Girls Trip and Maddie's Birthday!

I went on a girls trip with my mom and sisters to Denver!

We decided to take advantage of the cheap flights right now and meet up there since Adrienne lives a few hours away and could drive us around.

I got lucky and had the whole row to myself!

First stop was Torchy's for lunch!

After that we did some shopping and then headed to the hotel for naps.

That night we walked to Village Inn for pie

They were all amazing

The next day we worked out at the hotel gym, swam in the pool, and then went to the Botanic Gardens. 

The weather was beautiful and we had the most amazing lunch at the Hive! Afterwards we went to the Outlet Mall and then got Coldstone Ice Cream for dinner.

Elena arrived Friday night and then Saturday morning after working out we drove through the Wildlife Refuge and saw a few bison and some prairie dogs.

Then ate Red Robin for lunch!

After that, we did a little shopping, then headed to the escape room.

We escaped with 7 minutes to go! 

We saved Denver from being blown up by a missile!

I am back home now and so glad I got to go! It was so nice to catch up with everyone in person and Trevor did a great job taking care of the kids while I was gone.

I finished Tanner's Pokemon cross stitch and have it framed and on display in his room

I took Maddie to get her nails done for her birthday

They turned out so pretty!

And it was really fun

Kinley's pumpkin for school. 

Her teacher was out on Friday so I had to help her do all of her work, plus send in pictures to prove she did it.

The weather has been amazing and it is so nice outside.

There are leaves everywhere! The kids were making a pile to ride their scooters through.

We got Maddie a basketball hoop for her birthday!

The kids trying it out

Trevor even carved her initial in it

Helping Tanner dunk, even though the instructions say "no dunking"

Kinley too

It is really fun! 

Looking forward to enjoying this for years to come

We let Maddie open her presents on her birthday eve since her birthday is on a Sunday this year and that way she would have more time to enjoy her presents

Birthdays are just as fun for the siblings!

Maddie got the Calico Critters Mansion with some furniture and dolls and she has been playing with it nonstop

She wanted carmelitas for her "cake" this year

And she requested a spaghetti dinner

Singing Happy Birthday

Can't believe she is 10!

With the mansion set up

She even lets Kinley play with it

Tanner looking handsome in his church clothes

Shenandoah National Park and Other Activities

Virtual school started for the kids at the end of August.

There are a lot of good things about it, like being able to sleep in, not having to drive to and from the school every day, not worrying about bullies, school shootings, etc. And there are lots of hard things about it, like sitting in front of a screen all day, not leaving the house for days on end, and not having any school friends. Overall the kids are doing great with it and we are trying to make the best of it.

I made them pancakes for their first day

First day! 

The first week was tough but now they have a good routine

Our rain gutter was leaking like crazy, so Trevor fixed it

Twinners!

Trevor and I decided that we wanted to teach the kids more about different countries and so we decided to have themed country nights once a week. We each picked a different country to learn about and then after we learn about it, we eat food from that country. Our first country was Italy. We had my brother-in-law, Ben, tell us a little about it since he went on his mission there, and then we ate lasagna for dinner.

And we had gelato for dessert! 

Smoky skies, thanks to the West Coast wildfires

We had Belgian waffles on Belgian night.

This was Tanner's pick and I've never seen him so happy.

We also ate real Belgian chocolate for dessert

I made empanadas for Argentina night and we had my mom tell us about Argentina and what it's like there. We also had alfajores for dessert with dulce de leche.

We got out the Halloween costumes and had to get rid of a few since the kids have grown out of them. Wearing the Jack Sparrow costume one last time.

Tanner decided he is going to be Ironman this year

General conference lunch in the basement

Our neighbors gave us a fun Halloween package that came with a pretzel dipping kit, so the kids did this activity between sessions of conference.

For French night I made Croque Monsieur sandwiches.

They were amazing!

And profiteroles for dessert

Our friends invited us to go to Shenandoah National Park with them! 

We have been wanting to go for awhile and we got to see so many pretty leaves.

We took a million pictures too

We did two fun hikes with them

The scenery was amazing

Such beautiful leaves

We wanted to get a nice family picture that we could put on our wall, and this one is it!

We also went to the Great Wall of China! 

Lol Trevor is getting pretty good at Photoshop

Kinley and I taking a breather

Throwing rocks in the river

This hike was to a waterfall, and the kids had lots of spots to play in the water

Looking handsome

This was before our first hike. 

We got there in the early morning and it was cold! 

Made it to the summit

Taking pics while we waited in the car. 

There were so many nice lookouts

We had a great time with our friends and loved exploring the park

We stopped at Chili's on the way home for a delicious lunch

And free dessert!