Goodson Rec Halloween Spooktacular

Brook's preschool had a big shindig and Brook was dying to go, so we made it a family event. The girls got all gussied up in their costumes.

Brook is a Barbie Princess

Your nails and pearls are gorgeous!

Ellie is Tinkerbell, complete with pixie dust

What a sass face!

What beautiful wings!

They had a fun jungle gym area set up the kids had a blast in

Ellie was pretty good at the carnival games:

We luckily ran into Brook's good friend, Clara- aren't they precious!

It was a fun night and I'm glad we got to go enjoy it!

Halloween Traditions

It's been a tradition in the Smith family for several years to go to Gran and Neenaw's house and make caramel apples with Neenaw. We open hundreds of Kraft caramels, melt them in a big pot, and get dipping! This is one tradition we sure love to carry on!

(Jenna, I like how it looks like you have a mustache in this picture)

Ellie had to sample the caramel... she said it was good.

Caramel Apple Power Up! These girls are so funny.

We decided since we were already knee deep in Halloween traditions that we should carve our pumpkins while we had the time.

Hard at work!

Brook designed this kitty all by herself :) 

Aunt Jenna cut- she did a pretty good job keeping it to the sketch. That's why she's an artist. Brook just wanted more scars.

Twelve Weeks

I feel large and these are probably why :). Homemade Carino's Italian nachos are the BEST!

Saturday Haps

After the race, we headed to the church to set up for the Bowles Grove Ward Harvest Festival. As ward enrichment leader (or RS Meeting Chair), I was in charge of it. Thankfully, the 2nd counselor in the ward was SO helpful! She really put the event together. I was so grateful to have all her help and help from my board members. After we decorated, Ben decided today was the day to buy new tires for the 4Runner. We have lots of traveling planned this winter, so we decided it best to keep the tires in good condition. Les Schwab is the best.

We barely made it home to change and back to the church before the party got started. It was a lot of fun. We had a chili cook off with over 20 entries! Chili coming out our ears!! There was face painting and fishing and bean bag and ring toss games. It was a really fun night. Ben won "Most Original" for Kaye's Beans and I had samples of my favorite Wassail recipe. It was a really fun night. Brook bobbed for apples and got one! To celebrate her triumph, she had one painted on her face :) I couldn't get her to hold still for even one picture! Probably the sugar overload :)

Ellie turned into a kitty :)

Regis Move Forward 5k 2012

We got to Regis about 8:30 ready to race!!! It was freezing and supposed to rain, but we were prepared. It didn't rain on us while we ran, thank goodness! It was actually nice to not get super hot and sweaty.

Pretty much Ben's entire class was there- I know about 5 of them :)

This is just after the finish- Chocolate milk to replenish the fuel used!

Brook just wanted to get in that bouncy house!

They LOVE these things!!

Brook crossed the finish line before the rest of us. She was getting cheers from the entire crowd! She ran for probably a mile of it, walked about a half mile, and rode in the bike trailer for the rest. I was really proud of her. I ran for about a mile and a half+ and then had to walk the rest of the way. Not exactly what I had planned to do. Next year!

Dad & Ellie crossed to cheers as well- Ellie did really good. She walked/ran for a mile! Dad could've run the whole thing no sweat, but we held him back :)

We love supporting this event and hope to get to every year!

Brook's First Time on Ice Skates

Brook's Ready, Set, Go! Preschool goes ice skating a couple of times throughout the school year. This was the first time Brook has ever been on any kind of skate! She was a little nervous, but she jumped right in and did great!

Cute little figure skates!

Mrs. Cindy helping her

A natural!

She was really zooming here!

Sooner or later though, we all have to fall :)

She was very tough and got right back up and kept skating! Poor tailbone!

As a treat and to warm her back up, we treated ourselves to some Starbucks Hot Chocolate and Strawberry filled puff pastries :)

Love these sweethearts!

Silly Silly

This little Ellie.... Such a silly little thing! She really keeps me busy!

This will be recreated when they are teenagers... I love Ellie and Kennedi here!

Estes Park and RMNP

Dad had Monday off school because of the end of his clinical, so we decided to make the most of it! At 5pm, we called my dad who hooked us up with some Worldmark bonus time at Estes Park, we threw some clothes in a bag, some snacks in a cooler, and hit the road! 

No road trip is complete without Cheez-its....

The girls slept all the way up from 6:30-8:30.... so we stayed up and watched "Chicken Little." Hey, it was vacation, right? It merited the 11:30pm bedtime....

Found these matching shirts at separate thrift stores (HEATHER!) and had to get them! My cute little tough cookies :) And the fire wasn't on... that was Brook's pose idea

Wow.... Estes Park is beautiful!

Brook couldn't get over "how cute it is out there!!!"

Long's Peak... Dad will climb this someday!

After we arrived home via the scenic route (never thought I'd enjoy those- I hated car rides as a kid!), we headed to Olive Garden for one last hurrah before Dad is absent for three months (darn homework!). We ordered too much food.... no really, we did!

I love getting to go on spontaneous little trips with my family!