We're Home!!!!!!!

It was a week of family, fun and a little bit of freezing! Last Friday (11/21), we made our trek to Boise, Idaho. We grabbed the kids from school and headed out of town! 9 hours later, we pulled into the McHargue driveway ready to make some awesome memories!

With the first two nights spent in Boise, followed by three nights in Tamarack and then three more nights back in Boise - our week was jam packed with fun! Among the many memories we made, here are some of the highlights:

• Gabriella's dedication (we are her Godparents!)
  
• Ice Skating


• Playing in snow


• Hot Springs
  
• Christmas shopping in McCall


• 2.6 mile walks in 19 degrees


• Thanksgiving dinner/dessert


• Madagascar 2


• Countless cups of hot tea


• Boise State Basketball game


• 2 Boise State football games


• Christmas shopping in Boise


• Hiking to the frozen river


• Seeing a fox


• The Turkey Bowl


• Hiking/Rock climbing


• Puzzle building


• Did I mention Christmas shopping on Black Friday???


• Hanging with the family!
  
  
  

Mark, Madison and Tanner

Gabriella Grace - such a cutie face!

Mad Dogger

Mark and Jack - hard at work drawing wars

Gabriella Grace with her one true love - her Uncle Mark

Little E

Two of my 3 turkeys in the Turkey Bowl!

After a week filled with ridiculous amounts of fun - we are now home and taking this day to relax and recuperate! We look forward to doing it all over again next year!

Brushing Teeth is Hard Work!

Who knew that brushing teeth could be so exhausting??? Tonight, I sent Tanner into the bathroom to brush his teeth - our normal night time ritual. When he didn't come right back, I figured, well, he must be hard at work cleaning each and every tooth! Little did I know, that the task would prove to be so incredibly exhausting! With his toothbrush nearby, he curled up on the couch and called it a day! No wonder it is such a chore to get them to brush their teeth. They must know going in that at the conclusion of this dreaded task that every last bit of energy they possess with be sucked right out of them! It is all starting to make sense now... :)

Oh, Dear Heaven...

Have you ever been in one of those situations when time actually seems to go backwards? Today, I had the pleasure of attending a performance of The Music Man with Markie and the rest of his 2nd grade class. I had been looking forward to this all week. Had I known ahead of time what I was in store for, I would have made plans to be busy - busy doing laundry, busy scrubbing toilets, busy shoving bamboo up my fingernails.


With three extremely bored 8 year old boys next to me and the lord of the dance behind me kicking my chair, it was no wonder I was checking my watch every two minutes - a fact that was pointed out to me during the performance. About halfway through I told the three boys to go ahead and take a nap if they wanted to while I found myself praying that God would kill me now. Thankfully God did not answer that prayer at that moment. Instead, I was blessed with just enough patience and energy to make it to the closing of the performance.


Once we had exited the theater, I asked the Markie if he wanted to see it again. He responded with a "NNNNOOOOOOO!!!!!" I couldn't agree more!

The Brady Bunch

You all know the words so sing with me!


"Here's the story

Of a lovely lady

Who was bringing up three very lovely girls

All of them had hair of gold

Like their mother's

The youngest one in curls..."

OK - so we aren't really the Brady Bunch but when our families are combined there are 3 girls and 3 boys. Because of this, we have unofficially named them "The Brady Bunch." Today I had the pleasure of watching this Brady crew. With Melissa off perfecting her role as radio personality, it was 6 on 1 in the Stephens household! Taking our cue from Noah, the kids paired up and had a blast playing together! While they played, I baked. Everyone was happy!

After lots of food, fun and playtime, our time ended with a well thrown, perfectly timed football launched into my eye. (For those of you who remember - "Now, I'll never be a teen model!") Luckily it was of the Nerf variety but it still hurt nonetheless! It was on that note that we bid a fond farewell to 1/2 of the Brady Bunch.

"The Brady Bunch

The Brady Bunch

That's the way we became the Brady Bunch!"

Good luck getting that song out of your head today!

Going Batty!

With one last (post-Halloween) Halloween celebration on the schedule and my refusal to arrive at said party empty-handed, I whipped up this cake to officially send Halloween out in style!

This is a 4-layer chocolate cake. The topping/filling is made of a cream cheese/sugar/whipped topping combo. The topping is covered in orange and black sugar sprinkles along with miniature candy bats and pumpkins. Bats hand cut out of rolled out tootsie rolls complete the look!

Also on the schedule this weekend was the final celebration for Markie's birthday! Markie's Mud Bowl was a hit! After last night's pouring rain, thunder and lightning we were blessed with absolutely beautiful weather. With blue skies above and surprisingly dry ground below, Markie's Mud Bowl was more like Markie's Little Bit Dirty Bowl.

Markie's Mud Bowlers

The Mud Bowl Ladies - Emily, Riley, Courtney and Madison

Drew - 1 of 2 Mini Mud Bowl Ladies

Demi - The second Mini Mud Bowler

Collin - tearing it up on the field

Tanner - the only child who didn't play football but ended up muddy anyway!

With Halloween and Markie's birthday officially behind me, I am really looking forward to getting into the swing of the holiday season! I can't wait to see what baking fun the next couple months bring!

Birthdays, Bicycles and One Super Cool Cake

Yesterday we celebrated Markie's 8th birthday! With football being his current favorite sport - it seemed fitting to make him a football related cake. For your viewing pleasure - check out this cool football helmet cake!




Hope he wished for something other than the pet bunny he has been asking for...




Ride 'em cowboy! Markie saddled up on his new, super cool turbo bike!

With the candle blown out, cake eaten and wrapping paper littering our house - his birthday celebration concluded with one tired boy! Thankfully, there will be plenty of time for him to rest between now and Sunday when Markie's Mud Bowl - a huge, muddy football game takes place in honor of his special day! Are you ready for some football??????

You said it's your birthday.....

It was 8 years ago today that this giant 8 lb 10 oz boy made his way into the world! With the loudest scream I have ever heard (his, not mine), Mark Halsey Stephens III burst his way onto the scene! We have been blessed every day since!

Happy Birthday Mark Shark! We love you like crazy big boy!

Happy Halloween!

With our pumpkins carved and ghosts, ghouls and goblins nowhere to be found - we headed out on our trick-or-treating adventure! Our resident enchanted fairy - ok it is really a witch but I prefer enchanted fairy, a storm trooper and Anakin Skywalker, along with our dear friends - the ladybug, a smaller version of the enchanted fairy (also a witch but again fairy is preferred!) and one very scary, super frightening lion, we loaded up the golf cart and set out on our candy gathering extravaganza!

Anakin Skywalker (aka Tanner)

Stormtrooper (Markie)

Enchanted fairy (Madison)

5/6 of the trick-or-treating crew (Madison, Riley, Markie, Tanner and Drew)

One very tough, super ferocious lion! (Collin Tucker)

With bags overflowing with enough candy to last until next Halloween, we concluded our 4-year tradition! I am looking forward to doing it all over again next year!