Happy Halloween!

 We had a fun night carving pumpkins, dressing kids up, a carnival at the church, handing out candy to trick-or-treaters, and then watching the kids sort and count their candy when they were done.

 Isaac with his 'Jazz' pumpkin.  At one point he said, "We are going to be carving this until 10:00 tonight!"  It turned out so cool!

 "I think she needs more hair" and "Ew!  Pumpkin just flicked into my eye!" were my favorite comments of the night from Nicole.

 "I'm so good at this!" said Ian, multiple times as he carved away.  :)

 Some of my other favorite quotes from the night....  "I love wetness!" -Ian

 "Is pumpkin good for your skin?" - Isaac

 "My hands smell like guts."  -Ian

 And now that it's over and the Holidays are upon us- I will take a deep breath, put the Halloween decorations away and turn on the Christmas music to see if I can get in the mood!  Because ready or not- November starts tomorrow!  Oh my! 

 

Happy Halloween! Happy Holidays everyone!

Mazes and Pumpkins

There is nothing like waiting until the last minute to post about our Halloween activities.  But better late than never right?  

Going to a local pumpkin patch and picking out the perfect pumpkin has been a favorite tradition for the past few years.

 To add to the fun this year, we added another activity in the form of a corn maze and a hayride.  Doesn't Erik look like he is having way too much fun?

 A shot of the rest of the family....Ian likes to move around a lot.

 We are rule breakers.  We will admit it.  The corn maze we went on should have taken 30-40 minutes.  We completed it in about 15.   I think we did less than a fourth of the maze in all.  We discovered that we don't enjoy corn mazes all that much.

 But it makes for some cute pictures.

And this picture is priceless.   Cutest little animals ever.

Playing Catch-up

A lot has been going on around here- too much in fact that I have had no time to post. But before Halloween has come and gone, I wanted to share a fun project that we did to help spook-ify our house. :)

Melted styrofoam cups. They make really cool ghosts.....see for yourself.

BONUS: It's a great way to entertain a couple of boys who are off-track.
Spooky, right? We ended up with about 50 of these little ghouls floating around our house.
I also want to share how Nicole got answered to Sadies. Her date put up a large spider web on our front porch with this note right in the middle....
there were about 100 little spiders all over and each were attached to a small piece of paper that said some random thing. The one with the answer said, "Ahem....Yes! I would love to go to the dance with you!" So creative!
Oh and then there's the snow. Oh the snow.

This is the best kind of snow though- the kind that makes the world white in the morning, is just enough for the boys to build a snowman and then is melted by the afternoon. I really am not ready for this.
Happy Halloween!

Everyone deserves a friend like this

These wonderful treats and note were left on my porch early this morning, just waiting for me to find.

There is nothing better than to know you were thought of by someone.

Thank you to my 'friend' for being that someone for me today. It means so much.

Not only have you made my day, but you inspire me to want to be a better friend.

Thank you.

For me?

It's been a long week. Studying for a biggie test in patho sucked the life out of me. I felt drained. Mentally and physically.

So Wednesday morning after the test was over, I decided to take my friend's advice to do something nice for myself. She frequently reminds me to do this- she is so wise.

So, this is how nice to myself I was....

First, I drove to the D.I. and dropped off the car load of stuff that had been in there for over a week just waiting for me to have a few minutes to do it. It felt so good!

Then, I stopped at a store and bought this cute jacket for a steal....

and this darling scarf......I wish the picture was better, the colors are so pretty and bright!
and then I put them together. Don't you love the background in this picture? Nice.
I do have to say that I'm not advocating that you run out and spend money on yourself, although every once in awhile it is fun to do that too, but when you do something nice for yourself, you will find that a happier you it will make!

So I pass my friend's advice on to you- the next time you find that you're feeling spent, make sure to be good to you. It can be as simple as giving yourself time to read a favorite book, going on a leisurely walk, curling up in bed and watching your favorite TV show, taking a nap, or even buying yourself a little something. And the most important thing- it's a MUST- do this with no guilt attached!

Smile

Football season came to a close for us last weekend.

I am smiling.

Not just because we now have our Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays back to ourselves, but because the boys had so much fun playing. It was all worth it.

I smile because of this darling headband that came in the mail. Wouldn't you smile too?

Do you remember the last time you chewed a gumball? I do. It was today and it made me smile.
This lemony good cupcake, from a darling bakery in Midway, brought a giant smile to my face. Mmmmm. It was so good!

I hope you find that there are lots of little things in your life that bring a smile to your face too!

Today

Today, I love him because....

this morning when I went to wake him up, he was busy putting together this puzzle. He is always working on a puzzle and often I will find him sitting at his table late at night or early in the morning putting one together.

I also love him because today he told me that he doesn't want to spend his tooth fairy money because it is special. "It's from a fairy!"

Today, I love him because.....

he knew I would be in to wake him up and he thought he would play a trick on me and make it look like he was still sound asleep in his bed. Pillows for his 'body', a football for his 'head'. I love his mischievous side (how many mothers can say that?) and I love how he flashes his dimpled smile at you when he knows he is being clever.

I also love that he still wants me to read books with him. We are reading a novel together and I love sharing it with him as he snuggles by my side. I love the questions he asks about the characters, knowing he is getting into the story as much as I am.


Today, I love her because.....

she still let's me in. She shares her worries and concerns, her joys and hopes, her stresses and feelings with me. I feel so lucky to be her mom and to be so close to her. I remember being her age just like it was yesterday and it's tough. There is a lot of emotion that plays a part of the high school years and I'm grateful she shares the good, the bad, and the ugly with me.

I also love that she cares about my opinion. She really wants to know what I think and she isn't afraid to ask for advice- anything from what I think about her outfit to relationship advice.

Today, I love being mom to these three amazing kids. I love that we are together under the same roof sharing these moments together. Today they are mine. And for that, I am grateful.

Weekend

This weekend brought a concert, flag football,

more flag football,
and gorging myself on these lovelies.
But most of all, it brought General Conference. The words were exactly what I needed, especially President Uchtdorf's talk. Oh I so needed to hear what he had to say. If you missed his talk like I did, due to football games, go here to listen. You will be so glad you did.

What a Night

I want to apologize in advance for the many photos that accompany this post, but this is how I scrapbook people.

Provo.

It is a town that people have many opinions about. I happen to have a very soft spot in my heart for this place. And that soft spot grew just a little bit bigger on Friday evening as we were one of the lucky ones who were able to attend an event known as the Rooftop Concert Series.

Friday's performing group was Lower Lights, part of a group of local musicians who came together in a time of need to put on benefit concerts for the sweet Stephanie Nielson of NieNiedialogs.com. This was her sister Courtney's way of saying "thank you" to this group by allowing them to perform songs from their new album for all of us. And the cost for us to attend, free.

The concerts have been going on all summer, on the rooftop of a parking structure in downtown Provo.

When I walked up the last flight of stairs to the roof, this was the first sight that I saw. I instantly knew I was going to love this event.

Charming is the word I would use to describe it.


Every little detail was thought of. The lighting was perfect.
The audience sat on blankets and chairs filling the rooftop to almost over flowing.
The weather could not have been better- it was warm most of the evening as the heat from the rooftop radiated up to us.
The stage was simple, the sound so clear.
The music was lovely. The performers put on quite a show.
We visited with the oh so lovely Mindy Gledhill afterward- and I was so excited to see her that I completely forgot to tell her what a wonderful job she, and the whole Lower Lights group did. Please forgive me Mindy!
But the best part for me, besides sharing this night with our dear friends, was meeting the one and only Courtney of cjanerun.com.

She was gracious, funny, warm and friendly. She was so kind to listen to my blabbering about how my parents are in her ward and how she bought my mom's yellow chairs and on and on and embarrassingly on. I'm sure she was exhausted from her busy day, but she laughed and visited with me and even posed for a few pictures. And I mean posed! Thank you Courtney! I will see what I can do about getting you that scarecrow in my mom's yard that you have had your eye on!

And thank you Christy for being such a great photographer!
Provo has always been a dear place to me. I spent many happy, carefree summers there as a child vacationing at my grandparents home. That home is now where my parents live so the wonderful memories are still growing.

I love being in this town, I love the trendy new restaurants that are popping up all over, I love walking down center street, and I love these summer concerts.

If you haven't been to Provo in awhile, you must. And perhaps you will even be lucky enough to catch a concert on the rooftop.