Happy Halloween!!

Halloween has come and gone again. I have to say I love this holiday. This year has been so much fun. We kind of celebrated all week long. We took a trip to Disneyland the first part of the week, which I will say is definitely worth doing in October. Along with our passes to Disneyland, we got tickets to Mickey's Trick or Treat Party, which I think I enjoyed as much as (or more than) the kids. They have this at the California park. They have trick or treat stations set up all throughout the park and all the rides are going as well. They only sell so many and luckily I bought them early. We really enjoyed that night. But, I have to say by far my favorite thing about Disneyland at Halloween is that they decorate the Haunted Mansion with all things "Nightmare Before Christmas" (one of my all time favorite holiday movies). So I would say if you haven't been there in October...do it! Plus the longest we waited in line was 15 minutes.




On Thursday we let the kids carve their pumpkins. You can't carve them any earlier here or they "cook" and wilt far too quickly. Now the kids pretty much did these themselves. Kalysta and Walker chose to use stencils while Brooklyn and Levi chose to "free hand" it. I think they all did a Spooktacular job!



And of course tonight was Halloween and the kids all looked quite adorable in their costumes. They've gotten good use out of them this year which makes my heart happy. It ain't cheap buying costumes for 4 very picky kids!! But after they all got dressed up I decided it was well worth it! Plus it couldn't have been nicer weather. I know I complain about the heat but I'll take trick or treating in 85 degree weather to 50's and rain or snow any day!

Brooklyn was a "fancy" witch.
Kalysta was a "pretty" witch.

Levi was Speed Racer.
Walker was Luke Skywalker

The boys only made it about an hour and were done so I brought them back to help James hand out candy and toothbrush kits...notice we also handed out candy so as not to be egged by bitter, angry, sugar-infested adolescents...scary.
I then took the girls back out for another hour and a half or so. We had a great night and the kids made out quite well! So Happy Halloween All!! We hope yours was as memorable and as fun filled as ours!!

Family Circus

We've had so much fun the last couple weeks. My family decided they missed me so much that they just HAD to come visit....and we couldn't have been happier to have them! First Cami came with 2 of her girls Tyler and Cayden. We went shopping and just hung out. Cami had some dental work done and was a little sore the first couple days so we just stayed home, ate frozen yogurt and watched movies! The kids had fun playing together as well.

2 days after Cami headed home my other 2 sisters and my mom all piled in Sallie's new car, along with Charity's 3 girls and Sallie's twinners, and headed here to visit. We had such a good time. We took the kids to the splash park (it's still around 95 degrees here) where they enjoyed the last bits of an Arizona summer.

The next day we headed to Castles and Coasters. Of course the kids had a blast. I am still amazed at how brave they all are. The older girls rode the roller coaster. It had 2 "loopty loops". I willingly offered to stay with the younger kids. I'm a big chicken and am NOT a big fan of roller coasters. They also loved the log ride. Again, someone had to stay with the younger folks. But even Walker, Levi and Teagan braved that one!

Afterwards we had our awesome sitter, Mariyah (girl I love you!!) come and babysit all 9 children. She just said the more kids the better?! She babysat so the 5 of us could go to dinner at Cheesecake Factory. James said maybe polygamy wouldn't be so bad....

Sunday Sallie, Charity and my mom made dinner while James and I took all but the twins to church. Since we are still new to our large ward we got some pretty funny looks walking in with the 7 kids. But they were all very well behaved. James asked if I could imagine having 7 kids. I told him that my parents only had 1 less than that! I think I'll stick with my 4. After we had fun just sitting and chatting and watching the kids play.

Thank you to my awesome family for taking the time to come to visit. I know what a long drive it is. I know that it's a big expense. Thank you for loving us so much. Thank you to Dad, Kirby and Jesse for letting your wives leave you for the weekend. We love you and can't wait to see you at Thanksgiving. (Charity I'll post the pics of James and the kids as soon as I remember to bring them home!) Love you guys!!!!

SNOW?!

I had to post this cute picture I stole from my sister's site. My kids are in Utah visiting their dad and it snowed!! We've had some pretty cool temps here...68-75 degrees. But they've already got snow! Here they are with their cousins playing in the fluffy, cold white stuff!

Tagged....Again

I actually planned on doing this tag about a week ago when I saw it on Katie's blog. I took the pictures and when I went to post it saw James tag, which he made me promise not to remove. Well it's had it's run and now it's time to move on. I actually had fun with this one.

Favorite Pair of Shoes:
Pair? I don't have a favorite "pair" but I tried to narrow it down to just a few. Shoes are a love of mine and to choose just one, well I couldn't hurt the other's feelings...but I did try to choose some of my absolute favorites. Right now.



Dream Vacation:

There are so many places that I would love to visit. But, I think, I would like most to visit Ireland.


Favorite Room:
Right now I'd have to say my living room. Because it's the only one I feel is complete. Plus I love the library in that room. It's the room we all seem to migrate to. I put a couple pictures because it's an odd shaped room and hard to get all of it in one shot.




What your kids are doing right now:

The girls were happily playing with Kalysta's doll house.

Walker had locked himself in the boys room. Levi was laying on the floor by the door talking underneath it as an attempt to get him to open the door.

Once I got the door open, I found Walker on his bed. He said he was angry because the girls wouldn't let him in Kalysta's room. I did happen to catch him peeking out from his blanket, which he was hiding under.

Self Portrait:
One of the few times I curled my hair. It just takes much too long.


Kitchen Sink:
Not really sure why anyone would want to see my kitchen sink. But uh, here it is. At least there wasn't much in it. This is usually not the case.


Refrigerator:
Again, not all that exciting. BUT, there is a pumpkin pie in there. AND plenty of diet cherry coke!


Laundry Room:
My laundry room is used every day. I always say to my mom that I will die in my laundry room. It is never empty...never.



Toilet??:
Ok. This is James bathroom, downstairs off his gym. That's why it's decorated the way it is. The boy loves to golf...obviously. On a side note, this is also the bathroom that is closest to my garage so it's also the one the boys use as soon as they run in from school. So, the lid is closed.


Now I'm not one to really tag individuals. So, I too will extend a "tag" to anyone who wants to take the time to take the pictures. Enjoy!!

tagged. top 5 things that make me cool

ok, joe... i read your blog. now that i've been tagged i get to post the top 5 things that make me cool. you can check out JD-N-Lianna's link on the lower left hand side of the page to see what makes him cool and see his tag. of course i'm always happy to talk about how cool i am!!!

the NUMBER 1 all time thing that makes me absolutely cool........ (drum roll please) .....

IS MY WIFE!!!!! that's right, check out this video of her making me cool. just make sure you turn off the music player at the bottom of the page first.





the number 2 thing that makes me cool is.. well, i guess that video makes up all 5 of the things that make me cool. :) thanks aimzister radio!

now if you've read this blog, you have been tagged and now you have to make your own top 5 list. just remember, it won't be cooler than mine.

Time For Halloween

This last Sunday after watching General Conference the kids made "Haunted Gingerbread Houses". Yeah, so if there is an easy way to do anything...I'm there. The pre-made kits are the best. No baking, cutting, or frosting to make....Awesome! There was even a slight chill in the air (it only hit 85). So it gave the impression that fall might actually grace us with it's presence. (It's supposed to get back up into the mid-90's this week however).

Getting started.

Brooklyn making a "textured garden". She went into great detail to explain this process to me.

Kalysta went all out on the back of her house. It was as creepy as the front!

Levi loved using the "fiery mints" to guard his castle.

Walker loved making his skull garden...where all the dead people lived...with just their skulls. Naturally.

They had such a good time. While most of the candy ended up just being eaten...my favorite part of the whole process...they managed to use enough to make some pretty cute castles. Which will proudly be displayed until Halloween. It was a great Sunday. Conference was wonderful and inspiring as it always is. Our kids did so well sitting and listening. I was very impressed. They had things to color and mom made some snacks to lure them in but all in all they did well. Here are their finished creations.

The Front....

And Back!














































To end the night we had our first dinner on our new dining room table. I LOVE my orange room AND my new table. But most of all I love those little critters seated at our table. It seemed to me that one of the overwhelming messages of conference was to have hope, and find joy in the journey. This is what life is about. To enjoy the small, simple moments that have a lasting effect on our lives. I will always be grateful for the joy they have brought us. We are blessed to have the spirit of happiness in our home. While the journey is never easy we have tried to always find the good that seems to be underlying every trial. But on days like these it's easy to find the joy....