Reese's Dream Come True Birthday Party!

Reese had the surprise of her life! She knew we were doing some sort of "animal party" but I told her the main part was a surprise. I had scheduled Wild Wonders to come and share her exotic animals and teach us about them. But the best part was Reese's absolute favorite animal is a skunk and she got to hold one!!! Her face lit up SO big and was the happiest I think I have ever seen her.

The kids also got to learn about and pet other animals including: a hedgehog, Chinchilla, red fox, ring tail, ferret, giant flemish rabbit, and tortoise. The kids absolutely loved it. We also, decorated fox, skunk and rabbit sugar cookies. Reese isn't a huge fan of cake so we usually do donuts or sugar cookies!

The Baptism of Emma Bentley Close

Emma's baptism was a wonderful event. Emma was so excited for her special day. We had been planning Family Home Evenings around helping her prepare for the covenants she would make with her Father in Heaven. We had lots of family come and it was very fun. She and I and Reese sang a Baptism medley together. Boose and Granma Close gave talks. Then we went to our house after for lunch. Emma received some very special gifts including necklaces, CTR ring, scriptures, blanket with her baptism date and name on it. We are so proud of our sweet Emma and her decision to be baptized. We love her zest for life, friends, family, and having fun!

 

Emma's 8th Birthday

Well, the exciting thing about Emma this time around is that she got baptized! So that post will be longer. Her birthday was on a Friday and she got baptized the day after so it was a crazy busy week. But I know how important friends are to her so I told her we weren't doing a big birthday but she could still invite 3 friends and we could go out somewhere fun. So I took her and her friends to Kangaroo Zoo and out for ice cream. She still had a blast!

Halloween 2017

This year I told the girls, "you can be ANYTHING you want to be for Halloween....as long as we already have the costume." It worked just fine too! They all wanted to be different things for school, parties, and trick or treating. It was great. We had plenty of things for them to choose from. 

Ward trunk or treat:

 

Tiggs Cabin for Fall Break

Oh man! This cabin was so much fun! At the beginning of the year we "won" a weekend at the Twiggs cabin (paid for it) and we had no idea what to expect. It was so wonderful. It had three levels and 4 bedrooms with tons of beds for everyone. The place was filled with taxidermy animals and it was nuzzled in these beautiful aspens. The best part was the HUGE swing that swung right into the gorgeous trees. It was seriously so amazing.

My mom, Dad, Boose, Bryan and Jennie and their kids stayed there together. The first night snowed and it made it beautiful! We ate yummy soup, played games, made "haunted" gingerbread houses for Halloween, did a glow-in the dark dance party and put a movie on for the kids while us adults talked. It was so fun. Lucy had a cold and of course screamed all night and kept most of the house awake....but other than that it was fine :). The next day Bryan and Jennie made a pancake and egg breakfast and we just played games and played outside during the day. Around 4 pm we headed to Heber to a park to let the kids get some energy out. We went to a burger joint and Cade and I and the girls stayed one more night after everyone else had gone home. The girls had so much fun. I'm sure grateful for others allowing us to stay in their cabin!