October

 For conference weekend we took a pause between sessions and had a beautiful hike up Crimson Trail in Logan Canyon.

 This event likely took place in September, but we'll pretend it was October, close enough.  Andy and Chelsea came up and we had a great time biking around Utah State and barbecuing with the Jensens.

Emma and Lydia's favorite reward....to drive around while standing through the sun roof.  I will say that we only do it in neighborhoods, try to minimize the danger.  When I was little we could have got away with driving like this down the highway.

Oh, ya know, we had some spare time so we assembled this little scene for the enjoyment of those who were driving by.  

I got to see this bestie of mine three times this month, that's a lot for a friend who doesn't live in the same county as me.  Here we took our families out for pizza at the Ogden airport.  The yummiest BBQ chicken pizza I've ever had!

SOMETIMES I actually do Lydia's hair. 

Mostly I just curl it and leave her hair down.  I mean look at this little fluff ball!

Saturday morning muffins

Emma got to have two sleep overs with her bestie as well.  I just love these two girls together!

We went to Ogden and let the girls enjoy some Disney princess time at a Smith's marketplace promotion. 

I volunteered for Lydia's school field trip to the Art Center on Utah State Campus.  We brought butterfly grape snacks, rode the bus, and had fun meeting up with Ryan after his classes. 

Check out Lydia's face in this top photo.  It's every expression that playing in the leaves should be. 

I LOVE volunteering in Emma's classroom on Mondays and then sticking around to join she and her friends for lunch.  I hope she never outgrows wanting to show me off to her friends. 

Let me just say that our backyard is totally awesome.  I mean really, a buck that lives in our backyard field, come on now, doesn't get much better. 

Bundy is going for the beard.  Heaven help me!!  I'm CRAZY about this guy, and I don't HATE the beard, but that's about the nicest thing I can say about it.  

I decided to try something new for Halloween....re-purpose one of the girl's dolls.  Weeeellll, this doll now totally freaks me out, I kind of wish I would have never created her.  Creepy huh?

The Skeen's annual Halloween party, the photos pretty much speak for themselves. Annie outdid herself once again. 

We were in charge of a science experiment, this is what Ry whipped up.  He calls them Boo Bubbles.  They're dry ice filled soap bubbles.  Pretty fantastic if you ask me :)

Look at this man of mine.  I think this costume is sexier than a fireman's or doctor scrubs.  It takes a real man to dress up like a clown for the delight of his little girls.  

The Boo Bubbles before and after.  You have to wear gloves or else the oil on your skin will pop the soap layer. 

Also, I adore my mom.  I mean look at her!!  She really let herself get into Halloween, even when she looks this frightening.  I was a last minute throw together of Penelope from Wreck it Ralph. 

My dad did his spook alley.  It truly was disturbing.  The flash on my camera makes it not seem so creepy, but even as an adult I didn't want to enter.  We made everyone enter one at a time to add to the effect.  Lydia refused and stayed snuggled up with her new Uncle Mike, who I think just might be her biggest fan, and that's saying something. 

 Door to door trick or treating inside the house.  Oh, and that coffin on the bottom right, yep, just something Papa Trace threw together for the party.  Yes.  He is as awesome as they come.

Annie's science experiment had the kids putting mentos in coke liters and then shooting them off the balcony to the kids who were standing below in rain parkas.  A definite hit!

This whole theme this year for our Halloween costumes started because we already had the Alice costume from four years ago when Emma went as Alice and Lydia as the Cheshire Cat. 

 This time I had to jazz it up and then having us all coordinate just got the better of me.  Ryan and I are Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum for the Tim Burton version of Alice in Wonderland. 

  

 You know how America's Next Top Model always says "And here is your best shot."  That's what comes to mind when I see the above and below photo of the girls. 

 

Although the above photos are my favorite, I couldn't resist adding all of the following below. 

What I adore about my girls and that I definitely don't take for granted, is at the end of a long photo shoot I can still get them to be happy and playful as they are in this photo below.  This is the last one I snapped for the day. 

This is just a little example of the work and editing that goes into creating a final result.

Check out this comparison of our little Alice girls.  Emma was 3 years old and Lydia is 4.  We would have done this theme last year, but shockingly (not really) Lydia was too small to fit this costume. 

So we carved pumpkins one night.  I let the family do the carving since I learned a few years ago that pumpkin doesn't make everyone break out in hives, just me.  I need to draw special attention to Bundy's pumpkin this year.  I mean check out that detail!  We have loved watching the Breaking Bad series and are crushed that it's over.

 I let Emma invite some of the neighbor girls over for a last minute Halloween Party.  I love all of these little girls.  They have so much fun together.  They all live within biking distance of one another and are all in our ward. 

 I let Lydia invite her best friend/only friend Jaycee to the party as well.  I thought the two girls would love to get in on the older girl's activities, but they happily played by themselves in the other room.

Above: Lydia's preschool Halloween party.  We did the Boo Bubbles here too, another hit!

 We took Sophie Trick or Treating with us and loved having her join us.  Don't the little girls look like they could be off to a play or something?  Their cute coats really cover up what their costumes are.

Work at B-Dubs this fall season has been super busy which has made me some great money.  

Just a few of the fall decorations going on in our house this season.