One of our favorite things to do as a family is to go bowling. Redden and Ryder really enjoy it and Redden even decided he is now officially too good for the bumpers. The key is all in finding the right ball??? That's what the boys think.
Redden thinks he's so funny!
And one by one the faces show it all.......the sign of defeat!
I told Gabe to show me his best loser face and he thought that was pretty funny. He wouldn't give me that satisfaction!
And the winner is....... of course.....ME! What's sad is that I won with a whole 121 pts. Pretty bad. All that matters though is that I won!!!! We aren't a competitive family at all.
This is what Redden thought of me winning.
And sweet Ranger had no idea who won because he spent the majority of his time driving the racecar!
Thanks Gabe for taking us bowling. We miss you dearly, again, and will see you shortly. You might want to practice your game before we get there unless you need another butt kickin'. Hee Hee. No one can beat the MELVINATOR!
And the WINNER is........
Temple Lights
On Sunday night we decided to make the drive up to Salt Lake to see the beautiful lights at the temple. I have seen the Arizona Temple Lights every year but we missed last year. I missed that tradition. It was nice to see a different set of lights and get the wonderful feeling of just being on the temple grounds. The boys really wanted to take a ride on one of the horse drawn carriages circling the temple but I just couldn't bring myself to spend 50 bucks on it. They should be free on Sunday as well as the parking! Papa, get Barkley ready to pull them around the neighboorhood. Better yet, maybe I'll start that at the Arizona temple. Hmmmm. We kept the same tradition of having cocoa and doughnuts after and enjoyed every last bite. 
Thanksgiving at Home
This year we were very grateful to have our family back together again for Thanksgiving. We hadn't seen Gabe in a month and it was a very nice reunion when he walked through the doors of our home. Tears and all. The boys settled for hugging Gabe's legs since I wouldn't budge. We had a couple invites for Thanksgiving Dinner but decided we wanted to just spend it at home together. It was nice. We spent all day just relaxing and cooking. Redden and Ryder got to help with every dish and Ryder LOVED it. I couldn't hardly get him out of the kitchen. The next Emerill. Ranger just followed Gabe around and if he wasn't near Gabe, he was right next to Gunner. Gunner was with Gabe and Ranger missed his dog dearly.
Our turkey turned out delicious although it doesn't look as pretty because the bag pulled off some skin. Best turkey I have ever had! Thanks to my cousins Becoming Betty Blog where I got the recipe I successfully made my first turkey! We missed all of our family in Arizona but will see you all soon for Christmas. Moving around has given us the opportunity to try many new things including having holidays alone and with friends. We spent our first Thanksgiving in Texas eating at Mimi's cafe and it was delicious! I also didn't have one pot or pan to clean after. Point of the story...... don't be afraid to do things the untraditional way because sometimes they come with the best memories. Hope everyone had a good day and I am very grateful for all of you in my life. You help keep me sane. 
Halloween
We had a fun night out in the neighborhood with all of our friends. Redden and Ryder were Ninjas and Ranger was a football player. We started the night with pizza at the Hall's house and then onto the trick or treating. It was a beautiful night to be out. Much warmer than last year. We got sprinkled on for about 15 min. but that was it. We ended the night with some Guitar Hero at the Prins house and then off to bed. Now we are just dealing with the candy tantrums from Ranger. The first thing he says when he wakes up is... Sucker. Nice. I gotta get rid of this candy! 
I'M BACK TO BLOGGING!!!
To all my long lost friends and family....I've missed you! Between having my camera break, Gabe helping to start the brand new football league in our town, football, football, football, about 25 family visits, football, school, football, primary, babysitting, and yet more football, I fell out of the world of blogging and have truly missed it. I now see I even have some cousins that finally have blogs who thought they could never blog and they are awesome....and current. Sorry. I will be on the ball and up to date especially now that my nights are a little more free while my children are sleeping. I can finally get caught up on blogging and scrapbooking (not that these could ever replace you Gabe!). They are just to occupy me in between packing. If you haven't heard yet, we are moving once again. Not just houses but states. It happened very fast and unexpected as usual but it is back to Arizona where all of our family is. Not too bad? We'll see......JK mom n dad. We love you all and have missed you but it is always hard to leave friends who have become family. We learned that from our long lost Texan family and it is just never the same when you move. We have truly fell in love with the mountains and the unlimited amount of outdoor activities to do. Activities that we now realize we did not take advantage of often enough. We thought we had plenty of time.... years. It has been fun and our kids have been able to be exposed to so many different things. Both here and in Texas. It will be nice however, to have them really become close with their grandmas and grandpas and get to know all their cousins that seem to be multiplying by the minute. Sad news? Good news? A little of both. All I know is that I need a lot of girls night out! Who's in?
Pumpkin Carving
The kids were so excited to get to pick out their pumpkins and carve them this year. They sure picked them out and we sure carved them. I think it may still be a year or two before they can really control a knife well enough. They picked out the designs and poked the patterns on and I think they turned out great! I love the fall and all of the fun that comes with it!
Man, Ranger is just minding his own business, trying to push around his blankie and he can't keep the girls off of him! I wouldn't object to cute little Capri though. 
The Pumpkin Festival
We took the boys to the Pumkin Festival at Thanksgiving Point. We went the first year we moved here so it was fun to get to go once more before we move. The boys even attempted to go through the haunted creature with Gabe. I say attempted because they had to bail out a little early with Ryder in tears. My little chicken tender. The funny thing was that Redden was the inital scared one and after 10 min. of Ryder teasing him he decided to go. Let's just say that Ryder got his. We enjoyed pig races, cow train rides, slides (the others more than Ranger and I), swings, corn blasting, bull riding, go carts, the jumping pillow, and last but not least....the beautiful pumpkin princess. Their cousin Emma will be so jealous. 
On The Road Again
After Yellowstone we headed down to Jackson Hole Wyoming and saw what a beautiful place that was. It would be awesome to go back to skii/snowboard. The kids liked the antler park but really there wasn't much else to do there for them by the time we arrived. We hit DQ and headed over to the resort. We got up the next morning and drove over to Rexburg, Idaho so that we could go to Bear World for Ranger's birthday. It was so cool. Especially because it was the last day they were open for the season so everything was 1/2 price. By far the kids favorite part of the trip. We got to ride around the park in our own truck and then parked and rode in their vehicle and were able to feed the bears. The bears know which vehicle is the feeding one and they all come running. We then spent well over and hour in the petting zoo and the kids and I couldn't get over how neat it was to cuddle and hug the deer. Ranger got quite a few kisses from several animals and was in heaven running from one to the next. I got to see and pet a moose which is what I wanted to see all trip so we were all happy! 
