Boo!

Pretty, scary-huh? It didn't last long. Turns out, my dog doesn't appreciate the whole, let's-dress-up-the-dog routine. For a dog that thinks he's a person, he sure doesn't appreciate clothes.

Amanda and Mark went shopping last minute for some costumes and trunk or treat decorations. Mark found some great mice to put all over the car. (I had camera trouble. As a result, I have only a few pictures of the costumes, no pictures of carving pumpkins, trunk or treating, or anything else Halloweenish.) Mark also found a light up mouth piece. Pretty cool and went well with his suit. :) Amanda decided last minute to go as a clown. She has some great sun glasses and other gear, but the camera died before she could get those on. Brandon (not pictured) was the fat tourist again. Fun, easy, Brandon. Taylor pulled off the Dunder Mifflin 3 hole punch -again, not pictured.

The missionaries set up a trunk or treat booth with a side walk chalk plan of salvation all laid out. It was awesome. I have some other pictures from some of the sisters at our other blog. They were pretty clever. I've heard of other missionary creativity-but no photos yet.

But if i don't have every picture, at least I have this one.  This sums up our Halloween this year. Big demands from the kids, not so much follow through from the Mom.

Here's the story behind the costume. It started mid September. Jeffrey was doodling in one of the drawing books. He came up with a picture of a demon vampire with two sets of glowing red eyes and 3 sets of hands, blood dripping all over the place. He insisted we take the sketch to Costco so they could make the costume. Again and again, I tried to explain that Costco didn't make costumes. Finally he was persuaded, but only slightly. He was determined to have that costume made. If Costco wouldn't make it, then we could bring them the photo, and they could send it to the makers and then sell it to us. All so logical to his way of thinking-I just 'didn't get it.' I finally convinced him that it was totally cool to make your own costume. That's how we always did it growing up. So we went to Target and bought several sets of gloves and some poly fiberfill. He stuffed the gloves and that's as far as I got. I don't know if it was laziness or fatigue, but we ended up at the halloween store looking for a plain black robe-we found a demon outfit with glowing red eyes (one pair-too bad, but still!) We stitched the extra hands on and my bacon was saved! He wore it to the school carnival Friday night, but was afraid his batteries would go out, so he only used them on 'special' friends.

And I love this part-creative writing at school. Maybe he'll grow up to be a writer/costume designer. Who knows. It worked for George Lucas.

I just need to say thanks

"How do you do it?" I hear that now and then, mostly from people who only see me in passing. If they knew me better, they'd know the truth. I love my life and the situation we're in, but it isn't necessarily any busier or better than someone else's. I can do it, because I don't do the rest. The answer is I don't do it all.   Picking and choosing, and learning to be 'choosier' is becoming a way of life. Times and seasons. Right now in my life is a season to serve my family and to serve the missionaries.

And even the little bit that I end up doing, is only done with a lot of help. Everybody is busy, and none of us do it alone. Even on your busiest days when you feel like you've been running around helping everyone else, somewhere along the way someone was helping you to do something-whether it was something as big as teaching your kids at school or at church or just by example to smaller things like holding the door or bagging your groceries.

And tonight, I want to say thanks to one special person who is always helping me. (After I wrote that statement, I realized it didn't narrow the field hardly at all. So many people fall under that umbrella. I have a lot to be thankful for... but tonight I'm sending this out to someone who is teaching me a lot about serving and loving others.) Every time I see her, she seeks out opportunities to help me. "That's what I'm here for," is her mantra. She helps out regularly with all our meals for the missionary groups taking on a huge bulk of that responsibility. She does all this even though she also takes care of both her elderly parents and her grand daughter every day after school. It's not just that she does it, but how she does it. She always makes me feel like I'm doing her a favor by letting her help me. There are a lot of great senior couples serving with us; we're very blessed. And she's been doing this for over 5 years. That's a long time. So, even though you probably won't have time to read this, I just wanted to tell you, Katrina that I love you, and that I appreciate you. Thanks.

The Bakery

Each Saturday morning, while Brandon and Jeffrey are at their art classes at ASU, I have a little free time to myself. Mark and I discovered this bakery on their first day. It's the perfect place for me to tuck into a little patio corner, study my scriptures and indulge in something wonderful. They have the most indulgent breakfasts...and the macaroons? NEVER have I had anything like this. Bliss.

Here's my attempt to recreate their fabulous hot cereal. Not the same, but still my new favorite when I have time for breakfast.

Crazy Hair Day

Jeff was so excited. i was bummed, because they couldn't add color to their hair. I have some awesome metalic blue hair gel that is so stiff!

But this was good enough for Jeff, until...

he saw Brandon's. I guess this is what he was trying to describe to me.

Maybe it's a case of the grass is always greener?

Yes, they're tough.

Bye boys! Have a nice day at school and be good!

Study, study, study!!!

Look at that building! I know she's in there somewhere. Every time we talk to her, her friends are out playing and she's being a good girl and prepping for her exams! Ha ha. 


 Truthfully, it sounds like Jess is managing to keep a good balance. We're so proud of her.

(The Harold B. Lee Library)

What a gorgeous library! Who wouldn't want to spend the best years of their life there? 

Good luck tomorrow, sweetheart!

(The HGB Testing Center)

PS This place doesn't look at all scary... Don't be deceived.

I'm so excited!

College Update

School is going great! I feel like I'm doing a good job managing schoolwork and social life. I had my first test last week, it was Book of Mormon. My friends and I spent about 3 hours studying and then i spent a couple hours on my own. It payed off...I got a 96%! I only missed two questions. It was very exciting. After you take the test you turn your scantron in, walk down some stairs, and your score shows up on a big TV screen. It's really nice.

The football games are so much fun! It's really a great thing to look forward to on the weekends.

My friends are so much fun, and there hasn't been much drama at all, and if there is I try to stay out of it.

I can't think of any other exciting things that are happening. I'm staying busy, and avoiding getting sick at all costs.

Here are some random pictures just for fun.

The boys have gotten so sick of me insisting we take pictures, but we still take them. Even if they refuse to look.

This is after true blue football.

This is before...sorry they got mixed up.

Football game with Oakmont kids

We went to the Provo airport to welcome the football team home. I gave Max Hall a high five!

Our friends know this singer, Chris Merritt, we went to a "concert" he had (it was tiny, I dont think it can even be called a concert) and he was so good!!

fooball game

Aunt Laurie was in town and we all went out to eat twice!

RM's

Thanks for coming! We love you all. (Garrett-sorry we didn't get a picture, next time!)

Jessica-don't be too jealous, but Ceci and Steven made us dinner.
Adam-you're next! What's on the menu? Send me a shopping list, and I'll be the sous chef.

HELP US!

Oh no! We have come to war. We must sail to the army but our enemy has 20 ships. Our team has 10 ships. We must sail to the army to add our 12 space ships but it’ll be Friday by the time our ships get to the crew but the war starts on Friday so that’s good. But their ships are well armed. even my torpedo cannon can’t defeat their shields.

We have 3 treasure ships.

2 are protected and our best weapon is Laser Man and we're bringing our base, too.

Our base has a wall, The Bat Of Bounty Hunters, The fire-Crystal water, Laser-Man with a shield, a super reflector, a repair ship, Book Of Destiny with the case of gold, and a giant dog that breaths fire.

But that's not enough to bring peace to the bounty hunters...

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