Happy November

Holy Cow! It has almost been a month since I posted last. Even I am starting to get sick of seeing the same old post! So sorry about the absence. There just really hasn't been much to blog about.
But now I have some pictures to share and a few stories, so here's to posting.

 I Love this picture of Cora! David put makeup on the girls last week and then they had a fashion show. They both looked super cute, but this is the only picture that turned out. I love the way her eyes shine.

 Zoee turned two last week. We love our puppy so much we made her a cake fit for any dog. It had, jerky, ham, cheese, tuna, and chocolate. I know, I know, chocolate is bad for dogs and she doesn't even really like it, but when David tells a story about Zoee to the kids, it always involves Chocolate. She was in such a hurry to eat all the doggy goodness that the candle caught her hair on fire. Just for a brief second, but still very hilarious.

 We celebrated Thanksgiving this year at my house. My parents and my grandparents came. It was a really quick dinner and then my parents left (they had been here since Tuesday and my dad was going nuts). My grandparents stuck around to watch a movie with us. It was really nice to have them with us. My grandpa has Alzheimer's and is okay, but not great so we were happy to have him here to celebrate with us. It was a good holiday.

 Today, we celebrated the Feast of Fools. It's a holiday David made up to celebrate the day we decorate for Christmas. We really just have more junk food and hang out as a family. It has been a really good day and the house is ready for this special Holiday.

David went outside to take a nap this afternoon, but Dawson found him out on the swing and was bugging him. So he went up on the roof of the garage. And of course if daddy is doing something fun the kids all have to be there.
It has been a great month, but I am super excited for Christmas. I am nearly done with shopping and I can't wait for my family to see what I got for them. Yea! Merry Christmas everyone!

Halloween

We had a great Halloween weekend. It all started with Trunk or Treat Friday, and ended with hours of Trick or Treating Monday. The weather was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! It was all so nostalgic to me. Crunchy leaves, crisp air, lots of walking. I loved it. The bigger kids did too, but the littles were done half way through. 

I am just grateful that it waited to snow until Tuesday morning.

Mad Scientist Dave at the ward Trunk or Treat. 

We Lived it up in the AZ!

Ah vacations are nice. Even 12 hour car rides. The kids were awesome and we had a ton of fun. David's little brother Eric and his wonderful wife Alison live down near Phoenix were the sun is still shinning and we still could go swimming outside. 95 degrees was the high on Saturday and I was loving it. I don't care much for the brown, light brown and tan backdrop, but mostly it was awesome.

We started on Wednesday so that we could break up the first day. We stayed with my parents and then set out first thing Thursday morning. We took our time driving because we couldn't check into the hotel until three and we left at eight. So we stopped in Panguitch, Glendale, and Kanab, before we even made it to Page. A four hour drive had turned into six, but it was super fun and nice not to be in a hurry. We stopped at some rock shops, a cowboy collectable store and other random sites. We also went swimming in Lake Powell, walked across the Glen Canyon Bridge/dam, went shopping at the Dam Outlets (tee hee hee, I couldn't stop laughing that that was actually the name of the mall), and went to the most expensive pizza joint ever, The Crown King. It was good but was $$$$$. 

Friday we started bright and early again. We didn't really take our time and were at Eric's and Al's by 11. Way faster then we had planned, but we were able to spend that much more time with Eric and Baby K at least, Al still had to work. We went to Peter Pipers Pizza, played some games, won prizes and had not so expensive pizza this time. Then the rest of the night we just chilled. Had a campfire in the backyard, watched the stars and told ghost stories. The kids were really freaked out by Uncle Eric's howling from his iPhone (they thought it was real). 

Saturday we just got to see a bit more of their town. We went to a fair, went swimming, shopping, and to a really cool mexican restaurant. There was even a cute little old Mexican guitar man, (what would you call him?) playing good music. 

I know this picture just looks wrong, but it was too funny not to post. Ha ha Buddy's a good boy!

Sunday we drove all the way home. It took us 14 hours because we stopped every two hours and when we got to my moms we stayed for a couple of hours. By the time we got home, we were pooped and all about to cry from being so tired.

Overall, the trip was awesome. The kids loved seeing the huge cacti and the rabbits that run through the back yard. Dawson also loved scorpion hunting. What boy wouldn't right? I didn't know until Eric moved there, but scorpions glow in the dark when you use a black light. Awesome huh? 

                                                  Creepy Huh?

It was really nice to be able to get to know Al more too (she's only been in the family for a year and a half). She was so awesome and was so good to my kids. I loved watching one of their aunts take time to get to know them. I still adore my aunt that did that for me. We will definitely be making the trip again! Thanks Eric, Alison and Baby K, you were awesome.

Not so good morning.

I will admit that I am not having a great day.
Problem #1 I didn't sleep last night. Nothing new, I never sleep, not through the night anyway. I am always tired and therefore, everything else suffers. It sucks and I am taking action today to make it change but it still might be an adjustment.

Problem #2. Work. Dave's company was bought out and our amazing benefits aren't going to be so amazing anymore. It sucks. Just as I am finally starting to make our money work for us, it is all going to change and I hate it. WA WA WA I know I am just complaining, we will still have it better than most but when you only pay $10 a month for insurance anything more is hard to swallow.

Problem #3. My kids are growing up. I know, inevitable, but still I can be sad if I want to. What made me think about it this morning was this letter I read. It is amazing and I will use it because I am thinking this will be the last year Cait believes in Santa. I just didn't know how to break the news and I hate the thought of that magic being gone. But this letter will make it definitely easier. It's beautiful and of course made me cry. I found it here, but I will copy it to this post so you don't have to go anywhere if you don't want to.

Dear Lucy,

Thank you for your letter. You asked a very good question: “Are you Santa?”

I know you’ve wanted the answer to this question for a long time, and I’ve had to give it careful thought to know just what to say.

The answer is no. I am not Santa. There is no one Santa.

I am the person who fills your stockings with presents, though. I also choose and wrap the presents under the tree, the same way my mom did for me, and the same way her mom did for her. (And yes, Daddy helps, too.)

I imagine you will someday do this for your children, and I know you will love seeing them run down the stairs on Christmas morning. You will love seeing them sit under the tree, their small faces lit with Christmas lights.

This won’t make you Santa, though.

Santa is bigger than any person, and his work has gone on longer than any of us have lived. What he does is simple, but it is powerful. He teaches children how to have belief in something they can’t see or touch.

It’s a big job, and it’s an important one. Throughout your life, you will need this capacity to believe: in yourself, in your friends, in your talents and in your family. You’ll also need to believe in things you can’t measure or even hold in your hand. Here, I am talking about love, that great power that will light your life from the inside out, even during its darkest, coldest moments.

Santa is a teacher, and I have been his student, and now you know the secret of how he gets down all those chimneys on Christmas Eve: he has help from all the people whose hearts he’s filled with joy.

With full hearts, people like Daddy and me take our turns helping Santa do a job that would otherwise be impossible.

So, no. I am not Santa. Santa is love and magic and hope and happiness. I’m on his team, and now you are, too.

I love you and I always will.

Mama

PS. I hope your day is better than mine!

Photoberfest

I decided to enter the Photoberfest contest at Kaite Evans Photography. Just for something to do. I am really just learning, but I would love some expert advise. So here are my three entries for week two about kids. I would love it if you would go over to Pinterest and like my pics. That would be very nice of you. If you don't have a pin account let me know and I will send you an invite.

 Entry #1

Entry #2

Entry #3

Conference!

As you all know, Sweets turned 8 this year. That not only means she was baptized, but she is now old enough to go to General Conference at the Conference Center. I was so stoked. I love going to conference instead of just sitting at home. There are far too many distractions at home and you just don't feel the same as you do sitting in the presence of the Prophet. I LOVE it. So I was excited to take Sweets so she could have that chance to feel the same way (hopefully). It was a great session, Cait slept through the first half, but was awake and listening through the second half. I even gave her a notebook so she could draw, thinking she was getting bored. Instead she wrote down three words she could listen for during the talks. Very sweet. She told me afterward that she felt great at conference and that she loved being there. And FYI, watch for the conference issue, she just might be in there. A photographer stopped and took her pic! Yea, I can't wait til it comes out. 

Reading

Cora reads day in and day out. She loves books. Her little friend actually said to her mom one day that she didn't want to be Cora's friend any more because she was boring (Cora was reading). She can't actually read, she just looks. But she makes the story up as she goes along and it is super cute. Well the other day I caught her reading at the perfect angle for a picture.