved Ward Party. It was fun for the kids, but Ammon and I also had fun entering our chili's (yes, we each made our own) in the chili cook off.  (We were robbed.) Campbell actually started sampling the chili and has been begging for more!  A new convert!
But, of course, it was mostly about the kids.

Soldier Madsen:

 

Pirate Cooper:

 

(Pirate Cooper was fights...well, someone else with a sword):

 

Fairy Princess Isla:

 

And candy, candy, candy:

 

Then there was school Halloween fun.

 

Isla's preschool Halloween parade (she wore a different dress and hairstyle for every event.)

 

Isla and her best friend Spiderman singing the Halloween song for all of the family members:

 

 

And Campbell also had a school costume parade...of course he displayed a little less "deer in the headlights" than Isla and a little more "2nd Grade Smarty Pants":

 

Campbell's 2nd Grade Class:

 

And FINALLY...the big night.  I couldn't resist making some spooky food.  Here we have the delicious Mr. Bones and a bowl of breadstick fingers just trying to get away.  They were a big hit!

 

Are these some excited faces or what?:

Hello...we're WAY too excited to pose for a picture!:

 

And off they go.:

It was especially exciting to actually have a neighborhood to trick or treat in!  Cooper was the leader this year with the quickest and loudest "trick or treat".  Campbell threw everyone off by using his backback as a candy bag.  After we had been out roaming the neighborhood a while I looked and Isla and realized that we forgot her wings.  She just happily said, "It's ok, I'm just a regular princess today." 

Cute (?!?) Quote

As Isla and Cooper were playing together the other day, Isla repeatedly insisted that he call her "Mommy." Curious, I asked her what they were playing.  She barely glanced at me as she casually said, "We're pretending that you're dead."

And a Wedding!

Of course the big event was my Mom's wedding!  And get married she did!  The ceremony was in the backyard and a quite warm August afternoon.

 

 

Here are Mom & Danny welcoming the guests.  They look pretty happy.

 

Mom giving Campbell a big hug.

 

And Cooper ran right into Danny arms (who he just on his own started calling Grandpa).

 

Ammon watched the kids all day so that I could spend the day helping with decor - mostly helping my Aunt Mary make these (and many many more) beautiful floral arrangements. 

 

Isla was most impressed with the lemonade bar.

 

Cooper with the rolls.

I was really excited that she chose the same caterers who catered my wedding reception...which was also in my Mom's back yard.  So Ammon and I got to relive a little of our own wedding.

 

Now my Mom & Danny seem very happy and we're very excited for them! (Well, excited for you, Mom...I know you're my most regular reader.)

And then there was August

We started August with a visit from Auntie Bethany...and decided to brave the 100+ degree weather at the LA Zoo (craaaazeeee...oh, wait, it was my idea.)  We also watched A LOT of Olympics.

 

 

Of course we enjoyed general horsing around and playing house.

 

And lots of time at the beach.  Especially with visitors.  Here is Isla with cousin Sydney (well, 2nd cousin? I'm not sure.  She's my cousin's daughter...what does that make them?)

 

And actual cousin Annie.  (Somehow I didn't get many pics of our week with the Shepperts!)

 

We did have a HUGE event before we left for Utah...but that's another post.  So then we went to UTAH!  Here Grandma whipped out new dresses for Isla and Kenzie (according Isla's exact choices). 

 

And we all pretended to camp by roasting marshmallows in the back yard.

 

Campbell was reunited with Grandma's awesome K'Nex collection.

 

And we went on a bug hunt...a BIG success!

 

We did SOOOO many more things...but, alas, we had left our camera at my Mom's house and these were the only pics we thought to snap on our phones.

 

We were there for sweet baby Tate's blessing and got this great pic of all of the (current...we're expecting 2 more cousins pretty soon!) Madsen cousins.

 

 

Then we had to pack up the van and wave goodbye.  They look happy...but they were really bummed. Isla kept saying the whole trip, "This is a GREAT vacation!"

 

 

 

Summer Extravaganza p.1

We did so many fun things this summer that it would just be a shame not to post darling pics or at least aknowledge them.  For some reason I stopped posting with Campbell's birthday...which, of course, was the very beginning of July.  I have a lot of catch-up to do!


First things first...SWIM LESSONS.  Especially now that we have a pool!  Isla had a few rough days, but graduated with flying colors and is now swimming on her own!

Of course Campbell was already a great swimmer...but now he can do the crawl and back & front floats.

 

After swim classes were over they each got to choose a special summer class.  For Campbell is was Lego Camp (and he really actually learned some engineering concepts!):

 

 

Isla chose ballet &tap.  Oh it is too cute!

 

And, of course, all along the way we had some fun in the backyard.  Here are some great action water balloon fight shots.