The Rest of Ali's Visit

Hiking Twin Falls

We had a great time hiking Twin Falls. The water was cold but the boys had a great time jumping the cliffs anyway. Trenton thought his crazy cousins were hilarious. Here is Beans, jumping a 25 foot cliff with his wrist still fractured. It was impossible to keep that boy still for 2 months. I don't even think he lasted two weeks. Let's hope his arm grows anyway - only time will tell ;)

Sometimes I wonder how in the world I got all boys. Oh I dearly love my little stinkers to pieces but they are always coming up with random stuff like this. This is a mouse on his last leg that Caden caught. He was so proud of himself, and I was so grossed out!

Christmas Cookies at Grandma's

One night the kids decorated cookies at my mom's condo. My kids, especially, were thrilled because we don't do a lot of sprinkles and craziness in my kitchen!

Aquarium

We really do have a cool aquarium here in Maui. It is always a fun day with the kids.

Fun Factory

One night my mom and I took all the boys to the mall so Ali and Russ could have a date. We really just had a fun night playing together. Trenton's new Christmas list has about 40 arcade games from the Fun Factory on it. I hope Santa's sleigh doesn't have a weight limit!

Underwater Camera

I got some fun video and a few pics with my underwater camera. Trenton LOVED snorkeling and his little sidekick, Crew, was right next to him most of the time.

Turkey Bowl

Football is Over! Football is Over! Football is Over!

We are so excited to be done with the season. Football is great for Chase but this year was not the most fun. His team ended the season with like a 6 game losing streak and I somehow got conned into being team mom - which I will NEVER do again for football! So, needless to say, we were all so excited to finally wrap up the 4 month long season - even though it was with another loss.

On the bright side, my family got to see him play.

Brennen is such a happy boy, but it is so hard to capture his true happiness on camera. Caden and I just love these pictures with our B!

The whole gang with our football hero.

Go Dolphins!

Chase and Geoff at S Turns 12-8-10

S Turns

Chase and Geoff had a great day surfing at S Turns. It is hard to tell with my camera zoomed in all the way, but these waves were HUGE! The video does not do it justice. Geoff and Chase have really gotten good at surfing and I LOVE to watch them play together.

Thanksgiving

This year we were most thankful for .....

FAMILY

For the last couple weeks we've been playing with my family. Oh how I wish they could all just move here. The boys had so much fun together. Ali's boys just live for the ocean so they fit right in here with my crazy boys. They all arrived Thanksgiving day which was the best gift of all. We had a casual dinner by the pool while all the boys swam and played. We were so busy that I did not get even 1 picture of our Thanksgiving feast! But here are some family photos from a few days ago.

Crew and Trenton were inseparable. They are such fun buddies!

Grandmas Boys!

Chase and Brennen have always been close. For some reason, this trip, Brennen would just laugh hysterically with Caden. He loves his cousins!

Brennen is SO big now! He is the sweetest boy I know. He is generally always happy and gets the cutest case of the giggles I've ever heard. He is communicating much better and responds well to what we ask of him. Such a sweet spirit, he tries so hard to please people and to adjust to his surroundings. He LOVES his family, the ocean, and pepperoni pizza - and we all love HIM!

We ALL think Trenton is hilarious. He talks non stop and comes up with the funniest little sayings. He interacts so well with my boys and loves to play with them. He is so inquisitive about the world around him and loves to see, touch, and experience everything. He is a smart boy and you can just tell that his mind is constantly at work. We LOVE this little dynamo!

Ali and I pretty much hit the jackpot to get Gayle as our mom! She is so fun, helpful, giving, spoils us and our kids ROTTEN - she's pretty much just the best!

My Ali! My only sibling. We were always so close growing up, and still are. She is my sister, best friend, my example. In my mind, Ali can do no wrong. She is the sweetest, kindest, most giving person in the world. Love you, Sissy!

How did I get so lucky? My 4 boys :)

Halloween

Our Halloween week has come to a close. We are all officially fat, sick, and coming off of

sugar highs.

Thursday night, we had trunk or treat at the church - always a blast for the kids.

Friday, was our day of class parties. Crews school was decorated SO cute! His party was 3 hours long with a parade, cookie decorating, pinata, bounce house, tatoos, face painting, and carnival games. He loved it! This day, he was dressed as the grim reaper but wouldn't wear his mask or hold his staff. I never got a picture of him in full costume! He was so cute and scary!

Next, onto the big boys school. I did parties for both classes with yummy treats, halloween lei craft, and candy corn bingo. I thought the 5th graders might be too old for class parties but they loved it!

Friday night, the school had its fall festival. There was trick or treating, games, bounce house, but pretty much all we did was the cake walk - over and over and over again! We won some mini cupcakes, two brownies, and a box of cookies.

We went back and forth on Halloween costumes this year, but in the end, the boys wanted to wear scary masks!

Crew had originally begged and begged to be the grim reaper but changed his mind 10 minutes before trick or treating. He kept saying all day that he wanted to be Justin Beiber and was very upset that I wasn't making that happen for him. At last he sighed and said "fine, I will just be a basketball player." Silly boy!

Trick or Treating from the Gleeds truck.

One house in the neighborhood turned their garage and front yard into a Haunted House. It was really cool. Another house had disco music and lights. The kids stopped there for a bit to get their groove on.