Is it possible to smile with a broken arm?

On Monday I was finally feeling okay to get out and take some pictures. I wanted some of the kids showing their excitement for their dad graduating from Utah State. The hardest part was to get a look from Anna that wasn't total boredom or the look of "she is way better than this."

I will cut her some slack and say that she did break her arm on Saturday and has not been in good spirits since. She actually fell off her scooter coming down a hill by our house. Her story is that Zach hit her with a shovel. I do think that she is a little proud that she is the first one in our family to break a bone....(not counting when Craig cracked his cheekbone with a water ski.) She is also amazed that she broke a bone before Zach. Zach is the daredevil in our family so he is falling all the time. As I explained to her, Zach knows how to fall. He always rolls so when he gets injured it is usually scrapes on his shoulders or back. Anyway Anna got a beautiful purple cast put on yesterday.

We did manage a few good pictures. The kids thought I was funny because I made them wear the T-shirts backwards because it says I am proud of My Aggie on the back. I thought it looked cute.

Fall Photoshoot

Today the kids were bored so I took them out on a fall photoshoot. I need some new pictures of the kids any way. Here are some of my favoites.

Braces on, Braces Off

After 22 months of torture, pain, lots of crying, not being able to eat carmel, corn on the cob or apples, cankers, headgear, rubberbands, did I mention crying....Anna finally is braces free. So here I have the before and after pictures.


On the way home I stopped by a store so she could buy a box of Milk Duds. After much thought and consideration she came up with Milk Duds as the first thing she wanted to eat.

I can only hope that the painful memory of braces will be enough motivation to wear her retainer so that we don't have to go through this again!!! (Up next: Zach in Feb.)

Halloween

Much to my delight we have made it through another Halloween. This is my least favorite holiday (and really why is it called a holiday?) I would much rather go and buy each of my kids a couple of bags of candy and call it good. Unfortunately that approach to Halloween just doesn't fly with the kids. So once again we manage to come up with costumes that the kids were happy with. I will say that it was nice to have good weather for a change....that made it almost bareable.

Before the kids went trick or treating we stopped by my mom and dad's house so that they could see the kids costumes. My sister and her kids were their also...so I took a group picture.