Cowabunga, Dudes!

This year's Halloween costumes and festivities found their way to the top of my "Favorites" list. My sister, McKenna, spent the weekend with us, and had some fun with our faces in celebration of the holiday. One thing we've wanted to do for awhile is film and post a mock makeup tutorial, which we did. But it wasn't the tutorial that went out for the world to see (at least not yet). It's Parker's reaction to the tutorial. Check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsv6ZfbETk0

I've learned since having children that I'm a huge fan of Halloween. I love, love, LOVE dressing up. Oh, and getting candy. Lots of candy. I'm a huge fan of seeing how cheap I can make their costumes. That being said, D.I. becomes our favorite store, the scrap fabric box at JoAnn and WalMart are frequently visited, and the cardboard boxes we have saved up for years suddenly disappear. I'm also a huge fan of family costumes (it'll be a sad day when my sons want to be something completely opposite of each other, and I won't know how to tie them together to make the whole family connect).
This year, Parker and Stockton wanted to be Ninja Turtles.This is how we do it... (insert song here).

We tried to dye some wig caps green by letting them soak in food coloring overnight. Worked well enough, I suppose. The boys looked bald and green. Thanks to Kenna, their faces and necks were green and sported masks.

D.I. and WalMart clearance racks made the boys green from shoulders to ankles. Oh, and a friend's green footie pajamas for Deacon. And a Hulk costume Kenna had given Parker for his birthday. Scrap fabric was used for all their ties on their knees and elbows. More scrap fabric for their belts, and cardboard circles with their letters painted on them for their symbols.

When making the shells, we performed our own version of a tutorial Cam found. We cut out an oval and glued some hexagons and other shapes onto it. After painting them tan, we painted the spaces between the hexagons dark brown. And then came the fun part. Using a dry brush technique (I know I sound all cool here, but I had to look it up on YouTube), we painted the shells dark brown, dark green, and highlighted it with a bit of yellow. The chest plates share the same story minus the green paint. A layer of lacquer completed them. As a side note, we painted our living room brown and green three years ago so we had a ton of green and brown paints to choose from when painting the shells.

Cam also made his swords and a pair of nunchucks out of cardboard. After spraying them with lacquer, they looked like plastic toys! He went above and beyond with everything he touched. Good job, honey! And thank you!

As April O'Neill, we found a wig at Smith's for under $5 and the jacket was a D.I. find for $2. Again, thanks to Kenna who did my makeup. Love!

Kenna decided to complete our little ensemble by being a turtle-beat-up bad guy.We had a good laugh of how similar she looked to our youngest brother, who always seems to be so happy in pictures. Haha.

Kenna's transformation was a bit confusing for Stockton, who kept asking, "Did the other Kenna leave already?" He said he knew that this boy was Kenna, but the other one, the one with red hair, the GIRL Kenna, had somehow disappeared. 

Cam as Leonardo

Parker as Rafael

Stockton as Donatello

Deacon as Michelangelo

Me as April O'Neil

Parker and Stockton were so excited to be "real" Ninja Turtles. Parker... a little more than Stockton.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

And the Turtles with their bad guy! 

It's Mikey that loves April to death, right? As in, never wants to leave her side? Is very concerned when around anyone else but his Turtle family? Yeah, the character is played flawlessly.

Raf and Donny waiting for candy. After trick-or-treating, dinner was waiting for them. What do Ninja Turtles love to eat? Yes, we had PIZZA when we got home!

Braden and Nicole  (my brother and his wife) came later that night to chow down on Muddy Buddies, pumpkin pie, dirt cups, and pizza, and watch Frequency. The only... uh... "scary" movie we could find. Or all agree on. When it comes to Halloween horror, we don't mess around! Ahem...

I must give a shout out to my seester! She brought the party, man! She's brilliant in her makeup design and so kind in everything she does. Thank you, Kenna, for coming to visit us and for making Halloween so fun!

 Okay, maybe a little too much fun...?

"Remember, nothing is as strong as family." 

--Master Splinter

A Wedding and Two Birthdays

Weddings and birthdays! Drinks all around! And may the drinks be lemonade and milk in a sippy cup!

On September 19, my brother, Braden, married Nicole Kester. Doesn't he look so excited?!

My boys--Stockton calls her "Macole"--love her and are so excited that Braden and Nicole moved to Cedar City. Yes, you read that right. We have members of my family living close to us! Woot, woot!
And here are some more pics. You know, because I like that sort of thing.

Here are all the grand kids on the Flory side. My boys with Devin and Jessica's little Sam.

Here are all my wonderful siblings. I couldn't ask for better friends than the ones right here.
It's wild to think that I have three boys, Devin has (almost) two boys, Carissa is expecting her first baby (also a boy), Bub is married (!), Kenna is gorgeous, and Nate is growing up! It's so crazy to think that we're all so big! 

After that celebration came... Fireworks, please...

...DEACON'S FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!

The party on September 24th party was nothing big. Just cupcakes and gifts with the fam for our little bear cub. (We have animals representing all of our children, and make them cupcakes on their first birthday that resemble that animal.) Deacon became our bear when he was only days old. One morning, all three boys were cuddling in bed with me and we decided to go on a bear hunt. "We're goin' on a bear hunt, we're goin' on a bear hunt," we sang. When the end of our song approached, Parker shouted, "There's the bear!" He pointed at Deacon, who was wearing brown fuzzy pajamas. It made sense, and "bear" stuck. 

We also say bear cub because Deacon has always been very verbal. The "words" he speaks are always grunted or growled. Even today, he expresses his excitement by growling.

Deacon is able to say hi and bye (although the bye sounds like, "da"). He LOVES dogs and his brothers, loves reading books and chasing balls, and loves to eat. He's super tiny so I don't know where all of it goes. He'll let you know if you're bugging him, and he's not afraid to let you know if he's not happy. Luckily, he's fairly easy going and just loves to be with his family--mommy especially.

We love you so much, Deacon!

And after THAT celebration came... More fireworks, please...
PARKER'S FIFTH BIRTHDAY!

We had a little party with just the fam on Parker's actual birthday, and his first friend party two days later. As much as I didn't want to throw him a party (too much work, I say), it was actually super fun! FOURTEEN kids running around with Avenger's masks on, eating ice cream and cake, and popping balloons was chaotic fun! And Parker thoroughly enjoyed it, too.

Working with fondant was a ton easier this time around. Coconut oil to grease everything up worked wonders!

Happy 5th Birthday, Parker! We are so glad you're our oldest! You are a great example to your younger brothers, are excited to learn, love to read, and try to do what's right. We love you!

And this weekend, our van made yet another trip up north for my sister's baby shower and for General Conference. Love bein' with family!

How to Harvest Green Beans

Step 1: Prepare to spend nearly all day (Saturday, August 29th) doing something green bean. I say "nearly" because the Henrie family slept in and didn't really start our day until noon or one o' clock. 

Step 2: Pick the 60 feet of green beans from the garden, shove the plants in the back of  the Jeep, and dump them on the driveway to begin picking. 

CAUTION: Watch out for that big black and yellow spider. You saw it when you went to grab a big armful out of the Jeep, but you lost it. And now that that mountain heap of green beans is on the pavement, you know it's in there... somewhere... You just don't know where...

Step 3: Let the boys help. Parker and Stockton wanted to. When they don't want to anymore, let them ride wiggle riders and eat watermelon. Deacon wanted to.

**Side note: Deacon crawled all through the garage and all over the driveway all while eating watermelon triangle after watermelon triangle. Note his sticky, dirty legs and the upended bowl. But, man, take a look at that face! Pure joy, right there!

Step 4: I said watch out for that spider! 

Don't let it crawl on your knee and don't hold it too close to Stockton!

Step 5: You can try canning them for the first time canning anything ever, if desired. And when I say, "If I can do it, you can," I have never meant anything more sincerely in all my twenty-seven years.

And that's how the Henries harvest green beans. You can share some, you can freeze some, you can bottle some. Just don't start a second batch at 11:00 at night. Unless you really want to stay up until 1:30am. We wanted to...

...go to bed.

Summer Report Card

~T-ball: Fun and chaos! A+

Parker was so excited to play T-ball and have Daddy coach his team. He hit the ball really well (says the proud mother) and was so excited to show off his "super fast" running skills. He really wants to make friends, but is too shy to do it, so he ends up being silly when the other kids are silly. Cam had to repeat the instructions to his son more than any other player. :) Such are the actions of a 4 1/2 year old. 

One of my favorite moments was when I was standing on second base, and after hitting the ball, Parker took off toward second base, towards me. His eyes were wide and his grin was stretching off his cheeks--he was so excited that he had hit the ball and was running so fast! I felt bad redirecting him to first base amidst all the other loud directions from parents, but it made me smile.

~Family Reunion: Time with long lost extended family A+
Sleeping room in my parents' house B-
Fun trying to figure out where to sleep A+

One night, Deacon ended up sleeping in a laundry basket while McKenna and I squeezed into her twin bed.

The family reunion (my mom's side) was held the 24th and 25th of July. Some arrived the 23rd, and I believe my parents had approximately 80 people sleeping at their house that don't usually sleep there! Their parking lot  driveway was packed, but they used their field as the parking area, and there were at least three or four tents that popped up on their lawn with every couch, bed, mattress, and carpeted floor area inside being occupied. Parker and Stockton slept in their little Star Wars tent, which they loved, and Cam, Deacon, and I shared a tent with Carissa and Spencer.
The Wallsburg 24th of July celebration is always a fun one, and we had quite a few members of our family participate in the rodeo. Nate and his pony, Arrow, played musical chairs; our cousin, Melanie Padilla, and McKenna participated in Pony Express and the hide race; Melanie and Braden also did the hide race.
P.S. NEVER do the hide race in shorts and a t-shirt with no shoes. It may just be renamed the Braden race, because the hide rode on top of HIM. Braden's arms and the tops of his feet looked as though he'd been dragged down the road behind a truck. But! For jumping in with no notice and providing the family with some entertainment... I guess that deserves an A+.

Parker was super excited to get a dragon painted on his face...

...but it got smeared later when he went down with some of the cousins to participate in the chicken chase and couldn't find his way back to us afterward. He was crying pretty hard when someone brought him back to my parents on the bleachers.

One night of the family reunion was spent at the Heber Girls' Camp. Canoeing (the boys didn't like getting wet), playing Frisbee, playing Minute-to-Win-It games, and just being with family was so fun. For awhile after the reunion, whenever I would wave to some unknown passerby or talk to anyone, Parker would always ask, "Is that your cousin?"

~Garden harvest: Keeping up with zucchini B-
Trying new recipes A

The refrigerator dill pickles were a big hit at our house this summer!

We are learning the ropes with a Master Gardener this year. He took us under his wing, along with two other families, and taught us what to do and what to plant on his acre plot of garden. Holy Hannah, it's a lot of food. I'm learning still trying to learn the secrets of freezing everything from kale and spinach to onions and peppers. Canning will come... someday...

The boys are at peace playing in the dirt whenever we go weeding or harvesting. They like to pick the peas and go "potato hunting".

~Stockton's 3rd Birthday: Happy little boy A+

Fighting with fondant C

Batman theme for Stocky Boy! At age 3, he likes to be with Parker, play superheroes, and have books read to him.

We used Stockton's birthday to meet some new neighbors and rub shoulders with old ones. It was fun to simply sit on our lawn (yay!) and eat cupcakes and chat. The cupcakes ended up being Plan D cupcakes, but they were good so... whatever. :) The homemade chocolate chip ice cream was super yummy. And I don't even like vanilla ice cream!

Some of Parker's and Stockton's friends digging into homemade ice cream and cupcakes.

After the incredible experience that I went through fighting with fondant for the first time, you'd better say that this cake got a freakin' A+++++++++++++++! Go on! Say it!

Miscellaneous Items
~June 6th, happy 7 year anniversary! A+++

~Yard work A+ to Cam
~Camping with friends on Monroe Mountain A+
~Sweet family experiences that proved to me that heaven is here, families are forever, and that some of the most strong, faithful people are members of my family. I can't score that.

Garfield County Fair Days fish grab. Stockton wouldn't touch one. Parker surprised us by getting in and trying to catch a fish. It only lasted for 47 seconds, but he tried. :)

Have I ever said that there is a new and glorious project completed every time the boys and I are away from Cam for a few days? This headboard, made from a door in Cam's parents' house that burned a few years ago, is the newest addition to that list.  

Carissa's baby shower on August 22nd was a little too much fun! Her little boy will arrive at the end of November. Grandson #5! Granddaughters... don't talk about that...

I couldn't resist. All these pictures of my cute 11 month old!

Okay, you get the idea. This summer was an A+! Like a good meal, it was gone before we even got to taste it!