Happy Halloween...Ole'!

We LOVE Halloween!!! We decided to do a family costume this year. We weren't very politically correct, but we sure cracked OURSELVES up! Even the dog got in on the action. We have some Spanish families in our neighborhood, and luckily they were good sports and thought we were funny. When Bailey went trick or treating to one of their houses, the guy wanted her to speak Spanish before he would give her the candy. On the way back down the walk, toward Mark, Bailey said, "Dad, those were REAL Mexicans!" And of course their door was still wide open. Gotta love that! We had great weather this year, so we walked the the neighborhood trick or treating, while Sawyer stayed home and passed out candy. It was a great night.

Bailey's school had a great Halloween carnival this year. Mark and Bailey went around playing all the games, Sawyer served drinks in the kitchen (which he was thrilled about), and I made and sold 110 bags of cotton candy. We love school activities like this, because it gives us a chance to visit with all our friends and neighbors. What fun!





Our Ward had a really fun Halloween party. It started with dinner for the whole family. Then the kids could go around to the different classrooms and play games. After the games everyone went outside and we had a trunk or treat. You go from car trunk to car trunk getting candy. It's such a fast way to do it. Hayley Hendricks even borrowed the schools popcorn machine, and was making popcorn for all the kids in the parking lot. It was tons of fun!



I think 13 is a hard age for Halloween. They are too old to trick or treat, but they still want to experience the fun of Halloween. I told Sawyer to organize the kids his age in the neighborhood, and I would take them all to Dr. Slaughter's House of Terror. It was HILARIOUS!!! I think I had more fun than the kids. Most of them had never been through a haunted house before. With all those teenage boys there (and a few girls to impress), I STILL had to go first. You would think they would at least TRY to act macho. Not so! Me and Bailey went first, and then there was a big group of 9 teenagers all huddled together in a ball, going through. What a comical sight. They all had SO much fun! We may have to do this every year.

Little Witches Night Out!

Bailey had her 9th birthday party last night. Her birthday isn't until the week after Halloween, but we decided to do it a couple weeks early, so that she could have a Halloween party. She has seen me go to my 'Witches Night Out' for the past few years, so she decided to have one of her own. It was SO cute. We sent these invitations to her little neighborhood friends...

Click on the invitation to read it.

We took 8 little witches out to dinner. We gave prizes for the Cutest Witch, the Scariest Witch, and of course the Best Cackle. After dinner, we took 4 of the little witches home, and the other 4 wanted to go to Dr. Slaughter's Haunted House. We were pretty nervous about taking Bailey through the haunted house. She had never been through one before, and we thought it might scare the heebie-jeebies out of her. I went first, with 3 little witches clung to my arm, and one witch telling me to go faster. Mark and Sawyer protected our precious cargo from behind. It was a long, and elaborate haunted house. When we got to the end, Bailey said, "Let's do that again!" She LOVED it! I swear there is NOTHING that she is afraid of. She had a great birthday party!

Happy Birthday you cute little witch.

Witches Night Out

It's a tradition for the ladies in my neighborhood to do a 'Witches Night Out' before Halloween each year. We all dress up as witches, and go out to dinner. They give out prizes for different things, like best costume, best hair, best hat, etc. But the most desired of all the awards is the BEST CACKLE. We probably had around 30 witches this year. It is so much fun to see the costumes that everyone comes up with. Some of the ladies go ALL OUT! I love living in this neighborhood, and I love all the friends I have here.

Croptoberfest

This past weekend I went to Croptoberfest with a group of friends. It started on Friday afternoon. We ate dinner at the Red Lion Hotel, and then scrapbooked in the conference room until they kicked us out at 1:00 in the morning. The 5 of us stayed in a room at the Hotel, so we were up til 3:00 chit chatting (about vampires, white legs and many other things). The next morning we went down for breakfast and then got started with the scrapbooks again. We scrapbooked until about 5:00 Sat. evening (stopping only to have lunch). I got 19 pages done! I was really excited about what I accomplished. I haven't done an overnight scrapbook adventure in quite a while, and I had SO much fun! Hayley Hendricks was there...and for those of you who know her, you understand why my face hurt from laughing so much. There is no one quite like her!

Kati, Jen, Hayley, Tricia, and Shannon

This is Hayley cracking us up at dinner with one of many stories.

I've been tagged again...twice!

I've been 'TAGGED' with two different tags, so I'm gonna do them both right now.

This ones kind of fun...you go to your 'My Picture' file. Open up the 4th folder, and post the 4th picture. Mine is a picture of Bailey on her kindergarten field trip to Bear World.


My second 'TAG' is to write 6 quirks about myself (oh lucky you)!

1. I can't stand to walk into a room where the closet doors or the dresser drawers are left open (even just a little bit). It drives me crazy!!! Sawyer does it on purpose just to push my buttons!

2. I can't shower or go to the bathroom without having the door closed, or shower curtain drawn. Even if I'm the only one home. Strange I know, but I always feel so exposed :)

3. As most of you know, I am VERY low maintenance, no frills and conservative when it comes to my appearance (Translation...I really don't give a crap). I am so comfy and happy in jeans and an over sized sweat shirt. However, I am so opposite with my kids. I go ALL OUT on them. I always want them looking hip and cute. Go figure! I'm not really sure why that is.

4. I know this will be a shocker to most people, but if someone took my TV away, and told me I could never have it back, I would be just fine with that. Not a big TV fan. If they took books away, I might just have to curl up and die though!

5. I am a TOTAL morning person. I am happy and chipper in the morning, even when YOU aren't. That can be really annoying for some people...especially on Christmas morning when I'm the one awake at 4 in the morning wondering why everyone else is being so lazy :)!

6. I have NO domestic skills WHAT SO EVER!!! I kid you not...if a button falls off someones clothes, Mark has to sew it back on. Sad huh?

I tag: Crissy Brown, Kelly Dodson, Dawn Leviton, and Shannon Fullmer (now you have to update your blog Shannon)

CraZy HaIr DaY!

Falls Valley has a 'Spirit Day' one Friday a month. This Friday was CraZy HaIr DaY. Bailey LOVED her hair. She would probably want to do it like that everyday if I would let her. However, she did refuse to stand at the bus stop, so I had to drive her :)!

Snow!

We woke up to SNOW this morning. It snowed on and off yesterday, but nothing that really stuck to the ground. When we woke up and saw everything covered in white this morning, some of us were less than excited. What happened to Fall?!? Bailey on the other hand was thrilled. It's tradition for her to go outside and make a snowman on the first snow of the year...no matter how little there is. Last year she had 3 tiny little snowballs that she piled on top of each other. It was so cute. This year, she had plenty to work with. Here are the results.

I've Been Tagged!

4 Things I Love about my Husband: He's funny (or at least he THINKS he is), He's smart, He's determined and hardworking, He's a great "family man!"

4 Movies I could watch more than once: Just about anything, because I usually fall asleep the first time :)

4 T.V. Shows I watch: The Biggest Loser, What Not to Wear...that's about all I watch (I'm not a big TV person).

4 places I've been: California (I grew up there), Utah (I lived there through college), Canada, Mexico (just Tiajuana though).

4 places I'd like to go: Mount Rushmore, LDS Church History Tour, Disney world, Visiting family

4 people who email me regularly: Lesa Martinson, Camille Hall, Ashlee Anderson, Dana Whiting

4 Things I look forward to in the next year: Family Vacation, Summer Hiking, Trying to catch up on scrapbooking, Getting back in shape

4 People I tag: Ashlee Anderson, Lesa Martinson, Amber Varvel, Kassie Temple

Doggie Dilemmas!

This post will need your undivided attention and participation. Many of you know that Reeses (my sweet, loving dog), is not allowed on the carpet. Many of you also know that my sweet, loving dog is a touch naughty at times. For only being 6 months old, she really does quite well with the carpet rule. Last night while I was away, Reeses was found SITTING ON MY COUCH, FACING THE TV, AND TRYING TO PUSH BUTTONS ON THE REMOTE CONTROL!!! Well, since I wasn't home, my sweet, loving dog almost died at the hands of Mark (We'll just refer to him as the Big Meanie). Let me explain Mark's relationship with our dog. It's a love/hate relationship. He loves her because we force him to, and he hates her because he's mean! I just listened to general conference and loved the talk by Brother Wirthland. He talked about being able to laugh at life...it makes for a much happier journey. So, I put that into practice, and found the dog's latest act pretty stinkin' funny! Mark obviously missed that part of conference (or he's choosing to not follow the prophets), because he refused to find the humor in it. Just between you and me, he really needs to lighten up! I have a theory...the dog knows it's not allowed on the carpet, but she was bored. She wanted to watch a little TV, so she avoided the carpet all together and went for the couch. That's where we sit to watch TV after all. So, she really was trying to be a good dog. If only Mark could see that. I thought we'd take a vote on Mark's reaction to the dog's latest act. Maybe if all of you agree with me, he'll see the error of his ways, and eventually come around. Voting can be done to the right of the screen. Even after you vote, please leave your comments (all directed to the big meanie of course)! I would have reenacted the whole scene to get a picture for you, but I thought better of it...it might have made my next post title be "Marriage Dilemmas!" Thanks for your help :)!

35 Wonderful Years!

I celebrated my 35th birthday yesterday. At first that seemed a little depressing to me. Sometimes I wish I could make time stand still. But then, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I've had 35 wonderful years. My life is not perfect....but, the more I reflected on the past and present, the more I realized that it's about as close to perfect as you can get on this short journey we have on earth. My brother-in-law Scott called me yesterday and told me he expected to log onto my blog and see me in my birthday suit :)! After I shuddered at the thought, I decided instead to use my blog to take a trip down memory lane. I've tried to pick out one event from each year in my adult life that has molded my life into what it is today.

1991-I was baptized into the LDS church on my 18th birthday. There are a couple events from my past that have truly changed the course of my life. This is probably the biggest and one of the best decisions that I've ever made.

1992-I graduated from High School and left for college at BYU.

1993-I married Mark. This is one of those decisions I talked about above. It IS the best decision I've ever made, and the reason I write about my life being so perfect.

1994-There is not one life altering event that occurred this year. However, it was one of the best years of our married life. We were poor, newlywed, college students that didn't have a care in the world. Our biggest responsibility was making it to class on time. Oh, what would it be like!?!

1995-We had Sawyer Dain...Hurray!

1996-Another one of those years where there wasn't any one big event. We were just happy spending time with our new baby boy.

1997-Mark graduated from BYU!

1998-I graduated from BYU AND we moved to Idaho Falls. After our first winter in Idaho, I swore I would not stay here. But after 10 years here, there is no where else I'd rather call home.

1999-We had Bailey Rae...Hurray!

2000-We bought our first home. We truly never thought we'd get to experience life living in anything but run down, old apartments. I really can't complain about our apartment days. They were some of our happiest times. That's where we learned the valuable lesson that money truly can't buy you happiness. We were as poor as can be and also as happy as can be.

2001-Grammy and Papa decided to move to Idaho Falls. All our married life we had never lived by family. We were so excited to have someone close by to share our lives with.

2002-My step dad, Jack, passed way. I never got along well with him. Once he died, I really regretted not making more of an effort. He was a good man, we were just very different. It made me realize that life is too short to sweat the small stuff. I've made more of an effort to get along with everyone, no matter how different they may be.

I also had my 10 year High School reunion this year. It was so great to see all of our old classmates again. It also made me realize how grateful I was for my own life. If you really want to see how your everyday choices can effect your life, for the good or bad, just go back to your 10 year reunion.

2003-Sawyer was baptized! The very first thing I listed had now extended into a new generation. This was a day I felt very grateful in my life for a choice I had made years earlier.

2004-We built a new home. This was an exciting time for us. We were close enough to keep all of our old friends, but we made some life long new friends in our new neighborhood as well.

2005-Mark went to Texas for 6 weeks to help with the hurricane relief effort. This time without Mark reaffirmed what I already knew....life without him, would be a very bleak thing for our family. It's always good to have these kind of reminders, so you don't take people for granted.

2006-We took the Ultimate family vacation. We had a 3 week adventure where we made wonderful memories with our kids.

2007-Bailey was baptized. This was a very emotional day for me. I was so proud of her, but it was also a slap in the face about how fast my baby girl was growing up. There's no way she could possibly be 8 years old!!!

2008-We'll just wait and see :)!

It's official...he's a TEENAGER!

I went into Sawyer's room this morning to make sure he was still breathing...you know like you always do with a new baby. He's anything but a baby...he's a TEENAGER! it was almost 11:00 and he still hadn't stirred. This is my kid who woke up at 7:00 (or before) every morning for as far back as we can remember. I was the Mom who swore my kid would never sleep the day away. "Oh no, he'll never sleep in...he's a morning person." OH HOW WRONG I WAS! This has been becoming a regular occurrence for him. Me and Mark just smile and roll our eyes. Welcome to life with a teenager.

Great Vinyl ideas

I have a good friend who has her own vinyl business. She posted the coolest nativity on her blog, and I just wanted to share it. She does a great job...she's done stuff for my Young Women's group, and some really cute stuff for Bailey's bedroom. She just got a blog going for her business, so if you love vinyl, go check it out. She'll even customize things just for you. On my list of blog friends, go to either U Dream it Vinyl Designs or Ashlee Andersen.