BYU Homecoming week extravaganza!!!

We have had the greatest last few days ever!

Thursday Alex had 3 different play dates at our house, neighbor kids, play group, and her cousin Toby. Alex and Toby played doctor for about an hour which was hilarious to listen to. Apparently lotion can cure eye pain and carpet is the cure for backaches. Thursday night tyler and I were able to go see my cousin Alyson perform at the BYU spectacular! It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I finally made it to one.

Friday morning we met up with Kate and Archie at a Gymnastic's gym where they have free time once a week, and for only $3 let the kids run around and use ALL the equipment! The best part was that parents are FREE so we had the time of our life for only $3! Alex LOVED it and we are definitely making it a weekly event. Friday evening we had some neighbors over for dinner which was a lot of fun, and stayed up late playing games, eating carmel, apple bread and nachos.

Saturday we got up and went to the BYU Homecoming Parade! It's one of my favorite traditions and gets more and more fun the older the kids get! This year was great because Alex and Archie were in awe of everything coming down the street and appreciated the candy thrown their way. I went back and found the pictures from the first two years for some comparison.

Here we are in 2008. Kate has Archie in the oven, due in a month. Alex is 7 months old, and my little brother Stephen is taking the picture, (his first year at BYU). It snowed that day at the end of the parade, we were freezing.

2009. Only Me, Kate and the kids made it this year. I don't think Alex or Archie knew what was going on. I would have been about 2 months pregnant with Heidi at this point. It was a pretty cold day and I think it rained later on.

2010. We got a stranger to take the picture this year, Archie and Alex fighting over something. Kate, Renee and Josie our neighbors, Me, and Heidi. Obviously the weather was a bit different this year, we were even stripping layers off the baby.

Alex is about 8 months older than Archie who is about 8 months older than Josie, who is about 8 months older than Heidi. So when we hang out we all can get our fix of all the fun ages kids go through.

Archie is going to be a heartbreaker.

Alex was thrilled to let me paint her face. She is wearing an adorable BYU sweater that was mine when I was a toddler! I probably would have gone overboard on her face,only I was afraid of her destroying the sweater with face paint smears.

What cute cousins! The family next to us kept calling our kids "candy bait" and they were right. We collected a HUGE pile on top of what the kids were able to shove in their mouths during the parade. Heidi even kept getting the treats put in her lap. It was a grand time, I hope we are all around to do it again next year!

The partying portion of the weekend ended with an awesome paella party hosted by Ben and Kate Saturday night. We lit up the fire pit, let the kids run around and chatted and chopped and enjoyed some more family and friends. So far I'm loving this Fall the most.

It's gotten cold and wet the last few days, but Alex was really excited to play with the umbrella once I dug it out of the closet, so we went and played.

This is long overdue! Ben and Kate donated some yellow paint to our cause and we were able to finish the chicken coup!!! Once the grass dies I'm going to do the trim on the bottom blue as well. It's a little bit of a softer yellow in real life. I love it, and I love our chickens.