WE WON THE RACE!!!

Friday evening after a long day at school for Katie and a long dentist appointment for all of us, we went to the BMW Fun Run/walk (2 miler). It was really cool to be there all together as a family. You can see Taylor warming up for the race in that huge puddle and Katie pouting because we wouldn't let her play in it in her tennis shoes before the race. I pushed Taylor and Sophie in the jogger and Katie rode most of the time on Craig's back. I was really annoyed that she couldn't even walk that far, but at the mile and a half mark, she bucked up, got down and started running! We ran all the way to the finish line! It was so great! She was so thrilled and completely convinced that we had won the race (and to me we had). The kids got ribbons and they had wonderful snacks and then the BMW Performance Drivers got out on the track and started racing the cars. People who won the raffle got to ride in the cars. It was really a wonderful experience and I'm so glad we went!

School Carnival

Last weekend we went to the school carnival. It pretty fun, all things considered. I took those brownies (they are sooooo good, the ganache really makes them! To find the recipe go to the Bakarella blog that is linked on ours and search for "Thank you Betty". Super easy and soooo good). I volunteered in that needle in a haystack game for half and hour. Craig took the kids to ride rides. We got some chickfila there. I had pre-ordered our tickets and when they were gone we were done. Fairly painless overall. Every year they hold this Carnival to raise money for the landscaping (who ever heard of a school built WITHOUT grass put in??? WEIRD!) but landscaping never shows up. Craig has a theory that somebody is buying a different sort of "grass" with the money. The only hang up is that the lady in charge of this PTA sponsored school carnival is in the Stake YW and works pretty closely with Craig. Very unlikely that any sort of underhanded things are going on there.

Just another day in paradise

Well, it doesn't always feel like paradise, but today went quite well! I'm including pix of Taylor in his Halloween costume, I found the mask and gloves at the dollar section at Target! too fabulous! Let's hope they make it to Halloween. Katie had school picture day. Last year she didn't turn in the money to her teacher so we didn't get her school picture so I'm taking a backup, just in case. Look how cute and beautiful she is! I love the new hole in her smile. Also there is a pic of Sophie in her chair. She scrunches up her nose and giggles and snorts at us! What a cute baby! I'm not really sad to see her grow up (almost 9 months) but I am sad that perhaps some of her sweetness will wear off. (Taylor's has more than a little, maybe it'll come back someday. I love him, but he's a major know-it-all right now. I'll probably never be right about anything again until after he's got kids of his own). Also I'm loading a video of Sophie eating. She "chews" all her baby food! Too funny!

Put him in a body bag Johnny! (and Pooh in her pants)

I was soooo excited about the sale that Gymboree ran on their halloween skeleton jammies, down to $10 and then I had a 20% coupon! Anyhow, Taylor wants to be a skeleton for Halloween so his was an even better deal because it's jammies and a costume (Sophie's maybe too). Anyhow, they are so cute and I had them all put them on this morning and then all those skeletons reminded me of Karate kid and that part where all the bad kids are dressed up like skeletons and they chase Daniel down and beat him up. That's not the part where they say "put him in a body bag Johnny!", that doesn't come until the competition at the end.
Then later today, Katie put that Pooh bear in Sophie's fabulous stretch pants (I can't get enough of that girl in stretch pants, sooooo cute) and I got a good laugh about Sophie having "Pooh in her pants"! HA! Why did they name that bear "Pooh"? Just too funny! I guess you could say she has "Poohy" pants! See? It just never gets old!!! HA! HA! HA! (I know you're all rolling your eyes, but at least Craig and I are laughing!).

Happy Labor Day!

As you can see from the pix, Katie's front tooth got so wiggly that it was sticking out all funny today. Later after the parade when we got home Craig flicked it out! Katie even decided to give it to the tooth fairy! That's a first for her!
We had a great Labor day! It started with a free breakfast at the ward Labor Day breakfast, then the whole family wore their BYU t's to Chickfila for free sandwiches with the Eichhorns and then on to Hendersonville for the Annual Apple Festival. It was much more enjoyable this year without horrible humidity and without being pregnant! We got those Apple Beignets that I fell in love with last year and the kids got ice cream (Taylor got a snow cone). The parade was fun. I included a pic of the Confederate Soldiers. That part is always funny to include to me, being such a Yankee, but I guess they were fighting for the country down here. Seeing all those veterans in uniform always makes me tear up (well, only since I had kids and cry about stuff). Poor Stella did most decidedly NOT love all the noise of the parade. Luckily for us, Sophie is already used to all that blessed noise thanks to Katie and more especially Taylor. That kid never stops making noise!!! Thankfully he did quite crying after being there for a while. He is such a whiny pants sometimes! It drives me NUTS! Thanks for another fabulous Labor Day outing Eichhorns!

Happy Birthday Craiggle!

Friday was Craig's birthday and we had such high hopes for a great relaxing day spent together. Unfortunately, he missed his flight out of Cincinnati and so instead of getting home at 12:30 and spending the afternoon together he was stuck at the airport for 5 hours and arrived in Greenville at 6pm. I was just glad that he'd be home that day. The kids and I went to the airport with balloons to surprise him, unfortunately, somehow we missed him and by the time I got him on the phone he was half way home. We met him at home, but it was all decorated and the kabobs were ready for the grill so the party was ready to begin. The "earthquake" cake was another disappointing part of the day, but it did taste good. I guess it just was too warm in the house and the cake started to split and melt! Ooops! The expression on Sophie's face in the pic is pretty priceless though! Thanks for everybody's phone calls and to those who went in on the golf club. He's excited to go out tomorrow and find the one he wants. Also thanks to Derek and Rachael for that t-shirt! So Fabulous!

Metta and Clair's Wedding Weekend

Holy ton of pictures, I know. I had so much fun this past weekend and didn't want to cut out any of the pix I took.
I flew in to SLC on Thursday at 4pm, rented a car and made the drive down to Provo. Sophie was an amazing traveling companion. I even got to read a magazine, take a nap and watch the in flight movie "My Life in Ruins". Hailey and I hung out for a little bit and then went up to Alpine to have a wonderful pedicure night with the aunties and cousins. I had such a blast! It was so great to see everybody and hang out at Annie's house. We had fun bride flip flops for Metta too. Oh, also I think that Laney should know that Hailey and I did change out the foot bath water between each of us NOT just after her (later at Hailey's house). The cousins who did not made their own choice! :>
Metta and Clair Semrad got sealed in the Mt. Timp temple on Sat Aug. 29th at 10am. It was so wonderful to be there. I really appreciated the calm of being in the temple and was able to feel strongly that our Grandma Howell was present or at least aware of the ordinance. It was a wonderful experience for me (and I'm sure everybody else). I'm so grateful to Steve's mom, Adele for watching Sophie for me during the sealing.
The luncheon was such a party! The food was fabulous. What I wouldn't do for another plate of that Los Hermanos followed by Laney's Costco cookies right now! It was so fun to hang out with my parents, Hailey, and all my cousins.
That night the reception was at Thanksgiving Point in the Hidden waterfall area. Coincidentally, Craig and I had our engagement pix taken there. It was the most perfect evening. I'm so glad that I could be there. Sadly, Sunday morning came too early. I had to be up at 4am to make my 7am flight home. Sophie and I are just now recovering from the lack of sleep, but it was all worth it! Congrats to Metta and Clair! 5 days down, Eternity to go!