Halloween Party!!

We had such a blast on Sunday! Cami decided to host a Halloween party this year, and we are all so glad she did! There was such fun food(that I didn't get a picture of) and so delicious soups and breads to fill our bellies.
After eating, we got down to business playing games. We had a wrapping up the mummy contest. It was so much fun to watch! Dylan wasn't quite sure what to think about it, but he was a good sport and let his mom finish. Cami and Peyton we're the WINNERS of this game.
Next up was Halloween BINGO! Mom brought this game and the AWESOME prizes. I think everyone go to win 4 times.
Last up was the doughnut on a string game. It was funny to watch the kids. Malarie quit, saying it was too hard. Peyton and Paige were in a tie but it was Peyton that won-way to go Pey.

The kids all dressed up...and Aunt Cami-you go girl ROCK THE MULLET!
Scary Jack Sparrow
Peyton was a Webkin Flamingo, Paige was 50's girl, and Malarie is a Fairy Ballerina

The kids smothered grandma and grandpa when the party was over. Thanks grandma and grandpa for the fun fun fun Halloween bags and all the great prizes. We love you!

Thanks Cami for all the work you went to. You have help create awesome memories. Lets hype it up...maybe Chalyse and Cari will come next year:)

Our NEW Addition!!!

We had a new addition to our family. Meet Sparkle Story.
Malarie has been wanting a kitty forever, but if you know Travis at all-you know that there was no way he would ever let us get a cat. Well in a week moment I caught him of guard and I got him to...well not really agree but he didn't disagree. And when that happened I knew I had to find a cute kitten before he changed his mind. My friend Allison usually has some kittens but she got her cat fixed but she knew someone who was trying to find a home for a kitty.
She called us Saturday morning with the news that we could pick up the kitty. Malarie went nuts! She was so excited. And Trav decided that he really didn't want one-I told him I'd make it up to him ;) ;) So we bribed her with the kitty. The deal was that if she promised to do good in the primary program on Sunday that we would go get the kitty.
When we got to Walmart to pick up the kitty we fell in love. She is such a sweet kitty. Malarie had to go inside and get the kitty a toy. She held the kitty the whole way home.
When we got home Trav was not too excited, but by the end of the day he was making Sparkle a bed in a box with a blanket and all :)

Madi LOVES Sparkle! She tries to catch her and when she can't she just giggles.

Malarie got Sparkle to sleep...what a good mama.

Mason always wants to be holding her. I think they will be best friends.

Pulling a Cristan...??!

Last Monday I had a few people I needed to take a treat to: one was my friend Andrea, because she let us come and pick tonz of apples a few weeks ago, and the second was my friend Heather that just moved into our neighborhood and had just had her baby. So, I decided to make this yummy pumpkin bread recipe that I had found on the Internet a few weeks before. I had not originally wrote the recipe down the first time I made it because I didn't know if I would like it. After we ate it and it tasted as good as Great Harvest I went back and wrote the recipe down. Anyways, I got my recipe card out and followed it. Now my first red flag should have been that when I poured the batter into the pans it was THICK like cookie dough(the time before it was runny). I just thought that I might have written a different recipe down then the one I tried before so I continued to bake the bread and out came this: Only I didn't know it was quite this bad because I didn't cut into it. The bread did not rise at all! But since I had already told them I was coming I wraped the bread up and put a bow on them. I did tell them it was a new recipie and that I didn't know why it didn't raise. Andrea was excited and said that they would be eating it for family night.
The next morning I went to have a slice and found that it looked so nasty when I cut into it! It looked like a raw can of pumpkin. But then I thought, "I but it still tastes good." Was I ever wrong! If you look closely you can see where I spit it out(on top of the loaf).
Well to say the least I was freaking out that I had delivered this bread!!! How embarrassing! I immediately got to texting and tried to explain what had happened. Andrea said that her family ate it(I think she was lying), and Heather said they hadn't tried it(and I know why). I told them I would replace it in 2 hrs.! I then had to figure out what had happened.
I followed the recipe I wrote down exactly-so that wasn't the problem. I got on line and found that I had COMPLETELY written down the recipe down WRONG. I put 2/3 cups sugar when it called for 3 cups and I didn't put any water in when it called for 1 cup and I didn't put any baking soda when it called for 2 tsp. The second batch came out MUCH better!
So has anything like this happened to you before? Well, I hope not...So next time you are taking something to someone else, taste it-don't pull a Cristan:)

Gardner Village

We went to Gardner Village on the CRAZIEST night ever! It was witches night or something like that because everyone was dressed up like witches-we definitely were under dressed!
We got to eat some delicious food like...CARMEL APPLES!!!! We love, love, love, any kind of Carmel apples, and we all enjoyed! Chanda, Brad, and Dylan were able to come for dinner: Soup Bowls...not as yummy as it could have been-never the less it was still satisfying and who could beat the company?!
Malarie had been talking about getting her face painted like she did the last time we went, but they didn't have a face painting. They did have glitter eyes though and who doesn't live GLITTER!!! Malarie wanted me to get it done to and so...I did! My luck though I got a freaking 13 year old doing my eyes! At 13 can you even do eye makeup? Well... she couldn't. But it was fun anyways.
The atmosphere was crazy but we had a fun time looking at all the witches and getting our picture taken with them.--Next year we are goinig a different night:)

Pumpkin Patch Pickin'

Its October....which means pumpkin pickin'!!! I love our annual trip to the Elsinore pumpkin patch! It is something I look forward to all year. Grandpa was able to come with us this year, which made it even better! The kids love to train ride. Madi had her first experience this year and I think she loves it!
We went on the hay ride out to the pumpkin field which we all loved. Then we got set loose to find the perfect pumpkins! This year we picked 20 pumpkins(even though more were callin' my name-I had to leave some for the others). Malarie and Mason were very involved with finding the perfect ones. I think they got that from me:)
After getting out car loaded we met grandma for Chinese! If you know me you know that my night couldn't have got any better!

Autumn Leaves Are Falling Down

The 2 big trees in our front yard have stared to shed their golden leaves. Our front yard was covered! One day Malarie went out and started racking them into a pile all by her self. She did an awesome job too! Her leaf pile is now one of the cool things about our yard.
When friends come over to play they always end up jumping in the pile. It is so cute to watch! For the first time since we have lived here I am grateful for the many, many, many leaves that fall from our trees, for they make bigger and bigger piles to jump in, and have provided hour of entertainment!
Malarie and one of her Best Friends, Avery.

Even Grandpa came to play!!

Story Family Weekend

The Story family traditions just keep getting better! This year Travis, Scott, Mal, and Mason started the weekend off with a little golfing at Mulligans. The kids love going with...I love when they go with too :) I don't think Trav and Scott play the best golf, but it is worth the sacrifice to be with my two little angles;) After all they are probably very, very good...right? Well, there was that one thing- when Mason decided that he wanted to drive the golf cart and Grandpa had to chase him down and jump in to save him:)

They did all have a great time though-and no one got hurt. The next thing on the list was to meet up with everyone at Thanksgiving point to do the Petting Zoo. The kids love to be together with their cousin Dylan! Malarie and him were so cute together. It was so fun to watch them play and talk and to make little jokes that no one else think are funny but the two of them just giggled. One on the HIGHLIGHTS was meeting the newest member of the family: Trace Ellis Story! He is absolutely perfect. He just cuddles right on your shoulder and just melts there. What a perfect fit into our family.

The kids had fun looking at the animals, riding the hay ride(which in my opinion was not worth the money-if you go ride the pony's), and getting 2 pony rides. After the first ride the kids wanted to go for another and lucky for them grandpas a sucker! Madi even got to ride on a pony(with grandpas help).

After the Petting Zoo we ate at the yummy Costa Vida. It was so fun to be there with everyone. I think we all enjoyed ourselves.

After lunch we checked into our hotel and grandma and grandpa too the kids swimming. After swimming everyone got ready to go to the U game. The kids and I didn't go so that I could help my sister Cami get ready for her baby blessing the next day. But they all had fun with the exception of Chris almost getting puked on-too gross! After the game we meet up at Chick-fil-A! Who doesn't love Chick-fil-A?! I got to hear about the game and the puke incidence and the kids go to play more.

The next day we went to Sidney's blessing. It was beautiful, Stan did a great job. I always get so emotional. The spirit is just so strong around these new little babies! The breakfast we had at Cami's after was awesome. I love to see family members that I don't get to see on a regular bassis.

Then we went and watched everyone else eat at Texas Roadhouse- too bad we were already too full to eat! After we all went to Grandma Story's! We love going there even thought we don't get there as much as we wish. My kids love it too. They are so bust exploring and playing when we go there that we usually don't see them until we leave. It was so nice to visit with Grandma, Aunt Kristie, Uncle Randy, a few of the cousins, and Aunt Sandy. I hit the jackpot when I got to be in their family!We had such a great time. Thanks Scott and Paula for EVERYTHING!!! We can't wait til next year!