Halloween!!!

Amannda got a pumpkin from the kbull 93 pumpkin drop, so we didn't have to brake tradition and go a Halloween with out a jack-o-lantern. Oct 30 at around 10:00 pm we finally carved our pumpkin! Dad helpped make a scary face. The kids had a great time staying up late.

We got the jack-o-latter pizza from papa Murphy's for lunch. The kids were excited to bake there orange chocolate chip cookies that they got for going in dressed up in there costumes.

All day long the kids had big smiles on their faces. It was lots of fun for me to see them having such a fun day!

Hannah got all dressed up to head of for school. She was excited to be a cat this year. We got this cute costume from My sister. All I had to do was make the ears and tale. So much less sewing than last year! Hannah was really excited to wear fake eyelashes. She was so good with getting them on, but they only lasted until about 11:00. She called me from school and said that they were bugging her and she wanted them off. I was glad that I had instructed her not to pull them off on her own. With makeup remover they come off very easily, but pulling them off will rip the skin off and possibly some eyelashes out. She was good to give me a call. When I took them off she made a deal that she would put them back on for the evening, so her dad could see how cute she is!


We made a second trip to Hannah's school to see the Halloween parade. It is always fun to see all the kids and teachers dressed up.

After the parade I took Hannah out of school so that we could head over to the cornbelly maze. I got tickets two tickets from the pumpkin drop, so we figured we had better use them. Hannah really wanted to go into this scary dragon. Connor and Bonnie really had no desire. I told Bonnie to close her eyes, and dragged Connor by the arm into this scary dragon. As you get in it gets very dark. You really can't see well, so I told Hannah to stay close so that I didn't lose her. In the middle of the dragon is the beating of the dragons heart. That kind of freaked the kiddos out, but then as we turned the corner there was some kind of air and quick noise that startled me. I screamed all the kids started crying. At that point all I could do is laugh. We found our way out of the belly of the dragon. I made the kids all go and stand in front of it so that we could have a picture to remember the scary dragon that they all hated. They talked about that dragon all night long!

The kids ended up having a lot of fun. They really enjoyed the princess area. Both the girls dressed up and Connor loved climbing up in the tower. They played for over two hours and when I told them that we had to go home to get ready to go trick or treating they didn't want to leave.

For the evening we head over to Paul's brother's house Mike. It was lots of fun to have everyone together. We all had taken time to dress up in costume. We took the kids around the neighborhood to go trick or treating. They got lots of fun treats. I must say that my very favorite was the new tooth brushes. The little boy that passed them out was even very careful to give the girls princess ones and Connor got a batman tooth brush. I believe he has taken it to bed every night since he got it. The evening was wonder we couldn't have asked for better weather. Well, it was a little rainy by our house, but at Mike's it didn't rain until just as we were going back home.










Paul had decided it would be fun to get into the spirit of Halloween and dress up this year. He spent three weeks growing out his facial hair, so that he could transform into Wolverine.







Before heading home the girls tried out Mike's coffin. I was told it was pretty comfortable. Connor is the scary skeleton in the back!


All in all Halloween was a really fun day for the family!

Just a thought

To choose or not to choose is still a choice. I have had a lot on my mind this month, and it all goes back to choices. "If you want to be Happy, BE!" At times it all sound so simple.

My life is made up of daily choices I have made over the last well almost 28 years. Some small choices some large, but all the same those choices all added up make up the person I am right now.

We are taught in the scriptures choose you this day who you will serve. In this life of uncertainty my Father in Heaven has given me agency, the power to choose. With this comes responsibility. We must learn when to say yes and when to say no. Last week at Hannah's school they had red ribbon week. They were instructed to say "NO" to drugs. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints I have known the importance of keeping the word of wisdom even before I start grade school. However, I am still learning how imprtance it is to say no when I just cannot do any more. As a Mother you learn very quickly that life truly is a balancing act. You can only keep so many things going at a time, but lucky for me I get to choose which things to keep juggling and what I want to drop. Maybe I'll pick some of those things up at another time, and maybe not. The real trick is making a good choice of what to keep. I recall the counsel of choosing the "Best" things. It is easy to get overwhelmed with the demands of life, but taking responsibility and being aware that my life is what it is because of the choices I have made. Maybe some days that is very depressing, but hopefully more often than not I will discover that I have made some pretty good choices and with those choices have come wonderful blessings from my Father in Heaven. At that point it will be easier to keep making those choices that bring happiness into my life. The bottom line is that I get to CHOOSE!

First SNOW!!!

Getting dressed to play in the snow is A LOT of work!

I am an individual who wakes up in the morning sees snow on the ground and reply, "oh crap!" I hate dealing with the snow. It is cold, slippery, and wet. However, I was raised with a mother who LOVES it. It was not uncommon for my mother do declare a snow day. This meant that you didn't have to go to school so that you could stay home and play in the snow. After all there are days that if you don't get out there and play in it early it will be gone by after noon. I was not excited about snow days. I hated missing school. The idea of making up the school work seemed like a chore. I recall one snowy day being late to school because my Mom needed to build a snowman before she could take us.

Because of my Mom's playful childlike personality when it comes to snowy days it is easier for me to make sure that my kids get the chance to get out there and play in the snow before afternoon when the snow will probably be all gone, and like my Mother they LOVE it!

The one thing I really enjoy about snowy days is: taking pictures of my kids out playing in that cold, slippery, wet stuff!


Hannah made a cute Little snowman! Her Grandma Pam would be very proud of her!

Finding a Costume

Connor is has happy as can be. For some reason this year he decided that he wanted to be a skeleton. He like the idea of people thinking that he is scary. I was more than happy to allow him to be a skeleton when I came across a neighbor who had these fun skeleton custom/pj's. I figure $12 for his costume which when the night is over he can wear as pajamas is a great deal.

In the past I was under the impression that buying customs was no big deal after all I have three kids and some of the costumes they can pass down to the next child to be worn in one to two years latter. Well, I am realizing that this is NOT going to work. Hannah was very excited the year she got to dress up as a Pooh bear bubble bee, however, Bonnie has no intentions of being this cute Little character. Her character is much more like the mean little bubble bee coming after the Phoo bear than the cute little bear that is just trying to get a bit of honey. Bonnie has decided that she would much rather be a princess. Lucky for Bonnie we own a large box of dress up clothes and it wont cost me any more to make her a princess than it would for her to be a Phoo bear bubble bee. Hopefully she will be a princess with a beautiful smile on her face. Whatever she is for Halloween there is no question that is will be full of personality!

Halloween is coming!!!

I am soooo excited for this fun month! The fresh crisp air, beautiful colors and fun family activities. It makes me happy just thinking about it. I was delighted this morning when I finally finished this cut little pumpkin decoration that I stitched about 1 1/2 years ago. As for these two little candy corn. I saw something similar to these at Roberts Craft store and thought hey, I can make those. It was fun to have a reason to pull out the scroll saw and try not to cut my fingers off. Lucky for me I was pleased with the project and I still have all ten fingers! I call that a success!
Just a fun family idea. If you haven't heard of the story book in concert you should come check it out. They are currently putting on "The Legend of Sleepy Hallow" it is being shown over at ampha theater by the Timp. Temple. The ticket are available at www.SleepyHollowShow.com They have a hay ride and some fun activities for the kids before the show. The show is alot of fun!