Watch Out Mannings Here Come the Darringtons

Football season was a lot of fun this year.  We had two boys in tackle football.  It was Quade's last year in the leauge (can you believe he will be a freshman next year), and Reese's first year.
Quades team ended up taking the championship in the 8th grade league.  They have a lot of talent on their team.  Quade was able to play reciever, deep snap, and corner back.
Reese's team didn't do so well, but Reese is an awesome football player.  I think he has really found his calling.  A lot of people complemented us on what a good player he is.  He was able to play defensive end, full back, line backer, and quarteback.  He is going to be fun to watch.

H A Double L O Double U Double E N Spells Halloween

 Everyone knows that I am not a huge fan of Halloween, but the kids love it, so I do what I have to do. 
This year Quade went to a Halloween dance, and dresses up with a hat and fake mustache.  Reese is too old to trick-or-treat, but he kind of dress up as a sock monkey.  Taya was an adorable bumble bee.  Dace after a few costume changes ended up as a pirate, again.
Quade "hung out" with his friends, while we took the younger kids out.  Royd hooked up a trailer to the  four-wheeler, and we loaded as may kids as we could on.  Reese hitched a ride hoping to find some of his friends.  He never found any, and informed us that it was the worst Halloween ever.
After the sun went down it started to get really cold.  We dropped off the older girls so they could continue on their own, and took Dace home to warm up.  Just as we were reaching home, we got a phone call.  Quade had been messing around with his friends and BROKE HIS NOSE, yes AGAIN!  I still don't know what I am going to do with him.  How many nose surgeries can a kid have in one year?



Here starts another Dace photo shoot.  I just can't choose one, because together they tell the story.



EES Halloween Carinval

Each year the Elementary school hosts a Halloween carnival. Taya and Dace enjoyed themselves thoroughly.
Dace shocked me with is costume choice. At first he wanted to be a police man. Uncle Met even made him a cool shirt, but we couldn't find any accessories to go with it. The we found a really cool Frankenstein costume. He loved it, so that is what I though he was going to be for Halloween. The night of the carnival I told him to go get ready. 10 minutes later he cam up dresses like a pirate. Hey it worked for me so off we went.
At the carnival they won charms, soda pop, glow sticks, earrings, and their favorite goldfish. Not the crackers but real live (for the time being) goldfish.

This Year's Family Pictures

Every fall we go out to take family pictures, and if you follow my blog you know, each year if full of it's own drama. The pictures are really important to me. I want them to be perfect. Over the years I have come to the realization that they will never be perfect. The pictures I end up liking the most are the ones that aren't so perfect. It is going to be hard to ever top last years pictures, they are my favorite so far. This years didn't turn out so bad. Oddly enough it was Royd who was more stressed than I was. Dace was driving him up the wall with his posing. I like Dace's posing. It gives us a little insight to his personality. LaDawna took all of the pictures of the family together (thanks LaDawna!). It was nice to have her around. It helped to make things go a little quicker. I thing they will make a great Christmas card.

Punk'n Gutz: A New Tradition

Last year, on the Family Home Evening before Halloween, we invited friends over to cave pumpkins. We had so much fun that we decided to do it again this year. We cleared out the living room, laid out the painters plastic, and got started. This year we had the Drakes, Jefferys, and the Dawsons over. It was tonz of fun. We had dinner and good conversation. Can't wait until next year.