Higgfarm

Two reasons for Dylan to be a little miffed this Halloween:
#1 Nobody really got what he was and he had to keep explaining
#2 My costume got more attention and laughs

He was a Ski Bum, but people kept saying "Ski Hobo".Liv's Hannah Montana wig kept bugging her eyes, so she wore it way up on her head, giving her a comical "mulletesque" look. And Gage had a kick butt apparatus that shot silly string, but he took it to his buddy's house. His buddy then hid it because he wanted to keep it, and returned it guiltily with his big sister a couple of days after Halloween.

I'm a little bummed that I can't make my kids wear ridiculous costumes anymore. Even Nash insisted on wearing his "Matman" outfit, though he refused the mask and cape. What kind of Batman has no mask and cape? He figured out early on that he could get candy without it.



My costume won first place at a Chamber of Commerce party. I got a gift basket from Great Harvest and a gift certificate to a spa. Cha-Ching!

There is more wire in this costume than any one human should be wearing.

Granny G is the new camp ground host at Minersville Reservoir in Southern Utah. Sweet hookup!

It was a wild weekend of:

fishing,

hiking,

rock throwing,

water skeeters (Gage exclaimed "Aebleskivers!" upon their discovery),
general tom-foolery,
and games. Granny G's charade words: True Grit, Shawshank Redemption, and Die Hard. What the?

My brother Chris brought his kayaks. Dylan tipped his purely for comedy purposes, (yeah, right).

Chris kept paddling by the dock and splashing everyone, so the next time he came by, his hefty 16 year old did a cannonball next to him. Take that!

Our ward camps in the most amazing spot: Granite Flats of American Fork Canyon. Beeeeeautiful! I wish we could've stayed more than just one night. It feels a little ridiculous to have to pack up so much stuff for one night.

Gage and Liv prepped by building a fire in the back yard. They dug the pit, circled the rocks, found the kindling and sticks, and came and got me to start it. The fire blazed right up and they roasted mint leaves. Note that Liv wore pants for fire building AND camping.


Nash is definitely my kid.

Gage and Liv were off exploring in the mountains most of the time, so the only pictures we have are of Nash. But that's okay because he's gorgeous.

Told you so.

"Olivia, I don't feel like I feel like I'm five," said Gage the day after his pirate party. But he should! Check out this dive:



This year Gage has learned to ride a 2 wheeler bike and loves to go to the skate park, has gone off sweet ramps on his Razor scooter, practiced his headstands (he can do a head slide, one handed, no handed, and 180 and 360 degree spins), and begun cursive writing. He's also said these hilarious things:

"I'm moving to You Nork City!"

"Mom, Nash just said Reservation Spatula."

"No, Olivia, it's MY turn to chooses a story....what story do you want me to choose?"

"Hi Mom, I’m just going to watch a movie at the movie theater. It’s called “Chipmunk, Chipmunk, why won’t you learn your ABC’s under the water.”"

We drove by a yard sale. Checking it out through his window, Gage commented, “Oh, man. Those people are having a boring party.”

Gage is tough, but shy. Energetic, but my best cuddler. Independant, but a momma's boy. Hilarious and insightful. We love him and his 2 inch eyelashes! Happy Birthday, little buddy.

Granny G turned 50 and I threw her a surprise party. Scope out this list and then rate the party on a scale of 1-10:

1. Slow cooked pulled pork sandwiches
2. Pinata
3. Balloon animals, swords, and hats
3. Bounce house
4. 800 ft. of streamers
5. 100 balloons
6. Three kinds of cake
7. "This Is Your Life" with embarrassing moments told by friends and family.

Dylan wearing pinata remains, and Riley Mac in a pretty hat.

It was a priceless event. Granny G is the best Granny G you could ask for, and we all love her dearly. Ask her about her lemon meringue pie, why there's water "way up here!?", and the time there were a whole bunch of spiders in her bath water.

Don't get startled! I mean water falls! Although I could easily do a post on the endless number of spills taken by my three hooligans. But back to the matter at hand. We're very fortunate to live but a short drive from this:



Accompanied by Aunt Hana, Uncle Nic, Baby Belly Hendrix, and Hana's sweet waddle.

Before you can even say "waterfall" Gage is immediately in the water, catching bugs, throwing rocks, floating sticks.

Liv and Gage learned to ride bikes this spring, and there's no stopping them.
If you know Liv at all, you know her footwear of choice. This picture shall be a treasure.

Nash is still #1 All Time Winner Cute Baby Face

"You don't have very many cousins, do you?" I asked Dylan this morning. So we counted them all up, and he actually has more than me. Those Higginbothams are just a much quieter group than my side of the family. That reunion was a spaz a second, I tell you. But just because they're calmer, doesn't mean we didn't have a great time. The little cousins still did some good spazzing. Nice back bend, Liv!



Hana insisted on playing Bocci Ball, but only made it through 2 throws before she pooped out!

The kids found a huge nest of horned beetles. Eeeeek!

Gage named this one Ringo.

Nash was walking around on the grass when I heard a blood curdling scream. I rushed to save his life, and he pointed to his foot. There was a beetle crawling on his shoe.

It's become a bit of a tradition for our U of U student housing friends to get together around the 4th of July. 11 hungry kids ages 1-7 in a hotel room after long car rides. What fun!

Becca Salisbury and Nash were best friends, even through some mis-communications. The first day, she was positive Nash was a girl. That diaper change sure set her straight. The next day, she woke up and first thing asked her mom if she could go see "that talking baby". The rest of the day she referred to him as "Jojo that talking baby".

Meals were the only quiet time.


Then the pinata broke, and so did the sound barrier.
Thanks Lewis, Salisbury, and Faux families for the outstanding time. I have a surprising lack of pictures, so please send me some.

The annual Tuacahn pilgrimage took us to "Annie" this year. It was okay. In the words of Gage, "I'm getting bored of this. I'm getting bored of not seeing that dog." Sandy was only on stage for about 2 minutes. It was a hard knock.The show was postponed for rain for 20 minutes. We thought, "Oh, good. Rain will cool St. George down a bit." Wrong. Now instead of being hot, we were hot and wet. Good thing it's beautiful enough down there to make up for it.


We got to stay the night at Dylan's cousin's house. They have a gecko.


And this is their back yard. Not too shabby.

My Grandma Jake's 80th birthday was held in Nephi. If any of my relatives have pictures of my kids going down the giant blow-up slide, or of me doing flips off it, please email them to me. Granny G is awesome for renting it, and I looked waaaay better going down than the dude in this stock photo:


Who knew that Nephi had a cool old mill and a memorial rose garden? What a perfectly perfect spot for a Sunday stroll.

If you've never driven the Nebo Loop behind Mt. Nebo, you are missing out. We saw deer, an eagle, all kinds of scurrying things, and two wild turkeys with 7 turklets. Every turn brought new, amazing scenery. It's an hour detour well worth your time.

You know you are truly a grown up when the carnival no longer brings butterflies of excitement, but worms of disgust.

But the kids had a grand time, and so did all the people fortunate enough to witness the overjoyed waves and giggles from Nash as he rode boats, motorcycles, cars, and trains in unending circles. There was, without exaggeration, a 55 minute wait for the ferris wheel. Sheesh. And my favorite -the swings- was broken. Sad. The money for those rides went towards a bag of cotton candy, which shouldn't be as satisfying as it is, knowing you've just paid $3 for about 4 tablespoons of colored sugar. But it's so magically melty!



Liv rode the carousel side saddle, with legs crossed, as a proper lady should.



Gage broke out every death defying stunt he could muster.



Nash was insistent upon riding the chicken.

Gage comes running toward me with the MagnaDoodle, which he drops. “Oh, man, it un-raced,” he says. I correct him. “Don’t you mean erased.” He looks at me quizzically. “No. Because I drawed a horse race.”

He was wearing 9 shirts one day, and when I asked him why, he told me it was his coat of any colors.

Gage is tough enough for ballet. It takes a real man to wear a pink leotard and do tendu's til you're ready to fall over.

I found a BYU student willing to come to my house and teach a few kids ballet once a week for super cheap. Clearly, Liv was thrilled.
She worked hard and took it very seriously. After the lesson, she hugged me, thanked me, and said, "I felt me being a true ballerina," while patting her heart.

Unless you are the one getting revenged.

And not because I need to get Chad for anything, but simply because this is a great photo.

Since Dylan thinks he can humiliate me in front of my billions of fans, I'll just go ahead and post some about our cruise. There are two things you need to know:

#1. It was absolutely awesome.

Okay, so there's only that one thing.

Thar she be, the beautiful Navigator of the Seas, on which we did the following:

Watched Chad annihilate buffalo and other big game. Dylan thought it was hilarious.
I'm even sad about virtual hunting. Those poor digital animals.
Found that I excel at rock climbing.
Choreographed dances for the drunks.

Had a golf-off after Chad and I tied. Who won that, again?

Dylan was too busy falling over with laughter from Amber's mini golf "technique", which was chasing the ball around and whacking at it like a hunk of Chad's trophy buffalo.Ice capade. Dylan is wearing the safety gear for comedy purposes. He's actually quite skilled on the ice. I am wearing the protective gear in order to not die.
Trickery. Our table mate, Dwight, called for a celebration of our new-found friendship. He hailed the waitress, who brought us each a shot glass of some "wicked strong" rum. After thanking him for the gesture, and telling him we didn't drink, he decided he had better drink them all himself. After three shots, I was worried about him. "Should he be drinking this much?" I asked his fiance. She whispered to me that it was only water. Naturally, I picked up my glass, declared "You're only in Jamaica once!" and downed my shot glass.
Dylan's mouth dropped. Amber's eyes grew wide. Chad gasped. I laughed so hard I almost fell into my plate. Dylan grabbed my head and stuttered, "We should get her back to the room!" Amber calculated: "Okay, Leah has never had alcohol, she's 100 lbs. and some change, she's going to get alcohol poisoning and die." They were pretty panicked and it was hilarious.


Off the ship we explored a little of Jamaica, climbing Dunn's Falls, which keeps going and going and going. It was amazing. We rafted the white river, stopping to do flips into the shallow water every now and then. On Grand Cayman Island, we swam with sting rays (which suck on you like you're made of Jell-o), walked the beaches, almost died from INSANE driving, and got nicely burnt.