Family night!!! What a great fun Family night!! Carving Pumpkins.

It's not every day you see a clown dancing with a ballerina!!! Tyler had his i-pod in th i-home. He was listening to some music, and Addyson wanted to dance. She thought it was funny that he had the clown hair on and he was just being so dang cute with herdancing around the dining room. It was precious and hopefully he will never be too old to dance with his sisters.

While we were sitting at the dinner table eating. Haylee informs me that she is going to be a good mom when she grows up, because she is going to give her kids "whatever they want." At first I felt a little sad thinking that I always tell her "No" when she asks for things. But we all know that this is part of being a mother. One day she will learn, but when that day comes I will pull out this video and say remember, "You are going to give your kids whatever they want." Hope you all enjoy!!!

The kids were out for fall break and if they are not doing something every minute they are bored.  Alyssa came up with the idea to make face masks for each of them and here is what they looked like. Alyssa is a flower child, Tyler made an African something, Haylee is a Bear and Addyson is a Butterfly.

Family trip to Mt. Rushmore South Dakota

This is Bad Lands National Park. We drove through Bad Lands on our way to Mt. Rushmore. What a cool place. It is an old dried up river bed that made these dirt formations. The kids had a ball climbing all over them and they are all quite the posers. It was really windy and cold, but that did not dampen their spirits on having any fun. We really enjoyed the drive and the beautiful scenery. We were able to see prairiedogs (Which were Haylee and Addyson's favorite), mountain goats and buffalo.

The next day was a ride on the 1880's Train. It was a scenic tour from Hill City to Keystone. It had started to snow that day and was absolutley beautiful. The kids had a great time and we were able to sit and enjoy some of the best hot chocolate we had ever tasted. Maybe we were just cold. But it was good. It took about 2 1/2 hours round trip and afterwards the kids all made snow angels in the snow at the train station. Haylee always wants to make snow angels.

After the train ride it had stopped snowing for a while so we went to Mt. Rushmore. What an amazing monument to be looking at. I had always wanted to go and there I stood and it was beautiful. It was still very cold, but the kids never complained once about the snow or how cold it was. They were so glad to be on vacation I think, they didn't have time to do anything other than have fun. It is so neat to make these family memories and hope that the kids will remember these times we spend as a family. We are very blessed to have such good kids and wonderful Grandparents who are willing to help give them these memories.

After we were through with all the sights at Mt. Rushmore we were going to go to the Crazy Horse Monument but it was getting to late and to cold. But we made the drive there so we could see it from the side of the road. One of the things we saw that was really cool was a Mountain goat. It was right on the side of the road eating in the snow. Unfortunatley, the digital camera was dead and so we got a snap shot but they are not developed yet.

The next adventure for another day was going to Jewel Cave. It is the 2nd largest in the United States. We went up and down a little over 700 stairs and Haylee and Addyson did really well. We had to carry them sometimes just so we didn't get behind, but they were troopers. It was actually warmer inside the cave than it was outside. Still snowing!!

After the cave we didn't really have any plans and some nice guy suggested that we drive up to Spearfish. It was a little ways away, but all we had was time so we decided that's what we were going to do. I am so grateful for the suggestion because it was so pretty. The snow was really falling at this point and all the pine trees were covered with snow and so breath taking. If only we could afford a cabin in this area... There is still time to dream right!! We even braved the snow and looked at some of the water falls on the way. The first one we saw was roughlock falls and then to Bridal Veil Falls. We stopped at a Grocery store in Wyoming and bought goodies for us to eat at even though we were stuck in the car the kids still enjoyed the scenery just as much. All in all we had an amazing time together and a much needed vacation. Thanks Mom and Dad. We love you!!

So It is that time of year again when we need to think about Halloween Costumes and we are going to dress the little ones in.  Haylee and Addyson are going to be yarn baby clowns.  I am very excited because they are going to look absolutely adorable.  Alyssa wants to be a pumpkin and thanks to Aunt Tami we have a very nice pumkin costume for her.  And Tyler is going to be a blind referee.  We have already purchased the little girls' costumes and thanks to Grandma Crabtree she mailed the pumpkin costume to us.  We got the package and Addyson immediatley fell in love with the pumkin.  I told Tami she may not get It back!!  Anyway here are a few pictures that show how much she loves this costume.

Today was a day at Gene Leahy Mall in downtown Omaha.  It is a large park that spans about five blocks and is really pretty.  They have these slides for kids and parents:)  They had a ball and did not want to leave.  Especially Addyson!!