My parents got here on Thursday and will be staying for about 2 weeks. They get the opportunity of spending quality time with our kids as we run away .... on a cruise with my in laws! I really wish they could be coming with us, but that was not to be and who would watch the kids?! I'm very thankful that they agreed to this and hope they survive my kids! :) How about some highlights from Halloween? We have a growing group that we travel with on Halloween... this year we had 6 adults and 10 kids. In past years it has been 2 adults and 7 kids.
Cat in the Hat
Beware, The Cat has brought along Thing 1 and Thing 2!
We've been joined by a couple of gothic kids and the Grim Reaper.....
Our annual visit to Pirate Cove!
This was the first year we let the 2 oldest spend Halloween with friends. Shantel attended a Halloween sleepover and Cody was dropped off at his buddy's. It was different not having all my kids with me.
It was strange to wonder where they were and worry about how they were. Both were fine and both had a good time.... without the rest of us.
trick or treat Nana!
A little hill rolling to break up all the walking!
The loot!
Cody's haul
Shantel's take!
Shantel's take!All in all it was a good night and everyone had fun!
I hope all of you had wonderful Halloween festivities!
I was born in Missoula, Mt the 5th child of Daren & Myrna (they would go on to have a total of 8 children). We lived in Missoula until I was 5 when my parents purchased a double-wide and 5 acres abt 7 miles outside of town. (pictured here is the place I grew up.)
I attended school and church (born and raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) in Frenchtown, MT. When I was 16 I met my husband. He was serving a mission for the church. He had already served in the Chandler AZ mission and had been in a Mexico mission (I can't spell the city .. sorry) he got sick in Mexico and was sent stateside and when asked where he would like to go said he didn't care if he couldn't return to Mexico... so they sent him to Billings, MT in Dec! His first area was Missoula. He was there for nearly 10 months (long time I know.) I met him the end of my sophomore year ... we had sister missionaries who were always out of miles and in need of rides, so I drove them around a lot and went to appointments, it was kinda like a mini mission, where I got to come home every night. Anyway, that is how I met him, with the sisters... something about a prank and the zone leaders that involved water, powdered sugar and Limburger cheese.... 
So I wrote to Troy that summer while I was in SLC nannying for my sister. I was writing a journal at the time (not so good at that anymore humm wonder why?) and I wrote that I would marry Keiser or someone just like him.... My parents decided that we were moving that fall and we moved to a house my great grandpa and his son built in 1947 in Ephrata, WA.
(this ia a side shot and that is my baby brother) So I lived here from 17 yr old to almost 19 years old. I finished high school here (and can I just tell ya that it really sucks to move when you're a junior and you've been going to school since kindergarten with all the same kids ... I hope I don't have to move when my kids are in high school. My dad was a long haul trucker, so it didn't really matter where we lived. And my mom really wanted the house to stay in the family - my brother and his family live there now.) I continued to write to Troy and to his family (whom I'd never met.) I didn't miss out on any of the dances though, I went to Homecoming and Prom with a friend and sent Troy the pictures!) The next summer I went back to SLC and Troy came home from his mission. I flew from SLC to Las Vegas the day he came home for a week long visit. We went to his best friend's wedding (well Troy went to the wedding @ the temple and I stayed home with his sisters and read a book) reception. And we went to Disneyland.
Ok so then we went to Phoenix and stayed til he finished school in March 94 and I was pregnant with our 1st. We moved to Vegas and stayed with his parents til end of May. We got a brand-new apt. Cody was born there and Troy lost his job. He went out and got a job right away, but I didn't want to stick around so we decided to move to Ephrata. I flew up and a few weeks later Troy came up w/ a u-haul. We lived with my parents for way too long and then got a new single wide to rent. Troy had several different jobs here. We learned how hard it is to get a job right out school. Shantel was born here and we lived here til she was 7 months. We moved to Helena, MT and worked in an adult foster care home. We moved in 6 months ... Troy went back to the Vegas area and I went back to Ephrata. As soon as Troy had enough saved up to rent us a place we joined him. We lived in Indian Springs, NV and he had a good job working in his field. My mom rode down with me and we dropped my sister off at the MTC (Missionary Training Center). We bought our first house in Vegas and had another baby. Troy's sister had a baby in 2000 and we got him when he was 3 months old. (long story)We lived in Vegas for about 3 years and then decided to move back to MT and work on a farm for a family Troy met on his mission. We did the farm thing in Lindsay for 9 (long) months and then moved into town when Troy got a job working for the prision/county jail. We have lived here for nearly 6 years. We had a miscarriage in 2002 and Troy swore he wouldn't go through that again (I think I was the one who went through it, but I guess it was stressful for him too.) Then we had twins in 2004.