A Halloween Weekend

Has anyone else freaked out that tomorrow is November 1st?  I'm sure that some of my more organized friends are already done with their Christmas shopping.  Like always, I give things a lot of thought but I can never decide on anything and I end up doing everything at the last minute.  I'm sure this year will be no different. 
So to gear up for the holidays let's recap the Halloween fun we had this weekend.
We went to Amber and Pablo's ward fall festival.  The kids had fun playing games, getting their face painted and playing with their cousins.  Max impressed himself when he hit the target to the dunk tank.

Sunday we finally carved our pumpkins.  The kids drew the faces and we helped carve them. 

Halloween night.  We have a ladybug, astronaut and a happy skeleton.

  

My Birthday, Already?

Really this year I was just going to let my birthday go. I didn't plan to have my birthday week, I wanted to have some cake and call it good. I was even willing to share my birthday dinner with Kevin. Now 9 years of marriage I've decided that I can share, nice huh. But my amazing friends, family and my hubby wouldn't have it that way. What can I say I'm a lucky, blessed girl. To start things off, Mandy gave me a gift when she picked up her little girl from preschool.

 

It's BEAUTIFUL!!!! I'm in love, I almost cried.  It's a quilt just for me because she knows how much I would love it. I could gush and gush about Mandy, she is just simply amazing. She is giving, kind, honest, fun, thoughtful and talented.  I'm just so glad we met years ago and that we are still friends to this day.  This quilt is so much better than the lame song I sang for her on her 21st birthday. She is the best.

The fun continues Friday night.  Thursday, I get a call form a friend asking if I want to go to this girls concert b/c she has an extra ticket.

Um, yes I'm always up for a concert. It was fun to have a girls night out. I did feel a tad guilty that I wasn't 13 but I quickly got over it and had a good time.  Thanks girls, I "HEART" you.

So after staying up way past my bed time on  Friday we got a late start on Saturday. I had planed to take the kids to the farm for a little pumpkin patch fun.  We went to DeWitt Stables .  It was so worth our money. The kids got to ride a pony, hold a chicken, and run in the hay maze but, the heat was just ridiculous.  When will I just give up and accept that if I ever go to pumpkin patch in AZ it will be hot. There will be no hot chocolate just bottles of cold water. The pictures I take of my sweeties will have rosy cheeks and sweat on their brow.



Kevin was able to score tickets to a charity dinner and auction for Saturday night.  I've never been to a live auction before so that fun to experience.  The reason we were able to go is because one of the items actioned off was 7 course meal prepared by the chef's that Kevin works with. Now if I could have them to come to my house for free, that would be amazing. 



So all things considered it was a wonderful birthday. Thanks to all that sent cards, made phone calls and sent wishes on Facebook, they make me feel so popular. Now back to real life.





Lots of Good and a Little Bad

I will try my best to give a little catch up post.  Let's just start with the bad so we can get to the good.  Kevin was in a little fender bender last week.  Bad. 

The estimate came back as $3600. Really BAD.  We talked to our friend who deals with cars and he has a guy that can do the work for around $1000. Much better.  Hopefully the car will get worked on this week so I can have my car back.

The GOOD.  We took advantage of our fall break, got out of town and headed to the Grand Canyon.  We camped at the KOA in Williams, AZ and enjoyed our stay very much.  Lucky for us we went with the Amber and Pablo clan.  We stayed in a little cabin that was super clean.  I loved that, and it was so much nicer than sleeping on the ground.  Amber's Cabin had a little kitchen and a bathroom so we were able to make all the meals over there.  Even though our accommodations were a grade above roughing it,we still ate camping food like tin foil dinners and s'mores and had a campfire.

I even went a day or two without showering, we smelled like campfire and the kids were filthy. 

We spent just one day at the Grand Canyon. The kids were such great sports and wanted to hike. We hiked about 1/4 mile down and decided that it was best to come back up at that point.  I know it was not much but, now they can say that they hiked a little bit of the Grand Canyon.

Other highlights of our trip include climbing trees,

exploring the forest,

making friendship bracelets and finger weaving,

bike riding,

feeding deer at the deer farm,

and playing with cousins.

We loved our get away it was very much needed. We had so much fun together and will remember it forever.

12 of 12

I didn't forget my 12 pictures this month. We were headed to the Grand Canyon that day so I couldn't post until we got back home.

1. Our Halloween advent calendar.

2. A little pumpkin decor

3. We met our friend's baby today she is only 2 weeks old.

4. The kids in the car headed for some camping.

5. We made it to the KOA in Williams, AZ

6.  The kids found sticks very quickly.

7. Lilly and Luke enjoying our swing.

8. Playing some horseshoes at our campsite.

9. More swinging.

10. Our awesome accommodations, a bunk bed. The kids were in heaven.

11. Cooking dinner, tin foil dinners.

12. Hannah hanging out by the campfire in the lantern light.

Happy Weekend

This little guy turned 15 months old on Friday. Please stop time!!! Look at his eyes, they make me melt. I'm so blessed to be his mama.  Which by the way he loves to say all the time. 

He is so happy that I let him outside to play.  I send him out in the morning while I 'm cleaning up the kitchen since it is under 100 degrees most mornings. This little guy couldn't be happier. He loves it outside.

Mandy and I set another craft day on Friday.  I fixed Lilly's dress to be a little shorter and I made Max the Frankenstein shirt. Yep, I sewed the thing, look at me I can sew.  Now they can wear them a few times before Halloween.  The best part is that they like them. I'm thrilled.

We had a full house this weekend. My friend went into labor in Friday so I was happy watch her 2 kids for the weekend while she got to welcome in a brand new baby girl into the world.  Everyone played really well and even went to sleep at a descent hour.  I was able to pull out some notebooks on Saturday morning for each of the kids to have their own conference notebook to take notes or to draw pictures about the talks.  They did really well. Both Lilly and Max wrote down words they heard. I had printed out cards with the names and a pictures of all the apostles. Every time someone spoke they went through the cards to find his name to copy down in their own notebook.  It worked for them, they stayed engaged so I was happy.   I enjoyed conference this weekend. I was able to listen to most of it.  I really enjoyed Elder Packers talk to the youth it was inspiring to me, he spoke of hope and living no matter what the world circumstances may be.  So many of the talks brought a light of truth that was so good for my spirit.  My hope is to be better this week, to be more patient, more loving, more thoughtful and more prayerful.  I had a wonderful weekend so I want to carry that feeling throughout the week.