Halloween 2015 and LA Temple Trip!!

Halloween 2015 was a big success! Aubrey's dreams came true when she got to dress up as Tinker Bell! "Tink!!" The Tinker Bell movies have been her favorites for months now. She says "Watch TINK" like 20,000 times a day!  

We went to our ward Trunk-or-Treat the night before Halloween! 

I had fun making the costume and she was a pretty good model of it, if I do say so myself! 

I dressed up as Wendy. 

And Brad was Peter Pan! I decorated the car with stars so it looked like we were all flying off to Neverland! We had a blast! 

A couple of Aubrey's friends were fairies too! 

We had a chili and cornbread dinner. After we ate, we played carnival games! 

A couple of our favorite missionaries dressed up as well!
 Elder Culpepper and Elder Burke! 

Aubrey was obsessed with this ghost! Especially when it lit up!

Aubrey got more candy than we knew what to do with!  It is now 4 months later and I think we still have a few pieces left! We had a wonderful night!

On October 31, we went to the temple for a youth temple trip. Brad is now the Young Mens president in our ward, so he got to take some of the young men down to the LA temple. Aubrey and I decided to go for the day as well but we walked around the visitors center while they were in the temple.

We watched Meet the Mormons. It is a great movie and it is also on Netflix if you want to watch it. I highly recommend it!
We then went to the Christ statue! Aubrey loved it! 

She kept saying Jesus, "Jese" It is so sweet to see the spirit in her eyes. 

There is a special spirit there. I just feel my Saviors Love, and I know he is near. 

Aubrey loves water! Probably more than she loves me.... lol just kidding! But she wanted to check out the fountains in front of the temple. 

She was being so reverent by folding her arms.  

And then would clap out of excitement!

We walked around the temple and touched the doors. I hope she is excited to go inside someday!

One of my favorite quotes about going to the temple is when Thomas S. Monson said, "Remember that this day you touched the temple. One day you will go inside!" I hope I can always teach Aubrey the importance of temples and I hope she will realize how much it will bless her life! This is one of my favorite pictures of her! 

We had a great time! 

Later that night we got our costumes on again and went to a few neighbors houses for trick-or-treating. We had a fun time! It is nice having Halloween in California because you don't have to wear a coat! You don't have to worry about covering your costume up! lol

I have to share these cute pictures of our nieces and nephews too in their costumes! 

Shae was Minnie Mouse and Annie was Fancy Nancy.

Grant was a Navy Seal

Quinn was Princess Sofia and Layton was a mermaid. 

Nolan was a Cowboy

Zoey was a Horsey Girl

Brexton was a Jedi, Maci was Ariel, and Brian was a Spider! 

So Fun! I love Halloween! It is even more fun with kids, because we get to be kids again too! 

Kristine's Baby Shower!

On October 28, 2015 some ladies from our church's primary presidency hosted a shower for one our sweet primary teachers, Kristine. 

The day started off by going over to Whitney's house to make delicious cupcakes for the event! First task was to get the kids down for a nap! Whitney is so great with Aubrey. She treats her just like one of her own! We all read some books and sang songs and the kids went down. 

Whitney and I got busy making cupcakes and the girls woke up just in time to lick the frosting off of the kitchen aid attachments!

Here was the end result! Salted Carmel Cupcakes! I think we ended up with 84 cupcakes! 

and here was the rest of the spread! 

We had her baby shower be a "Bee" theme. Her husband works as a bee keeper for one of the farms here in town. 

The Momma to "Bee!"

At the time we didn't know if the baby was going to be a boy or a girl! 

She had Baby Anders right before Thanksgiving (almost 2 weeks late)! We are so excited for them and love their sweet family so much! Sadly, they are moving in January! We will miss them dearly! 

We had a great party though! It was so fun! 

Coeur d'Alene

After a long week with out Brad, Aubrey was sure happy to give her Daddy hugs! 

Brad flew in to Spokane and we went to dinner with my parents and then headed to the Duffy's for the week. 

After dinner we made a quick pit stop to see Grandma Carma. She was in a care center in Post Falls! She was so excited to see us! 

Don met us at the care center and we loaded up and went to the Duffy's.

Aubrey's cousins were there and the kids had a blast playing with each other! Aubrey was in heaven too because Grandma has a play kitchen! 

Sunday was the next day and little Shae Shae sang at church. She did such a great job! We tried to get a photo shoot of the kids before it was nap time. Poor Grant was too tired to smile and Aubrey wasn't leaving him alone! 

So us sisters took one instead! 

I love them so much!

Carmen really got to bond with Aubrey this trip! Aubrey loved her old stuffed animals and loved her reading to her! 

Aubrey and Shae were twirling their dresses! 

And then Aubrey realized that Grandma and Grandpa had a kitty!! She was thrilled!! 

Later we made cookies! 

On Monday we went to Carmen's Seminary class and saw her during lunch! 

Aubrey slept the whole time! 

And then after Carmen's X-country practice, Aubrey learned what an ice bath was all about. 

she wanted to jump in there! 

On Tuesday we got to watch Shae during her gymnastics class. 

She felt like a celebrity with having us all there! 

Aubrey wanted to get on the mats too! 

Grant and Aubrey played on the bleachers. 

Shae is doing amazing! She is moving up in levels too! She is so strong and has the perfect built for a gymnast! 

After an afternoon of play, we then went to Annie's Cross Country Districts meet. She ran her little heart out! It was so fun to cheer her on! 

Our whole fan club! We love our nieces! 

Later that night, Aubrey sat with Carmen while she did her homework. 

The next morning Aubrey went and fed Boo breakfast! 

We had some gorgeous weather that Brad decided to get all the toys out! They went on a 4-wheeler ride around the house! 

Then we played on the swing set! 

Aubrey and Boo became buds! 

They were so cute together! 

Aubrey found a toy her size too! 

After Aubrey's nap she wanted to go back out to play with Boo. 

And then Brad and Aubrey jumped on the trampoline. 

And once Grandpa came home she got to play with Boo some more! 

They were hilarious together! 

After dinner Grandpa did some flips with Aubrey. 

and chased each other around the house! 

Then Grandma read her some books! 

On Thursday we got up and went to Carmen's Regional Cross Country Meet! Aubrey loved finding sticks and running along the course. 

Grant and Aubrey ran around together! 

Carmen and her team warming up! 

Carmen did a great job! She got 10th place! 

Brad is such a proud brother! 

We love you Carmen! We were so happy we got to see her race! 

The kids were having fun running around! So fun to have cousins! 

Then it was snack time! These two could be twins! They are exactly a month apart! 

Friday morning Brad, Aubrey and I were able to sneak away and see Grandma Carma one more time! We love this sweet angel!

Aubrey playing peek-a-boo in Grandma Duffy's curtains. 

We took one more ride around on our last day! 

Aubrey played with Boo some more! 

That night Carmen was kind enough to baby sit all the kids so we older "kids" could go out to a Chief Hockey Game! We loved seeing Boomer! 

And we won!! 

As you can see we had a blast on our vacation! We loved all the great company and memories made on this trip! I can't believe it was already 2 months ago! Time is flying by! We miss our family so much! Can't wait for more fun adventures in 2016!