Halloween 2008!

Happy Halloween! Matt took the kids around the neighborhood while I handed out candy with a couple of my neighbors. The kids scored, like always! Ethan was Sebastian the Crab (from Little Mermaid), Ashton was a Clone Trooper, Ryan was a Leopard and Brinley was Tinkerbelle. The weather was fantastic. It was a perfect night.

Trick or Treat on Main Street

This afternoon my neighbor Stephanie and I decided to take the kids downtown and let them Trick or Treat on Main Street. It helped bridge the gap between school getting out and trick or treating. The kids went from business to business collecting candy. They had a lot of fun. It was Ethan, Donovan, Ashton, Ryan, Mia and Brinley. There was even this cute dog handing out candy.

Ryan's Preschool Halloween Party

Today I took the troops over to Ryan's preschool for the Annual Halloween Party. I was glad I went, since I ended up being the only Mom to show up. They danced around to "Play that Funky Music, TEACHER!" and had lots of yummy treats. Ryan dressed as Tigger and had a very fun time.

Tag, You're It! (or maybe not)

Okay, so sometime last week my cute friend Arien tagged me. The rules were to list 6 weird or random things about me. I have been thinking about this a lot this week. I've come to the conclusion that I've held my weirdness pretty private for the past 37 years so I'm not about to cave in now. So in order to not be a party pooper, or "tag pooper" I've decided to switch it up a bit and do a different tag that was on my sister-in-law's blog. Okay, I guess that is weird. Oh well, I let one sneak out. So here it goes:

8 shows I watch:
1. Pardon the Interruption (ESPN)
2. The News!
3. The Biggest Loser
4. House Hunters
5. Designed to Sell
6. The Amazing Race
7. Dirty Jobs
8. Monday Night Football

8 Restaurants:
1. Krumbly Burger! (Troy, MO)
2. The Pagoda (Salt Lake City)
3. Zia's! (St. Louis)
4. Training Table (Salt Lake City)
5. Warren's (Ogden, UT)
6. Carl's Drive-in (St. Louis)
7. PF Changs (Lexington!)
8. Maddox (Perry/Brigham City, UT)

8 Things I did Yesterday:
1. Went to Wal-Mart (BOO!)
2. Put together treat bags for today's Halloween parties
3. Went to Ryan's preschool halloween party
4. Delivered safety pins to my neighbor at 11:30pm!
5. Made teacher gifts for halloween
4. Changed diapers
5. Bathed kids
6. Did homework with the boys
7. Mailed out packages
8. Did Laundry

8 Things I Look Forward To:
1. All my children being potty trained morning, noon and NIGHT!
2. The election to be over
3. Ashton's birthday in December. Then I can stop hearing about what he wants for his big day!!
4. Matt being home for a very long Christmas break.
5. Our 11th Anniversary in November
6. Ryan being able to ride a 2-wheeler
7. Seeing my Mom and brothers hopefully sooner than later
8. A care package which should be arriving today from my brother and his wonderful girlfriend, Sondra

8 Wishes:
1. A clean house!
2. A skinny body
3. A new car
4. A Camper
5. Happy children
6. Healthy children
7. An anniversary, birthday or Christmas gift given to me by my husband!
8. A fun family vacation to Yellowstone National Park

Newly Added by ME!
8 Blessings: (in no particular order)
1. Four healthy children
2. Fun extended family
3. A Husband who loves me
4. An awesome Mom and Dad & Great brothers and their gals!
5. Wonderful in-laws (serious!)
6. Fantastic friends
7. A beautiful country to live in
8. Being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

So now that I am reading over my lists, I see a little more "weirdness" is sneaking out. So there! Enjoy! Oh - and if you'd like, tag - you're it!

Trunk or Treat at the Church 2008

Tonight was the Georgetown Ward Trunk or Treat. It started off with a chili cook off followed by games and trunk or treating. I was in charge of the cake walk. It was a fun time.

Neighborhood Pumpkin Carving 2008

Today a few of my neighbors organized a fun pumpkin carving event. I was not too excited about it, but it turned out to be a fun time. Of course the Moms were stuck cleaning out the pumpkins (yuck!) and just a few of the kids were able to carve their own pumpkins. Some of the other Moms provided yummy treats for the special occassion. Good times, for sure! Stephanie (the one holding the pumpkin seeds) took all the pumpkin seeds and made yummy pumpkin seeds for us. They were DELICIOUS!!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Brinley!

Warning! - Time Warp Ahead

I just wanted to warn you about the "play list" that I just added to my blog. It isn't your "typical" play list. I have a very different music taste than most people. It certainly shows my age. Heck, it may even make me seem even older than I am! Oh well, I don't care. Most of the songs I have placed on the list have memories associated with them. I have enjoyed many of them in concerts, listened to them on road trips with my family, did a 1st place jumprope routine to one of them, clogged to a lot of them, . . . So just try to enjoy the music or at least try to bear it. It really isn't that bad!! Oh - and if you are lucky, the 1 song from the 21st century that I have on the playlist just may pop up!

Celebratin' Chuck E. Cheese Style

Today we met up with Matt's sister and her family at the Chuck E. Cheese in Florence, KY. It is just about half way between our two homes. We went to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate Brinley's 2nd Birthday as well as to celebrate our neice Abigail and Ryan's potty training efforts. Besides Brinley's massive blow out of a diaper, it was a fun time. Enjoy the pictures!

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

I draw the line!

Tonight Ashton's dermabond scab fell off. You know, the one that they said would stay on for a week -haha! Anyway, I threw it away, of course. Later Ashton asked where the scab was. Duh! In the garbage! He was upset. I guess he thought the "scab fairy" was going to pay a visit tonight. He was wrong, very wrong! I guess since the "fingernail fairy" has come to visit he thought the "scab fairy" would too! No dice!

It was just a Matter of Time!

Today was a big day for Ashton. He first came home overjoyed because he received a "green day" at school. This meant he is able to attend the 2 birthday parties he is invited to tomorrow. (I really was going to let him go no matter what, but nothing wrong with a little bribery, right?) While walking home from the bus stop we were following along side the garbage truck. Nice smells for sure! Anyway, we scooted home and got there before the garbage truck. Ashton flew inside, washed his hands, got his snack then headed out the door for a little time on his bike before Matt came home for lunch. A few minutes later he runs in with a pile of bibles and yells, "Mom, look, the garbage man gave me all these Book of Mormons!" It was priceless. He was so excited. So I guess my neighbor down the street was throwing out bibles. Is that a little odd? Would you DARE throw away a Bible? Is it that hard to donate it to the Goodwill? So after he deposited the goods at home he decided to take another little spin on his bike. I was upstairs working on Sharing Time (imagine that!) and hear Ryan yell for help. I started running down stairs and could hear Ashton crying. I met him at the door where he was telling me he was hurt. I asked him where? I couldn't see anything wrong with him. He put his chin up and Voila! A yucky, scraped up chin. I let a little scream and ran him to the kitchen to put wet paper towels on it. I called Matt and said "you may want to hurry up and get here. I think we need to head to the Urgent Treatment Center." A few minutes later Matt arrived and said "Yep, we need to go to the Clinic." Once the Doctor saw Ashton's chin she gave us 4 options. Stitch up his chin, put steri-strips on it, put Dermibond on it, or leave it alone. We opted for option #3, Dermibond. After cleaning it real good, trimming off the exposed FAT, she glued him back together. He was a super trooper. Very minimal crying. The only tears (besides at the time of impact) was when they were cleaning it. He didn't mind the other part. Of course after we returned home he was back on the bike! I've included a photo of the "injury" and a photo of how accomidating he was trying to get a picture of the "injury".

Happy 24th Matty!

Today is my younger brother's 24th birthday. Wow Wee! I remember the day he was born. I remember it because I was so mad that my Dad made me go to school. He even made me go to "Metcalf Singers" afterschool. Luckily I was able to skip school the following day to hang out at the hospital with my Mom and Matthew. Even though he is a huge punk and tickles me whenever possible, he is awfully cute! We love you, Matty! Here are a few pictures to enjoy!

Goodbye Old Friends!

Today Ethan had to say goodbye to his beloved "runners"!
As you can see he apparantly doesn't have brakes on his bike so he has to use his toes. After 3 good months it was time to let go! So long Ethan's $7.00 shoes!

Fun in the Hummer

Today Uncle Luke came by to take us for a spin in his new ride. It was so much fun. The kids loved it almost as much as I did! Good times for sure!

Fun at the Park with the Jensen Family

Today after visiting the Cemetary we headed over to Faust Park to meet up with some friends from our old ward. We met Mitch and Trish shortly after Matt and I were married in 1997. At the time they only had their 4 month old daughter. Now they have 4 beautiful children, 1 daughter followed by 3 sons. It was fun catching up with them. Here are some pictures from the park.



Trish and Mason

Mason and Ryan

Peek-a-boo Brinley

All the kids: Alyssa, Ashley (Alyssa's friend), Clayton, Mason, Braden, Ethan, Ashton, Ryan and Brinley

Ethan on climbing wall




Brinley on Playground

A Visit to the Cemetary

Today we took the kids to visit Papa's grave. My mom bought a beautiful mum to place on it. We try to visit his grave whenever we visit St. Louis. He is truly missed!

Carving Pumpkins 2008

Today we spent the afternoon cleaning and carving our recently purchased pumpkins. I think we did a pretty good job considering we are rookies!






Here are the finished products.

Park Day in Chesterfield, Missouri - Part II

Here is a video of Matt doing one of his many tricks!

Park Day in Chesterfield, Missouri - Park I

Today while Brinley was napping at Grandma's we decided to take the boys over to a local park. It was a real fun time. Enjoy the pictures.