Monster Cookies

Melissa was very brave and invited us all over to her condo's club house to make Monster Cookies Halloween day. Dad & Mom Beck, Jeff & Emily's family and us all came. My kids sure had fun playing with their cousins. Melissa has this really fun recipe that is made without any flour. It was a pretty sticky mixture, but worked awesome and tasted great. The kids were able to shape their cookie dough into whatever they wanted and cover it with many yummy toppings. Some kids definitely went overboard more than others:). While they were waiting for their cookie to cook, Melissa had some really fun Halloween music playing that they were all dancing to. They were having fun doing the bunny hop and just being silly. Some fun games were also played while they were waiting anxiously.

Carter & Cooper and below Parker & Alyssa (Parker pretty proud to be able to carry somebody almost bigger than him).
Carter, Ashlyn, Camille, Tanner, Cooper and Dad Beck (taking a nap:) while the kids were playing games.
Johnathan, Parker, Mom Beck & Cameron
Cute Alyssa with her cookie.
The yummy cookies baking in the oven.

Silly Bradley & Cadan. Bradley was closing his eyes for the pictures so Cadan decided to be silly and do the same.
Tanner with his yummy cookie.
These pictures are out of order. Some of the next pictures were taken upon arriving as the kids were creating their masterpieces.
Melissa helping Johnathan make his cookie.
Bradley was having a great time deciding what to put on his monster cookie.
Parker made a cute man.
Johnathan's hand creation.
Parker & Cooper
Carter & Parker making their cookies.
Bradley
Bradley & Parker enjoying the music especially "Purple People Eater."
The kids are all having fun doing the bunny hop.Melissa with all the crazy nieces and nephews. Thanks Melissa - we all had a great time!

After most had left, my kids were having a good time being silly doing flips and dancing. Camille caught some pretty funny video of Johnathan.

Gratitude

I am so far behind in my blogging right now that I have been depressed to add any new posts. I have, however, had so many thoughts floating around in my head that I had to write them down. I am extremely thankful for so many amazing things in my life right now. I have such an awesome husband, 6 amazing children, a beautiful house, wonderful neighborhood/ward, such great friends, awesome and such supportive family, Byron has such a great job with an absolutely amazing company, and the list can go on. I just don't understand how I can ever feel depressed or unloved when I see all that I truly have to be grateful for. I do, however, have the natural tendencies of man and find myself comparing myself with others, wanting things that I don't have, feel like I don't deserve all that I have in my life, feelings of inadequacy, and the list goes on unfortunately. I have been trying really hard to get these feelings to leave as quickly as they come, but that has been a trial in itself. I know that these feelings and thoughts are from Satan. He wants us to feel this way about ourselves because he knows how much potential we have and doesn't want us to amount to anything. He laughs when we tear ourselves down. He does not want the "family" to succeed and is trying everything in his power to do that. One way he is trying to make this happen is by making the wife/mother feel these feelings so she doesn't stand up to her true potential.

I have recently had a scripture add new meaning in my life. It is -- "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." - Ether 12:27 - This scripture has given me hope for all of those things that I struggle with. I know that I can overcome all these negative tendencies and become "strong" with the help of the Savior.

BYU game and Pre-Halloween Festivities

I am so far behind at blogging at this point I just need to do it. These pictures are a little out of order. Since we purchased 4 BYU season tickets this year I have had quite a few opportunities to attend BYU games. I was actually not planning on going to this game on Oct. 24th - TCU - but Byron told me it was going to be one of the biggest games of the season. Luckily Camille was nice enough to let me go instead and she was fine with the prospect of attending the Utah game in November since I switched her games.

Upon arriving at the pre-game, the weather was pretty bitter cold. The wind started to pick up and it became awful. We were lucky enough that this only lasted maybe 30 minutes then the wind subsided. We were able to see Lavell Edwards being interviewed on ESPN at the pre-game. It was cool to see him up so close.

Tanner and Carter were able to go with Byron & I. Carter had been wanting to get a cougar tail (12 inch donut) for as long as he heard his brothers and sister would be able to buy them at the games. So the first line of business was getting one for the boys to share. Here the boys are next to the field watching BYU players warm up.
Tanner & Carter enjoying their donut - it is massive!!!

Yum!

It started sprinkling during the game, so the rain gear was pulled out - we only had 2 rain ponchos, so Tanner & Carter got a garbage bag - Carter was so cute in his that I couldn't resist a picture.

Byron & I enjoying the game.

Tanner & Cooper had fun sitting next to each other.

Cooper & Jeff together.

We had a great time at the game even though BYU lost.

Byron was gone to LA for business the few days leading to Halloween. We had fun making carmel apples and using some extra chocolate to cover marshmallows. As you can see from the pictures - all were having a great time. Johnathan, Tanner, Carter, Bradley & Parker

Parker licking the yummy carmel spoon.

Johnathan was lucky enough to get the remaining chocolate. Doesn't his smile tell it all:).

Tanner and his messy face - it makes me laugh!

Bradley with Carter in the back.

Parker with his carmel apple.

In Bears, we made paper mache masks. Tyler Atwood and Johnathan were the only 2 that brought theirs to display at Pack Meeting. They both did a great job. Tyler made a really adorable pig and Johnathan made an Egyptian. It is so fun being with this age group - I love being a Bear Den Leader.

One morning in October I woke up to this beautiful sky - it was breathtaking.

Here we are back to carmel apple making. There are pictures that Camille took with her camera. It is fun to have 2 cameras around the house to get different perspectives and lots of pictures.

Here are the yummy carmel apples before the kids starting covering them with chocolate.

Johnathan dipping marshmallows in chocolate - definitely a family favorite when chocolate is involved.

Camille has a foods class at school - here is a really cool finger she made out of edible peanut butter mixture - looks pretty creapy if I do say so:).

Here are Bradley & I during the day at the end of October. We were experiencing our first snowfall of the year - which pretty much amounted to a skiff - but Bradley was looking out our back window watching it for so long. We finally decided to take some pictures and this one below is what we took.

I love this guy!!!

Camille performances

Camille started taking voice lessons at the beginning of September. She has LOVED it. I go to all of her lessons and enjoy just hearing what her teacher tells her and different techniques they learn. A couple of weeks ago the YW/YM in our ward did an talent show. Camille was quick to decide what she wanted to perform - one of the songs she had been practicing in voice - "On My Own" from Les Miserables. She did an amazing job. I don't know where this confidence comes from :). Thanks to Becki for recording it for me and Kelly Kunz for playing the piano.

Last night Camille had her first voice recital. She was lucky enough to be the first one on the list. She had 3 songs she sang in consecutive order - unfortunately for her she forgot the words for the last 2 songs in different spots, but once she remembered them she started singing with such amazing confidence. I will put the first song below called "It Was A Lover and His Lass." This song Camille absolutely hated from day one - I enjoyed hearing her sing different types of music, though. The second song is "God Help the Outcasts."

I love hearing Bradley walking through the house singing Camille's voice songs. We all get a good laugh out of him - he doesn't care what others think and is just his crazy self. Last night at Camille's performance, Bradley said 2 funny things I have to write about - Grandma Beck was holding Bradley on his lap entertaining him while his Uncle Michael sat next to them. Michael was pulling things out of his pockets to entertain Bradley with. He had pulled out his wallet and was letting Bradley look at some different things inside. Then he pulled out a comb and handed it to Bradley. Bradley looked at it and said, "Where did you get this, D.I.?" I do not know where he comes up with these things. Then on the way home Camille asked Bradley where his blanket was. He proceeded to say in a very confident voice, "I have no IDEA."

Toilet woes!!!

Bradley has been great at going to the bathroom pretty consistently for about 2 weeks now. He is awesome to go into the bathroom by himself without much assistance. It has been so nice to not deal with changing diapers. Yesterday he decided to have a little fun with the idea of going in the toilet. Before church he decided to stick his underwear into the toilet along with a ton of toilet paper and the cardboard roll. We found the mess right before church along with tons of water on the floor. I have never had a child do anything like this before - yikes!!! What was he thinking??? We still have a little bit of water on our carpet in our bedroom from his little prank. To top it off - last night before the kids went to bed they ran upstairs saying the bathroom downstairs was flooded. Sure enough little Bradley had stuffed paper cups into the toilet this time and created another mess.

None of my other children every did anything remotely like this - I sure hope he has had his fill and will stop playing in the toilet. I had heard about kids that would shove their toys and other things into the toilet, but guess we lucked out. The most we have ever had was too much toilet paper. This little guy is giving me a run for my money - like I don't already have enough to do without his messes:). Oh well - hopefully he doesn't try this trick again.

UEA Weekend FUN!!!

We always look forward to UEA weekend. This is the first long break since school started. I was so ready for the kids to be home for a 4 day weekend along with no homework and no waking up early.

OCT. 15 - MOVIE

We ended up going during the day to see "Aliens in the Attic." The kids really liked it. Bradley was pretty good to let me see most of it. I thought it was pretty cheesy, but there were no complaints from the kids at all.

CAMPFIRE

That evening we headed up into American Fork Canyon to enjoy dinner around a campfire. We got there around 6 p.m. just as the sun was starting to set. The cold set in and it felt awesome to be sitting around the fire together. We enjoyed roasting hot dogs, marshmallows and just spending time together. We had received quite a bit of rain the previous day, so most of the small sticks and twigs were pretty wet. It took us a while to finally get the fire started. All of the kids loved going around to gather sticks and helped in every way possible. We had luckily brought in our own logs which saved us. Tanner, Parker & Carter enjoying the river - the fall colors were just beautiful. Bradley roasting his hot dog - he didn't want help with most anything. His hot dog did get a little burned, but he didn't seem to care at all. Camille enjoying her dinner. The kids eating. Byron & the kids roasting marshmallows. After eating we had fun singing songs around the campfire. Luckily nobody was around us so the kids could sing to their heart's content. Above the children are singing "Tooty Ta."

Oct. 16 - TEMPLE SQUARE

Friday morning we headed up to Temple Square to enjoy the morning and also to see Melissa around lunchtime. We started out going to the Museum of Church History and Art. We stayed in there about one hour and didn't get to see everything. The first area we went to was where the death masks of Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith were. What an awesome experience to see what they looked like! The kids all had so many questions to ask.

Next we headed over to a replica of a boat the early converts would have come across the ocean in. They have bunks that were the same size as the actual beds these families lived in. One family was assigned one bed - 5 of my children enjoyed laying down sideways in one of them and said that they would be able to sleep that way - pretty tight and luckily there feet are hanging out.

Next we headed to the children's exhibit called "I am a Child of God." The kids enjoyed playing with beanbags, dressing up, and coloring. Bradley didn't want to leave - he loved having free reign of the entire area and not having to be in his stroller. The kids minus Bradley in front of the Salt Lake Temple. I love this picture. We were waiting by the reflection pool for Melissa when the boys sat down together. (Parker, Bradley & Carter) Once we met up with Melissa, we went up to her office so she could get some guest passes for us to eat lunch in the cafeteria. While in there we were surprised and lucky enough to see Sister Beck - the General Relief Society President. She usually doesn't come into work on Fridays, but decided to this particular day. Sister Beck is such an amazing woman! I felt honored and so fortunate to meet her in person. She took the time to talk with each of the children asking them what their name was and how old they were. Parker was so cute talking to her - he told her that him and Carter are identical. Sister Beck said, "What if I can tell you apart?" She remembered each child's name a few minutes later. She also asked if they had ever seen the candy closet? She took them into another room and let them each pick 2 pieces of top of the line chocolate. They all were loving this! Sister Beck made me laugh as she took two pieces and put them into her shirt pockets saying, "I am saving these for the way home." I couldn't let this moment pass without asking to take a picture with her. She graciously obliged and asked if we could take it in front of the Joseph Smith picture. What an amazing experience I will always remember. She had this glow about her that radiated with goodness. How lucky Melissa is to work with such an elect lady!

Upon heading over to the cafeteria, we had two other people stop us to ask Melissa who we were. I'm not sure I would ever get anything accomplished if I worked in this kind of environment. Everybody was so friendly and wanted to know everything about each child.

The cafeteria experience was fun - there were different areas for all of the different types of food. Luckily most of the kids got the same type - hamburgers, hot dogs, and grilled cheese. Camille chose a soup and roll. Their salad was delicious. The boys weren't cooperating with taking a picture, so this is what we get instead - silly kids!

Poor Melissa had Bradley looking at her salad more than his own food - she was so nice to share her peas with him.

We had such a great time visiting with Melissa - so fun for the kids to see their Aunt! Bradley can't get enough of her and was sad when we finally had to leave.

A kind lady took our picture together in front of the temple - the colors and flowers were so pretty!

Camille & I

The weather was in the 70's while there - so gorgeous and nice to be outside. We loved every minute among such a beautiful backdrop of the Temple!

Thanks Melissa for letting us come and visit you.

FISHING
After returning home, we quickly packed up and headed to Silver Lake with Byron. We took the truck so we could go up the 2 mile dirt road. The kids at first loved being able to all pile in the back, but soon found themselves not liking the closeness so much. They were all great sports, though. (above Carter, Parker, Johnathan & Tanner)

We invited Jeff, Emily & Family to join us. Jeff came with all of the kids - unfortunately Emily wasn't feeling well. After we finally got to the lake, the kids all loved being together and taking their turns fishing.
This huge rock was next to the restrooms - of course the kids couldn't keep off of it.

Parker & Carter

Johnathan & Cameron

Johnathan

Bradley

Cadan & Bradley enjoyed exploring. They found this cool red bug that they loved watching.

Byron with Carter & Camille

Tanner & Cooper fishing

Parker & Ashlyn

Cooper

Camille helping Alyssa fish

Camille caught the only fish - it was a good size trout. We ended up putting it back in the water before leaving.

We enjoyed having a picnic while up there. Once the sun went down, it started getting cold quickly. We had a great time, but decided to head out after being there about 1 1/2 hours since we didn't want to head down the dirt road in the dark. We will have to go again when we have more light hours to fish.

The rest of the UEA weekend was spent relaxing, watching the BYU football game, watching movies, family walks and enjoying the abnormally hot temperatures. I didn't want the weekend to end, but unfortunately had to send the kids back to school on Monday. Now if we can last until Thanksgiving Break :).