The JohnstonEs and other Characters

Halloween is such a fun time of year. 

We have had a full schedule of fun activities thus far and several more planned.

 I thought you might enjoy seeing some of our character.

 (double meaning, of course)

First meet the Johnstone's

 (john stones). 

We went to a Family halloween party. We had a blast. 

Thanks, Kels and Jen.

We took bat wings and swamp dip and bread stick bones.

I wish I would have taken pictures they looked amazing. 

(let me know if you want to know how they are done, because they were great Halloween appetizers)

p.s. Marshall is part of the Johnstones, someone had to take the pic

Of course you already meet our Peter Pan

 Then here is our Circus Lion.

And yes, Victoria put this outfit together herself, I was glad that Isabella's tutu could be used for something else.

Her best friend Maddie was the Lion Tamer.

And Last but not least.....

Princess Isabella

Old McDonald's Farm

Last week Sarah, Lucas and Olivia called and invited us to 

come play with them at Old McDonalds Farm.  We had so 

much fun. Isabella loved playing with Lucas and seeing 

how big Olivia has gotten. My favorite part was seeing 

them holding hands. I LOVE MY FAMILY....... 

My Boy? Tights?

So how often does a mom get a chance to teach their 14 year old son how to put on tights?

And Green tights?????

"Oh, I get it. This is no different than putting on a Lazer swimming suit".

"See I Can do it by myself, mom!"

When he is PETER PAN......

 and your best friend (Sammy) is Tinker Bell

And your other best friend (Shannon) is Wendy....

I think Peter Pan has it pretty good!

and yes his wonderful, terrific, amazing MOM handmade, yes handmade, the costume

and his fantastic dad made the hat. 

But of course our incredible son wore it so I guess he is the most amazing. We love you Marshall......

Super Saturday

Today was our wards Super Saturday. And I loved it.

And look at my amazing crafts I made. YES, I made all three!!!!

Thanks Shanta for all your hard work organizing.

Thanks, Kels, for my witch and just being my friend.

It was nice to just have April time. I don't get that very often.

Orange & Black Day

Just thought I would show off my cute girl. 

Today is Orange and Black day at her school. All month she has dressed up in some costume or halloween shirt. And she wanted a tutu to match (surprise surprise). So below is the final product. I wish you could see the bow. It has a cute spider in the middle. And her black cat necklace that Victoria made for her from a big bell, pompom ball and pipe cleaners (so cute).

I hope everyone is enjoying the fun part of halloween as much as we are. 

Love you all......

Open Water Swim

Marshall had the chance to swim his first open water swim meet this last weekend. What is that you might ask? It is INCREDIBLE to watch, that's what it is. 

You can't wear numbers, because they hold water. So a huge sharpie is a must. And huge numbers so we could tell which swimmer is ours. I guess they don't know that my child always wears pink or purple goggles. Easy to spot a boy in pink or purple.

This is called open water. 

A small lake that they set up orange and yellow buoys.  Each lap is a 400 meter. The swimmers swim around (like running track). 

Everyone starts in the water beside a rope that is tied from the boat to the dock. All the swimmers are treading water because a rope cannot hold their weight. When the fog horn sounds you start swimming hard.

Here is where it gets interesting as they are kicking and stroking on top of each other. You can actually see some swimmers swim right over another. Or you can see them grab legs.

Marshall did good getting out of the pack. 

He did not get out without a few kicks in the head and some scratches and he thinks he might have given a few himself.

Marshall swam 2 times:

800 meter (2 laps or 1/2 mile) in 13:51.08 minutes = 4th place

3200 meter (8 laps or 2 miles) in 55:09.58 minutes = 8th place

He did really great. However, I don't think he will EVER swim a 3200 meter again.

Victoria, Skip and the Farrier

Victoria is still riding Skip weekly and getting better and better. She seems so small next to him. The only thing she needs help with is putting the saddle on his back. Everything else she does herself.

These next 3 pictures are of the farrier. It was our first time to see this. 

We were quite fasinated. Isabella explained it the best, 

"Look, all the horses are getting a pedicare."

Oh no, Tree Monkeys and Sasquach.....

We had a chance to have some R & R at the land. It was fun getting to play with my sister Christi and 2 of her children (Adam and Shawnee).