Halloween & Random

We didn't get to go to Childress this year for Halloween (and Bryson reminded me multiple times how sad he was about that) but we still had a lot of fun spending it here with friends. I thought i was going to be ambitious this year and actually have the whole family dress up in a matching theme..ya, that didn't happen! I couldn't convince Bryson to go along with anything so we ended up with a ninja turtle, a little monster, and Isaac and I didn't dress up at all..I know, lame.




We went to the trunk-or-treat at our church Saturday night and the boys enjoyed seeing all their friends, getting candy, and giving it out too.







Some of our good friends invited us over Halloween night to eat, hang out, trick-or-treat, and pass out candy. It was a blast!




Before halloween we watched some of our friends' kids while they went out on dates and the kids decided to put on a concert on the fireplace. It was hilarious! Notice Bryson's intensity and concentration playing that guitar...

Trips and Crazy Boys!

Last month we had the amazing opportunity to go to St. George, UT to see my little brother, Nephi, be sealed to his wife, Lindsy, and their two adorable boys, Owen and Kyron in the St. George temple and to also be there for Kyron's baby blessing. The sealing, reception, and baby blessing were all amazing and we just enjoyed every minute of the trip spending time with family, eating way too much good food, and just having fun! Uncle Talo, Aunt Donna, and three of their kids were also able to join us as well as our cousin, Owen, who had just moved to Utah, from Samoa, about 3 weeks before. He did some Samoan cultural dances for everyone and taught the little boys the "haka" which they all loved! I was actually really horrible at taking pictures this trip so here are just random ones I got.


Cousin Time! These boys were inseparable the whole time!



We rented a beautiful vacation home there and one of the favorite things for the kids was the big backyard and all the fun outside toys to play with. These boys stayed outside forever!



That is what we spent most of our time doing-just lounging, visiting, and stuffing our faces with delicious food! Our family is good at that! :)



My cousin, Owen, giving a Samoan congratulatory speech to my brother and his family and then him and my nephews doing the haka. They were awesome!

We really enjoyed our trip to St. George and were so glad we could be there for Nephi and Lindsy and their family. After St. George, we took a weekend trip to Childress for Labor Day and had a blast there as well! The kids just played like crazy and really enjoyed getting to go play and ride horses out at Mandi's parents' place.







We were in Childress for BYU's first game of the season and enjoyed the victory! Go Cougars!

Unfortunately, the following 2 games were not so good! Isaac and I went to the BYU vs UT game in Austin with friends. It was awesome except for losing and all the college kids flipping us the bird, yelling FU, and mormons suck! Super impressed with the high-class of those UT students...wow. I have to say, I had to suppress my urge to punch some faces and snap some necks! Yes, I'm a nice person..just have little tolerance for annoyingly rude people especially when I'm angry over sports! Sorry for scaring you Jen! I went with my friend, Jen, and I think I scared her a little because she's never experienced that mean side of me. Those of you who know me well understand what losing in sports competitions does to me!:) That being said...we won't even talk about the Utah game. Moving on.

Some random pics of my boys lately-









The pic of the boys with blankets tied around their necks is them playing superheroes. Yes, I'm too cheap to buy them real costumes but who needs them when you have baby blankets!:)

What we've been up to...

Well, as usual, I've let too long go by without updating the blog so here it goes! The last couple of months have been pretty busy. First of all, we moved into our house here 1 yr ago the end of May and have done quite a few projects to it to update it. Isaac had already painted almost every wall in the house and tiled the kitchen floor. Just recently, he tiled the entryway and laundry room to match the kitchen, we had new carpet laid in the entire house, granite countertops installed, and Isaac put in a tumbled marble backsplash..ya, lots of changes and we're loving it! It didn't come without a lot of work on Isaac's part and I appreciate all his hard work! He always teases me that I married him for the free construction labor..we'll just say it is a nice bonus in a husband! ;)

Isaac working hard..this was a VERY messy job! He had to use a chipping hammer to break up the old tile in the entryway before he could lay the new stuff. We had sharp tile pieces flying all the way across the house. Isaac's arms got all cut up and we found chips in our walls where the tile pieces hit them. Luckily a good friend watched our boys for us so they were out of harm's way!


Our floor after tearing up the old carpet..


The new entryway and carpet..


So, we are not completely done with our kitchen yet but very close! We just have to paint the base trim and finish grouting the backsplash but here are some before and after pics.

Kitchen Before..


Kitchen After..




And a close-up of the beautiful backsplash Isaac did!


Well, other than working on the house, we were busy last month with traveling. Isaac drove a moving truck to Montana for some good friends of ours and decided to turn the trip into a guys' weekend. He picked up our brother-in-law, Billy, in Childress and then my brother, Lehi, in Denver, on the way. They had a lot of fun but were definitely sleep-deprived and exhausted when they got back. I went up to Childress and just had fun visiting my family and playing while he was gone. Then this month, we decided it has been far too long since we attended the temple together and decided to make a trip to Dallas to do so and visit some good friends from college at the same time. We really enjoyed our time at the temple and loved getting to see Phill and Jenny again and meet their cute litte boy, Alex. The only damper of the whole day was our car getting broken into and burglarized!!! Our car was parked right outside our friends' apartment (a gated apartment complex) and it was broad daylight with people coming and going. Apparently, some ittle thug decided to bust out our driver side window and steal our GPS and Isaac's work phone then actually had the audacity to answer the phone when Isaac called it...what the..?!!! Initial reaction was totatl anger and just wanting to find the little jerk and shatter his teeth like he did our window (yes, I have a little meanness in me for those who don't know me well), but I am just grateful we are all safe and they really got away with minimal stuff. The most annoying part was having to drive the 2 hrs home without a window and having to pay to replace it. It's all good now, though, and I'm working on forgiveness! :)

Other than that, the only other significant event was Isaac and my 7th anniversary! We were married July 24, 2004 and can't believe it's been that long already! Some of our good friends here watched the boys for us so we could at least go out on a date and enjoy dinner. We went to Pignettis Italian Restaurant and it was delicious! Isaac's a really amazing man and I feel very blessed to have such a wonderful husband and father to my children. We are looking forward to many more anniversaries to come! Speaking of my children, here are just some random pics of the boys. They are both very rambunctious boys and keep us constantly entertained!

Family Pictures

So, after almost 3 years we finally got professional family pictures taken. Since the pictures on our walls are of Bryson when he was 8 months old and we still have none of Jaiton up (I know..sad), I decided it was time! A friend of mine is a photographer and took them for us. It was definitely fun trying to get the boys to cooperate but we came out with a few good ones. Just wanted to share some!