A Knight of Murder - Murder Mystery Party 2010

This year our annual murder mystery dinner was renaissance-themed, and it was the biggest (and best) one yet. Usually the murder mystery parties we have include 8 - 10 people, but this year we had 17 people! Everyone really got into their roles and all the costumes were amazing (Jeremy was voted best costume!). I decorated our family room to look like a castle by taping up stonewall paper from floor to ceiling - it looked awesome. The table and other decorations were also beautiful. Unfortunately, when everyone left and I cleaned everything up, I realized that I took zero pictures of the room. :( Bummer! Luckily I did get a couple shots of the lovely subjects of Fernwood Manor:



Jeremy and I were the Lord and Lady of the manor. I'm so proud because I made our costumes myself! I owe so many HUGE thanks to my mother-in-law who helped me out a ton with figuring out the pattern, how to sew on some sleeves, and do some other fancy footwork that I really have no clue about, and I think the finished products turned out so great. I would never claim to be a seamstress, but I do like to tackle the sewing machine once a year for costume making. ;-)

If you're looking for a murder mystery party to throw, I totally recommend Night of Mystery. We've tried 3 or 4 other murder mystery companies, but these guys are by far the best.

Visit @ Grandma Vickie's & Grandpa Mac's

Jeremy's brother, Andrew, came home from his mission in September. He served for 2 years in Santiago, Chile for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. All of us flew out to see him and the rest of the fam (well, those that are living out there) just after Andrew got home. We had a blast. The boys had the best time playing with their uncles!

We hiked to Mt. Timpanogos Cave. Jeremy and I both had forgotten how long of a hike it is - a little more than 1 mile each way! That's a long way for little 3 yr-old legs, but the boys did awesome. It wasn't until we had almost reached the bottom that they even asked for any help. I'm so proud of my little mountain men!

Grandpa Mac, Daddy and the boys close to the top

While in Utah we also visited with some of our best friends. Rosanne, Dayne and Hannah moved to Utah from Dayton more than a year ago and we miss them so much! We had SO much fun playing with them. These are pics of us at Silver Lake (isn't it beautiful?!). As we were leaving their house one day, Matthew said (speaking about Hannah), "Mommy, I love my shy little girlfriend." Awww...I'm telling you, it's love, and Rosanne and I will be in-laws one day. ;-)





We took a little hike to the Grotto with more of the fam. Like I said, the boys LOVE their aunts, uncles, Grandma and Grandpa!

Family Pictures 2010

I love how Jordi is looking at Matthew in this picture. He loves his brother.

LOVE that smile.

Kind of a goofy one, but I love it.

Inseparable

Ha! This one makes me laugh. At this point the boys were getting tired of pictures and my dad was trying so hard to get Jordan to smile.

My cute sister, Lindsey, and her husband, Luke. Aren't they adorable?!

The whole clan

Annual Fall Trip to Young's Dairy

We made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch at Young's Dairy Farm. We did the usual - rode the movers-n-shakers barrel ride, fed the goats and took a tractor ride over to the pumpkin patch to chop a pumpkin off the vine.

Isn't this the coolest gourd?

Joe Cool in their sunglasses ;-)

I can't explain it, but I love goats. They're such nice animals and are so cute - love them. In fact, I've told Jeremy more than once that I'm going to have a goat some day. He thinks I'm crazy...

Love my boys

Good Old-fashioned Leaf-jumping

Fall is my favorite season. I love everything about it from the pumpkins and apple cider to the technicolor leaves and hayrides. This fall did not disappoint. :)

Here some pics of raking leaves with Daddy (well, Daddy raking and boys jumping)...




Some of my favorite childhood memories are from our visits to my grandparents' house in the fall. My grandparents lived in the country surrounded by woods. My grandpa would spend hours helping us rake huge piles of leaves while we jumped in them. As a kid, there's no better way to spend a fall afternoon and I'm grateful that I get to do the same thing with my boys! :)

Singin' in the Rain

After a hot, dry summer, the first day of fall was ushered in with a big rain storm. The boys and I put on our galoshes and played in the rain together. I was trying to show the boys how silly they could be by spinning, jumping and dancing around. Jordan had a blast and copied my every move. Matthew just looked at me and said, "Can we go inside now?" Haha, that's my Matt-matt for ya. Jeremy let Matt wear his floppy rain hat, so then he felt a little better and joined us for some puddle jumping. Some super cute pics of our fun...