The Princess and the Poodle

I heart traditions. 

I heart costume parties. 

And I really heart candy.

Makes for a great Halloween!

My cow "utters" seemed to be a hit everywhere we went.  In fact, when Brielle first saw me dressed up, she came up to me, grabbed an utter and said, "Mom, I really like your cow boobies"!

My children and I with some of my favorites at the ward Halloween carnival that the youth were in charge of:

Brielle is adored by so many of the young women, but she drives me crazy because she is SO stinkin' shy!  If she gets nervous, she goes from cute to not so cute very quickly because she either has to be held by me, or freaks out and shuts down.  Poor thing, I just don't know how to help her. 

Here comes the torture.  That's right:  Pictures by the pumpkins.  You'd think I was truly punishing my children.

Taylee literally took off running when I set her by the pumpkins for pics.

It's the crouch-and-run!  She pretends like she's sitting, and then when I get close to pick her up, she takes off running again.  I'm depressed to tell you that it's worked on more than one occasion!

She thought she was so funny trying to get away.  That's kind of our daily game now.  I tell her to come here, she takes off in the other direction just as fast as her chubby little legs will carry her.

In the end, I thought I won. . . . . until I actually saw the picture.  Dang!

Poor Poodle:

Check out the slobber!  All tuckered out after visiting Daddy at work.

I know I'm biased, but man I think this is one pretty princess.

Excited to go to the trunk or treat:

Brielle kept dancing and singing and twirling.  She was in LOVE with her costume!

And even more delighted when she got to put on makeup and a necklace!

Taylee just likes to sneak my chap stick so she can eat it.  Dang dog!

Trick or treating with Daddy!  Yay!!  At every door, Brielle would say, "Trick or Treating".

Taylee of course would grab as many candies as she could when they'd hold the bowl out, and then she had a very hard time putting them in her bucket.  She had to have at least one candy in each hand at all times because she was so afraid she wouldn't get them back.

Too much fun, not enough sleep.

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa's house.

After all the extra candy that Grandma Marg gave her, Taylee was rejuvenated and ready for more trick or treating.

Grandma and Grandpa Kyhl.

We came home to some delicious bread bowl soup (just like my parents did for me every year of my life), and the sugar cookies we'd made and decorated.  As if we didn't already have enough sugar!

All in all, it was a great Halloween. 

Since then, we have been super lazy.  And by that I mean I have been super lazy.  Brielle stays busy trying on every costume in the house and modeling them for me.

You know, I really love doing crafts with my kids and reading them books.  I love taking them to the library and coloring with them.  Most days that I'm home, we do stay pretty busy doing every creative thing we can think of, but sometimes it's absolutely wonderful doing absolutely nothing and getting to watch stuff like this unfold!

While Travis and I (but mostly Travis) work on the house, our kids are usually doing something like this:

There are some truly delightful kids in our neighborhood, and for that I'm extremely grateful.

Brielle asks me regularly if she can sleep on the "jumper".  I think the tramp is her favorite part about gymnastics too.  That girl would gladly skip all three meals if she could just jump all day long.

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!



Our Sweet Little Angel

(Showing off her new fancy candy ring that Grandma gave her)

Trav and I are so proud of our girl.  So very, very proud. 

Our Fall Affairs

(First, let me apologize for the blurriness of so many of these pictures.  Apparently, we are having camera issues. . . or operator issues.  Probably operator issues.  But in most cases, the blurry images are all I have to remember certain things, so I'll post them anyway.)

We have been super busy lately. 

I mean really, really busy.

While Travis stayed home working on the house at the beginning of the month, I took the girls up north for a surprise party for my mom's birthday.  The entire trip was fabulous.  I stayed up late with my brothers and sister in law telling stories and laughing at each other (I seriously laughed so hard I was crying, man it felt good).  We enjoyed watching conference, and surprised my mother on her birthday, we ate delicious food CONSTANTLY, and we shopped and shopped.  We also got really excited for Halloween when we took the kids to Gardner Village to shop and spy some witches. 

Well, OK, the kids didn't exactly love the shopping part (Brielle and Cayson):

But Brielle did think the fabulously done up witches were the best thing since sliced apples.  She was constantly on the prowl for the next witch.  (Super cute pregnant Misty with Cayson in the back)

Again, sorry so blurry.

Trav ended up having a business trip in SLC, so my mom and I took the girls swimming at the hotel.  Notice a pattern here - Travis works while I play.  Normally I'd feel bad, but after this last hunting season, I'm game!

In other news, we signed Breezy up for gymnastics.  It's a mommy and me class so I get to go with her to spot and hold her hand when she's nervous, but she is LOVING it!  She's a wild woman there and I always have to stop her from jumping all over everything when her class is headed elsewhere.  She's obsessed with the bars, and the obstacle course, but hates the beam. 

Pumpkin Patch:

Travis finally took a night off from the house, so I jumped at the chance to head to the pumpkin patch.  I am quite fond of pumpkin patches, especially when I get to take the girls on a hayride.  They were in love!

Even Taylee joined in the fun of picking out her own pumpkin.

As long as it made a good chair, she was in!

Grandma and Grandpa were even able to join in the fun.

As for me, I was just happy that I actually got a full night with my husband.  We had so much fun teasing and laughing together.

I wasn't the only one happy about his appearance either!

Today, I caught Brielle sitting just like this.  For some reason, I found it absolutely hilarious!  I just love this girl so much!

Bunko. . . . Halloween style!

Thanks girls.  It was a blast as usual!



Our New Home Decor

In about a year from now, we'll be adding a pretty expensive piece of home decor to our basement.  It's definitely NOT something I would ever choose to spend money on, but I'm married to a hunter who just finished his first big archery elk hunt.  The mount is kind of a big deal to the man, so I guess I'd better become real good friends with the thing if it's going to live in my basement (the elk, not the husband. . . .although sometimes that's very tempting too ;) )

So here's the story. . . . . You could say it's kind of a Brokeback Mountain Story:

After 6 months of prep, 2 months of scouting, and 17 days of hunting that looked something like this. . . . .

Travis got the end result he wanted.. . . The elk, not the boyfriend.  However, Clayton and Travis spent so much time together for those couple of months I can't help but make fun of their little bromance.  We call him Osama because he died on 9/11.

For those of you who are horny for hunting (Trav's words, not mine), here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkCeTygT7RY

Our "Kyhl"er Weekend. . . . Get It?

The girls and I had a fun filled Kyhl Family weekend.  We took a trip down to Cedar to visit Abbey, Jackson and Tripp.  We ended up unexpectedly staying the night just so we could fit in a mini St. George shopping excursion.  It was fun, but I don't think we'll be doing that anytime soon with our kids in tow.

We absolutely LOVED Cedar's new aquatic center.  That thing was a blast!  It was perfect for my girls (the ones in blue and purple).

And Jackson was so cute to help Brielle everywhere we went.

Of course I had to visit my little brother Randy who is now attending SUU.  Let's just say that going out to a restaurant with two toddlers is kind of a great form of birth control for anyone who's supposed to be concentrating on their studies!

So after a couple of days of swimming, shopping, eating out, and a late night chick flick, we all headed back to good old Richfield for yet another family fun day that included everyone minus Travis (who of course is gone hunting). 

Since Richfield is just bustin' with fun things to do, our options seemed limitless!  We ended up park hopping, and it really was fun!

Grandma, Grandpa, and the girls:

Taylee, Tyson & Abbey:  (Don't you love Taylee's pouty little smile! Ha!)

We spent a whole morning going to every park around, and it was really quite fun.  My girls sure loved it. 

And I loved how they completely zonked after playing their little hearts out!

In Other News:

8 more days. 8 more days until the hunt is over and my house will once again start seeing actual progress.  I can't wait!  It's been sitting here just like this for far too long.  I miss my peaceful, lovely little neighborhood.

The girls and I have been very busy building forts, playing games and having picnics.  BUT. . . . it will be very nice to have Daddy home again!

And of course what's a weekend without playing with friends?  We'll always love going to the park with the Shelton's.  Even if we are completely "park"ed out. 

(Leah and Kristen in the background)