Pizza and Candy

OK, so this is Mike signing in. I know that there aren't too many entries on here from me but I thought this was pretty funny last night and I thought who could better appreciate it than all our friends. We went to our ward trunk-or-treat last night (I am sure there will pictures on here at some future date). After the ward party we were on our way home and Summer suggested that we stop by and get some fast food so that she wouldn't have to cook anything because it was late. So we stopped at Papa John's for pizza and while they were making the pizza the kids were bugging us to eat all their candy. Well Summer turned around and with a dead straight face says "No, your going to get sick to your stomachs. You can't have any candy until after you eat some pizza." I don't think she even realized how funny it was until after she said it. Those of you who have kids will appriciate the paradox of trying to do the right thing for you kids and not always having enough energy or time in the day to do things the way you really wanted to. Anyhow I just thought that was funny.

And, since I probably won't weigh in on this blog again for another 6 months to a year; I just want to say how wonderful I think Summer is. After being married to her for 8 years I know better than anybody how great she is. Not just for me but for our kids as well. I love you Summer.

Our Summer in a Nutshell...

Well, here are some of our end of summer pictures, we are missing a few but I will post those later. We are sad that it is over, but very excited for the fall and winter seasons. I love it when it gets cool enough to put on a little sweater and feel the chill in the air. Being in California we don't see the leaves change very much (which makes me sad) or watch the snow fall at Christmas time, but we do love that it is always warm. I love this time of year with all of the Holidays and can't wait to pull an all nighter for the after Thanksgiving sales!(yes, I know I'm crazy but it is sooo fun you should try it!!!) I'm a sucker for a good deal!

This slide show is kind of long, but I hope you enjoy it!!

Grandma Carrie Jaqueline Martin

This summer my Grandma Martin passed away and I wanted to share the video I made for her funeral with all of you. It is about 10 minutes long.
How to view the video:
To view the video you'll first want to scroll down this page about halfway and and on the right hand side you will see my music, click on the pause button for my music. Next, come back to this section and click on the play button twice- if you don't pause my music first you will not be able to hear the music on the video because they will both be playing.
Grandma Martin has been greatly missed by her family and friends, but it is very comforting to know that she has been reunited with Grandpa and all of her family. She was the last of her siblings to go and all she ever talked about was the love of her life-Heber. We are so lucky to be members of the gospel and know that we are families forever. I hope you enjoy the video.

A trip to Gavalin Hills

We love going to Gavalin Hills! Last week Brigham had an early out day so we headed out to Gavalin Hills when he got home. On the way I had to stop by Todd and Kristen's House and we decided to take Kate with us. My boys love Kate, last week they had a fight over who Kate loved more! My mom and Dad are so great with the kids and my boys just love going to see grandma and papa. There are all sorts of adventures on their 5 acres, swings, slides, frogs, bugs and a whole lot of dirt! Paul was really funny though, he followed my dad around the whole day!! I think my dad must have had chocolate hidden in his pockets or something.


Kate and her boys (see how happy they are)


Grandmas are great!


Paul loves to swing.


He also loved this little picnic table my parents
bought. He sat there and ate better than he has
all year!! I told my mom I need to buy one now...
he thinks he's such a big boy!!!


Funny Boy...He is always laughing or smiling!


Paul and Grandpa eating lunch together...Too cute!

A Fun Family Home Evening

Tonight was a really fun night. We invited 2 other families over for a BBQ/ FHE. We started with the best food!! There is a mexican market close by and you can get the best marinated chicken, beans and rice there!! So we BBQ'd the chicken and and ate first, then we had a short lesson out of the Friend magazine. Next, the dads took the boys on a bug hunt. We turned off all the light and gave them flashlights and they searched for gummy bugs in the backyard. They had lots of fun with it, and the moms had a moment of piece and quiet(which is pretty hard to come by these days). When they were done with the bug hunt the kids decorated cupcakes which gave the adults some time to chat. I love getting together with friends, we had a such a good time.


YUMMY FOOD!


Brigham, Cooper and Carter decorating cupcakes.


Joseph decorating cupcakes.


Nathan decorating cupcakes


Paul and Savannah...babies are sooo cute!

Our 8th Anniversary Weekend

About a month ago Mike asked me what I wanted to do for our anniversary and I told him to just surprise me.....well he surprised me alright!!! What an amazing weekend! Mike arranged for his sister Lara and brother Paul to watch the kids for the weekend. Everything was a secret so I had no idea where we were going. We left our house Friday afternoon and went to the 3rd street Promenade in Santa Monica and did some shopping and ate dinner. From there Mike took me to an awesome hotel overlooking the ocean.


This was our hotel room.....

And this was our view!!

After we unpacked we went to the Pantageous

Theatre in LA and saw...


Wicked!!! It was amazing! I told Mike about 4
months ago that I wanted to see it and he told me
you had to buy ticket a year in advance, so I had
no idea until we pulled up to the theatre. If you
haven't seen this yet you have too!! It was great!


The next day we slept in until about 11:00
and then headed to the Pier for a nice long walk.
This is us at the end of the Peir.


We went to lunch at Joe's Crab Shack and got
front row seats to the Ocean. On our way home
we stopped by the Santa Anita Mall and bought
each of the boys a little toy so they would know
we were thinking of them while we were gone.
We had such a great time and it was so nice to
get away for the night and just spend time alone.
Mike did such a great job planning an amazing
anniversary weekend!