"Hi!"

I know I'm skipping all the pictures I should be posting for Thanksgiving. Those will come, I promise!!! I just had to post the cutest thing that Zach learned last week.

Time Out For Women

This weekend I went to an amazing women's conference called Time Out for Women. Desseret Book sponsors the event. Friday night and Saturday morning and afternoon are filled with speakers and music. This year a few of the speakers were Sherri Dew, Stephanie Neilson, and Laurel Christensen (there were a few others too). I went with some friends from my ward (L-R: Anna Omen, Emily May, Sally Forsgren, and me). There were several others there too. We all spent the night at the Red Lion hotel in SLC. It was so fun!!! We were up until 2:00 am talking and eating junk food.

The theme for this year was "Choosing to Become." It was just the motivation that I needed. I realized that I really want to start writing stories from my life. I'm going to start another blog for the. Once I get it going, I'll let you know if you want to read it. It's mainly for me to just get writing again. I enjoyed my time with friends and my time to really look at my life and what I want to become.

I will for sure be going again next year and would love to have more friends and family enjoy this great experience with me!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Zachary!!!

Zach's first birthday was on November 10th! We had a fun time just with our littl family. Zach didn't really understand opening presents and really didn't care. Samantha liked to be a helper and was so excited for Zach's new toys!

We got a free first birthday cake at Albertson's. Zach liked the frosting the best and went from a clean little boy to a smurf very quickly!!!

Happy Birthday Zachary Michael Robbins!!! We are sure glad to have you in our family!

Samantha (and Michael's) First Snowman!!!

On Saturday there was enough snow to make a snowman! It was great, sticky snow. Samantha is finally old enough to like the snow! She's been watching Frosty the Snowman all week, so she was excited to build a Frosty of her own. Michael said he doesn't ever remember building a snowman before (although, he doesn't remember much from his childhood, so I don't know how true it is), so Samantha and Michael build their first snowman together!

It got a little warmer throughout the day and into Sunday, so the snowman is now laying on the grass, taking a nap!

Samantha enjoyed kissing the snowman just as much as she enjoyed making it. I'm not sure how I feel about that!

Zach enjoyed hanging out, trying his hardest to stay awake!

Trick-or-Treat

Samantha insisted on being Snow White this year and Zach got to be a frog since we had the costume already (we love hand-me-downs)! Samantha was a good little trick-or-treater. She always remembered to say "trick-or-treat" and "thank you." She loved going door to door. When we came home, she was so mad it was over!!! So, I let her hand out candy to a few kids that came to our house.

I made a couple of kind of trick-or-treat bags to sell at craft fairs and online. I made sure Samantha got one too! She loved filling it with candy!

Zach had no problems with dressing up, but eating a sucker was much more fun!!!

The Pumpkin Walk

The small town next to us, Stansbury Park, has an annual Pumpkin Walk at the Benson Grist Mill. There is always a theme, lots of free things to do with your family, and vendors selling various items. This was our first time attending the event, but we will go back! It was a lot of fun! I had a booth there and sold aprons, coloring book totes, etc... While I sat at the booth, Michael had fun taking the kids around to the different activities!

The Grist Mill is a historic site with old buildings, etc...

This year the theme for the pumpkins was Dr. Suess, so all of the displays were very creative!

One guy was selling pork sandwiches and cooking them on his pig grill. That was all Samantha talked about the first day! She wanted to see the pig!

Michael and Samantha went on a hay ride then had a picture by Charlie the horse!

Zach did so well. He was happy to be out and about!

Smanantha got to frost and decorate her own cookie! It think Zach wanted one too.

The event was Friday and Saturday. On Sunday morning I decided to put a bow tie that I didn't sell on Zach. I think he looks super handsome in it! I think I will be making more ties for this little guy.

The Dancing....King?!?

As of lately Zach has become quite the little dancer!

Labor Day Weekend with the Boones

We had a fun Labor Day weekend with Michael's sister Theresa and her family. We went for a hike in the mountains on Friday afternoon. Then, on Friday night, the adults went to see Mary Poppins. It was AMAZING! If you like musicals, then you need to see this one. It took me a while to wrap my head around the story line (it is not the same as the movie), but once I did, I loved it. There were so many special effects that were just mind blowing!

There was a fun little stream on our hike. Robby even caught a water snake! It freaked him out a little, but it was still pretty neat. Samantha didn't want to have anything to do with the cold water. She just wanted to go home and take a nap!

Zach loved riding in the back pack thing! He was looking around like crazy.