Brad'ette'

Today, Beau's cousin, Brad, came and visited us. He is living in Tempe working on his PhD. He came to church with us to hear Isabelle sing a solo in the primary program, and then came over for dinner. At that point, poor Brad was introduced to the world of little girls!! And Brad'ette' was born! He was such a good sport! My girls are already asking when cousin Brad is going to come visit again!! (Notice in the pics how long he put up with his 'makeover'-you can see daylight in the beginning pics and they progressively get darker, and darker!!) (In case your wondering, for all of those who know Brad, yes that is a sleeping beauty wig he is wearing!)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Last weekend I was determined to make Ava cute! I put curlers in her hair Saturday night, and made her keep them in. The next morning, she took them out in her bed, looked at herself in the mirror, and determined that her hair looked crazy, so turned the sink on and suck her head in!! All that effort down the drain!! We did manage to pull her together with the curling iron though!!

Finally, Halloween night! For trick or treating I borrowed costumes from my sister Megan (who made these amazing costumes!). Belle was a fifties girl in a poodle skirt walking her pet poodle, Ava! Notice the dog leash--if the roles had been reversed, I may have second thought it, but as it stood everything was good! Trick or treating was a lot of fun. It was fun to see all our neighbors out on the street. You know how easy it is to get caught up in your own lives and business, but it was great talking to people along our way!

Make a Smilebox postcard

Bizarre Foods!!!

Our favorite show as of late is Bizarre Foods! It's great, this guy goes all around the world eating the craziest things, and we thought Halloween night would be the perfect time to try our own version of it! Since there was no way my kids were going to eat a real eyeball or beating heart, we came up with our own fare suited to the occasion. We had ghost-tatoes, wherewolf claws, fish eggs, blood cells, and eyeballs! Boy was it good!

Make a Smilebox postcard

Flagstaff Horse Show!!

The fun continued through the week! Last Saturday we went to Flagstaff to visit Beau's aunt Renea. The place where she boards her horse has an annual Halloween horse party!! It was tons of fun.

We took a hayride to a pumpkin patch in the pines!

Who knew pumpkins grew among the pines?!

Ava has her pick!


Isabelle striking a pose!

The whole fam.

They even had face painting. Isabelle didn't want it on her face (it would clash with her costume during the competition!), so she had a dolphin put on her hand.

Ava, of course, had to follow suit!

Seeing as we were at the horse barn, she got a unicorn to keep in theme.

Which went perfectly with her costume!

Lining up to be judged.

First place winner! (Who in their right mind wouldn't pick a baby horse!! (I guess those are called foals!))

Celebrating her victory!

Renae getting EZ ready.


Renae and Isabelle (and EZ) all ready to strut their stuff!

Waiting their turn.

Isabelle was Number One Daughter Chinese princess, Renae was her most humble servant Chop Chop, and EZ was the noble steed!

No, Isabelle didn't get into it at all! NOT! (Do people still say that!?)

And the winner is.....A batman and robin family complete with a joker and batmobile(I think the baby in the robin outfit tipped the scales in their favor)!
But the second prize goes to......you guessed it, EZ, Renae and Isabelle!!!

Isabelle got third place last year, so this was a step in the right direction. Next year.....!!
Isabelle liked the shoes most of all. Can you tell?!

Pumpkin Carving!!

About a week and a half ago, the girls and I got into the Halloween spirit!

All set.

This is the fun part!

Ava wasn't really having it!



Belle took care of business!

Ava got out of there!

Until all the work was done! Our cat. (The only kind I will ever have to have hopefully!)

Our ghost. (And ghost suckers!)

Ooooooh! (Yes, I know my carving skills are probably making you jealous, but don't worry--I'd be happy to show anyone my techniques any time!)