October 2015

I was at our school's running club with Chase, Ava, and Hannah. Chase was just finishing up and I went to check on him. Ava wanted to get her bike helmet on, so she was ready to go. A parent comes walking along asking if there is a Bassett. I said I was and she said, "You might want to hurry back your daughter got hurt."  I went back to find Ava on the Basketball court in a lady's lap covered in tissues. I am not sure what really happened but I think she must have gotten on her bike and was riding in circles around on the court and tried to turn too quickly. Poor girl (and the lady that help her) was covered in blood. Ava had knocked her front 2 teeth out and gotten a bloody nose, lip, and hand. Everyone was so helpful and kind. There was even a dentist there that said she looked fine and luckily her one tooth and come out clean and then handed me her tooth. I had to correct him and say she actually lost two teeth, yep, they found the other tooth near by. As I was carrying Ava home, Ava says to me, "Mom, my mouth feels funny. Can you put my teeth back in?" Poor girl you are going to be without those teeth for a long time. The good news is one of the teeth she knocked out was one she had knocked a couple years ago (and was dead and at a funny angle). Every time we go to the dentist, he says it will be out by the time we come in next... guess he was finally right.

This is what Ava looked like after we had cleaned her all up.

Look how quickly Ava bounced back. Here she is at breakfast the next day, already smiling.

Look at Ava's new cute smile. 

Here are the kids opening a Halloween package from Grandma and Grandpa Jones. They get so excited whenever the get something in the mail, especially Grandma and Grandpa's packages.

Hannah trying the vampire teeth.

Reading a bedtime story with Dad, in their matching night gowns.

Jordan got to go to Eco Week in October. The fifth graders ride a bus up into the mountains and stay in cabins and learn all about nature and get to take hikes, do a ropes course, and lots of other fun stuff. As you can see from the picture below she was really nervous about going.

Every Friday I take the two little girls to a thing called Music Makers. They love it. We sing songs, do activities and read books. Here they are playing with a parachute.

Ava is holding onto the yellow section and Hannah is standing next to her.

The Halloween Hustle. The kids did the fun run in their costumes.  They love this race because they get to wear costumes, play tons of fun games and get free frozen yogurt. This year we even meet up with our good friends the Kims.

Chase

Kailyn did not want to play this bumper game, but mean mom gave her her the eye and told her to do it. Kailyn ended up laughing so hard she could hardly stand up and we had to drag her away. Good thing she listened to her mom.

Katie and Kailyn

Ava and Chase

Hannah

The Kims and our family together for a group shot.

Lucy and Ava

Chase

Our preschool field trip for October was going to the pumpkin patch. We brought Rachel, Ava's preschool friend, with us.

Ava, and unhappy Hannah, Rachel

Hannah, Ava, Rachel

Ava had fun picking out pumpkins. Hannah was not in a good mood and wanted nothing to do with pumpkins or pictures.

Ava, Hazel, Eliza, Lucy, Tessa, Rachel

Ava and Hannah have discovered that they access the camera on my phone without having to use the passcode. I had to delete 300 pictures/videos the other day, most of them are of nothing, but some are cute/funny.

Hannah loves stickers. We have learned it is a great way to keep her happy on car rides (well at least for a little bit).

Picture from the last day of running club for Chase.

Chase is the front row, counting from the left, 6 in.

Chase enjoying a nice warm cup of hot chocolate.

Chase demonstrating what he looks like when he runs.

Caden asleep on the pillow chum he got for his birthday.

Ava and Hannah enjoying some pickles.

Every year the High School throws a Halloween party for kids in the area. They have trick or treating, a performance by their drama club, face painting, and games.

Ava

Chase

Hannah

Caden with an axe (he was a viking for Halloween)

Chase with a ninja sword (he was a ninja)

They even had Elsa and Anna there.

Star Wars fighting.

Some more Halloween Pics:

Trick or Treating with Friends

Last Day in California

So, the last day was really just packing up and leaving. Here are a few pictures of the house we stayed in. Honestly, we weren't all that impressed (our least favorite of all the ones we have stayed in). There was not really good cooking equipment (pans, spatulas, spoons, knives, etc) or spices (most places stock basic spices like salt and pepper and spray/oil for pans), none of the bathtubs would plug, the beds were horrible (hard and slanted), and when I pulled the portable crib (they provided) out it was covered in mold...just to name a few. Good thing this was a trip where we were hardly at the house.

kitchen

hall to the 5 bedrooms

laundry area

master bedroom

We did get to catch a couple General Conference talks before we had to head out.

living room

The pool

A game room that was not connected to the house.

more of the game room

Time to say good-bye.

The airport experience was not very good at LAX. We kept being told different places to go and then they made us check our stroller. Ugh!

Hannah wanted to have a backpack like everyone else.

She couldn't stand-up with it on so I had to carry her.

We survived the airplane ride and made it safely back to our car. It didn't take long for the kids to fall asleep.

Wow! What an amazing trip. We had so much fun. Hopefully, the Phillips will want to do another trip with us after this one. We really pushed them. We crammed so much into our stay in California. It was SO worth it all.