~Happy day to youuuu Derek!~

Happy Birthday DJ!! It's hard for me to believe that my baby is 2 years old! He's such a big boy! As you can see, DJ is a fan of airplanes, so that was the theme for his party :) We had all 7 kids here, and had a great time!



DJ...... what a blessing you are in our family!!! I love to listen to you sing! I love the way you say "uh huh" and "uh uh". My favoriteeeeeeeee is when you say "Let's DO this, woo hoo"! I love it when you tell me you lub (love) me. :) I also love it when you see me or dad getting ready and ask us if we're going to volleyball. :) Hehe What a cute little man you are! Our favorite monkey! You're excited about life! You're funny! You're busy. You're determined. You're obedient. You make your brothers, sisters and mom and dad so happy! We all love you very much!!!!!



In this picture, you'll see some "books" that Lily, Toby and Lexi made for Derek for his birthday. If you look closely, Toby's book says, "DJ You are Asum"! hehe sooooo cute! :) DJ loved this little airplane he got! He would stand with his legs apart and use the remote to have the plane go through his legs. He'd watch it as it would go under and lean down and rest his forhead on the floor, to be able to keep watching. He was dancing around and kept all of us entertained for a long time!

~Halloween~

Our dear friends Annie, Alex and Jono came over for FHE and pumpkin Carving! I toasted up a bunch of the pumpkin seeds and they were delicious!!!
So it's dangerous to have Lily or DJ using knives or sharp objects to carve a pumpkin, right? My idea was to give them markers instead, much safer! So Dave see's DJ with a Sharpie, permanent marker, and says, "who gave him that marker?" in a concerned voice. I proudly admit that I did, and it's safer.....besides I'm right next to him and...........(as I'm in mid sentence- no lie- DJ slowly, but surely, raises the permanent marker towards his face and places a beautiful "mole" on his cheek. HA the irony! And speaking of moles, Jono carved a mole in the face of his pumpkin because "all witches have moles". To which Kyle replied "Hey, my mom is not a witch" Lovely, I know.



We went with Hopekids up to Bear Lake for the weekend. It was soooooo nice to get away! I just can't express enough how much I love Hopekids and how wonderful it is to be part of this huge understanding family, while getting to do things we just can't do on our own.
Here are the kids Halloween costumes. In case you can't tell
Kyle - Dunkin Donut (verrrrrrrry scary skills putting this together, seriously! Toby - Captain Rex (Clone Trooper)
Lily - Black Kitty Cat
DJ - Airplane Pilot (you've got to hear him say this, it's so cute, although sometimes he'd say he was going to be a pumpkin lol)


Ok so this isn't and never was DJ's costume, but his eyes were so funny to me, I had to post this!! :)



The kids got to ride on this train/wagon thing! In this last picture, Kyle is holding TJ, a fellow hopekid, who was unable to sit upright by himself. His parents couldn't ride, and so Kyle kindly helped so that TJ could ride.... so sweet!




The kids had soooo much fun! Just being in nature.... piling and throwing leaves. We really had a great time!