My world.

I'm pretty grateful for the two most special people in my little world.

This guy.

And this chick.

This year I am most grateful for my family.  What a perfect plan our Father in Heaven has set up for us.

My family is everything to me.

It doesn't matter what happens during our days-when we are home together again in the evening everything is alright. 

The world seems conquerable and we are happy.

We are a family and together we can do anything.

The Big Day

Seth came home from his mission in the Dominican Republic last Wednesday and it was a day to celebrate! 

There are a million pictures and I have no apologies because it was a great day!  

I think the thing that stood out in my mind the most were all the SMILES!!!   Everyone was so genuinely happy.  It was a little glimpse of heaven and I loved it!

Maren was a stellar poster board sign maker and almost everyone had a sign to hold up and a kazoo to make noise with.  We were pretty darn loud.  What's new, right?  There was a big crowd with lots of family and friends at the airport.  He sure is loved!

Mom and Dad anxiously watching the TV screen at the airport.  Dad timed it, you know, and once they show up on the screen you have 30 seconds before you see this...

Seth attempting to hold Mikayla for the first time.  To my surprise she actually went to him!  It's taken all weekend for her to go to him again, but he's growing on her.

See what I mean about the SMILES!!!  Aren't they contagious?!?!

I LOVE this picture!

Our family all together for the first time.

The Brown family brought Seth his favorite Eegees at the airport.

Siblings!

I love Mikayla's face and pose in this picture.  Seth found out quickly that the way to her heart is through food. :)

Eegees party at the airport.  Even total strangers benefited from this one!

People ask how Seth is adjusting all the time.  In case you were wondering, he changed into this outfit as soon as he got home and turned on the U of A game.  He's still Seth.  It's great.

The only difference may be he's learned how to share.  Lucky Jake.

We had a great stay-cation with the family this weekend and it was so nice to spend time together.  We went to the pond, the boys went fishing and shooting, we cooked lots of Mexican food for Seth, played games, watched movies, etc.  It's nice to have him home!

It's not easy being green.

Mikayla woke up Halloween morning in a great debate.  She couldn't decide whether she really wanted to be a witch or if instead she wanted to be this:

A housewife?  Not really sure about where she was going with that one.  All I know is she was sure proud of her Halloween cookies in the oven!

Mom and Dad vetoed that ensemble and went with the original plan.

Our little green witch!

She was mortified of being green.  She looked in the mirror at herself and couldn't figure out who it was.  It was all she could do to keep from crying.  Talk about a hilarious face!  In the car every time I would look back she was shaking her head "no" or saying "uh-oh" because she hated the paint.  It was awesome.

Most of the time her face looked like this:

It was kind of sad because our ward didn't have a party or anything this year so we took Mikayla around to  family and friend's houses instead.  It didn't take her long to figure out that all she had to do was stand there and people would dump candy in her "purse".  She pretty much pigged on candy.

Mikayla doesn't talk a whole lot, but she picked up "trick or treat" (at least the sing-songy part of it) pretty fast yesterday!  My Dad is the proud owner of the best video of her saying it in her costume so I'll have to just post the one I have until I steal his-so look back soon! :)

Here's the one in the car from my Dad.  I love how she is so proud of herself at the end where she's getting ready to start clapping away. :)

And, for comparison's sake here's me and Mikayla in the same witch costume...

I love my family!

Another blast from the past...

I put Mikayla in another one of my old outfits and we took pictures.  Cuz that's what we do.  Dustin said it was cute in a terrible sort of way.  I don't think he fully appreciated how much I loved this outfit when I was little.

Showing off her dancing moves...Dustin taught her to dance by waving her pointer fingers up and down in the air.  She thinks she's pretty darn cool when she dances. 

And for memory's sake...this is how she folds her arms for prayers.  I had a little proud moment the other day when she and I grabbed lunch at the Sam's club food court and as soon as the guy gave us our food Mikayla followed me around while I got drinks and things with her arms folded like this...because getting food means saying a prayer for it!  I love the way she says amen, too-"MAY-MEN!"  She gets really frustrated in church, especially fast Sundays when after a gazillion "MAY-MENS" it still isn't time to go.

Note: The above pictures were taken before her nap and this one after.  Naps are terrible on hot hair dos.  You  know when she wakes up yelling "uh oh" it's because she's ripped out her hair and thrown the bow on the floor.  Maybe someday she'll catch on to the fact that "uh oh" is for accidents.

Another story for the scrapbook...the other night Mikayla went and got her Book of Mormon reader for scripture study and we asked her to read the scriptures to us.  Usually we all take turns, but this time Mikayla opened the book, jabbered for a couple of seconds (complete with lip smacking, as is usually done for important conversations), said "ah yun" (all done), slammed the book closed, and put her arms under her chin for prayers.  The whole process took maybe 20 seconds.  I guess she's catching on to the routine!

A couple of random side notes...

Mikayla's kidney ultrasound came back normal so that is a huge relief.  

10 days until Uncle Seth comes home and meets Mikayla!

It's Halloween.  That means at the Hancock house the holidays are officially here and tomorrow we can decorate for Christmas.  I cannot even believe how excited I am!  Don't worry, we'll still play the Halloween game today and fully enjoy it. ;)  Traditional Halloween pictures to come, I'm sure.

I hate your stinkin' guts!!!

{Pumpkin guts that is.}

Dustin was all excited to carve a pumpkin with Mikayla since we didn't do one last year.

She was all for it through the drawing stage.  She was even willing to help draw the face on with sidewalk chalk.

That's where the fun ended.  Dustin pulled off the top of the pumpkin and Mikayla flipped out.  Her initial reaction was the funniest disgusted face I have ever seen.  I wish I had been on the other side of her to catch the face head on in the picture, but I think you can imagine the full picture from the side view.

From there it was pretty much full on screaming and bawling and begging for me to take her off the table.  She was mortified by the pumpkin guts!  It was so hilarious that all I could do was laugh and laugh.  I am such a mean mom!

Dustin and his valiant pumpkin carving-ness pressed forward.  I'm glad he loves to carve pumpkins because I am just not a fan.  Neither is Mikayla apparently.

Mikayla supervised from a far distance.

Our great Dad with his handy work.  Dustin made sure the jack-o-lantern was complete with flowers just for Mikayla.

Our  happy flowery pumpkin. :)

P.S. If you missed it, you have to check out the pictures from our Halloween party in the last post. :)

HOLY MULLET! 1980's PROM!

WARNING: This post contains lots of pictures - open it up, grab some popcorn while your waiting for it to load, and enjoy the show - we promise, it'll be worth it. :) 

(If a picture says a thousand words, these say a lot more than that)

 Yup the theme for this year's annual sibling Halloween party was a 1980's prom.  This was the invite that everybody received. (special thanks to anonymous couple for use of their prom picture! We apologize if this is anyone's relative) 

Here's a little preview of the good times to come:

To start off we had to get ready for the party.  Mikayla was Daddy's big helper. (If you think I'm having a bad hair day in this picture, you should wait and see...)

And now for the big reveal...

drum roll please.....

....It's our party....

...you can cry if you want to...

....

....

Ta-Da!

Deja & Josh

DD & Jeremy

Maren & her step in date, David

DawnSheree & Steven

Oh, yeah. And the Party Hosts, Meagan & I...

The girls and their amazing hair...

The boys and their amazing hair...

A close-up of my amazing hair...

Oh, and a special mention for

The Little Debbies!

And now on to the festivities!

We started out with a killer game of dart toss (no one actually died but the balloons)

Then we did a great game of pumpkin bowling...

Of course that was followed by the Donut Eating Contest!

Please notice the game winning gold star that Josh is proudly displaying on his chest!

On a string!

I tried to get a good picture of all the girls, but somebody's hair was ALWAYS in the way!

And last but not least, the game of the night was...

Pin the Tail on the Mullet!

Some people found the mark...

And some people really didn't...

And as the grand finale, here is Steven being a little emotional over winning the Grand Champion GOLD STAR!