Happy Halloween

Halloween seems to get crazier and crazier every year around here.  With Halloween being on the weekend it made for a long week of dance, school, work, and family parties.  At least the costumes are getting some good use :)

Officer Mackay Jr

Cinderella

The Monkeys





Pumpkin Patch

We went as a family to the local pumpkin patch to let the kids pick out their pumpkins this year.  The pumpkin patch as a a lot of different tractors for the kids to play on and a little corn maze for the kids to run through.  The best part about going to the pumpkin patch is all the photo ops :)

This is how all my pictures look like when I try to get one with all of the kids

LOVE HIM

 My sweet Breanne

Brynlee, my little angel

Little Ash

Jaxon is always good for a picture

Gotta love the self portraits!



Birthday Time

Jaxon and Ashlyn's birthdays are within 10 days of each other.  Jaxon turned the big 6 and Ashlyn is now 3!  Holy cow, where has the time gone???  Although, I am glad that Jaxon is six now because I don't sound as crazy when I have to tell people "I have four kids, six and under."  When I had to say, "I have four kids 5 and under" people looked at me like I was a little crazy (and I am not crazy, right?) :)  Here are a few pics of the kiddos opening presents...

 We also had a combined birthday party with our cousins in the park.

On Ashlyn's actual birthday we had dinner at my mom's house.  Here is a picture of the super awesome cake I made. Hey, Ashlyn thought it was cool :)

The Drity Dash

In the summer some of my friends from work told me about a 10k mud run called the The Dirty Dash.  Doug and I thought it sounded like fun and decided to sign up.  I had been pretty good about training during the summer...then fall came and my allergies flared up.  I didn't feel like running because I was so congested.  My mom had sold her house and we had rented out our house and we both had to be moved out within two weeks of each other, so we were super busy and running was the last thing on my mind.  It was a few days before the race and I realized I had not run in over six weeks, WHOOPS!  I had to run six miles in the mud and I was out of shape.  I seriously thought about not even doing the race, but I am so glad I did.

 The race:

The warm up...it was only 40 degrees!

Here we go..

The very beginning of the race was up a mud hill and the first mile or mile and a half was straight up a canyon.  I was really, really feeling my lack of training here!  I was wondering what I had gotten myself into :)

This was the first obstacle we encountered.

 

 ***

This is a snow making machine, it blows water fast and cold, and when you are running face first into it, it takes your breath away.  Next we passed over hay bales and through tunnels. Which brought us to the army walls...





After the army walls we had a long stretch of just running. This was the view during the run.

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Running through tires was the next obstacle, which brought us to The Swamp.  This was the yuckiest and smelliest part of the race! We had to jump over creeks and run through that stinky black mud that may have been more manure than mud :)

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After the swamp there was light at the end of the tunnel because I knew that the Slop n Slide was next.  They told us this was the biggest blow-up slide that exists.  SO FUN!

***

The very last thing we did before crossing the finish line was 'swimming' through a mud pit.  Doug decided to flip into the pool, I jumped in behind him.

Here are the final photos of the happy runners :)



BEFORE

AFTER

*** Photos I borrowed (stole) from www.racingdawn.blogspot.com

Last week was a SUPER, crazy busy week for us.  We moved out of our house and we had been working on it all week, packing and cleaning, getting it ready for our renters to move in.  We were almost all the way done, Doug was just finishing a little touch-up paint while I was vacuuming the basement.  Ashlyn saw the 5 gallon bucket of paint and my Swiffer duster.  Well.....needless to say, she decided that our porch needed a fresh coat of paint.  What a budding little artist we have....