halloween!

The girls are in bed, and I think I had one too many Reeses Peanut Butter cups (which, by the way, my girls think is the plural form because when they see an individual Reeses, they call it a "Reese" without fail! So funny!), and I can't sleep.

Our day was FULL with fun activities, and here's proof of the fun we had!

Queen Abby before school this morning

and my poser Brenna before school as well

off to school for the beginning of the inevitable sugar high that hopefully won't last too long!

then being the mother of the year that I am, had to have a reminder phone call about the parade at school that "everyone" goes to and is a "huge deal"... so I finished the work I was doing and Brenna (who was already home from kindergarten) and I ran down to the school to see Abby in the big event.
(she was a not so entertained by her mother wanting to take her picture and looked away too fast because she didn't want to hold up the line... oh well- here's Abby... parading away! HI!

Brenna saw several of her friends, and since they weren't technicallay in the official parade, they stopped for a few shots:
(above) Brenna, Sierra & Ellie
(below) Ashley & Brenna- they're BFF's (this week) and write notes to each other (already?!)
and Brenna and her teacher, the amazing Mrs. Hylton... oh, we LOVE her!

We also saw my friend Sarah who always has the cutest family themed costumes.
This year was Star Wars and I practically fell in love with her little Sami (only girl, with 3 brothers)...
LOOK AT THOSE BROWN ROSE PRINCESS LEAH BUNS!!!!!!

Then, a few hours later Jason, Janna and Claire came down and we had dinner. I made a yummy dip type thing that Janna found online and it was delicious! (I'll post it later here.)
Janna made these yummy dessert cups for us too:

then it was time to head out for trick-or-treating!
Claire got to ride in the wagon... lucky girl :)

the girls at Abby's primary teachers house... I didn't get her whole face in the pic, but she was darling and was so excited to see the girls!

and then we saw one of our favorite families and had to get a picture of their dog in his devil costume. Candi lovingly referred to him (or her??) as the spawn of Satan... I love this lady!

this was too funny to not post...
a funny neighbor had to go a little extreme for his halloween decor (I can't help but LOVE the W.T. truck!)
It was pretty funny!

And now we're done... and tired so they joined Claire in the wagon and went home

HOPE EVERYONE HAD AS MUCH FUN TODAY AS WE DID
and again, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!


P.S. how rad are these???
my visiting teacher brought these over last night and although I've seen these in random magazines, seeing them up close was so much cooler! The best part is that the inside is a pretzel rod, so it's like you're biting into the bone!!!
Brenna was having a fit and as she was eating her breakfast this morning, she insisted that she couldn't look at them while eating, so I had to move them out of her sight!

Now I'm tired... good night.

Happy Birthday Mom... 5 days ago!

I didn't forget to post this, I just hadn't uploaded the pictures yet from my cute moms birthday last week! Her big day was on the 23rd and since she had to go to work that day, Janna and I decided to go visit her and take some treats into her office. Brenna and I met Janna and little Claire there and hung out with mom for a little bit, and then had lunch @ Zupas (LOVED IT!) where we met Sandie too. It was a fun afternoon!

The world/neighborhood needed to know it was her big day and I obnoxiously put this in the front window that stayed up for a solid 24 hours!


Mom is loved at her work and her friends decorated her office for her
(only one got caught in the action!)


Claire and Brenna hanging out...
one minute they love each other,
and the next Claire is dominating Brenna by pulling her hair until Brenna freezes where she's at, cries and waits for Claire to say "I wrorry" followed with a hug.
Then it happens all over again!

Little Miss Claire helping "Manga" open her presents that night at Janna & Jasons house.

Happy Birthday to my cute mom!
She is one of the strongest women I know, with talents and abilities (that weren't passed down to me, darn it) and I, as well as MANY others are in awe of her strengths and abilities!
She is proof that struggles and trials can only make you stronger,
and I love her for her daily example of that!

Thanks for always being there for me and for being my "AMAZING" mama!

LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!

renewed!

(soon I will actually post pictures of my family, promise...)

...but for now, I wanted to share this for any of you who have been following this story. For a few months now, I've heard off and on as well as seen many auctions, fundraisers, bake sales, concerts, 5K runs, etc. held on behalf of a couple who were burned from a plane crash in mid-August.

My sister Janna was over here recently and she pulled up a the blog of the burn victim, Stephanie Nielsons sister, Jane. She read a few entries to my mom and I and all of us were in tears listening to their amazing stories of faith & love.

Their love story seriously seems like your classic fairytale, or a great Hollywood script that has yet to be put on the big screen. If this is as far as their story goes, that's okay with me because it has touched my heart so deeply and I think it's one that should be told over and over and over again.

A few articles that I have read over the past few days have not only brought me to tears, but they've renewed my faith and belief in the power of prayer more so than I ever thought possible!
This one was fabulous! It, more or less tells the "story" of what happened and so much more.

How can you not believe in miracles after reading this post from her sisters blog, or this article?!

i don't think i'll EVER get use to this!

WELCOME TO UTAH FOLKS!



Meet Bambi, strapped to the back of a 1987 Ford Bronco
in a semi-shrink wrapped animal carcass bag thing with its head literally
BOBBING UP AND DOWN ALONG THE I-15 CORRIDOR IN UTAH COUNTY!

SO. NOT. OKAY. WITH. IT.

YUCK!!!

It makes me think of this video though:


(Ignore the off color comments and find the humor in it, please. It's funny!)

GO! GO! GO!

Thank heavens for early voting poles (as well as a smart Mama who reminded us!)

If you can't do it early,
make sure you do it on NOVEMBER 4th!

my sweet talker...

It's a cold fall day and the wind is blowing all the leaves off the trees in the neighborhood as we speak. LOVE IT! What I don't love is when my 5 year old has quicker comebacks than I do, i.e.:

I just told Brenna that I was freezing and she said
"No mom, you're actually just crazy!'

I wonder where she gets her keen sense of sarcasm from????

Palin vs. Palin

It doesn't take much to entertain me, but Saturday Night Live does a good job of making me laugh out loud more often than not. Even though SNL isn't on my priority list like it was in high school (after church dances!)--- this was on last night and oh how I loved it!

follow the yellow brick road

On our way to Star Valley a few weeks ago, we stopped at the one and only McDonalds I ever frequent in Evanston, WY. This place seriously has plasma TV's in the bathrooms... I think it's probably the classiest place in Evanston!

Anyway, I ordered my girls their Happy Meals and they got to choose their toy. It was during the time of Madame Alexanders Wizard of Oz dolls and Abby & Brenna both chose the only two girl figurines in the set.
Abby looked at me and said:
"Look mom, I got a midget girl!"

Me: "No my child, that would be a munchkin. Thanks for playing!"

(If only she knew of her mothers issues in life!)

fun october night

Tonight Janna and my cute niece Claire came over to play and we had fun letting that little 18 month old entertain us... she's at such a fun age!

We got them to sit still long enough to take a few pictures on Grandmas new COMPLETED front porch (it's beautiful, btw!)



Then I saw this idea on a blog somewhere... I can't remember where, but I saw it and was stoked! Since I'm still the single 30 year old mama, um with braces... I don't get the privilege of eating caramel apples this time of year.
But mini caramel apples... YES! I am ALL over it!

It started with an apple... a pretty apple that we abused with a mellon baller:

(Abby said it looked like a really fat worm ate it's way through it!)

and then we stuck toothpicks in them, and after much trial and ERROR, we dipped them in chocolate first (the caramel was having issues)
then we drizzled the too thick caramel on them and decorated the little bite sized mini apples and made them festive!
more of the finished product:

and this little girl was so funny playing peak-a-boo with me!

I never thought I'd say this...

...but right now, I'm kind of glad that I don't live in California.
(my heart just sunk a little as I wrote that)

I've heard a lot about Proposition 8, but only recently have I read up on it and have come to form some extremely strong feelings about it. My friend who is still a CA resident posted this on her blog. She notes some amazing points as to what will happen if those that can make a difference, don't. One not noted is that Bishops of the LDS faith (which supports a marriage between a man and a woman) may (I don't know if it's a fact) be required to marry same-sex couples, and if not, law suits could be threatened upon them and the church. That is SCARY!

I wish I was still a resident for the sole purpose of having my voice heard, but the ways that it could change the education system, influence our kids and so much more, makes my stomach churn.

If you haven't already, read into this and share it with your family and friends.

Click here or here for more info.


I'll get off my soapbox now...

taggy-tag-tag!

Megan Stowell-Stohl tagged me, and I figured this was a quick and easy one to do, so here goes...
I'm supposed to note six random/unknown things about myself, but since my life is more like an open book, this might be more difficult than I think...

Rules of the game:
1. Link to the person who tagged you (done, see above)
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Write six random things/unspectacular quirks about yourself
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them
5. Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is posted

Game on!

1. I have a sincere obsession with my camera phone. I'm not kidding- when someone (or something) puts themselves in a public place, I feel justified in documenting whatever it may be that I find most entertaining and I'm also really good at convincing myself that they won't mind if I send it to my entire phone book, or blog about it! It's a sick problem, but I can't stop!

2. I've never been to Magic Mountain and I was born and raised in California!

3. I hate when my kids spill on their clothes because it causes me to have a slight panic attack wondering how that particular stain will come out of their clothes.

4. This isn't much of a surprise, but I truly think that I'm funnier than I really am! I laugh at my jokes before I'm even close to finishing them, and more often than not- it kills the punch line. Sad thing is that I am aware of this, but according to me- I get funnier everyday!

5. I think I was afraid of change in high school. I had the same hairstyle with slight variations (i.e. height of my bangs & size of my poofy curls!), but practically the day after graduation I chopped my hair off & started wearing it straight. I got braces (for the first time) and contacts. Oh yeah, and my drivers license... after high school!

6. I'm one of those gross people who loves to pick at people (only with permission of course!). Zits, pealing skin, scabs, etc... EEEW! Maybe I should stop this bad habit... it sounds nasty when written down.

Thanks Meggie for making me think of some of my quirks!
We'll go to therapy together and split the bill!

I tag:
Katie O.
Cali
Sandie
Janna
Colbie
Breanne

inspiring

It almost sounds redundant to say that this weekends General Conference was
"the best", but I got so much out of it and I love the feelings I have of striving to do better and be better everyday!

I love the churchs' focus of family, service, faith, devotion, unity and so much more! I've often said that the gospel is pretty much the only constant thing in my life... many things have happened that I am not in control of, but I know that I can always count on my knowledge of the gospel principles to keep me grounded and to put life in perspective. I really can't even express how comforting that is for me.

Pres. Monsons encouragement to live in the moment, and remain positive through lifes struggles was exactly what I needed to hear.
Sometimes, I don't take advantage of the time I have with my girls and I can only imagine how fast the time I do have them with me will go by.
I'm going to take his counsel and try to "find joy in the journey... NOW".

Oh, I love being uplifted like this and I wish I could pinpoint all of my favorites, but honestly... it was all so inspiring!

P.S. How cool is it that a new temple was announced in ROME, ITALY?!
And, we heard that the church plans on building enough temples so that 82% of the members will be within 200 miles of a temple, which is baffling, but amazing!
Read the article here.

doctors orders!

So, I have a friend (who will remain nameless,
or she'll probably punch me in the nose.)
This friend recently shared something with me that her doctor told her.

He said (and I don't quote):
"I'm working on getting a new diet patch patented,
it'll be a simple 2" x 2" patch that I think will work better than anything out there."

My friend inquired as to what it was, and he said:
"DUCT TAPE- to cover your mouth!"

HA! How funny is that?!

I still think this is a good, if not better use for it though :)