Hallows Night!

We had a great Halloween this year! We started off by going trick-or-treating at Justin's work at 4:00. Avery and Quinn thought it was so neat that we got to go to Daddy's work to get candy! :) Then we ate a quick pumpkin pizza and bread sticks for dinner and then it was off to the trunk-or-treat. Here's the shot our neighbor Ben got before we started our round. The Army man, the Witch, the kitty and the dragon.....


We also enjoyed a yummy donut and hot chocolate at the trunk-or-treat as well. Delicious! After we got home we took the kids around to a few of the "empty-nesters" in our neighborhood, I felt bad that they might not get any trick-or-treaters since almost our whole neighborhood (at least the one's with kids, which is almost all of them) were at the trunk-or-treat! Quinn wanted to ride around the neighborhood in style, I mean, come on, what dragon doesn't get around on a four-wheeler?!! :)


Awww, another great Halloween!!! After the kids are in bed, Justin and I are going to snuggle under a blanket on the couch, watch the scary movie we rented, and rummage through Avery and Quinney's candy. The perfect ending to a great night!!!

If The Shoe Fits

Another great year at Witches Night Out!!! Of course none of us won any of the huge giveaways that they do at the end of the night, but what's new? You would think that after going consecutively for six or seven years that I would have won something by now, but no such luck! Oh well, we have a great time every year whether we win something or not! Our tradition is to go out to dinner dressed up like witches and then we head over to Gardner Village. If you've never been, it really is a sight to see! They have the whole village decorated with witches and all the shops have witchy deals going on, makes for great shopping! Tammy and Deanna weren't able to go with us this year so it was just the five of us.


Witches around the village.....


.....stirring up their brew.



I really had to go and this witch was taking FOR-EV-ER!!! ha ha ha!!! I'm such a dork, but at least I crack myself up! :)



GOOD TIMES!!!

Day 30: Wahoo! I made it!

Phew, posting something different everyday for 30 days is hard work! :) But alas I've made it! Here is my 30th and final picture.....


The Black Island Corn Maze. We had a great time on Avery's preschool field trip today. There is so many fun things for kids to do there. We brought a sack lunch and enjoyed a morning (and afternoon we stayed there so late) of fun!

Day 29: my kid's lunch

toasted cheese + crackers + Ritz peanut butter sandwiches + applesauce + white grape raspberry juice = a scrumptious lunch!

Day 28

Oopsy, I forgot to post a picture yesterday! I've almost made it to 30 so I'm not giving up now! :)

On to Day 28.....


I love this time of year for many different reasons but I LOVE thinking about one reason in particular. You see, seven years ago this month I started to develop a slight crush on a very funny, very good-looking, very charming guy in my group of friends. Of course only my most trusted roommate and me (except my Mom and all my sisters!) knew about this small crush for about a month or so. Then, one cold, late November day, this very funny, very good-looking, very charming friend of mine asked me to go on a date to a Jon Schmidt concert down in Salt Lake. I was on cloud nine!!! It was the BEST date I've ever been on! He put his arm around me on the shuttle bus and during the concert, we held hands for the first time, then add Jon Schmidt music into the mix and OH, BOY OH BOY, it was magical!!! Seven years later I still get that "newly in love" feeling when I think back to that time in my life and it makes me smile!

(this picture was taken a year later.....after that slight crush!:)

Day 27: Halloween Fun!

The first year I had a Halloween party for my nieces and nephews was the year Justin and I got married. We lived in an apartment at the time and had all six (the six that were old enough at least) of my nieces and nephews come over for a little carmel apple eating, Halloween movie watching slumber party at our apartment. We had so much fun! Other then the neighbors (that we shared a wall with) getting mad at us for being too loud, it was a lot of fun and my nieces and nephews loved it so much we decided to make it a tradition. This year we had eleven kids, including my two, here for the party. -- except for this year it was not a sleepover, eleven kids are hard to handle sometimes and speaking from personal experience, DO NOT like to be quiet and go to bed when they are told! :)

Here's a run down of what we did.....

First, after everyone arrived we took pictures of all the kids in their cute, clever costumes. Avery the kitty cat.

And Quinney the dragon.

Then it was time to eat! Yummy yummy yummy!!! We had pizza, bread sticks, cat dip and chips and a ghoulish punch to drink.

On to the games! First the kids went on a treasure hunt with the starting piece of this treasure map. At each new location they found another missing piece to the map and ultimately, by following the map, were led to their treasure!

This was their treasure! These cute little picture frames that we then put together and made. Fun craft!

Our next activity, the CAKE WALK! Growing up we used to have a huge Halloween party with my Mom's side of the family and never a year went by that we didn't have the cake walk downstairs in my Aunt Lola's basement. I thought I'd carry on the tradition at ours!

This is harder than it looks! How many candy corns would you say were in this jar? Well, would you believe me if I told you 312 candy corns were in that jar? It's true, 312 candy corns! WOW, could of fooled me! (if I wasn't the counter!)

And lastly, the older kids got to go down into my dark basement one at a time and have their fortunes told by Hilda the Witch. She told them all sorts of insightful thinks like, the name of the person they would marry, how many kids they would have, what profession they would take and even if they were going to be rich and famous. All they had to do was spit into the cauldron so she could see their fortunes in the smoke. Smart witch! The five youngest kids got to go down together for a little story instead of fortunes, we figured they'd have no idea what a fortune was anyway. However, Quinney was not fooled by Hilda the Witch or her story! About half way through he started waving and saying "hi Grandma, hi Grandma"! Smart Quinney! :)

Here's to another year of great Halloween fun!!!

Day 26: Bi-Annual Halloween Party

Super fun, but now I'm super tired! :) I'll post details tomorrow.....good-night!

Day 25

Tonight we are attending our first Halloween party! Yippy! I love this time of year!!!

Day 24: New Coats!

Day 23: Captain Long Legs

Yes, we are those kind of people that dress up our dog for Halloween! I personally think it's funny. And cute. And I love the fabulous brown locks Captain Long Legs, very becoming! ha ha!

Day 22: Just so you know.....

.....this tastes like cough syrup!!! Not good!!!

Day 21

This is what we did with all that snow yesterday.....


The final count was 10 inches! Can you believe it??? What's even more unbelievable is that it is suppose to be close to 70 degrees by the weekend! Crazy crazy weather! Here are a few more pictures from yesterday.....





I will say, after a couple days of this snow I'm more than ready for the 70 degree temps again -- it's WAY TOO COLD!!!

Day 20: IT'S SNOWING!!!

8 inches and counting!!!

Day 19

The weather prevented us from going to the Black Island Corn Maze today. Dang it! I've had it on my calendar for weeks now! :) Oh well. We did this for a few minutes outside instead.....

I told you we'd be saying good-bye to these flowers soon!


Yes, it feels like winter outside! My Mom called and said it was snowing at her house, enough for a nice white cozy blanket to cover the deck and grass! NOT so cozy if you ask me!!!

Day 18, not Day 17, but Day 18!

Apparently I managed to do a "Day 11" twice. Silly me! So, this in fact is Day 18!

The last sign of summer around here! Very shortly we will be doing our fall trimming! Good-bye pretty flowers, good-bye!!!

On another note, in the last 2 days I have been tagged by 3 friends, so here it goes! You're all going to know a lot about me when this post is over! :)

First tag: Seven Random Facts About Me

#1 Lately (more than usual) I've been addicted to Nachos from Maverick. Justin thinks they're disgusting and can't understand why I like them so much but I just do! I think it runs in the family, all my sisters love them!

#2 When I was younger, we used to love this dippy movie called "Camp Cucamunga". Have any of you ever seen it? Well, it's really nerdy but I use to love it and I think I've watched it about 600+ times!

#3 I have a natural modesty checker. Let me explain. Several years ago, I think I was still in high school, I had an ugly mole that started to grow just at the top of my cleeve right smack dap in the middle. (sorry but that's the only way I can explain it!) So, I went to the doctor and had it removed. Well, needless to say, now there is something there that is far worse than a measly mole, I have a monstrous scar that grew legs! Let me explain further. I apparently scar like my mother, it's called a keloid scar. Keloid scars kind of look like blisters, or a bubbly thing that never goes away. So, where the doctor sewed up the incision, a little scar formed at every spot he put the needle in. Therefore it looks like it has eight little legs growing out of this huge ugly spider body. That's why it's a natural modesty checker, I was always afraid that someone would see my pet spider and get freaked out so I never ever dared wear anything that would possibly let it show! Usually it just affected me when it came time to get into a swimming suit. I always had a hard time finding a swimming suit that would hide that area. Poor me! I might have just preferred to keep the measly mole instead of this monster! Oh well, I call it my spider scar and it will be with me forever, what can I do? Did I share too much information???

#4 I am really anal about certain things, (that might not be so unknown) and one of those things is what my kids wear around all holidays. For some reason (it might have a little to do with my OCD) :) I like my kids to coordinate. I always have to have their outfits go together. If I find a cute dress for Avery that is red and black, then I have to find Quinn something that is red and black too. I even go as far as coordinating the clothes (well at least their tops) that they wear for Thanksgiving dinner. Little coo-coo wouldn't you say? Justin is so lucky he married me!!! :)

#5 I am the only child in my family that was not born in Cache Valley. I was born out of state. When I was 1 1/2 we moved into the house that my parents and older sisters built (literally) where my parents still live today!

#6 I talk to my Mom or one of my sisters almost everyday, sometimes both a Mom and a sister or maybe even two sisters and a Mom in one day! :) I wish I lived closer!

#7 One morning when I was 4 years old my sister and I were fighting over a pencil. We were tugging it back and forth saying, "it's mine!" "No it's not, it's MINE!", sort of thing -- it really was mine by the way! :) Well, my sister finally let it go and the pencil poked right into my eye. I naturally started screaming and my Mom came running in. The lead on the pencil was broken off so my Mom frantically put my shoes on and off to the emergency we went. Yes, the lead broke off into my eye. They did surgery right away and safely removed the piece of lead. When I woke up in the hospital my Dad was there and I remember thinking that it was really cool that I got to see him during the day when he is usually at work! :) I also got this little lunch box type thing that was filled with stickers, a little bottle of lotion, some bandages and things like that, I thought it was great! To this day I can actually still remember the scent of that lotion too. It's funny what things you remember! :) Luckily I haven't had any side effects from it. I did however have to wear a patch over my eye for 3 weeks, wow I looked cute! :)

Next tag: Eights

8 Favorite Tv Shows:

1. The Office
2. So You Think You Can Dance
3. The Biggest Loser
4. The Hills
5. Jon & Kate + Eight
6. The Amazing Race
7. 48 Hours Mystery
8. Lost

8 Favorite Restaurants:

1. Subway
2. P.F. Changs
3. Olive Garden - never ending pasta bowl YUM-O!
4. Cafe Rio
5. Rumbi's
6. Applebee's
7. Baja Cantina
8. Firehouse Pizzeria

8 Things That Happened Yesterday:

1. Avery went to preschool
2. I took a shower
3. Changed Quinn's messy diaper FOUR times!
4. Went to dinner at Applebee's for Girls Night Out
5. Loaded and started the dishwasher
6. Watched The Office
7. Put Ruby in time-out because she didn't come when she was called, in fact, she kept running further away -- naughty puppy!
8. Talked on the phone to my Mom and two of my sisters

8 Things I Am Looking Forward To:

1. Getting family pictures done today with my whole family...hope it doesn't rain!
2. Going to my Mom's house after pictures for some yummy homemade soup, bread, and desserts!
3. Being with my family this afternoon and evening
4. Going to dinner with Lyndee and Chad tomorrow
5. Taking the kids to the Black Island Corn Maze tomorrow...again, hope it doesn't rain!
6. Witches Night Out with my Mom and sisters later this month
7. My Halloween party that I have for my nieces and nephews (and my kids) every other year. This is the first year it's not going to be a sleepover. :(
8. Eating Thanksgiving dinner with my Dad's side of the family this year

Last tag: Five's

....5 things I was doing 10 years ago.....

1. Attending my first semester at Utah State
2. Working at Pace, P.A.C.E. We Make Bags!
3. Driving my first very own car around, my sweet Pink Fluff.
4. Studying for school
5. Talking to the cute boy in my Pshycology class

....5 things on my to-do list today.....

1. Get myself ready for family pictures
2. Get the kidlets ready for pictures
3. Get Justin ready for -- just kidding, he can get his own dang self ready! :) Let's see, feed my kids and myself lunch.
4. Go to the grocery store to get some french bread
5. Clip mine and my kids toe nails.....they're due for a nice trim!

....5 snacks I enjoy.....

1. Goldfish crackers
2. String cheese
3. chips and cheese dip or nachos from Maverick :)
4. This time of year.....CANDY CORNS!!!
5. grapes

....5 things I'd do if I were a Millionaire.....

1. Pay off our house
2. Get a new car, nothing too fancy, probably just a new SUV
3. Save for Avery and Quinn's future college and mission fund
4. Share the wealth
5. Invest

....5 places I've lived.....

1. Mendon
2. Logan
3. Farmington
4. Clinton
5. Hooper

....5 jobs I've had....

1. Housekeeper at Super 8 Motel
2. Pace, P.A.C.E. We make bags!
3. Meadow Gold
4. Providence Assisted Living
5. My current job, the MOM

Phew, that was a lot of info!!! I tag whoever wants to do one, two or all three of these tags, be my guest, go right ahead! :)

Day 16

What a cool dude!!! LOVE the upside down sun glasses! :)

Day 15: Halloween Flashbacks!

Over the years.....and as you can tell, yes, I do love the 80's!!!





I LOVE Halloween!!!

Day 14: Fire Station Field Trip

Today Quinney and I got to go with Avery and her preschool class on a field trip to the Fire Station. The fireman gave us a tour of the station and it was really fun to see where they live for 2 days a week. The station has bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen. Then of course the fireman showed us the fire trucks. The kids even got to climb up into the truck through one door and out the other. They had a lot of fun. We also got to see inside an ambulance. Pretty neat!




Then we got to see all the gear the fireman wear and how they put it on. Here he is ready to fight a fire!


On our way out the fireman gave each of the kids a pencil, a sticker, a sucker and a high-five. What a fun field trip!

Day 13: Two Little Witches

Avery said, "Quinney, let's betend we're witches and go on a ride on our broom!"

Day 12: Conference Weekend

We went up to my parents house on Saturday afternoon and stayed over night. What a nice relaxing weekend! We painted, watched conference, went on a walk, and of course ate way too much food!

Quinney painting his piece of wood.....

The snowman I painted.....

Beautiful Sunday morning in Cache Valley.....

Wagon rides from Buggy.....

This is the old barn across the street from my sister Leisa's house.....

Pictures from our walk. It's so pretty this time of year, I love it!





Awww, so fun!

One thing I learned from conference this weekend is to "enjoy the journey NOW". Be happy NOW! Don't wish your days away, find happiness about today and live it! I'm going to try my best to take the Prophets counsel and "enjoy the journey NOW"! After all, my kids are only going to be 4 & 2 years old once! I don't want to waste anymore time worrying about things that don't even matter. When my kids grow up I want them to have fond memories of us playing together and having fun together! Because that's what's important to me NOW!