November

THE ROYALS WON THE WORLD SERIES!

Schools were cancelled.  Stores closed.  David was scheduled for work but came home because no patients showed up.  850,000+ people showed up downtown to watch the victory parade and rally and endured no bathrooms, food or water, and cold weather for hours to celebrate.  Dicks looked like Black Friday with all the people eager to buy world series clothes.  With Mason out of school, we invited some friends over for a victory lunch (the kids were excited to make blue cupcakes) and watch the parade on TV.

Sweet Ann turned two!

Kate really wanted to throw Annie a rainbow-themed party, and she was such a good helper for party planning!  Kate helped me make cupcakes, decorate, make dinner, paint Annie's nails, and make the pinata.  She was so eager and excited for Annie's birthday that she had a really hard time letting Ann blow out her own candles, haha.  Kate just wanted to host the whole night!

David had some friends come visit for the BYU-Mizzou game and Bryce brought two of his boys--the kids had a great time with live-in buddies for a few days!

Thanksgiving
With Mason out of school and David a few days off work (and me not wanting to cook a big Thanksgiving dinner), we wanted to go somewhere fun with the kids.  We chose Branson, MO.  We were warned the traffic would be a nightmare so we chose a fun hotel that had a indoor water park, some shows, a buffet, an arcade, miniature golf, and a bunk bed private clubroom to sleep in.  We spent most of our 3 days there at the hotel, and only left to go see two shows: Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede and Jonah (and the Whale)--both were amazing.

 

The hotel's Buffet

Hotel's arcade and miniature golf

The Dixie Stampede!

Jonah

Lights exhibit we drove through on our way out of Branson

I've been going to playdates with the girls on Wednesday mornings and one week we went to the zoo.  I haven't been there forever and we had a good time.

    

October

This is in no particular order....

Halloween

Below: kids dressed up for the porch crawl with our neighborhood.  K, A and I were Halloween-ed out on actual Halloween and they watched a movie downstairs while I read a book and gave candy to the 5 trick or treaters we had (there was a Royals game on). David took Mason out trick-or-treating for a little bit.

 My dad had an agricultural convention at the end of the month and he and my mom stayed with us for a few days.  Fun timing to get to do pumpkins and pizza/root-beer with dry ice for dinner!

 Our family costumes for our ward's trunk-or-treat.  

Mason's last soccer game!  He has sure enjoyed doing this.  His favorite part was getting goals.

David's parents and sister came to visit during October!  We did a Royal's playoff game, Worlds of Fun, a few museums, and just ate good food and spent time together.

 General Conference was the first weekend of October.  I didn't even try to have the kids watch on Saturday, but on Sunday I tried to have some fun games and treats during the sessions and it went okay!  I LOVED CONFERENCE--maybe I was just in a drought and really needed to hear some of those messages, or maybe I was just pregnant-emotional, but I really enjoyed listening/watching.

I am so grateful for our sweet neighbor's pets that my kids can enjoy!

Raking Leaves--a hit!  I had to rake one specifically for Kate, and M and A played in another one, haha.

One Friday Mason had school off so I took the kids to a pumpkin patch and we went on a hayride, saw some farm animals, played on tractors and in corn bins, and just had a great time.

September

Baptism for Ikey

Mason and I had such a great time flying out to Idaho to see family and see Isaac get baptized!  We are so proud of him.  I did horrible with taking pictures and only got this one of my dad setting up lunch afterwards making sure we could watch the BYU game afterwards.  The following pictures are what David did with the girls while we were gone--they had a good time, too!

New York trip

Red bus tours. We were so tired from traveling early in the morning we both fell asleep off-and-on through the tour.

Times Square

Temple 

St. Patricks Cathedral.  I thought it was fascinating to see the renovation of such a gorgeous building.  They were getting it ready in anticipation of the Pope's visit (which we missed by two days!).  We were able to step inside and quietly listen during a mass on Sunday and I really enjoyed listening to the organ music.  Beautiful acoustics.  

 

 Getting used to riding on all the public transportation

 

Central park

Mets VS Yankees game

MoMA and Metropolitan Museum

 

Rockefeller Center--we tried getting tickets to the Jimmy Fallon Tonight Show, but the closest we got was getting "The Tonight Dough" from the Ben and Jerry's there.

 

Little Italy (cronuts.... yum)


 Trinity Church near World Trade Centers

 

Freedom Tower and 9/11 Museum

Pier 1 Harbor

 

Central Station (ceiling)

 

We got some bikes and rode across the Brooklyn Bridge

Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island

 39 Steps, Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, and Finding Neverland

Dominique Bakery in Soho and eating lunch with cousin Jane.

We had such a great time (besides that one time I started to cry in Chelsea because we were riding bikes through the neighborhood and I got lost and our phones were dying and I am hormonal).  All the food was delicious, and we got to spend a few days with David's friends.  We would love to do another visit!

THANK YOU MOM for making this trip possible by watching our kids!  

Thanks Dad and Grandma for coming out for a few days, too! 

Mason started soccer--his team wins every game and he can't get enough of it.

   Worlds of Fun during The Haunt