Emilee is 11!

I can't believe Emilee is 11 already! It wasn't very long ago that her brother and sister were burying her in her crib with stuffed animals. Our family has been incredibly blessed to have her. She has the most honest, infectious laugh. She is so easy going and as a middle child, she doesn't even act picked on...yet! The only thing she kept saying she wanted was a guinea pig...have you seen how big those things are? And they are loud! And they poop, a lot! We went back and forth for a couple of weeks and finally settled on a dwarf hamster. So, after dinner (we always let the birthday kid pick where we go eat) at Olive Garden (probably not the best place for a family of 7 to eat...ouch!) we went to the pet store pick our newest family member.
We got the food, the toys, the treats, the ball, the chew sticks, the fluff, and got everything ready to welcome her home.
Dad sent Emilee out to the garage to get some leather gloves since we were warned that she would probably bite (she bit the guy at the pet store and he kept shaking his finger for a half hour afterwards cuz it hurt so bad). Mom stopped her and told her to just use these little knit winter gloves, how long could her teeth be, right?
Dad just watched, knowing full well what was about to happen, as Emilee pulled her new best friend out of her box to put it in her new mansion. Well, the hamster probably thought Emilee was going to eat her and bit down on her finger with all of her might. Emilee tried shaking her off, but she hung on with all of her little hamster strength. Eventually she couldn't hang on any more and the hamster went flying across the kitchen. No one wanted to even get close to her at this point, but we had to catch her before she crawled under the cabinet and became a rodent loose in the house! Dan got the whole thing on video on his phone (notice he was busy filming and not coming to her rescue) and it really is hilarious. Well, the story does end well and she eventually made it safe and sound into her new home. Emilee's finger was sore for a couple of days, but she still loved her new pet.
This is the Elleven (the name is a long story) and we call her Elle. I will admit that she's kind of grown on me, although I still affectionately call her "the rat", but Danni always quickly corrects me.

Halloween 2011

Halloween is always one of our favorites! This year was a blast. Brianna and a group of her friends decided to be 80's people (don't tell my sister that she was the main inspiration for these outfits - she was awesome in the 80's, I was so young then I can barely remember them :) They had a ton of fun and started trick or treating VERY early! Most of them are 12 now and I'm not seeing the retiring of the trick or treat sacks any time soon.

Danni was a blue butterfly. She saw the costume online and had to have it. I think I found the very last one in the entire country in her size, but we got it! I always feel so guilty on Halloween day because I don't feel like I have enough time to do everything since making spudnuts always takes priority. I didn't even have time to put Danni's hair up in the little buns like we wanted. She was beautiful anyway!
Colt was supposed to be a football for Halloween, but that lasted about 4 seconds. He was not going to wear a costume this year, but that didn't mean he didn't want to trick or treat! He learned the art of getting free candy at the ward trunk or treat and applied those new skills to our neighbors.
Braden was a trooper and took the littles out while mom and dad made spudnuts. I can't say he was excited or happy to do it, but he did it anyway and the littles loved going with their big brother.
Emilee was our dead cheerleader. She was a dead prom queen last year...should I be worried about this re-occuring theme? She went trick or treating with her friend Mia (the other dead cheerleader) and had a blast with her family.
This is where I could be found from 2:30pm to around 10:30pm. I made 2 batches of spudnuts, which doesn't sound like a lot, but I counted around 13 dozen donuts. This tradition is a lot of work, but I wouldn't have it any other way. We absolutely love seeing all of our friends, family, and neighbors and it's also a way to relate back to our family in Pocatello. My favorite part is watching all of my skinny friends wreck their diets (I'm not mentioning any names, but can you say 4 donuts plus a whole plateful to go! hee hee!)! Thanks Grandma Burrup for starting this tradition!

Busy October!

Well, my weekly posting resolution hasn't been very successful, so I have a little catching up to do. October was a crazy month for us with a lot of fun things going on. Braden's freshman football team finished up with only two losses and almost took first place. Brianna's soccer team also did really well with a season ending Gem State Challenge Tournament, taking 2nd place (they only lost first place by one point and even beat the team that got first!). We absolutely love seeing our kids be active and using the talents Heavenly Father gave them. We also had lots of visitors which we love! Dan's parents came to visit and brought some of the Poky Burrup kids with them. Mike and Melissa and Maddux came over for Sunday dinner and our house never sounds as good as it sounds when it's filled to the brim with family. We love our family and are so blessed to have great relationships with everyone. Well, Melissa brought monkey bread for dessert and it was seriously gone in less than 90 seconds. If you weren't at the table when it was set down, you were out of luck!Here's Dan making sure Colt got a few pieces!
Don't be afraid to dig in everyone! Bo must be texting a girl in this picture, that would be the only thing that would keep those hands out of some dessert!
The beginning of October was so beautiful outside, everyone was in shorts and flip flops. Dan dug out his hammock he got on his mission and hung it out on the patio for the kids. We had no idea it would be such a hit! It's the first place Emilee and her friends head for when they come over. This is a picture of Danni, who lives in her dress-up clothes by they way, after she fell asleep rocking slowly in the hammock. What a little angel.
Colt is always trying to be bigger than he is: here he is trying to fit into Braden's size 11's. He is such a techy genius. I've learned to do so much more on my phone since I have to go back and fix everything he's done to it. He can go to any app he wants and has now figured out how to call people. One day I noticed he was really talking to someone, I picked it up and it was Dan. I told him sorry, I just noticed, and he told me it was the 5th time in a row. He finds the person's picture he wants to talk to and presses it! It's magic! So I'm apologizing in advance for any calls you may receive in the future.