Liam's 12th Birthday

 November 10th was Liam's 12th Birthday!  It is so crazy to me how old my kids are, lol!! So, for all the kids' birthdays this year we have been having a small gathering of immediate family for cake and ice cream, and for their present from us, they get a "Day Out with Mom and Dad".  They get to choose where to go, where to eat, what to do, where to shop, and basically pick out whatever they want for their birthday.  It has been a great thing too!  Getting one on one time with each of them and getting to talk to JUST them, discover new (and existing, lol) parts of their personalities, and be relaxed and just have FUN with them.  So anyway, Liam's actual birthday fell on a Thursday so we just had a small family dinner at Grandma Kelley's with Pizza Hut Pizza and a DQ Ice Cream Cake that Liam picked out himself. 

 Vivianne was very clingy that night. 

 It was either right in my lap or right in Liam's lap, all the time, no exceptions, lol!  

 Eden thought it would be funny to eat her cake like a puppy! 

 On Sunday, the 13th, Jeremy and I took Liam out for his special day.  He had chosen to go to Iowa City.  We went to the Mall and ate at the Mellow Mushroom, shopped at cool stores, had yummy snacks, and at the new Popeye's!  Liam had a ton of fun shopping for clothes and picking out cool new stuff for his room.  He actually didn't buy any toys at all!! Crazy!  He loved Hot Topic and picked out his cool new Fall Out Boy jacket there.  All in all, he ended up with a crap ton of new stuff and he was happy as can be!  

 We had a great day together!  I love Liam's personality.  Right now he is very in to listening to music, Star Wars, Harry Potter, and techie gadgets.  He is a goofball that likes to make people laugh, even if it means getting himself in trouble doing it, lol! I love this super duper 12 year old!

The BOM

One of my best friends in the whole world, Tuesday McLeod (Carstens), got me a ticket to see the broadway play, The Book of Mormon, that was coming to Peoria!!! She did it as a thank you for me taking their family pictures.  So, I left home about 2 or 3 on a Tuesday and drove to Peoria.  I was planning on spending the night but, ended up driving home at one in the morning(that is part of the stupid story with Chenille and Mother) afterwards.  Anyway, the play was freaking AMAZING and SO FREAKING HILARIOUS!  There were so many funny references that you would only "get" if you had been immersed deep in the mormon culture!! I literally could not stop laughing.  The music was good and so was the company!! Thank you Tuesday!  A great life experience. 

Grape Fest Feature Parade 2015

 We took the kids to the Grape Festival feature parade this year at Grape Fest.  The parade (and all of Grape Festival( needs a kick in the pants or something.  It has slowly been going down hill for a few years now.  We enjoyed ourselves anyway though.

 Tristan was with his girlfriend(at the time, they are no longer "going out"), Hannah.  

 Vicki and Dan

 My little Froo.  

Mud Volleyball

 Every year at Grape Festival there is a Mud Volleyball Tournament.  I have never actually participated in it, though I was SUPPOSED to the year that Jeremy and I started dating but, I stayed out to late with Julie Scheetz the night before and we both overslept, lol!  Anyway, Chris Hutson called Jeremy and wanted to put together a team for old times sake.  Jeremy agreed.  I was going to be doing the Grape Stomp with Trisha that morning.  Well, at the last minute they needed another player so right after the Grape Stomp, I changed and went to play Mud Volleyball, reluctantly, lol!  

 I only actually played for a few minutes but, it was a BLAST!  My main concern was that Jeremy got to have a great time with his best friend, Chris, and his brother, Tyson.  And boy, did they ever!  

Our team actually did better than we thought we would do and got to play until the early afternoon.  

 After we were done playing, we all piled in the back of Tyson's truck and headed down to the river to "wash off".  It was a super fun time and something we are glad we got to do.  

 These guys were hilarious!! 

After this, Jeremy and I actually cleaned up and went to The Wine Barrel because we had heard that the food truck, Fork It, was there.  We went there and got a ton of food to eat and headed to Colchester.  I had really wanted to make it to the Labor Day celebration over there because they have a GINORMOUS flea market and I wanted to get some props, chairs, etc. for photo sessions I had coming up.  We got there late in the day and all the vendors were closing but, we did awesome for the little bit we got to be there and I walked away with a chairs, benches, and props for a great price!!