Halloween, Pumpkin Patch, Samuel's Birthday, Thanksgiving

Gideon loves hanging out on Daddy's shoulders

Austin found a cat

Malachi and his friend on the train at the pumpkin patch

Travis using the big sling shots

Riding the train

Betsy in the train

Daddy and Gideon sharing a carrot

Caleb playing at the park

Malachi playing at the park

Malachi playing in the big pile of leaves that Austin made for him

Austin loves Gideon!!

Malachi loves the pet beds at Costco

Caleb loves them too

Gideon gets a little scared when he gets thrown in

Austin, Travis, and I were doing Dead Sea Mud masks and Malachi wanted to use it too!

Daddy was helping Gideon fight Joseph with pool noodles, they were sure having fun.

Daddy with his baby shark!

Caleb singing to Gideon a Halloween song he learned in school

Daddy and Gideon Trick or Treating

Gideon loves playing in the sand at the park!

Gideon got a voting sticker!

Gideon really wants a car for Christmas

Sweet little Gideon

Betsy found Gideon a dragon toy!

Gideon got Malachi wanting the car too!

He's walking!

Gideon is very pleased that he discovered how to climb into the dryer!

Such a happy, joyful boy!

Betsy made her first cake!! She did an amazing job, and it was delicious too, it is an Andes Mint Cake!

This little guy loves sticking his tounge out the corner of his mouth

Samuel loves Thanksgiving, especially the JELLO!

Austin loves that she got to hold a tiny baby at our Thanksgiving Feast!

So apparently my weeking goal to update my blog, means that I get to it about once a month.  Our lives are so incredibly busy, I don't get even a tenth of what goes on in our lives on this blog, but at least I get some of it, and most of the major events.  I didn't even get pictures of everyone in their Halloween costumes this year, oh well.  Caleb and Malachi were the same as last year, Olaf and a monkey.  Gideon was a shark and Travis was the ocean, he wore a blue shirt and pants, and I used velcro to put some of their ocean-themed bath toys on his shirt, like seashells, fish, and seahorses.  I wore my batgirl shirt and cape and black pants, Betsy was a butterfly, Austin was a blue angry bird, Samuel was Superman, and Joseph was something with a brown cape, not sure what.  We went to a trunk or treat at Travis' work, and a trunk or treat at the church, and trick or treating on Halloween night in our neighborhood.  Samuel was doing a carnival with the cub scouts in the other ward in our building so, Samuel, Caleb, Malachi, Gideon and I got to go to that as well.  That night was a little exhuasting, I didn't realize that the little boys were supposed to be in costume and go trick or treating to each of the carnival games and a trunk or treat at the end, so when we got their I had to be a little creative.  I gave Caleb and Malachi each a bag I found in the van, and used a scarf and a few other things to give them make-shift costumes.  (I can't even remember what they were supposed to be)  I carried Gideona and followed the boys around while they went to all the carnival games, At the end we went to a table with 10-12 bowls of different flavors of popcorn, and was trying to help the boys get some popcorn before the trunk or treat started.  By this point my ams and back are hurting from carrying Gideon for so long, he is over 20lbs and I'd been carrying him for over an hour now.  Anyway, Malachi kept pointing to different kinds of popcorn, and then I would get him the one he pointed to, then he would started screaming that he didn't want that popcorn, he wanted a different one and would point to that, so after this happening several times, I gave up and said we were leaving.  Malachi was in full temper tantrum mode and I was tired of being there anyway.  The other boys weren't happy about missing the trunk or treat, but it was for the ward anyway, and we were only there for the cub scouts carnival.  I carried all our stuff and Gideon, with Malachi screaming and crying about popcorn the whole way back to the van, which was parked just inside where they had put the cones for the trunk or treat.  I fed Gideon in the car real quick, and got everyone buckled in, I finally figured out that the reason Malachi didn't want any of the popcorn was that it was too sticky.  So I found a popcorn ball that wasn't too sticky, and he finally stopped crying and screaming and happily ate his popcorn.  I also realized later that his ankle was hurting him (he kept asking me to carry him, to which I said "no" since I was already carrying the baby) it was bruised and swollen the next morning, so I put ice on it and let him rest most of the day watching T.V.  So anyway, Halloween night both Austin and Betsy stayed home and watched "Hocus Pocus" and passed out candy to Trick-or-Treaters and everyone else went out trick or treating in the neighborhood.  Joseph and Samuel were going too fast for the little boys, so we let them go ahead of us as long as they stayed together.  Gideon wasn't feeling well, he had an ear infection and was on antibiotics, so he fell asleep after the first hour, I took him home to let him sleep, while Travis took the Caleb and Malachi out a little longer.  They had a good time, and came back home just before the sirens went off signaling the end of Trick or Treating.  Joseph and Samuel called just after the siren went off, and told me they were near Pizza Hut (about 2 miles away) and wanted a ride home.  I couldn't believe they had gone that far, they were supposed to stay in our neighborhood.  Travis went and picked them up, and poor Samuel was so upset, I guess he didn't want to leave the neighborhood but Joseph made him, and he was super tired.  So I confiscated all of Joseph's candy that he had gotten.
We went to a Pumpkin Patch one day that Travis had off work, everyone except Joseph since he has too much school work to catch up on (which he didn't do).  We had a great time there.  Gideon loved riding around on Travis' shoulders and going down the slides.  Austin loved the kitty cat she found, and played with it most of the time.  There were lots of fun activities and we had a great time, even got to pick out small pumpkins to take home.
Travis has been going out in the field every two weeks out of each month since October, and that will continue until April, when he'll leave for six weeks.  Not looking forward to it.  Anyway before Travis left we voted (eary voting) for the Presidental Election, we both wrote in Evan McMullin since we didn't like either of the Republican or Democratic Candidates (Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton)  Donald Trump won, I wasn't too happy about that, but some people went crazy, all sorts of rioting and violence, crazy stuff.
I had vein surgery November 10th in Wichita, KS.  Thankfully Travis was able to come back home from the field and get the day off to take me.  We had Gideon and Malachi with us too, but the rest of the kids were at school.  Travis dropped me off at the clinic, and took the little boys to McDonalds.  I went in, and they had me change into some surgery shorts, and then I laid face down on a table, and they started numbing up my leg, and then started cutting and pulling veins out.  They ended up pulling out 39 veins out of my right leg.  They bandaged my leg up, gave me instructions and let me leave.  Travis and I went to Costco after and I rode one of those electric carts around while Travis got everything we needed, then we drove home.  The numbness was wearing off by then, and I was really wishing I had brought Ibuprofen with me.  I took some when I got home (it's a two hour drive) and rested in the bed the rest of the day, keeping my leg elevated.  I rested most of the next day too, getting up a little here and there, while Travis kept telling me to lie down and do nothing, but that is not easy for me to do.  By the next day, I was able to take off the bandages and shower, and start moving around more.  I was supposed to wear my compression socks, but they kept bunching up behind my knee and bruising it up.  It was pretty painful, so I ended up switching to compression shorts that Travis and bough for me, and those worked much better.  It was a long process, but I am finally feeling a lot better, although it is still hard to kneel or squat down, but I went into my follow up appointment just before Thanksgiving and I am healing well.
Samuel turned 10, November 17th.  He had a birthday party, with about 10-12 friends showing up.  We had fun doing a pin the tail on the pokemon, and had a little pinata full of toys,  we ate pizza and had cake and ice cream.  Then opened up his presents, then played with his friends.  Travis had been in the field, but was called back to the base for something and was able to get away for an hour or so to come to Samuel's party, it was nice.  Then we went to a Relief Society activity afterwards that was fun, except I had all the kids with me and they were a little crazy.
For Thanksgiving we made a lot of food and had a potluck feast a the church, it was fun and delicious.  While I was making one of the pies, I accidently grabbed a hot pie plate right out of the oven with my bare hands and burnt my fingers dropping the pie and making a huge mess all over and under the oven.  My sweetheart, Travis, without me having to ask, cleaned the whole thing up for me, while I put my fingers in cold water.  My fingers were tender for the next couple days, but are feeling better now.  Travis had an extra turkey that he received for his soilders so we made another Thanksgiving feast on Sunday and had 5 missionaries over for dinner.
Gideon has had several ear infections in the past month, and is being referred to ENT to have tubes put in his ears.  But now he has croup, he was starting to get sick with it on Saturday, and I spent the night taking him outside and giving him breathing treatments (I still had some medicine from the last time he was sick).  Finally by 5am, he was still struggling to breathe so much that I took him to the ER, we ended up being there for 5 hours while they gave him strong oral steroids, and 2 EpiRescue breathing treatments, and took chest x-rays (miserable) and nasal swabs, and had three different doctors looking at him, they finally let him go home.  He was so happy that we were leaving the hospital that when we got outside he started giggling.  He is still very sick, and struggling to breathe, and has a fever, so I'm hoping I won't have to take him back in again.

Trip to SLC and Travis' Birthday!

Samuel and Gideon playing on the trampoline

Gideon has hair!! Oh, wait, that's just Austin's hair covering his bald head.

The boys found my stash of Halloween stickers

Caleb and Malachi made bread in a bag today, they were very proud of their bread!

Austin and Gideon

Travis blowing out his birthday cake with a little help from Malachi

Travis's cake (photobombed by Sam)

Wink Wink

Austin sure loves Gideon

Travis'  birthday lunch, Navajo tacos

Getting pretzels at the mall with Gideon for Travis' birthday

Travis helping Gideon hold onto the monkey bars at the park

Caleb and Malachi on the dinosaur

Malachi and Gideon on the dinosaur 

Austin helping Malachi on the monkey bars

Caleb on the dinosaur

Looking at the statue of Jesus in the Visitors Center on Temple Square

Looking at the inside of the temple, at the visitors center

Austin and Malachi at the Joseph and Hyrum Smith statues

We forgot Gideon's hat, and it was cold out, so we used a blanket

Squishy cheeks!

Caleb and I in front of the Salt Lake Temple

Austin and Caleb by the temple

Caleb and Author Josi Kilpack

Austin and author Josi Kilpack

Malachi carrying his own suitcase into the hotel

Gideon loves the slide

Gideon loved being in the bubble at McDonalds

Gideon and Betsy at a fountain in temple square

Austin, Caleb and I at Temple square

Gideon looking at the baby birds on the statue

Gideon looking up at the mother bird on the statue

Austin, Caleb, Malachi, and Gideon at sculpture park

Betsy playing with Gideon

Gideon playing on the grass

At the fountain outside of P. F. Changs

Malachi loves his dinner

Yummy egg drop soup

Gideon loves the soup too, he won't let go of the spoon

Yummy noodles

Malachi loves the noodles

Betsy loved this huge bowl of egg drop soup

Sleeping in the car

My friend Amy Stock and I right before she moved away

Austin and Betsy and their friend Emily with Jessie Stock right before she moved

Malachi loves being up high

Gideon entertaining himself in the van by eating his toes

Samuel with his football team

Austin taking care of twins at a BBQ

Gideon was still sleeping when I left to take Joseph to seminary this morning, so I left the baby monitor with Betsy. When I got back home, Betsy handed me the monitor and said Gideon was still sleeping. I walked upstairs and found this (see picture) on the couch. Samuel looked so happy and peaceful with Gideon snoring away all cuddled into him. Samuel said "Mom, I heard him cry a little, so I went in his room and got him. He just cuddled into me and fell back asleep. I am so happy!" They stayed like this for a good 20 minutes, before I had to take Gideon so Samuel could finish getting ready for school. As Samuel was leaving he said "mom! This was he best morning!"

Gideon loves his duck in the bath

Malachi fell out of the back of the van while loading up groceries and hit his head on the road, there was a ton of blood, but the bump and cut wasn't too bad.  I managed to stop the bleeding pretty quickly and put a frozen bag of broccoli on it to help with the bump, and drove him home.  

Samuel loves his blankets and pillows.  We cleaned out his room and found 15 blankets and 6 pillows on his bed.

Betsy, Jessie and Caleb playing twister!

My little chef Caleb

Gideon tired himself out, jumping

Caleb on our trip to SLC

Gideon learning to clap!

Austin and Jessie

Malachi loved going in the bungee jump

Samuel jumping

Caleb loved to jump too

Gideon loved hanging out in the stroller

A lot has happened the past month and a half.  I took the younger kids to Apple days on post, and Travis took the older kids to do baptisms for the dead at the temple in Kansas City.  Betsy got to go for the first time, she really enjoyed it!  The boys had fun playing in all the bouncy houses, and then we waited in line for an hour and a half for the bungee jump.  We went on a trip to Salt Lake City, UT for Chaplain conference.  Joseph and Samuel stayed behind with a friend, so we went on our trip with just the girls, and the little boys.  It was so peaceful, and everyone got along for the most part.  It was much easy to travel.  We stayed the night each way at the air force base in Cheyenne Wyoming.  On the trip there, we ate dinner at P.F. Changs.  The kids loved it!! They thought the egg drop soup was amazing and couldn't get enough of it.  And the boys loved their noodles.  There was also a really cool sculpture park right next to it and tons of bunnies all around for the boys to chase!  It was a great stop along the way.  We had a great time in Salt Lake.  Travis and I got to go to our Banquet, and we all took turns attending General Conference with Travis.  Saturday night while he was in the priesthood session, I took turns with the girls going to ladies' night at Deseret Book.  The girls and Caleb each got to meet their favorite author Josi Kilpack and get a picture with her, and a signed book.  We also got to explore temple square a little bit.  Saturday morning Malachi threw up, but the rest of the day he did pretty well except for some diarrhea and being a little grouchy.  Sunday we went to more sessions of General Conference.  We loved feeling the spirit and hearing the wonderful talks in person!  After conference we drove to some friends in Orem, UT and had dinner at their house as well as several other chaplains we are friends with from Colorado Springs.  It is always fun to hang out and talk with other chaplain families, and their kids.  Monday we started all the chaplain conference sessions.  We were within a few minutes walking distance to our hotel, so I would walk back and forth in between all the sessions checking on the kids who were also watching two other kids from another chaplain family.  We were on the fourth floor and I ended up walking up and down a lot of stairs since I don't like elevators, I was also working on doing some laundry (stuff had been thrown up and peed on).  The chaplain conference session were amazing and filled with good information, and filled the spirit a lot, by the end of the day I was feeling weak and sore, but we went on a family home evening trip to temple square, and enjoyed going through the visitor centers.  When we saw the big statue of Jesus, Malachi said "I love Him", so sweet!  The next morning, I threw up and felt terrible so I stayed in bed, while Travis went to the sessions, until about 2pm, then I dragged myself out of bed and walked to the session with the apostle D Todd Christopherson was speaking, I was really weak, but I made it and was able to feel the spirit while he spoke, and was only about 10 feet from where he was speaking, making it a very special experience.  Travis took the kids and met with his sister at Red Robin for dinner, while I rested some more.  I also got a really bad cold while I was sick, but was doing okay.  We left and drove home the next two days, once again really enjoying our traveling, we stopped at Little America and they played at the playground, and we had ice cream cones.  They also enjoyed playing at the playground near our hotel at the air force base in Cheyenne WY.  We made it back safely, and got Joseph and Samuel.  They did fine while we were gone, and were happy to see us.  When we were unloading the van, I was backing out of the van with a load of blankets and tripped and fell backwards out of the van, and hit my head on Travis' truck, and my hip on the concrete.  That did not feel well, and I started feeling really dizzy and weak and could barely walk, I wasn't able to talk very well or remember things, so I went to bed.  I had a concussion, but I felt a little better the next day, but my cold was still bothering me a lot.  We spent the weekend making apple pies, apple crisp, and apple muffins and selling them to neighbors to earn money for Travis' Dad, who was homeless again and needed shelter for the winter.  We made about $80, but I sent him a check for a $100 donating some of my piano lesson money as well.

Travis had his 40th birthday!  He had the day off work, so that was really nice!  I made him his six layer cake, and we went to the mall together and we had fun.  He did a marriage strong bonds event that I helped him with and we enjoyed doing that together.
Samuel really enjoyed playing football this season, and I think he wants to continue playing next year as well.
Malachi continues to eat weird things, this month it has been raw meat, where he has gotten both raw sausage and raw bacon after being put to bed and eaten it in his bed.  He has had really disgusting diarrhea, but otherwise been fine.  he really enjoys being home with me during the school days and loves going to PWOC with me.  We went for a walk one time, and I let him choose with way we went at each intersection.  He chose left every single time, so it ended up being a very short walk.