Update: There will be a viewing, Friday, Oct. 31st 4-7pm & the Funeral will be held Nov. 1st @10am. Both will be held at the Red Mt. Institute Building.

The Boys...

This weekend brought some extremely sad news, as we found out that our good friend, Shane Figueroa, was killed in a car accident early Saturday morning. Shane was a Phoenix Police Officer & was hit by a drunk driver while on duty & left behind a beautiful wife named Melisha & a 3 month old daughter named Kenzlie.

This has been a very tough weekend, as my husband is dealing with losing one of his closest friends. Matt had a close group of guy friends growing up (a few are missing from the pic above, from Bryan Hatch's wedding) & they have continued to stay close through college, missions, marriages, children & more. You can imagine how devastating it was to hear about the loss of a life long friend. Matt & I have known Shane since Elementary school & he has always been an amazing friend...we will truly miss him. We don't know WHY things happen, but know we WILL see Shane again & we send our prayers to the Figueroa Family & the Pew Family at this time. My heart is aching for Melisha & hope and pray she is able to find some peace during this very difficult time & for what lies ahead.

If you knew Shane & would like to contribute a story/thought/memory/picture to a book that Nate & Teresa Haslam are creating, please go HERE. I know many of you knew Shane & I think this book is a great way to share our memories!

Please keep Shane & Melisha's & their FAMILIES in your PRAYERS...

Detour...

I have been on a
Barro's kick lately.
WHY? Well...they have the kiddie room in the back, where the kids can play & Matt & I can sit & eat our delicious pizza & chat, while Parker happily plays. AND...Parker LOVES Pizza, so not only can he play...but he actually eats when we go there!

So...the ECONOMY is AWESOME right now & my husband works for a bank, so we have COMPLETE SECURITY there...so we thought we could afford to splurge & meet for lunch today:) So...we met at Barro's...a half-way point between home & work.

MEET FOR LUNCH, you ask??? But I thought Matt came home EVERYDAY for lunch...one of the MANY WONDERFUL things about working a few short miles from home.

Well guess what...things CHANGE :-(

Matt has been moved to the downtown branch...for a time frame that is unknown to us...could be awhile...we don't really know. It has already been a few weeks & sounds like it is going to be quite a bit longer...

I complained at first. Alot. I was spoiled having him home every day for lunch for the past 10 months. I liked that he arrived home 5 minutes after he got off work. I wasn't very happy with this change. Remember our PLAN of going down to one car & he could ride his SWEET bike the 3 miles to work everyday. Remember ALL that money we were going to save on this plan of ours?

Well...guess what? Things CHANGE...

And I'm DONE complaining & just feel VERY VERY THANKFUL that he has a good job during this crazy time in our economy...

I can deal with the rest! :)

Our Lil' Basketball

The Phelps Family Halloween Carnival was lastnight...
Matt went as Fitzgerald from the Cardinals, I was a big fat Pumpkin & Parker was a stinkin' CUTE basketball...

We had MY FAVORITE...Bread Bowls & Soup...and SO MANY different soups to choose from!

I found this beautiful FAIRY(my niece Mia), drinking the water out of one of the booths:)

Parker having fun playing PLINKO...

Don't they look like they came STRAIGHT from the 80's!?! :)
(My cousin Rachel & my sister Heidi)
Parking, trying to figure out the Golfing Booth! :)

Parker loved 'walking the plank' at the ring toss booth that Grandma set up:)

Taking a break in between games to dig in to his Candy...which for SOME UNKNOWN reason, he calls "Memo" ??? We keep telling him that it is NOT EVEN CLOSE to the word Candy...
Any suggestions as to WHY he might call CANDY "Memo"? My ONLY GUESS is that his first attempt at saying candy was "M&M's", since that is what my parents have in their candy machine at their house????

Parker's FAVORITE booth...of course :) He could've spent all night playing this one!

Daddy, throwing Parker up in the air...made for a HAPPY BASKETBALL:)

At the end of the night, the kids came inside to see all the candy they collected!
Don't you remember doing this after trick-or-treating as a kid!?! And we always traded for the candy we liked best:)

On the way home...a HAPPY BOY after a FUN NIGHT!!!

This was ATTEMPT ONE at making Parker into a "Basketball". I still want to try & find a way to make his shirt into a "Net"--but my 1st attempt at that, did not work, which is why I threw his Nash Jersey on him. Also...he did PRETTY GOOD about letting me paint his face when he realized his head was turning into a basketball...but next time, we can't let him start crying right before we leave....or his tears & snot will take away all the paint below his eyes & nose:) Also...I'm going to try and find orange hairspray instead of putting paint in his hair. I think we had to wash his hair 10 times lastnight! It did come RIGHT OFF his face, thanks to a tip to mix the paint with lotion:)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Zoo-October Break-Haircut-Halloween Party-Columbus Day-Dad's Birthday

Just catching up on our FUN week!!!

Because it was October Break, my family headed to the zoo on Friday(see last post for more pics)...
Sunday we had family dinner @ the Allen's house. Parker & Talia played in the backyard & pulled eachother around in this cute wooden wagon, that they BARELY fit in, but they had so much fun!

After dinner we headed to my family's house & my mom decided to put Parker's "curls" into a ponytail. We were laughing @ his little rat tail & decided that it was time to give him a trim. I LOVE his curls, but it was just the ends that were getting long & were getting hard to control...so we thought a haircut was needed.

Matt(who has been refusing to cut his hair) agreed & even cut his hair himself! Parker sat SO still & laughed when it tickled his neck:)

Goodbye Curls! For some reason he looks so much OLDER now :(
I'm not quite ready for him to grow up!!!

Matt had COLUMBUS DAY off & I was SO EXCITED about this! I LOVE long weekends where he gets a day off! We didn't have anything exciting planned. We discussed taking a trip up to our cabin, but cancelled those plans when we heard it would get down to 20degrees & our cabin has NO HEAT! So Monday rolled around & Matt took me shopping. This is HUGE. Matt HATES shopping. I don't know many guys that like it, but Matt REALLY REALLY hates it. My parents had given me birthday money to spend & he thought I deserved to buy some fun things with the money...so off we went! We topped off our trip by grabbing some lunch & going to the mall to let Parker play in the playland.

Monday night was our annual Brinton Family Halloween Carnival! We pulled together some very LAST MINUTE costumes & I whipped up some pasta for the potluck & we were off! Parker had a GREAT time, but didn't get the whole idea of "collecting candy at every booth & putting it into his bag for later" As soon as he received a treat from a game, he ripped off the paper & began to eat & didn't have any interest in playing any more games, until his candy was gone. He was the cutest little cowboy...even without a hat! You might see Parker in a few different costumes this year...as I still want to try to make him into a "Basketball" to go with his current obsession. The Phelps Carnival is next week...so maybe we will figure it out before then...

Parker playing the Castle Bean Bag Toss...

My brother Rob & his boys, Tanner & Mason...

Cute cowboy coloring Halloween pages...

My niece Hallie & my mom...

Matt did a great job of running our basketball booth, "Shubby"... which is what Parker now calls basketball. At one time it was "Shoot it" then it went to "Shooby" & now it is "Shubby"...I think he is getting lazy...

My nephew Mason made the cutest "Mt. St. Helens Volcano" ever...
(he is currently obsessed with Mt. St. Helens, so I just love that his parents found a way to make him into a volcano!)

Me, My Granny & My sister Heidi...

Yay for PARK WEATHER!
I think we went to the park every day this week! We even tried out a couple new parks!
Parker has been in HEAVEN, since he could LIVE OUTSIDE & the weather is finally allowing us to be outside for longer than 2 minutes!

My dad's birthday was Wednesday...
we met him at Chik-fil-a for his birthday. The kids had fun running around the playland & although it probably was not my dad's 1st choice for lunch...he was a good sport to go somewhere that the kids could play!

I just want to tell my dad that I LOVE HIM!!! I know I've said it before & I'll say it again...but I don't know another person as INCREDIBLE as him. I've known him for approximately 26 years & I still have not found ONE thing that I don't like about him! He is amazing in every way & I hope that my boys can grow up to be just like their "Bompa" (how Parker says "Grandpa")

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!
I LOVE YOU!!!

MY BOYS!

Can't wait to add another BOY to the fam!!!

Zoo Fun!

Friday morning I got a text from my sis-in-law saying they were going to the Zoo & did I want to go? Well of COURSE we did! The older kids were on October Break & my brothers were off work, so the whole family headed to the Zoo! (My sister Kylie & kids never made it & we MISSED them so much, but everyone else was able to go) We got completely spoiled by having my brothers, Matt & Rob there...who pushed the strollers for us all day! It was SO nice to just walk along & not have to push the stroller or chase after Parker all day!!!

Mason was our guide throughout the day, always telling us where to go next!

My ADORABLE nieces, Gemma & Hallie are trying to get a better look at the giraffes by hopping the fence! :)

Even when Parker was able to get some FREEDOM from the stroller, my brother would still hold him! THANK YOU SO MUCH ROB!!!

The kids loved the Petting Farm, but I don't think they ever actually TOUCHED the animals, just got close enough to LOOK at them:)

I've never seen this Cactus Slide, but the kids LOVED it!

Hallie...peeking through the tree stump! What a cutie!

Climbing around the SPIDER WEB(Tanner in yellow-Hallie in green)

Parker thought this TURTLE SHELL was the best thing ever!

You can't expect to get ALL the kids looking at the camera...but come on, at least ONE of them could! :)

Parker pulling out his "Cheese" smile as he sits on the Elephant with Tanner

Parker's willing to touch the FAKE animals! He even gave them a kiss:)

Mason, horsing around on the tire swing!

This kid snacked all day long! :)

Our ATTEMPT to get a picture of all the grandkids who went...
Julie got to join in the fun, so Tanner wouldn't run away...this was "pre-popcorn"
see story @ end of post. haha :)

3 CUTE CLAMS! :)

Mason & Parker "wrestling" the alligator

It was SUCH A FUN DAY!!! We even stopped @ McD's on the way home & ate lunch & the kids got to play more on the playland! A SPECIAL THANKS to Rob & Julie for getting us in on their "guest zoo pass" so we could enjoy a FREE, fun day!!! Julie, Amy & Kylie all have SEASON PASSES...so hopefully we will be making more frequent trips to the Zoo (Especially now that the weather is cooling off!)

FUNNY ZOO STORY:

My nephew Tanner was being cranky & wanted POPCORN! He kept insisting that he wanted popcorn & wasn't about to let up until he got some. About 1/2 way through our walk through the zoo...there was a stand...WITH bags of popcorn. Rob & Julie stopped to buy the expensive $7 bag of popcorn to make Tanner happy. Rob proceeded to pour some popcorn out of the BIG bag & into a small ziploc bag & gave it to Tanner, so he could have his very own bag. Tanner was ALL SMILES & with the SWEETEST voice in the world, told his dad to "zip it up, I want to eat it when I get home". HAHA. I thought it was SO FUNNY that after all the asking & pleading...he didn't eat any & was happy just to HOLD his bag of popcorn! And he was a HAPPY boy the rest of the day! :)