Fall Football!

I know. I know. It's January and most people are blogging about Christmas and snow. I've been on a holiday hiatus. Hopefully I'll get there soon enough. First, a fall recap. Or you can just wait a week or so and check back for Christmas pics later. . .



Logan has become our football star. He really enjoyed playing flag football this fall. He's gotten really good at defense--grabbing all those flags. And He even made a touchdown the last game!!! Way to go Logan!

We have this great team of boys that we have played with for several years now which makes it fun to play with friends.


Go Giants!

Logan in action grabbing a flag.


The boys' best fans!

Team Mom.

Maybe these are the best fans??!

Who couldn't be a fan of this face? Really?

Only 4 more days . . .

for New Moon!

Who would you choose?

Jacob?

or Edward??!

For me, it will always be Edward.

Although Jacob is the nice guy, the best friend, and isn't a bad distraction. . . poor Bella. Two hot guys in love with her. It must be tough.

I Am Thankful For . . .

My 3 beautiful, healthy, and happy kids!

Trunk or Treat

We got twice the candy this year. Some people in our family our much more excited about this fact than others. Not only did we trick-or-treat, but we trunk-or-treated at the ward party at our church.

It just so happens that Mike (what the??) is the activity director of our ward and so he (we) got to plan this fun-filled event. Mike pulled it together the night before and it turned out great! (after a certain amount of stress on my part). We had a chili cook off, plenty of hot dogs, chips and treats for everyone to eat. There were games for the kiddos: donuts on a string, a cupcake walk, face painting, and the fish pond was most popular with my kids. It was the only game I could get Savannah to participate in. I found her wondering around crying amongst all the fun while Mike and I were trying to man the food. I gave up helping Mike and took over with the kids. After the games, it was all about the trunk or treating.

Logan and Cameron always have a blast together!

Savannah loves her best bud, Brooklyn.

Logan showing off our spooky trunk. (This year, there was no time for dressing up or decorating the trunk on Mike and my part. I just threw a bunch of crap off our porch in the trunk and called it good.) The witch's face lights up and she talks, so that freaked out a few small children. Good enough.

Happy Halloween!

We had a very spooktacular time on Halloween!

We spent the morning on the football field watching Logan play two games back to back. He did awesome on defense, pulling 4 flags in a row and 8 in all. Then, we came home for a little family carving pumpkin time.

Basically . . . it was all about the GUTS!

There were also power tools involved. Some took carving a little more serious than others.

Maddie and Brooks came over to play in the afternoon and to admire the finished products.

Then, it was time to make the Carmel apples and witches brew for our dinner party with our fun neighbors before the trick or treating could begin.

Witches brew: Drink at your own risk

Savannah made a cute little Black Kitty

We had a handsome Harry Potter

And Miss Makayla was a Charm School Witch.

Special Agents Dana Scully and Fox Moulder also made an appearance

. . . while Kelly and Scott got their groove on.

Finally it was time to Trick-or-Treat!

After gathering more candy than they could carry . . .

. . . the kids quickly dumped their loot in search of the "good stuff."

The look on their faces says it all, "We've hit the jackpot!!!"

I needed a good laugh today . . . do you?

The Manwaring Mash

Hope all of you had a fun Halloween weekend! We sure did! Pics are soon to come, however, we had fun making this little movie of how we spent our weekend. HA, ha, ha, ha, Ha!

Thank you, Lindsay for the fun idea!

Werewolves and Zombies and Clowns, Oh My!

The only thing better than going to Sea World's HOWL-O-SCREAM in the fall, is going at night!

We had a spooktacular time last weekend. The kids loved all the festivities in kidland, and Mike and I had fun dodging all the creepy werewolves, zombies, and clowns that tried to freak out, and succeeded quite well I might add, the kids. Oh how I love Halloween!

First stop: Hitting the pirate ship in KidLand and watching The Pirate Show

Arrrrr . . . Matey!

There was plenty of swashbuckling and to go around with these blustering buccaneers. Yo He Ho and a Bottle of Rum . . .

Next Stop: Strolling through the scare zones and running for our lives as we were ambushed by werewolves, clowns, and a certain young zombie that pushed Logan right over the edge.

Last Stops: Shamu's Rockin' Creep Show and don't forget the Jack is Back Finale.

After being freaked out by all the zombies, we were glad to escape to the Shamu Stadium and wait for show to begin. Watching Shamu is Savannah's favorite part about Sea World, and mine is getting to watch a much more exciting version of the Shamu Show for Halloween instead of the same old one. . .

Jack is Back! Rocking out to good tunes, dancing, and fireworks was a nice way to end the evening. We drove home with 3 happy but very wiped out kids who all crashed in the car on the way home.