10.31.07 - HAPPY HALLOWEEN

MURDER MYSTERY PARTY

Our characters. Nurse and 2-Headed Monster.


?,?,?, Greg & Shavonne Updike, Camille & Michael, Kyle & Maleana Kelson, ?,?, Josh Kelson.

Halloween was a couple of weeks ago and was so much fun! Michael and I went to a really great Murder Mystery Party that was thrown by our friends Greg and Shavonne Updike. We were assigned characters of a Nurse and a Two Headed Monster. Michael was the murderer and I was given the award of Best Actress. It was an adult party and was a lot of fun!


COSTUME PARTY

The Costume Party gang in our livingroom.


The Donut Eating Contest on our front porch!


Fireman Lizzy, Monkey Lance, Turtle Ali... so cute!



Turtle Ali and Monkey Lance kissing on the cheek.

We also hosted a party of our own and invited all of our friends and friends of friends. We probably had about 50 people that came and it was a lot of fun! We had a donut-on-a-string-eating contest, had a few other games, and had tons of food. Our house is so great and can accommodate many people. We have a big open kitchen and a large living room with 5 couches. It was so much fun to get all of our friends together and have a big costume party!!!


HALOWEEN TRADITION

Nana (Dorothy), Papa (The Wizzard), and Lance (Monkey)

On Halloween night we had dinner with my family (which has been a family tradition for a long time). My mom always makes soup with bread bowls before all the kids take off to go trick-or-treating. We usually have any family who lives locally come over for dinner and we all compare costumes!


Camille, Lance, Papa. Uncle Jacob and Lance.


Michael and Lance were good sports... they got pretty sick of all the picture-taking.


Collette, Nana, Christine, Lina, Katie, Camille, Grandma


Nurse, Wicked Witch, Nun, Dorothy, Good Witch.


Collette and Camille

The last few years we have been themed for the Covey Family... meaning we pick a theme and everyone dresses for a certain part. This year the theme is The Wizzard of Oz. Papa is the Wizzard, Nana is Dorothy, Katie is the Wicked Witch of the West, Collette is the Good Witch, and Jacob is the Scarecrow! Johnny & Christine (with baby Johnny still in the tummy) are characters from the movie Nacho Libre, and Michael and I are the characters from our Murder Mystery Party, a nurse and a 2 Headed Monster, and Lance is a monkey. The Covey family LOVES Haloween!


TRICK-OR-TREAT!


Later Haloween night we went trick-or-treating with our friends Kylan and Jen Lundeen. They have a little girl, Lily, who is 9 days younger than Lance so we took the kids out for their first trick-or-treating experience. It was a lot of fun (and a good excuse to eat candy)!

10.01.07 - FUN ACTIVITIES

BOISE FRIENDS

Katie and Lance. Katie decorated her face with sunscreen!

We got an unexpected call from some of Michael's long time friends Kevin & Hailey and Scott & Natricia Christopherson. They said they would be in Utah for a couple of days so we had them stay with us and it was so great! They each have 1 child, Katie and Ryan and Lance was so excited to have some friends stay with us! It was so great to catch-up with them and we even tried to put together some fun activities (without much success).


Lance and I hanging out near Utah Lake.

We went out on Utah Lake with some Jet Ski's and tried to use them.... but that didn't work, so we just had a good time eating lunch outside and hanging out. We ladies did have a fun time going to IKEA (a home decor store) and Hailey and Natricia found some pretty great things.

It is always so fun to be with them. Michael, Kevin, and Scott spent a lot of their adolescence together and have some pretty fun stories. It's so great that we get to keep in touch!


GRAMMY PARRISH

Grammy is so beautiful. Definitely someone to aspire to!

Lance and I took a trip to visit Grammy. Grammy Lance's Great-Great Grandmother. She is the greatest. She is so sweet and is doing so well. We don't visit her enough. Lance loved being with her and was almost too bug for her to hold onto!

Grammy is in great mental and physical health. She goes walking almost every morning inside of a nearby mall (to keep safe), lives on her own, does her hair and makeup every day, and drives her luxury car around Murry. We love her so much and hope she sticks around forever!


SOFTBALL

Michael up to bat.


An easy run into home base.

Michael joined 2 softball teams recently and has been having a lot of fun. He has never really played before and is doing awesome! He is such a natural at everything he tries... lucky guy. I hope our kids attribute that trait from him because I certainly don't have it! =)


The cute cousins.


Lizzy and Ali are best friends (usually). =)

It has been fun for Lance and I to go and watch Daddy because the Fetters are always there too (Shae and Michael are on the same teams) so we get to hang out and watch the Daddies play. It's a lot of fun.

9.24.07 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY LANCE & MICHAEL

This week was Michael’s birthday and our little Lance just turned ONE 7 days earlier so we had 2 very fun family parties to celebrate.

We went to Papa and Nana’s house and had a cake for each of the birthday boys. Lance had his own cake and I was so excited for him to “dig in” and get really messy! We took off his clothes so they wouldn’t get dirty and put his little diapered body in the middle of the kitchen table so he could open his presents and make a huge mess with his cake. He loved his presents, but was not excited to “dig in” to the cake like I had hoped! Lance does not like to get dirty and if ever there is food on his face he immediately wipes it off. I tried to put his little hand in the cake… and he started to cry… so I tried giving him a taste of the frosting off my finger, and he squirmed away… he was not interested at all in his cake and I was a little bummed. But he did love his presents and sure looked cute sitting in the middle of the table with only a diaper on!

Mommy made the cake and Daddy decorated it.

Lance hesitant to dig in. Mommy giving lots of encouragement.

...tastes pretty good. Lance shares it with Daddy.

He LOVES it and totally digs in! Hands, fork, and face!

Success! We couldn't believe how much he ate! Wow!

All clean! Daddy gave Lance a bath.

Lance sporting the new pj's with Grandma and Grandpa Bennett.

The next week the Bennett family came to our house for a celebration for the birthday boys. I made 2 more cakes but didn’t have my hopes too high for Lance digging in his cake. We opened presents and then went to the kitchen for cake and ice cream. I didn’t expect much of a “show” from Lance, but I did sit him on our counter, put a baby fork in his hand, and place his cake in front of him. To my surprise he started using the fork to eat the cake, and eventually put his entire face right into the cake! =) Hooray!!! All of his clothes were on, and he got incredibly messy… but it was so fun! He was so happy and decided that he really liked that chocolate frosting! He almost ate half of the cake! Wow!

Lance is growing up too fast! He started walking the day after his birthday and looks like a little man now! He weighs 23 pounds and is getting so big! He is 50% for his weight, 75% for height, and 90% for head size.... he must have a big brain in there!!! =)

He is old enough now that he definitely understands when Mama and Dada are not happy with something he has done, or when we are very proud and excited. When he took his first steps he was beaming with accomplishment - smiling from ear to ear! But when pulls all of the canned goods off the self and onto the ground he knows he’s being naughty. He has even started throwing little tantrums where he starts to cry and flail his body on the ground, or he starts purposefully hitting his head on the ground to let us know that he is upset.... (we are really not very excited about this crazy stage) but fortunately it doesn't happen too often and he hasn't really hurt himself yet....) but he sure will express how he is feeling! =)

Look at that cute face... I just want to kiss it! Mmmough!

The good news is that he is almost always a very pleasant and happy little guy. People often comment on how friendly and what a good baby he is. Lance loves to be with other children and make friends with anyone around. Every Sunday we find him a few rows up, sitting and playing with some other kids, using their toys and eating their cheerios... he is such a cutie!

9.01.07 - OUR BUSY LIVES

Helping Mommy with the Dishes. Lance LOVES bananas.


Adventurer Lance inside the Dryer!

It is almost Lance's 1st birthday and I can't believe that it has already been a year... wow time sure does fly by. Lance is really cute and his little personality is really shining through. He is a very happy little guy. He bobs and shakes his chubby body when music comes on, he claps when we say "yeah!" he points at things and says, "Saaaat?" (translated = “what's that”), he smiles and laughs a lot... we just think he is so cute. He is not quite walking yet, but I'm sure it will come soon enough. He sure likes to crawl onto and into everything though! It's pretty funny to see what he can manage to get into... the dryer, cupboards... etc. =)

We recently took a little trip down to Southern Utah and stayed at Michael’s bosses second home there while Michael did some work. It was nice to get away and spend some time together. Lance and Michael even took a ride on the Brady’s scooter!

Family Photo. Ed & Nina, grandkids, and Grandma Caroline.

Mary & , Grandpa and Grandma Ed & Nina, Susan, Frienly & Curt, Terri & Mike, Grandma Caroline, Christopher, Margo & Hailey, Camille, Lance & Michael, Jennifer and Ali, Anne & Doug.

We also got together for a little Liechty Family Dinner in Orem, UT and got to catch up with Michael’s mom’s side of the family.

Michael and I are doing well. Michael is working hard and always has a bunch of stuff going on the side. We actually just bought another house in Pleasant Grove that already has a renter in it... it's a long story, but it's a great investment and hopefully it will turn out well. Michael is also constantly buying and selling cars to make a profit. He had a convertible Corvette, now he has a huge truck (which I can hardly get in) and he already has it for sell and is looking to buy a BMW. He just loves buying cars, enjoying them for a little while, then selling them for more than he bought them for.

When Michael is not busy at work, or buying and selling cars or houses on the side, he works on the yard aka “the jungle.” Our yard is basically weeds and these aren’t just ordinary weeds, they are 4 foot tall! Way to go Michael for tackling (literally) the massive project.

Lances loves having his picture taken. Showing off those Luscious Bennett Lips!

I am doing great. I have been picking up a lot of random jobs lately. Managing my uncle’s apartments, babysitting cousins for days at a time, contracting painters.... it has been nice to earn some extra money and Lance is a great side-kick!