Our Halloween Post

We had fun on Halloween. It was hard because the older girls are starting to do their own thing but we knew that time was coming so it is okay. We had our ward party on Saturday night at the park by our house just before trick-or-treating. It was a short but nice party. It had stormed really hard about 1 hour before the party so it was wet and cold but lots of people still turned out so it was nice. I think the best part about having all the neighbors gather together just before trick-or-treating was that when it was time to go to the houses nearly everyone was home and the streets were full of families just like it was in the good ole days when I was young enough to trick-or-treat. It was so nostalgic it gave me goosebumps. It really made Halloween fun again.

Here are the costume rundowns:

Dakota was Lucy from The Chronicles of Narnia. She was a little disappointed though because everyone thought she was Fiona from Shrek. Dakota went trunk-or-treating with a friend of hers from school and then they both came back and went around our neighborhood too. Of course we were too slow for them so they ran on ahead.


Megan was the sweetest little Dorothy. She loved the costume and wore it for three days before Halloween. She was so cute, after every house she would run to me with all seriousness and tell me that she got MORE candy.


Alex was our little Teddy bear. He is such a toy cuddler that when I showed him the outfit before putting it on him he got really excited, grabbed it and cuddled with it. He almost didn't let me put it on him because he didn't want to stop cuddling it.


Lizzie was a Pixie. She had a lot of fun with this costume. You can't see it in the picture but she did some really cute flowers on her face and she has on fake eyelashes with diamonds on them. She looked really good. She didn't want to go trick-or-treating again this year. She likes to pass out the candy and see all the kids that come to the door (which was probably a wise choice in those shoes.)


I have no picture of Rebecca this time. She went to Mapleton with some friends for the trick-or-treating and didn't want to put her zombie costume on before she left and had it off before she came home. I was a little disappointed but there's always next year.

These are the fake pumpkins that CJ carves. He likes to add a new one every year in hopes to have a porch filled with jack-o-lanterns eventually. The white "ghost" pumpkin is his newest addition...and my favorite so far.


Here we added in 3 real carved pumpkins and 2 painted ones for a jack-o-lantern festival.

Teeth

Alexander is my one tooth wonder no more. I got so used to the way cute single tooth in his mouth I almost forgot that he was supposed to be getting more. Yesterday his second bottom tooth finally cut through. As if that wasn't enough both of his top front teeth cut through today. He went from one tooth to four teeth in just two days and yet he is still so smiley...that's my boy. I will miss that single tooth of his but it is really good that he finally got some more food mashers.

Randomness

These are some costumes my mom made for the older girls to wear for a family Christmas play a few years ago. The girls just decided to play dress up. They haven't done that in a long time. I think they look so cute.

Megan got caught snitching some treats that were on the counter and I just love the look on her face when she got caught.

Lizzie went to a Halloween party and painted her toe nails black for her costume. Megan managed to sneak into the bathroom and paint her own nails. What was so amazing was the fact that she didn't get a single drop of polish on the floor and she cleaned up and put away the polish and Halloween makeup that she had gotten into.


Megan says: (warning, may be offensive to some)

Yesterday Megan was using her imagination and brought me something imaginary in her hands. I took it from her and asked her what it was. She told me it was a shelf. I asked her what I was supposed to do with this shelf. She went and got another imaginary item and brought it to me. I asked her what she was holding and she said it was crap. Taken back by what she said I asked her what she was holding again and again she said it was crap. I couldn't hold back the laughter as I wondered where she learned what that word meant. Then she told me that you put the crap on the shelf as she put her imaginary crap on my imaginary shelf. Totally unprepared for where this game of pretend had gone I asked her why we do this in between my bursts of laughter. She told me that the crap lives on the shelf. Okay, now I was laughing so hard I was almost crying. I asked her where she had learned this and she told me that the Cat in the Hat told her. (I think I might have to stop reading The Cat in the Hat books to her.) She was so serious and couldn't understand why it was so funny. Then I remembered that she had just watched an episode of The Cat in the Hat where a little hermit crab was looking for a new home and she was trying on lots of new shells. She wasn't telling me that the crap lives on the shelf...she was telling me that the crab lives in the shell but her words are still hard to understand. Relieved that she was still my totally innocent little 3 year old I told her that is was nice that she was helping the crab find a shell to live in and she smiled. Sometimes it isn't what the kids say that is so funny but what your warped mind hears.

1 Year Anniversary

We have been in our beautiful, built with love home for one year now. Well technically our 1 year anniversary was back in August but I wasn't up to posting much back then so I am posting now.

This is how it looked just after we put the sod in. Looks like it is in a war zone. It was so hard to picture the finished product at this point.

This was 4 days later. The house was ready to be host to the open house ceremony for the project. What a difference a few days makes. It looks so much more livable now then it did 4 days before. Notice the empty lots around the house.

Here is the house as it looked back in August exactly one year from the day we moved in. We have a fence, trees, and flowers now (the flowers grew so much more after this picture and they are so beautiful.) Our poor maple tree died suddenly so even though it is there you can't see it in the picture. We did replace the tree now so our yard is complete once more with a beautiful maple tree who's leaves have turned bright red for the fall. Soon I will post the evolution of our back yard too. All the empty lots around us have also been built on so our street is completely finished and we are no longer the last house on the block. It also feels more like we are a part of a neighborhood now and not just out on the border of one.

We are so grateful to be in this home. I know that this is where our family is supposed to be. It has been confirmed to me over and over by the spirit that everything about this house from the location down to the floor plan was meant for us. I will admit that it was hard in the beginning because I felt so isolated when we first moved in. We went from a big city to lots of undeveloped space, we didn't know anyone except the families that we built with, and every time the wind blew hard I felt like our house was going to be picked up and blown away. It was scary and lonely and I wondered if we had made a mistake in moving here. After a year now and so many confirmations that we were prepared for this house and that being here was the answer to my many prayers it really does feel like home now. I get such a feeling of peace every time I look at our home.

Ever since I was born I have moved around a lot. One or two years in the same house being the average (not a military family, just one that moved a lot) before we would move to a new house with the record for living in the same house being 5 years once back when I was small. Even after getting married and starting a family we still moved a lot. Poor Lizzie had attended 4 different schools by the time she was in 4th grade. I am looking forward to finally being "home" and knowing that this is where we will live not only 2 years from now but 30 or more, but it also makes me feel a little claustrophobic too. That feeling isn't as bad now as it was last year so that's a relief.

There is one thing though that is still hard for me in living here, not just this house but in Utah. I miss my family sooooooo much!!! CJ's family lives in Colorado and mine lives in Arizona so we are not able to be with any family near as much as we would like. I would give anything to have family here with me. It's hardest around birthdays and hollidays, that's when I get the most lonely for family. Those who can visit do come as often as they can and we are so excited when they do. We are so thankful for each visit. I really am so thankful for our home and the many blessings that have come to our family since we have been here.

School photo time

I love getting my girl's school pictures back. It's like opening an early Christmas present. They are so beautiful. I am so proud of each of them.

Dakota 5th Grade

Rebecca 7th Grade

Lizzie 8th Grade

Christmas Memories

Going through my mom's photos I saw these pictures and they brought back such good memories.

First Concert

Last year Lizzie had her first band concert and it brought back so many memories of my years in band, I loved it. Rebecca decided that the instrument she was most interested in playing this year was her voice so she joined the choir. Last week she had her first choir concert and it was so much fun! I was taken back again to my choir days (I really love music) and I had a hard time not singing with the choirs and just enjoying the music. I wanted to sing with them so badly. Megan came to this concert and she loved it so much she didn't hold back and sang all the songs with them. I kept trying to tell her that she was supposed to just listen but I loved hearing her sing so much I didn't try too hard to stop her. It was a pops concert and the music was so fun to listen to. Rebecca did such a great job!


She loves choir so much and can't wait for every concert. She is also in the school's musical, "Beauty and the Beast Jr." and is loving every practice so much. I love to see her having so much fun. I look forward to all the great performances I get to attend.

9 months going on 2 years

Man oh man his babyhood is going by waaaay too quickly! He is 9 months old now. He acts so much older though. He is still trying so hard to do everything he's not supposed to be doing yet. He is persistent and strong willed. He doesn't hear the words "you are too little to be doing that." I hope he never looses his drive and his tenacity though, it will serve him well in this crazy world he is growing up in.

He is still on the small side with his weight but I don't believe it because he is getting to be such a chunk (at least in his little thighs) and he is a lot heavier. He still only has one lone little tooth and it is so cute. I love his little smile with that one little tooth poking out.

He really needs a hair cut so I'm trying to figure out how to get him to let me cut his hair when he won't even let me brush it. I think it will just have to get really long and bushy for now. I can already see how it's going to be when he's 2. He hates wearing a diaper and clothes. He would so totally rather be naked. When I change his diaper he gets this look on his face like he's begging me not to put his diaper back on and as soon as I let go so I can get the new diaper he flips over super fast and stands up ready to play then he fights getting his diaper and clothes back on. He also likes to run away. Okay so it is really crawling away but he is so fast (his nickname is Lightning McQueen because he is so fast) that I consider it running. He will get something he is not supposed to have and as soon as we go to get it from him he runs away and hides. He also throws 2 year old tantrums when he wants something and we don't give it to him fast enough or say no to him. I swear he is really 2 years old and I'm not ready for it. Plus what will he be like when he really is 2. I hope that maybe he is going through his terrible 2s now and when he is 2 he will be a sweet little angel. He is also communicating really well too. Along with the usual baby babble he does when playing he has this caveman talk that he does when he wants to tell us something. He makes grunts and sounds along with bobbing his whole body up and down. Picture the caveman images where they bounce up and down saying "ugh" over and over pointing to the wheel they just invented. That is exactly what he looks and sounds like when he is "talking" to us. Once I realized that he was trying to talk, and not just having weird convulsions ,we started teaching him baby sign language so that he can tell us what he wants. He's doing really good and can already sign "eat" and "more". It's amazing to see him do these signs.

This video was taken last month and I forgot to post it. He loves to stand and walk. He won't let me sit him down when I put him down, I have to put him down standing up. This is him practicing his favorite activity...walking.

He has gotten so good at walking that he doesn't need the "walker" any more. He's a big boy now and walks by himself. He can't go long distances yet but he is constantly taking his little walks and he is loving it.

I am so glad to be his mommy!! He is the most fun little boy EVER!

Happy Birthday Dakota!!!

My little girl turned 11 years old today. This is the last year that I can call her a little girl because next year she will officially be a young woman. Dakota loves her birthday and loves us to make a big deal out of it for her. I wasn't able to make as big of a deal as I wanted to because we all had meetings today but we still did the cake tradition. She chose to make a chocolate cake with chocolate icing.


She has her own tradition that she likes to do on her birthday. She likes to eat her cake with her hands behind her back seeing how messy her face can get.

I think this picture is so funny because Megan is still in her copy cat phase so she sat next to Dakota and did everything she did right down to her facial expressions.

I hope you had a fun birthday Dakota. You are so much fun and you always make sure that I take time to play. Thank you. I love you so much.

The eyes have it.

Just wanted to post this picture of Megan. I've always thought that she has beautiful eyes. This picture shows just how beautiful her eyes really are. She is so sweet and her smile just melts my heart every time.

She has been doing so well in pre-school. Her teacher at school said she was more concerned with Megan's super shyness then she was her communication skills so that is what she has been working on and it has worked wonders already. Because of that her communication skills have just exploded. She talks so much now, not only to us but to others that she has previously been shy with. Her leaders in Nursery at church told us last week that she "talked up a storm." That is great since she has been in that class for almost two years now and some teachers wondered if she could even talk at all. She still doesn't talk to strangers yet but she will look at them now so that is great improvement.

Dirty Dishes

So, our wonderful one year old dishwasher has decided not to get the dishes clean anymore. I guess it's on strike. It's under warranty though (we bought an extended warranty because I could foresee this issue from the first time I used it) so all I have to do is call and have the repair man come look at it...I hope. Until then it is back to washing dishes with the original dish washing apparatuses I was born with. For some this isn't a bad thing but I have my reasons for not liking it, one of which being the eczema that it causes. It hasn't been too bad though because the girls are old enough now that it goes pretty fast. Every night one of the girls helps with the dishes and they rotate so that everyone gets a turn. Friday and Saturday were pretty busy though so washing the dishes got pushed aside. It wouldn't have been so bad except that I tried my hand at making zucchini and pumpkin bread as well as some magic cookies on Saturday and I used a lot of mixing bowls and stuff so the pile of dishes looked worse because of the size of the dishes. After dinner yesterday I went in my room to read a book hoping to fall asleep for a little nap before tackling the dishes but I got so into my book that I never did get my nap. I could hear the movie everyone else was watching (The Legend of Johnny Lingo) out in the living room and it was just about over so I thought I would go join them for the ending because I love it so much. What I saw however blew me away! I just stood in the hallway looking into the kitchen unable to move. I was filled with such joy that tears fell right out of my eyes and I couldn't stop them. All three of the girls were working side by side by side washing the dishes TOGETHER. They had washed every dirty dish with out one single argument! They were laughing and working together so well that I almost didn't believe they were my children. I didn't want that moment to end. If this keeps up I may never call the repair man. Just kidding girls, but I sure have loved the time we have been spending together washing the dirty dishes.

Date Night

It has been soooooo long since CJ and I have been on an actual date. Occasionally we would go out together but we would have one or two of the little ones with us so it wasn't a real date. CJ got an "Above and Beyond" award from his work that came with a gift certificate to the Cracker Barrel restaurant. We have been saving it not knowing when to really use it. Today was not a good day for me so when I got back from Parent Teacher Conferences and he asked me what was for dinner I just looked at him and said it was time to use the gift certificate. We asked the girls if they would watch the babies and we left. I just needed to get away and CJ was looking forward to eating out (his favorite activity.)

We walked around the gift shop for a few minutes just having a good time looking at all the fun stuff they had, especially the toys that I had as a child and had forgotten about until I saw them again. Then we sat down to a really, really good dinner and talked. After dinner we went to the gift shop again and bought the girls some candy sticks just for fun. We didn't want to go right home so we sat outside the restaurant and played a game of checkers on their giant checker board. It was really nice (even though I didn't win.) I was ready to go back home and face it all again after such a good little break. I just hope it won't be too long before we get the chance to go on another date.

Gummy Bear

I love baby's gummy smiles. I think there is just something about a gummy smile that makes me want to smile. I like the gummy smiles to last as long as possible but my kids like to teeth early and quickly (Rebecca was born with her first tooth.) Alexander decided he was going to be merciful to me. I kept expecting teeth around 5 months, 6 months at the latest. I checked everyday and there were no signs of teeth. The girls and I were so happy to see his gummy little smile last so long. Then around 7 months he started showing signs of teething...runny nose, rosy cheeks, diareah, and swollen gums. He was not irritated by any of this and kept smiling his gummy smile all the time. I kept looking for that first tooth that would pop out any day now but as the weeks went on I wondered if I was wrong about all the signs of teething because there was nothing happening. I started to wonder if he had any teeth in there at all. lol

Then last week on Wednesday, after 6 weeks of teething signs, he woke up with a fever so I knew something was about to happen. I checked in the morning and there was no tooth. I checked in the afternoon and THERE WAS A TOOTH! He finally popped out his first tooth! It was a bittersweet moment. I was so excited because he would find some relief from his swollen gums but sad to know that the days of his totally adorable gummy smile were very short now.

I put in the arrow so that you could tell the tooth apart from the shiny spit. I'm sure he is excited because once his teeth come in a whole new group of foods will be available to him.


Okay, this has nothing to do with teething but I wanted to put this in. He has always played with his tongue but he started doing this lately and it is so funny. It's hard to describe but he keeps touching his tongue to his top lip over and over as fast as he can. Sorry there is no video but I just love this picture.

Labor Day and other days (long post)

The month of September has been a busy one but the busy really starts back in August. The week of August 16th, CJ's mom came to visit which was really fun, then the following week was the first week of school for the girls. In the middle of that week I get a call from my mom who said that the annual Labor Day family trip to the Someday Ranch (the land our family owns by the Grand Canyon) was going to be extra special this year because we were celebrating my dad's 65th birthday and she really wanted our family to be there.We don't usually make the trip because of our lack of reliable transportation. Anyway, arrangements were made and we had transportation to the Ranch. I was really excited to go but had a lot of last minute preparations that were going to be needed and so the busy first week of school got even busier. It was a good busy though and I was so excited. I'd say the whole family was but unfortunately CJ had to work so he wouldn't be able to go and I didn't tell the girls we were going because I wanted it to be a surprise so I was the only one who really was able to be excited. The girls knew we were going camping for Labor Day they just didn't know where. The last week of August was busy to say the least.

The second week of school wasn't any less chaotic as every day's schedule was full leading right up to Sept. 3rd (my Dad's birthday) when we were to leave on the 10 hour drive to Arizona. We were a little late getting started but we were off. We were about 2 hours into the trip before the girls asked why we were headed so far south to go camping. That's when I told them our real destination. They couldn't believe it and were so happy...it's moments like those that make being a parent so fun. The kids traveled so well and really didn't complain. Even poor Rebecca who had car sickness and a migraine didn't complain. Side note: Traveling in a car for 10 hours by yourself with 5 kids (including a toddler and an infant) would be daunting to most people, but our kids have always traveled well so I wasn't stressed.

The time we had with our family at the Ranch was sooooo much fun. We celebrated my Dad's birthday of course

as well as my niece's birthday with a luau complete with pinata. In the pinata were gold coins that the kids used to buy prizes. My Mom had also set up a family challenge where all the families would compete in activities for a trophy. The winning family would get to keep the trophy until the next family challenge in 6 months. I wish I had taken a picture of the trophy because it was a beautiful crystal cup on a black base with silver glittery lettering. Some of the activities for the trophy were tug-o-war

(My brother David's family)

and our family favorite, horseshoes. That's Dakota doing her best horseshoe toss.

My brothers David and Matt. I had no chance of winning against these pros but I had fun trying.

They also had a treasure hunt set up for the kids, arts and crafts, the traditional pick-up truck rides, and quad (4-wheeler) rides. (Lizzie taking Megan on her first quad ride.) And of course plenty of dirt for the kids to roll in. This is how Megan looked almost the entire time. Needless to say, she had a blast.

How can you not have fun with all those activities going on. Well...I guess you wouldn't have any fun if you couldn't do any of those activities because you were always stuck in "jail" watching everyone else run around and have fun.

Just kidding. Alex did really well considering the fact that he was never allowed to get down on the ground (he would instantly have picked up the dirt and tried to eat all of it.) He was only mad in this picture because I wouldn't give him the camera (yes, my smiley boy does indeed get angry on occasion.) He had plenty of people that wanted to hold him...especially when the kids learned they could earn their family points for the trophy for holding and playing with him.

For the celebration there were 16 adults and 16 kids. There would have been more but many family members couldn't make it.

15 of the 16 kids that were at the Ranch...Alex was sleeping.

It was really fun and we were sad to have to leave the family but we had to get back to reality. We spent the morning of Sept. 7th with my parents and they took us to lunch before we loaded back up in the van for the trip home. We got back home at midnight after a very long drive. Alex of course was not ready for bed though because he had slept most of the day in the car seat so I had to stay up with him until he was ready for bed. Thankfully he went to bed at 2am.

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The next day, Wednesday last week, I had so much to do because I had to take care of things from the trip to Arizona while preparing for my next big trip to Colorado the next day on Thursday. The most important thing on Wednesday though was taking Lizzie to the Orthodontist. She finally got the news she has been waiting for. On her next visit the Dr. will be putting in the finishing wires. Her teeth are all aligned the way he wants now he just has to do a little tweaking here and there and she is done. He told her she could be done anytime from November to May depending on how the tweaking goes. Her goal is to get them off by Christmas. Wish her luck.

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Thursday morning last week Megan had her first day of school. It was something that has really come together quite quickly and will only last for a few weeks but for now Megan is in pre-school 4 days a week. She is so excited to finally be going to school like her sisters. When I went to pick her up she came running to me and jumped into my arms, threw her arms around my neck and held on so tightly that I almost couldn't breath. She held on to me like that all the way to the car. I know she had fun but I think she was not prepared for how long she would have to be away from home. She is loving school and it has done wonders for her communication skills already. This public pre-school will only be for a short time then she will be part of a neighborhood pre-school. The moms of the other kids and I will take turns being the teacher of the pre-school two days a week.

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Then Thursday night I flew with Alexander to Colorado and stayed with CJ's grandparents for a day. When CJ's Aunt passed away she left a beautiful kitchen table. CJ's grandmother wanted the table to stay in the family and we are the only ones with a dining room big enough to fit the table. The only way to get the table to us was to rent a moving truck and drive it here and since I am the only one without an obligation to an employer I volunteered for the drive. We had set this trip up long before I knew about the trip to Arizona otherwise I would have waited a while before going to Colorado. We had to fly to Las Vegas before we could fly to Denver so I was a little nervous about Alex. He had just spent 5 days confined to a little area not to mention two 10 hour drives in his car seat so I wasn't sure how he was going to react to 5 more hours of airports and airplanes. He did great though flirting with the ladies in the seat behind me on the first flight and sleeping the entire second flight.

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We spent Friday with his grandparents just playing with the baby, resting up for the next (and final) long journey on Saturday. Again I wondered how Alex was going to react to such a long car ride this time without his sisters to entertain him, and again he did wonderfully. By Saturday night I was exhausted. I am so gald that Sunday is a day of rest because that is just what I did.

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We couldn't wait to put the table up in the kitchen. It fit better than I thought but it is also taller than I thought. I have to climb up into the chairs and I feel like a little kid when I sit at the table but it is beautiful so I don't mind. It looks small in the picture but there are 8 chairs around it so it is bigger than it looks.

It has been a long few weeks for me but I would do it all over again in a heart beat.

Glad to be home!

I have been busy these last two weeks with out of town trips. I will post about them soon, after I have had some rest. Right now I am staying up late wating for the girls to get home from their trip with the youth group so I can hear all about it. Then I get to go to bed, yeah.