Halloween Party's

This year we celebrated Fall and Halloween with a few parties and a lot of pumpkins! We started off with the Fall Carnival at the school where Kennedy wanted to dress up as a scary ugly witch. Emily painted her face and she really looked horrible; she won the scariest costume in her age division and brought home a little trophy. Darren and Kennedy carved pumpkins this year and they did a fabulous job, it was tons of fun. I have always wanted to go to Gardner Village and a pumpkin patch so this year Mom, Kennedy and I set out on an adventure. Gardner Village is still something I haven't been to-the day we chose was way to busy so we skipped it; but we went to an awesome pumpkin patch and corn maze. We picked out 10 pumpkins in all shapes, sizes and even colors. It was a blast. Halloween day we headed to Jill's house where we had a Halloween Party/Football Party. Dad and Darren couldn't come because they had to work, we missed them but had a great time. All the girls dressed up in costumes and went trick or treating with Kennedy and her friend Jordan Nelson. Jill's neighbors go all out in Hooper, our first stop we all had grilled hamburgers and hot chocolate! We went to tons and tons of houses for candy and then hit another house that was serving smores and hot chocolate. It was definitely a treat. Later we dipped caramel apples and ate tons of good food. It was such a great time and hope it becomes tradition! Thanks Brett and Jill.

Secret Friend

Kennedy is now in girl's activities for church and they chose to secret friends. Matt and Hilary gave Kennedy a Halloween cookbook with all kinds of yummy cutesy little treats; for Kennedy's 1st secret gift for her friend she made spider cupcakes for her...(Brooke Handley). I don't know that they were very good to eat but they sure we cute.

More Cabin Pictures

I have no pictures of Dad, he is a party pooper when it comes to getting his pictures taken. Matt and Hil had just gotten a little kitty and they didn't dare leave her home by herself so she got to also stay the weekend with us.

Growing up we didn't ever take family vacations unless we were going to a rodeo or a roping. This year my parents (I think more Mom than Dad) decided we needed a little trip without the horses. We rented a cabin in Heber City and headed up to stay conference weekend. All of us were able to be there except Darren, and he couldn't get off work with such short notice. My family is not very good at planning it's all kind of spur of the moment stuff. We missed Darren and hopefully he will be able to come with us next year-we decided it should be a yearly event...we'll see how that pans out but hopefully. We went 4 wheeling, hot tubing, played games, ate and ate and ate, watched conference, did quite a bit of Indian leg wrestling,(I was the champ) and just hung out and laughed. Kennedy's Aunt's decided it was time for her to go Snipe hunting, so we waited until it got dark and off they went. I, of course, had to video and take pictures. It was a blast.

Anniversary

Darren and I got married 11 years ago in Las Vegas. We dated for about 4 years and he finally decided to propose. It was such a romantic morning. On October 5, 1999 Darren took me to the Uintas to Butterfly lake for a picnic; he said he had to get something out of the car, when he came back he got on bended knee and asked me to be his wife. We didn't have any money so he had found a twig and molded it into the shape of a ring and put it on my finger. I didn't care if I had a ring, I just wanted to be married to the man of my dreams, and he was it. I, of course, said yes and we headed back to Evanston to Wal-Mart and bought a ring. It was the most beautiful ring ever. We then called my parents and told them the news and headed to my grandma's house at Mt. Fuel to share the good news. A week later Darren and I along with my best friend, Steph, flew to Vegas to get married. Chad, Billy and Brandon Pugmire were down there so they also came to our wedding along with Tauna Eastman and her friend Erin. The church that we chose to get married in was Viva Las Vegas and it was a pretty little church. I was walked down the aisle in my wedding dress, with Chad escorting me in his black Metallica t-shirt which he had turned around so it was a little more dressy. We made our vows and then our limo driver took us all over Vegas that night. My favorite part was when she drove us to the Belligio to look at the fountains; we all piled out of the limo and watched the waterfalls dance and sway to the music. I felt like a princess, climbing out of the limo with my wedding dress on. There was romance in the air. As the night came to an end, we had the radio blasting with the windows down and "Goodbye to Romance" by Ozzy came on the radio; we all laughed at the timing of the song. I never wanted the romance to end. We were extremely blessed 3 years later when our little girl was born, she truly was our miracle and she was the one that changed our entire life, for the better. Darren and I had many experiences that were fun but having Kennedy was the purest joy either one of us had ever known. Kennedy changed the way we looked at life and knew there was some definent changes that we needed to make to give her a good life and one that she deserved. Kennedy was born when things for us were tough, but we moved back to Utah near family and from there things seem to fall into place. Kennedy was 8 months old when we were able to be sealed to her and to each other for time and eternity, it was such an incredible day. Our family surrounded us this time and the day was perfect. We are not blessed with any more children but the one that we have is our greatest treasure. Now 11 years later we are still going strong. I love being married to my husband and I guess he still loves me. He surprised me with a ring "upgrade" this year. I always told him if we ever got enough to get a new ring I wanted a platinum band with a square diamond. He got me exactly what I wanted. Thanks Darren, I love it and I love you.

Darren's Birthday present to Kennedy

Darren is very talented musically, although I don't know how many people know this. From the moment we found out we were having a baby he started putting music up to my belly-lots of AC/DC,Ozzy, and Offspring just to give her an early start on proper music (lol). Every year he has wanted to give her a guitar but decided she wasn't quite old enough-but this year he finally got her one. We looked and looked and finally he found the perfect one for her: a little black Ibanez. It was so fun to see the look on his face when he gave it to her, what a special gift. I wish Darren was home more to be able to teach her, but they sure have a great time jamming it up when he is home. If you live close and you hear noise booming out of our house it's just my husband and daughter jamming out.

Kennedy's 8th Birthday

Kennedy turned 8 this year. I can't believe how fast time goes by. We only do family birthday parties every year, but she had the chose to have a friend birthday party or something of her choose. Kennedy wanted to take a few friends to Chuck E Cheese in Layton. We took Emily Weston (I need a friend to be there) Hayden Weston, Savvanha Mitchell, Alyssa Cook and Kennedy. Hilary, Bret and Jill also came and we had a great time.

Dirt and the neighborhood Kids

We are putting in a little more lawn in the front of the house so we had some dirt delivered. I don't know what it is about kids and dirt, but they LOVE playing in it. All the kids showed up to help Darren rake the dirt and they did such a great job, he defintely was glad for their help. The kdis helping are Riley Carillo, Hayden Weston, Kennedy, Cameron Hull and Addison Carillo.