Trunk or treat!

It's that time of year once again. The girls really like Halloween and trick or treating. This year Halloween fell on a Sunday so we didn't go trick or treating or pass out candy. We usually trick or treat through our neighborhood early, then race home to hand out candy. The girls like handing out candy more than getting it. This was the second or third year we have been to our wards trunk or treat. We usually just stay home but since the trunk or treat was the day before Halloween we went. We hadn't been in a few years. I forgot that we ate while we were there. We had tacos before we left. When we got to the church there were hot dogs, chips, root beer, cupcakes, and much more. I didn't eat anything but I saw the girls running around eating stuff.
Not to mention all the candy they had been eating, I just knew someone was going to be sick. Turns out no one got sick. We had a great time seeing everyone from the ward. It was a lot of fun.
The only down side to this years Halloween can be summed up in one word.....candy. We went and bought a ton of candy thinking we were going to be passing it out to trick or treaters. We just didn't feel right about doing it on Sunday. So instead, we have a huge cauldron full of candy that's gonna take us forever to eat! Some lucky trick or treater is going to get year old candy next year, we can't eat it all!

The girls had so much fun seeing all their friends from church, we may just have to attend next year too!

School Pictures

School pictures have come a long way since I was in grade school. I look back a some of mine and cringe. First of all, what was my mother thinking when she sent me to school dressed like that and with my hair done like that! Second of all, they couldn't see a preview like they can now with digital so re-takes were always a must!Glad those days are over! I love Alex's picture. Her choice of frames for her glasses this time are perfect. Hopefully they don't look back and cringe!
It's getting harder and harder to get decent hair in Sydney's pictures the older she gets. When she left the house her hair was curled and she was looking spiffy. Well, the older you get the longer you have to wait for pictures. They start with kindergarten and go up. I think Sydney even went to lunch and recess before her pictures were finally taken. I still think she looks beautiful. I may have to pull some of my employee strings next year and have her picture taken early!!
Then there's me. Since I work at two school's I get two sets of pictures. They're free for staff thank goodness, paying for the girl's pictures is bad enough! This picture looks nice but the other one from the other school.....Horrible! I didn't know it was picture day at the Junior High. I went to school wearing my green eggs and ham shirt. The principal MADE me take my picture. That is just a recipe for disaster! It was nothing like my senior picture in the yearbook in high school though. I was wearing my dad's work shirt! What the heck? I had even had professional pictures taken. Maybe I didn't have them in time for the yearbook, or I was just a slacker and didn't turn them in. Whenever I look at that picture, there is a lot of cringing going on, what was I thinking??!! I did get one good picture out of it this time around. I really don't like school picture day!

~Carving Pumpkins~

This year we carved our pumpkins in the back yard. It was a little warm out and the dead grass kept blowing on the girls but I think they enjoyed doing it all the same. Alex went on a field trip to a pumpkin patch with her class. Nana went with her. They had a good time. They came back with two pumpkins, one for Sydney, one for Alex. Clay and I decided not to do pumpkins this year. Alex made a pirate Jack O lantern. He was complete with his own eye patch. Alex is very artistic and imaginative. She is always drawing. She even drew a picture of how she wanted her pumpkin to look when she was done carving.

Sydney made a pig jack o lantern this year. It turned out cute! We didn't even get to light them up this year. We brought all the decorations inside, turned off the lights, and hid from all the trick or treaters. The girls had a blast sitting in their dark room watching the trick or treaters walk by.

As always when we're out back, we had lots of help from our pets. Cassius and I played on the trampoline while Daddy helped with the pumpkins. The chickens even joined in the pumpkin carving party. The ate a little bit of the pumpkin guts but not much. It was just another typical, fun loving day on the Dozier farm!

Alex's 8th birthday!!

We had a fun filled day planned to celebrate Alex's 8Th birthday. Daddy took the day off, we picked Nana up, and headed for Tucson. We took Alex bowling!! We went to Bedroxx. Her birthday was on the 23rd which was a Saturday. We got to the bowling alley at 10 Am. It was the perfect time to bowl. There were very few people there and all the screens had cartoons on for the kids!
Sydney likes to bowl but when there are cartoons on, that's a different story. We had to keep telling Sydney it was her turn to bowl because she was watching cartoons.
Here is Alex getting a strike! Good job Alex!!

Alex was so excited that we got to spend the whole day with dad. I'm sure he was missed a lot at work but we loved having him all to ourselves!

Here were the final scores. Alex is at the very top, I think it was a 72. Sydney beat us all! She wasn't even trying, she was watching cartoons and she still skunked us! Good job Sydney.

Then we went to Taco Bell for a snack before heading to Sierra Vista. Yum!

Alex was pooped! She slept most of the ride home while Sydney read. Nana took a nap in the car too! They needed a nap, the day wasn't over so they needed their rest!

Nana gave Alex a pair of ear muffs and some matching mittens as one of her birthday gifts.

She also gave Sydney some. They wore them the rest of the day when we were in the car. Cracks me up!! They're so funny. I wouldn't let them wear them outside of the car in the 80 degree weather but come wintertime they'll be nice and toasty. Thanks Nana.

Then we went to the mall and let the girls run around and play at the play place. It was packed. They had a lot of fun. We had planned on taking Alex to a movie but she had no interest in the only kid movie playing. So we Skipped the movie. We went to Claire's and bought new earrings instead! In the picture below, the girls are making funny faces in a fun house type mirror. They stayed and laughed at themselves for a long time! We got some good video of them being total dorks! I'm so glad my girls get along so well and like to do so much with each other.

Then it was off to Peter Piper Pizza for dinner. Once again, packed!! We fought the crowds, played games, ate lots of pizza, and in the end had a great time.

When we got home it was time for presents. Alex loved everything she got. Since we didn't make it to a movie it was a good thing she got a movie as a gift. How to train your dragon was an awesome movie! We all loved it!

Then it was time for cake and ice cream. We went with a tiny cake. After the baptism we're having cake and ice cream so she wanted to save her big birthday cake for then!

All in all we had a very exciting, fun day! Next month is Sydney's birthday, can't wait to see what's planned for that!

Yummy Haunted House!

It's Halloween! Just in time for us to celebrate Halloween, my Great Aunt Nelda brought down a spooky but yummy haunted house for the family.
It's all edible! She is so creative. It's like an I SPY haunted house you can eat. You can almost find some object that starts with every letter of the alphabet! What an awesome surprise!!
The girls had a blast sitting and finding things with Aunt Nelda. They even gave her a few ideas for next years haunted house.
The detail work is so cool. The more we looked at it and studied it, the more creepy and spooky things we found.

The Tarantula of course was mine!! It was yummy too.

A wood pile of pretzels, how cute is that!

The licorice fence posts were eaten by me, and the little wafer doors were one of Sydney's favorite things on the house.

The little dog on the porch was hand molded out of a tootsie roll by Aunt Nelda herself. It was super good to eat.

Alex liked the little mouse to eat the best. I bet Aunt Bevy won't like that at all!!

The fireplace made out of Carmel's was the winner for the tastiest. We all fought over who got to eat the most of it. YUM!

The girls had a fun time looking at all the cool sights. I think they liked eating the house more! It was a fun time destroying that work of art.

The girls chose crackers, pretzels, and graham crackers over candy. What??!! What crazy kids. Thank you Aunt Nelda, we loved every bite of our Haunted House!!

Not so Girly after all!

The other day we went to visit my parents. While we were there Sydney asked if she could shoot papa's BB gun. He said sure. Most of the time I have girly girls on my hands. They always want to go to the mall. You tell them were going to Claire's in the mall and they get all excited and start squealing and giggling. I had to see Sydney shoot the gun to believe it. She did! Daddy would have been so proud if he had been there. I'm sure her Uncles and Papa think it's cool. Maybe they'll be taking her Elk hunting with them someday. She was a good aim too. Alex wasn't too big on the whole shooting thing but she did stay outside with Sydney and watch. Guns can be fun, I'm glad my kids have been around guns enough to know they aren't toys, they are dangerous, but they can be fun.
Clay brought me home a surprise the other day. Just for me! The girls always get really cool prizes from dad. I had been asking him to bring one of these home for a long time, and he finally did!

A tarantula!! I love these spiders. They're big and hairy and interesting. We had a good time looking at it. The spider wasn't very happy, I think it was the cramped water bottle he had been put in. That was all Clay had handy. After a couple of hours of watching and studying the big guy we let him go. Once he was outside he was bookin it. Clay sure knows how to surprise his girls!

Finishing off Fall Break

We had a very full schedule this year for Fall Break. We finished off our Fall Break with two fun filled events. First we went to the Gila Valley Temple. We went up Saturday morning. We didn't know it was closed for cleaning. There was no one else there except the maintenance workers. They were doing landscaping work, some roof work, and also some inside work. It was so peaceful and special to have the grounds to ourselves for a few moments. We wanted to take some pictures of Alex in her baptism dress. We couldn't think of a better place to do it than at the temple. It was such a beautiful day when we went. The news had talked a lot about rain for that weekend so we were a little worried when we left home. The weather cooperated very well.
Alex looked beautiful in her dress. Clay had never had the chance to see the temple until now. It was so nice to share this experience as a family. I love the picture of the back of Alex's dress and her puffy hair. It's so cute! Reminds me of a wedding picture. The topic of wedding brings us to the next picture.
While we were at the temple taking pictures a gentleman came by and stood and watched us for awhile. When we took a break from taking pictures he came over to visit with us. His main focus was Alex and I'm sure it was because he knew this was a special occasion for her. He asked her why she was at the temple today in a white dress. Alex replied that we were taking pictures of her in her baptism dress. The man then asked her if she was ever going to return to the temple another day in another white dress. Alex replied that yes she would, when she was married. The man then asked her if she knew why he was there today. Alex said no she didn't.

He said he was putting gold in the temple. In fact he was putting gold in the room where people were married. He then asked Alex if she would like to see his gold. She replied yes and got very excited. He showed her sheets of gold and explained to her that it was the same gold that is on the Angel Moroni. He also told her that it was real and that nothing fake is ever used in the temple because it is a special place and it is a way of showing our heavenly father our love. He then asked Alex if she would like some gold. She said sure! He then gave her a small sheet of gold to keep for herself. She couldn't stop looking at it. After a few minutes, the gentleman went on his way to finish his work and we continued walking around the temple. We never got his name or where he was from. I do hope he knows how special he made the day for Alex. The gold has since been put in a safe place. As far as I know, Alex has told just about everyone she knows about her gold. I think this is one day she will never forget. I'm so glad we decided to go and visit the temple.

The last and final thing we did for Fall Break was attend Church on Sunday, surprise surprise huh?! It was the Primary program in sacrament meeting. I have to say I know the song Follow the prophet very well after going over it time and time again with the girls so they could be prepared. We also practised their lines a lot. They did excellent, if I do say so myself. It was a very busy 10 days off with a very special couple of days at the end to finish it off. Now it's back to work/school and the count down to winter break has begun!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX, which is actually today but I'm a little behind in the blogging so I'll post all our fun birthday activities at a later date.

Fall Break (in a nut shell so far)!

This year, our Fall Break has been one of our busiest ever! Poor Clay. He took the WHOLE WEEK off to spend quality time with his girls and has done nothing but work. He's going to be so excited to go back to work to rest! We can probably count on NOT seeing him next year for fall break. This is a recap of our fall break so far, we have a few things planned for the next two days then Monday it's back to work/school, YUCK!

• We had the Duey's come visit
• Decorated for Halloween
• The window man came, YAY new windows!
• Date Night
• Dentist appointments
• Did yard work
• Played outside until it was too dark to see
• Cleaned house
• Docs appointments in Mesa, BOO to hot weather
• Helped Nana with her Halloween costume
• Movie nights
• Made a Home Depot run for supplies
• Jim and Aunt Debbie came to help with bathroom remodel

Busy, busy, busy to say the least. It was nice to have Aunt Debbie and Jim come and help us with the bathroom, it's slowly coming together. We always have yummy food and snacks when they come, thanks for the cookies Aunt Debbie (I ate most of them and LOVED them!). Sorry I fell asleep during our visit, all that hard work wore me out :)

This time around the boys got the cement board hung.
They put thin set in the joints,
And put thin set on the bottom of the shower to tile. I love the tile Clay picked out. Come to find out, we needed to build up the floor a little more to be able to tile.

They built up the floor a little more. Now all we have to do is sit and wait for it to dry so we can start tiling! Now the remodel is getting exciting. Thanks to Jim and Aunt Debbie we are getting more and more of the job finished. Stay tuned for more updates on the endless bathroom remodel and to see how we finished our Fall Break off!

The Doziers get a visit from the Duey's!!

We went up to Phoenix for Grandma Charlotte's birthday party. While we were there, we got to visit with family we haven't seen in a while. All of Clay's siblings were there and their children. We didn't get much visiting in because we were too busy partying and taking pictures. Chalice called and wanted to come visit during the kids Fall Break. Our kids were on their Fall Break as well so....... The Duey's came to Bisbee for a few days!! We're babysitting Sophie at the moment. Treyson thought her bed was the best thing ever. It made Chalice and I cringe every time he dove face first into her fur covered dog bed, but hey, that's what baths and soap is for right?
Monday we spent the day in Sierra Vista. We wanted to wear out the kids but we also wanted Uncle Clay to have a little bit of quiet time. He was a real trooper. 7 kids, 2 women, and one man. Yeah he needed some time! First on our list, go to the park and wear the kids out!
Chalice and Treyson. Treyson was so cute. He is such a happy baby. It was nice to have a female adult to have conversations with. The first night I think we stayed up until 1 AM just catching up with each other. Thanks Chalice for visiting, it's just what I needed.

Chalice made all the girls flower rings. Super cute. I even got one.

Then it was off to McDonald's to eat and play. Wearing out the kids part 2! For the most part the kids all ate really well. They all ate fast, that's for sure. They must have wanted to play really bad! McDonald's is the only place in town with a play place besides the mall so it was packed!
After McDonald's we headed to the mall for part three of our devious plan to wear out the kids. We went to the mall to let the kids play in the play area. We were there maybe 10 minutes.....

Next stop, Urgent care. Bradyn got hurt at the mall. Off we race to get him some help!

Super mom unloading her precious cargo!

One funky looking pinkie toe later were waiting to find out if it's broken! Poor Braydn, it was so painful for him.

I stayed in the parking lot with the kids while Chalice was inside with Braydn. This picture of Shayn and Treyson is one of my favorite pictures of the whole weekend! Look at those baby blues!!

Come to find out, Braydn's toe was dislocated. They numbed it up, popped it back in place and off we went. He handled it way better than I would have been able to! What a tough guy.

We had hamburgers and hot dogs planned for dinner. After the Urgent Care visit we just wanted to go home. Little Caesars to the rescue! 4 pizzas later we had a happy group wanting dessert!

After pizza and baths it was time for a rest and a movie. You would think after a day like that all the kids would be super tired and go right to sleep. Not so! One thing you have to know about the Dozier's by now is how much we love our movies. Tonight's special presentation was Diary of a Wimpy Kid. We had intermission half way through to get everyone ice cream. Mmmmm, Ice cream!

The next morning we dreaded our cousins leaving. After a yummy breakfast of french toast the kids played together as much as they could. They knew their cousins would have to leave soon. I am happy to report, there was no arguing or fighting between cousins at all. It was the perfect few days to make our our fall break extra fun.

Clay even enlisted the help of Braydn to trap the friendly little gopher out front who is tearing up our yard! Bradyn never complained, did whatever was asked of him and really seemed to enjoy spending time with Uncle Clay.

Treyson got in a good nap before the goodbye's. He was a happy camper when he woke up and ready to hit the road for the long drive home!

Sophie was just plain pooped when everyone left. She hadn't seen that much excitement, not to mention kids, in a long time. We had such a great time visiting and playing with our cousins, we may have to make this an annual adventure! Thanks for coming Duey's we love you!