Happy Halloween

It's fun to have fun, but you have to know how.

Don't let your son dress up as a horse or a cow.

Thing 1 and Thing 2 is the way to go.

So if your hair ain't blue, you better not show.

I had such a fun time making their costumes this year.

Dan even joined in on the fun and came up with the idea for their trick or treat bags.

We hit up two different ward parties, which meant twice as much fun.

And as tradition goes in my house, we filled up on chili and corn bread before we hit the streets for trick or treating.

We even ran into Cindy Lou Who at our ward party.

Fall Festivities

I'm pretty sure I'm meant to be a city girl, and I don't think I've always been this way.  I'm not sure if it will last forever, but for now...this is me.

We took the boys to Mother Nature's farm this year. It was hot, dusty, there were flies, and the animals smelled awful(I may or may not have been holding back gagging as we saw the baby piglets).  The hay ride hurt my body and was way too long.

 But...the boys loved it, every single second of it.  And that made this city girl completely satisfied!

 Everytime Jace put his face in this cut out, he growled.  He was the scariest scarecrow around.

 What is it with boys and tractors?

Camden was so proud of the "wittle" pumpkin he picked all by himself.  Jace was more interested in throwing every orange "ball" he could pick up.

Maybe next year I will have grown out of this city girl phase.  Or maybe we will attempt a pumpkin patch instead of a real farm.  Until then...happy fall!

Blue

I've never been very good at keeping my feelings in.  Sometimes that is a good thing, other times...not so much.

I'm feeling stuck in a rut.  I'm sick of this feeling.  I'm sick of this rut.  So I was determined to shake it off today.  I woke up, showered before Dan left.  Opened all the blinds and windows.  Cleaned the kitchen.  Helped Camden make the lunch of his choice.  Sat outside and participated in the picnic lunch.  Read my boys a bazillion books before nap.

And then I felt it coming on.  I fell.  I fell back into my rut. 
I sat down.
I began feeling sorry for myself and all the things I don't like right now.
Ate myself sick with an ice cream snickers, Dr. Pepper, and homemade mac and cheese.  I looked out the window and saw it sprinkling, and thought...I feel blue.

Stupid blue, you used to be my favorite color.

Sneak Peak

I love this time of year.

 I love how excited my kids get when they see me working on their costumes.

 I love getting butterflies just thinking about taking pictures in their costumes.

I love that Dan came up with the perfect addition for their costumes.

In Your Face

I'm no dummy.  I know why I picked the word COURAGE as "this year's word".  And I believe it more now than ever.

I can do hard things with courage.

Grandmother's House We Go

I was lucky enough to take my boys on another trip to visit Nanny and Papa.  Flying solo with them to Idaho was quite an experience.  I may or may not have stood up and shook my finger in a "grown" man's face making threats to punch him on our flight over.  And I may or may not have sat next to Mitt Romney on the way home and told him he looked familiar.

The important thing was that we made it there in one piece and had a blast.

My parents have a beautiful garden and Camden was in heaven helping Nanny pick fresh veggies everyday.

I could not get over how much my LITTLE brother has grown up.  I even pinned him down to check his armpits for hair-it was there.  His voice was deep and he was tall.  Sniff sniff.

Growing up I remember "getting in trouble" for pushing the bar stools on the hard wood floor.  So you can imagine how quick I was to jump on Jace as he pushed the bar stools on my parents floor(in their new house).  And I about broke down in tears when my dad said 'things that used to be a big deal to them as parents (like the bar stools scratching the floor, and finger prints on the windows), they miss now' .  I love my dad.  And I love him even more when I see him as my kids Papa.

Ever since I told Camden we were going to Nanny's house he insisted on fishing.  So fishing we did.  It rained that morning which made it perfect for he and Nanny to go find worms.  They saved them in a bucket until Papa came home and off we went to the neighborhood pond.  Camden refused to get his hands dirty by touching the worms.  Lucky for him Nanny loves to touch worms.

Jace lasted for a good 5 minutes before he started using his fishing pole as a weapon.

Of course we ate like champs which included dessert right after dinner and again right before bedtime.

We were spoiled to have Aunt Kristi and Aunt Charly come while we were there. And our stay wouldn't have been complete without Kujo the dog for constant entertainment.

Notice my Dad has a black eye.  I'm pretty sure that happened the first day we got there when my mom and I left the boys alone for a short time.  Whoops.

Thanks for having us, we miss you already and can't wait for our next trip "home".

P.S.Thank you Southwest Airlines for conveniently cancelling our return flight so we could stay an extra day.

Pay Day

Several months ago I heard about a diaper study company who was looking for participants.  Not knowing many details about the study, I called the number and left my info on a voicemail.  After a few days past and I never heard from them, I forgot all about it.  So last month at work while on my break you can imagine my surprise when Georgia called and asked if I'd like to participate in this blessed study(I wish she and I were friends in real life cause I LOVED her southern talk).

I was skeptical about how easy it sounded over the phone and knew it was too good to be true.  And I was pleasantly surprised when a box of diapers showed up at my door in just a few days and the instructions were as simple as it sounded over the phone. 

I got the free diapers.  I used the free diapers.  I filled out a 10 question(basic yes/no questions or "on a scale of 1-10" type questions) survey.  Georgia called and I read her my one word answers.  A check showed up in the mail to thank me for my time.

And in turn I thanked Jace for HIS time and handed him his first hard earned pay check.

And less than a week later they called and asked if I'd participate again.  I have a feeling this kid is gonna make me lots of money!