HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Happy Halloween Graphics

Graphics for Orkut, Myspace, Friendster, Hi5

New Pics of Nick

Poor Little Nick was feeling a little left-out of the picture thing so I took him to get his taken too. What a cutie!

Weekly Wrap-up

So yet another busy week. On Tuesday we did Halloweenish things starting with picking out some pumpkins and then later going on a Halloween Cruise on the Provo River. I had these free tickets so I figured it was worth the trip. The kids were stoked to go on a real boat. There were carved pumpkins up and down the river that were reflecting in the water. It was actually pretty cool looking but I couldn't snap a picture that did it any justice. We had a fun time.

Wednesday night was my sanity-saving Girl's Night Out! I love my kids but I totally love to occasionally get away from them too! I also love that Ben is so supportive of me having my night out with my friends. It seriously makes for a happier mommy!

On Friday we made caramel apples and carved pumpkins. The kids all got their own. My sweet little boys were so distraught with getting their hand gooey from the pumpkin guts. Skylar is like her mom and digs right into the goop! Ben and I did the carving and the kids all ended up with Jack o' Lanterns that were one side faces and one side the sign of the superhero that they're going to be for Halloween: Skylar-Supergirl, Nick-Flash, and Kade-Batman. Carving pumpkins is one of my favorite things to do. Yeah for Halloween!

On Saturday Ben's dad came down and visited and then that night we went to see Ratatouille at the $1 movies. It was a fun movie and the $1 movies are seriously so awesome. If we ever move away from Utah I will definitely miss them and my kids will never see a movie in the theaters again! Ha. Ha.

Today I was released from my calling at church as Compassionate Service Leader. I have been that for quite awhile and I was beginning to feel a little burnt out, so although I feel a little guilty about it, I'm actually really relieved to be released. The calling consists of arranging any help for members in need in my ward. This mostly means meals for people who are sick or have had babies. Last year was a major baby year for our ward-McKade was number 2 out of 20 babies born! So, needless to say, the calling was a major one and I have stayed busy! I'm glad I had it though because it really gave me perspective on how much service people give and I know I won't take that for granted now. My new calling is the Sunday School Teacher to 12-13 year olds. I'm actually pretty excited for it. The kids that I will get in January are the kids that I had when I was in Cub Scouts (well, the boys) so I already know them and they are actually some pretty cool kids. Of course, they are turning into teenagers now so they may be more trouble than I'm expecting. But I have the boys the hour before they move onto Ben's Deacons quorum so I guess that gives them incentive for good behavior so that they don't have my mean ol' husband (yeah, Ben's sooo mean!!) getting on their case afterwards!

Random Cute Kid Quote

"Do you remember when we saw that guy and there was Spanish in his mouth?" -Nick

Our Little Aspiring Model

These are Skylar's new pictures. The first is her Kindergarten picture and the rest are her Kiddie Kandids birthday pictures. Skylar totally gets into the whole picture taking thing. She absolutely loves to get her picture taken... maybe a little too much!!

Free Kittens to a Good Home!

They have been so much fun but it's time for the kittens to find a new home. They turn 8 weeks this week, are completely litter trained, and pretty much weened. I'm afraid Q-tip might not be able to find a home though so we might just have to keep him! Ben's not convinced of that!

Weekly Wrap-up

Fall Break wasn't a total loss. Skylar still had school off on Monday so I hauled the kids up to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point for some fall fun. They were totally stoked about going into the "creature". I was surprised because it's a little freaky-it's making loud breathing noises and moving- but they wanted to do it first! What daring kids! We also got to go on a hayride (complete with HORRIBLE country music!), go through the corn mazes, go on the cow train, and play on all the fun things they have there. The kids all got their faces painted too. Skylar got a butterfly, Nick got a Tiger, and Kade got a little spider. They all looked so cute! We were there for 4 1/2 hours and really had a fun time. Everyone was wasted afterwards, but especially the tiger in the back seat!
The middle of the week was filled with church stuff-Enrichment on Tuesday, Young Men's on Wednesday, and we went to the temple on Thursday for the first time in awhile! Thanks mom & dad for the offer to babysit! My parents live basically next door to the Jordan River Temple so it's so easy to drop the kids off and head there. I really need to go to the temple more often. My life is so hectic and it is really the only place where I can just forget about everything and relax.
On Friday, I headed up to Thanksgiving Point again with the Joy School kids to go to the farm there. It wasn't my day to teach but McKade & I went along for fun. Kade was totally into all the animals-no fear from him. Nick was so excited about riding a horse! He was trying so hard not to smile too big. It was so cute!
Ben ended up feeling sick the rest of the weekend so we basically just chilled so he could feel better. He did magically get better in time for his nerdy LAN party on Saturday night. Then this morning we woke up to snow! I am not a fan of snow and am kind of sad it's already here! I do have to admit that it is beautiful!

Weekly Wrap-up

In my mind this week has been pretty uneventful but when I said that to Ben he thought I was kidding. He did start his new job on Monday and it's always stressful to do that. It's going okay. He likes the company but is a little disappointed about not doing as much design work that he would like to. He's doing more programming which he doesn't enjoy as much. Hopefully he'll be able to get more designing in over the next week or so.
Most of the week we have just enjoyed the awesome fall weather and playing with the kittens, both of which won't be around too much longer. Ben got my "birthday present", a tree swing, up a few weeks ago-my birthday is in May, but he eventually got to it! Thanks honey!! It's been nice to just chill in it and look at the gorgeous view of Mt. Timpanogos from it. We took the kittens outside for the first time this week. They were a little freaked out by it but eventually decided it was a fun place to explore. Q-tip did get to finally meet Koda. He wasn't too impressed.
Skylar had school off on Thursday and Friday so I was hoping to do something fun with the kids. Beginning about 1 am and continuing all night long Skylar and Nick began throwing up. Somewhere in the midst of our 1/2 hour dozes, Ben thought he heard Kade throw up too but we listened for a few minutes and didn't hear anything else. The next morning I found that he had and just went back to sleep in it. Poor kid!! So, needless to say, our plans were changed for the weekend. I did take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese for an hour on Friday afternoon because they were feeling better by then. But most of our time was spent chilling on the couch watching movies with big bowls on stand-by. Skylar was so disappointed that her Fall Break was ruined!
I couldn't help myself and got Nick and Kade matching church shirts. I can at least try to make them look like brothers!

A near impossible feat

Okay. My kids are adorable. I hate to be one of those braggy moms but I can't argue with the truth. I love taking their pictures. However, my sweet McKade hates to have his picture taken and is pretty smiley until a camera is presented. So, up to this point, we have not achieved a professional photo that has all three of my kids looking & smiling. Finally, after many attempts, it has been done and mom is a happy woman!











And here it is: Ah, so cute!!!













And yes-it is 2:30 am. Stupid insomnia!!!