Getting Ready!

Yes, Halloween is tomorrow and I'm sure that I will have plenty of trick or treating pictures to publish after the weekend. However, in preparation for the big event, we have a few photos to share today. The first is at our ward Halloween party...it's Emily and our neighbor friend, Gabe. Emily went as a BYU cheerleader (minus the pom poms because wouldn't you know I can't find them anywhere!) and Gabe went as BYU's mascot, Cosmo! They were so cute together, that I had to get a picture. Emily and Gabe are the same age and in the same grade and Primary class AND his family lives just up the street from us. We like Gabe so much that we've got Natalie thinking Gabe's her boyfriend...and someday they'll get married! No pressure Gabe!

Last night after much pressure from the kids, we finally sat down to carve our pumpkins. I think the reason that we put it off so long is because technically, we didn't need to buy any pumpkins. We grew 8 of them in our garden. But, they were on the small side and so in order to have a well carved pumpkin, we had to purchase a couple of larger ones. I bought 2 thinking that Abby and Jake would just help Kim and I do them, but it ended up being a project that pretty much Kim and I did ourselves! The kids did, however, have fun putting their Potato Head pieces into their own home-grown pumpkins and setting them out on the porch. I think we're ready for the big events that tomorrow will bring.

For My Friend

When Kim and I lived in Vineyard, I met a lovely lady by the name of Vickie. She has always been so kind to my entire family and especially me. She has remained one of my very closest friends ever since. We get together to scrapbook almost monthly and she amazes me how crafty she is. She not only is a wonderful scrapbooker, but she quilts, sews, crochets, and decorates with flair. On top of all that, she is raising 3 outstanding young men and still coddles her husband, Mike.

When Vickie and I were neighbors, we started a funny tradition that went on for some time. Whenever one of us was having a bad day (yelling at our kids, stress with home life, sick, etc)we would take a plate of some fattening goodie along with this silly book called "The Blue Day Book". It has some really funny pictures of animals in it making weird faces and it has some great words to help one feel better about their circumstances. We traded that book back and forth for several years. Somehow, though, when we moved, I ended up with the book. It has been sitting in my bookcase and I see it now and then and have a little giggle.

Tonight, I have read on Vickie's blog (she's an official blogger now!) that she has had a crappy day. No real details, but enough for me to get that she needs the book. The only problem is: Vickie lives in Lehi now, and I can't just make a quick jaunt over there. So, here's my solution: a picture of our book and an IOU for a fattening treat next time I see her....here's to better days, my friend!

Piano Recital

Abby and Jake were participants in a semi-annual piano recital held last night. They both had to play a song pertaining to their Halloween costumes. Abby played 'Can't Help Falling in Love' because she was dressed in a 60's poodle skirt and the song was popluar in the 60's and Jake played 'Halloween' - he was dressed as a zombie. They both played very well and we're all glad it's over so we don't have to hear the same song practiced over and over. They had to memorize the music, so you can imagine how many times we've had to hear it. You can tell how thrilled they were about having to perform in front of a crowd in the video...neither one of them even cracked a smile. They both strongly voice their opinions about having lessons just about every week, but it's like I keep telling them...someday, you'll thank me....I hope. Please mute the music and take a look.

Fun at Cornbelly's

As noted in my earlier post, this last weekend was UEA break for us. We generally try and go to St. George for a mini vacation, but this year Jake was playing baseball so we had to be at home. The first two days of break were devoted to watching baseball in the 70 degree weather...it was gorgeous out! Perfect for baseball. On Saturday, the weather was still wonderful, so we dedicated the day to yardwork. The kids were thrilled, as you can imagine. We started at about 10 am and finished at about 7 pm. The kids made it into the afternoon before we let them run off to play. We did, however get quite a bit done. We pulled up the garden and weeded, cleaned out the shed, took a load of junk to the DI, weeded flower beds, put away hoses and finished off with cleaning out my van (again!). I love it when we have a productive Saturday!
The kids were so patient about not really getting to do much over the weekend, other than watch baseball and work, so on Monday we set out for Cornbelly's Corn Maze at Thanksgiving Point. Since all of Utah is on UEA break, we weren't the only ones there. It was pretty crowded, but we still had fun. We spent most of the afternoon there with Brenna to help me. We did the corn maze, facepainting, rode a hay wagon, jumped on a huge trampoline, watched pig races, went on the huge slides a dozen times or more and went through the Haunted Creature. My kids even voted me 'Best Looking Mom' at the pig races which in turn won me the fun of kissing a pig before the race started....thanks guys! The kids had a great time. They came home exhausted and filthy, but what's a little fun without some dirt?

Titans Take First!

This may be the last time that I get to blog about Jake's baseball season, as it's coming to a close - finally! So, bear with me as I brag once more.....

Jake's team played in a tournament this last weekend - UEA break for us. They played two games on Thursday and won both. Then on Friday they won their first game 13-12. The second game they lost to the Cache Valley Beavers (what kind of name is that?) 12-13. So, we had to wait around for a few hours to see what they were seeded in order to know if we would be able to play in the championship game. As it worked out, they ended up playing the Cache Valley Beavers for the championship. I think those Beavers were a little full of themselves when we started because they had already beaten us once that day. So, when we came into the championship game, Jake's team was ready for them! The Titans ended up beating them 11-2!

What surprised me the most was what sore losers they were. And I'm not talking about the kids on the team! The parents and the coaches were the worst behaved parents that I have ever seen. They were yelling out insults to the kids and tried to pick fights with our coaches. Kim has a pretty cool head, but he was ready to hurt somebody. They were so rude and obnoxious that it took the fun out of winning for the kids. They were too busy watching the other teams coaches and listening to the Beavers rude fans. Anyway, the Titans served them up a big piece of Humble Pie - and they deserved it!

The Kite Runner

I may be the only person in the United States that hadn't read this book....my sister in law recently loaned it to me. I had set it aside until yesterday and I have to admit that I only put it down to sleep last night. If you are in need of a great book, one of the best I have ever read, pick this book up. I can't say enough about it, and am so glad that I read it before I saw the movie. The messages in the book are life changing -

Snow and Speckled Frogs

We've had a pretty uneventful week other than the SNOW we woke up to on Sunday morning! It didn't stay long, but just enough to get the kids excited to build a snowman. Unfortunately, by the time we got out of church it was all but gone. That's Utah for you. In one week we went from 75-80 degrees to snow!
This morning I caught Natalie singing to herself and I had to get it on video. I made her re-sing the song for the camera.
Five Little Speckled Frogs,
Sat on a Speckled Log,
Eating the most delicious bugs,
Yum, Yum
One jumped into the pool,
Where it was nice and cool,
Now there are 4 Green Speckled Frogs.
Glub, Glub
...and so on... (and yes, I realized afterwards that she skipped from 5 frogs to 3!)
Clearly, I have the CUTEST 3 year old out there! Don't forget to scroll to the bottom and mute the music so you can get the full effect.... oh, and please ignore Kim's nose blowing in the background!

DWTS - Week Three

I wouldn't want to disappoint anyone by not giving my opinions on last nights show (ha ha), so here we go:

Week 3 Favorite Female: Brooke Burke has this thing wrapped up for me...she's amazing and seemingly natural at it. Love her.
Week 3 Favorite Fella: Warren, baby. He has got some groove goin' on and I love it! I can't believe how well he moves - the guys over 300 lbs. and he shakes it better than the 18 yr old Cody Linley.

Week 3 Female Flop: Do I even have to say it? Cloris needs to move on...bless her heart, she is an entertainer, but she CANNOT dance and that is the whole point of the show right? It's not called "Entertaining with the Stars" or "Making an Idiot Out of Yourself with the Stars" right? A close 2nd for the flop category would have to be Toni Braxton this week...what the heck was that all about?? I'm still trying to figure it out.
Week 3 Fella Flop: Rocco DiSpirito. Stinky, Stinky, Stinky. The guy not only had to tackle the Venetian Waltz, but he had a crappy song to go with it...."What's New Pussycat?" Come on people!!

Week 3 Most Improved: Maurice Greene. He's hanging in there with all the others and his dance looked really good last night. Impressive.

The Missing Piece

One tradition that Kim and I have started for conference weekend is a puzzle. We get it out during the sessions and assemble to the best of our ability. We have done several now, usually ranging in size from 500 to 1000 pieces. The kids play bingo and do worksheets to stay busy and quiet (supposedly) and we do the puzzle to stay awake. The puzzle of choice this last weekend was a 500 piece puzzle featuring the Sequoia National Park in California. Very pretty picture and it was only 500 pieces so we thought it would be fairly easy to get done in the 8 hours that we had dedicated to its progress. Well, we did finish it, but only after much obsession and some help from Brenna last night. We worked on it through all the conference sessions and then also late into the night on Sunday and then late into the night last night. It was a beast to put together! Lots of green trees and forest - not much fun to try and place. The most frustrating part was finally getting to the end and then discovering that we were missing a piece! We searched high and low, even pulling out a flashlight to search under the table and chairs. Nothing. We had also vacuumed over the weekend, so we emptied the contents of the vacuum to see if we had accidentally sucked it up. Nope. Sadly this has happened to us before - the last time was a 1000 piece puzzle and we ended up short 1 piece! It had taken us a month or more to put together, so I was not going to just let it go. With that puzzle, I actually emailed the company and had them send me a new puzzle. I thought that I'd just find the missing piece in the new box and we'd have a fix for the problem. Well it was all great in theory until I discovered that they don't cut all puzzles the same, even if it's the same picture. So, we ended up cutting out a similar piece to use in it's place. Months later when we were packing up our house to move, I ended up finding the missing piece...ugh. I'm not quite that obsessed with this last attempt, so we'll just keep an eye out for the missing piece and hope it shows up. If not, life moves on and there will be a new puzzle to attempt in 6 months.