Thanks!

Dear Tater and Mumu,

Thanks for coming to visit us all the way from Park City, Utah! Sorry you had to live in the ghetto for 5 days. 

I think Tracie had 4 different sleeping accommodations while she was here; 

1) The love sac 

2) The futon with the questionable stain (this was brought into the marriage by Trav, and this futon lived through his glory days of bachelorhood, so yes, the stain is very questionable) 

3) The upstairs couch and 

4) next to your mother on the air mattress.

I never did ask, which was your favorite?

Thanks to you two, we got our shop on. We went to Target, Hobby Lobby, Trader Joes, Oak Park mall and... ... gosh it seemed like so much more! 

Thanks for all the amazing meals. How is it that every time I come and visit you, you guys cook for me, but when you come to visit me, we either eat out, or you cook? Are you trying to tell me something? 

Thanks for all of the girl talks! Tracie, I think I know more about your body than I know about my own :) 

And Mumu, thanks for buying us so many amazing meals and for taking us to the mall and buying us those cute hair clips!

Oh and thanks for laughing at all of my stupid jokes. You are always good for a laugh! 

Oh yeah, and thanks for loving and spoiling my children. They were sad when you left, especially Brooklyn, because no one but Mumu is gonna try and sneak her bites of rice crispy treats!

Travis may not show it, but he is ecstatic when his family comes to visit!

Wait for it... 

Wait for it... 

Wait for it... 

And here is the ecstatisism (is that a word, no I don't think so)

Oh and thanks for actually getting a decent picture of all of us Tracie, this is a rare occurrence! 

Thanks for everything, and Tracie, sorry your thyroid was totally beserk the whole time you were here. I won't judge you for eating all the skinny cows! At least you have a reason, what is mine? Oh yeah, I'm still "breast feeding."

Miss you guys!

FALLicious

My older sister lives in Phoenix. She is a little cocky about it. During the winter she often sends me picture messages of her outside thermometer reading 79 degrees and Sunny. Then I will look outside at the dreary trees and curse her name. Well during this time of year Phoenix can just... uh... melt! That's right Tice, I said it! Missouri is the best place to be out of Arizona and Utah in the Fall.

Is my family a little bit competitive?

I love Missouri this time of year because you can wear jeans and not sweat off your body weight or you can probably get by with wearing shorts and a light jacket. The nasty bugs are usually gone. The leaves are vibrant here! I know all the Utahn's are thinking that Fall is prettier out there because of the mountains, and yes, the mountains are gorgeous, but our leaves eat your leaves for breakfast.

Now that I'm ranting about how beautiful our leaves are, I just looked in my photo's and I can't really prove my point because I was too busy taking pictures of my pretty girls.

They are just a little bit prettier than the leaves.

But I did take pictures of us doing some fun Fall activities like...

Leaf swimming

I heard that this event may be in the next Olympics

Old fashioned playing in the leaf piles

And lastly, we went to the cutest pumpkin farm

Seriously, we got out of the car and new baby kittens were waiting for us

It was a magical place... the fun stacks of hay to climb, the corn maze, the beautiful harvest, yes, very magical... and then they tried to charge us 10 bucks for a big pumpkin.

Little pumpkins are magical too.

Happy Harvest

The Halloween Marathon

No, I didn't run a real one... although its been awhile, maybe I should think about it? I'm talking about this holiday that just kept on going. You will see below:

Halloween Event #1:

Halloween progressive dinner

Its a tradition, and we stuck to it. Although, this may have been my last year being in charge. I think I may pass the torch on next year, so be aware fellow neighbors!

Travis took full control of the camera, so I didn't get cute pictures of the food and decorations. But he did focus on all the people in costumes, which is the best part anyways. Actually, it might be tied with the dessert table. Anyway, here are our creepy neighbors...

The Taylor's always go all out... John, the scariest thing about your costume is the spandex. Way to go!

Brandi was a contestant on the Price is Right... sorry Trav cut half of you off, but what a clever costume! Oh and to all of my Hispanic followers out there, I wasn't trying to offend anyone, I was just Dora's mom and I'm holding bootless Boots. And I'm standing next to a tooth.

Really, we aren't trying to offend any nationality, we merely are just trying to represent all.Grapes... most uncomfortable costume. Afton had to stand all night!

Skeletons, not too big on creativity right... wrong, again Trav, you cut off the most important part of the picture, below Jen's rib cage is a skeleton of a baby, that is how she announced that she is pregnant.

This dude is our bishop!Angry birds made a killing at this party!She is just a cute birdShe is the tooth fairy... with a black eye. How creative!

Dora was just out exploring

But I think she forgot boots so she came back to get her

Halloween event #2

Pumpkin Carving...

OK, I'm lame, it was really pumpkin painting. I just wasn't in the mood to carve. I need to man up! But not this Halloween. Plus Avery loved it!

And apparently Trav did too!

Oh and so did Brooklyn

And she didn't even paint, we distracted her with a huge can of puffs

and it worked... I'm pretty sure the floor was clean?

Halloween event #3

Scary Story time at the library

note the costume change

Halloween event #4

Dinner in a pumpkin

Avery just couldn't believe we were eating from inside of a pumpkin. It kind of looked like barf, but she still ate it!

Halloween Event #5

Preschool

We did a little preschool party. Well, Brandi did I should say. There were games,

crafts,

and treats but the kicker was the punch with dry ice in it, aka witch's brew.

She was floored

Halloween event #6

Boo at the zoo

We have a season pass to the zoo, so that meant it was free. I was alone that day, no Travis, but I just couldn't pass up not going, so I braved it with the little ones. And we ended up with lots of candy, free ice cream, a free hay ride, a carasol ride and a mom who really needed a nap afterwords.

They even let the animals roam free all day long

Oh and the Jolly old man showed up as well as Johnny Depp

Just another day at the Kansas City zoo

Halloween event #7 (yes I'm still going)

Another sweet party

My friend Jessika was so cute and organized a party for all the neighborhood kids. Of course there was plenty of good food but the funnest part were the games. She had bobbing for apples, the donut string game, pumpkin bowling, ghost stories and more.

We had to make sure this lady bug didn't drown

I think Avery went through at least 3 donuts... mostly with one bite in them. Sorry for wasting Jess, I don't think she understood the game!

Simmer down you two! Its just a donut.

PS Avery went as a fairy, that is her 3rd costume change. Watch out Lady Gaga!

Alice, tweedle dee and dum were there too, but sadly, no Johnny Depp at this location

Halloween Event #8

The actual Halloween

It was a perfect night for Dora and Boots

We saw many characters this night

Oh and don't be afraid, this is the real Skinny Kenny (with half his head cut off, its OK Trav)

Not to be confused with this fraud (last year's costume)

At this point of the night, Avery cut herself off. She is really responsible. She decided that she was done, had enough candy, and just wanted to go home.

So she could do this

And just a shout out to Boots, Happy first Halloween!

Since I was a middle child victim growing up, I promised myself that I would take just as many pics of my second child then my first child. Looking back on all of my pics, I think we took like 3 of Brooklyn's first Halloween compared to like 30 of Avery's. Brooklyn, I vow to be better, just give me a second chance. And remember that your Father took most of the pics!

See, didn't that seem like a marathon of Halloween events? That was pretty intense, but we had fun. And I promise my children have a father. Along with taking more pics of Brooklyn, maybe I should add Trav to that rule too?

Happy Halloween everyone!