Check out this totally awesome hat Josh found at WalMart this afternoon! I wasn't going to buy it being that it's 70* outside today, but once he put it on it was so hilarious we had to have it! Eventually it will get cold, until then it's funny!

Sam is loving the Halloween candy thing. He's really only had a couple of Dum Dums, but he thinks they're the best thing since pureed bananas!

Aunt Libby's Ward Halloween Party

Gracie's sugar cookie decorating skills rock!

Josh and Cam fishing for prizes

Sam enjoyed the second half of the party when we let him out of the stroller

Aunt Abby is so pretty as Scarlett O'Hara!

Halloween @ UVU

Josh & Cam painting pumpkins

Jake using his light sabre for good

we don't need a new toaster...

We had company over the weekend. For some reason, they thought we needed a new toaster. Just because you have to lean it over and pull your struedel out with a plastic fork when it's done...what's wrong with that? It worked for us! Anyhow, we took a moment to remember all of the toast, struedels, and poptarts from the last ten years and then we said goodbye. The new model, a gift from Megan, can do 4 slices at one time and it has a hinged bottom so you can empty out the crumbs! It's pretty fancy; hope it lasts the next ten years!

Sorry, Grandma!

It's time for Reflections. As in the Reflections contest at school where the kids can take something they've worked on and enter it into the contest. This year's theme is WOW! Cam really wanted to enter a picture that he had taken with his camera. As we went through all of his photos on the computer looking for something that was WOW!, he decided on this one! So, Grandma, I hope you're as good of a sport about everyone seeing your pictures as you were when you let Cam take it! (The office ladies were really impressed with it when I dropped it off if that helps...)

I'm so glad when daddy comes home...

We took the kids to see Wall*e at the dollar movie tonight for FHE. After the show, we always have to share our favorite parts. Jake started before he even got out of his seat. So, I commented on something, too. Jared wrapped it up with, "My favorite part was when my lap got all warm all of a sudden."

You see, Josh had crawled into Jared's lap halfway through the show and fell asleep...after he drank about 20 ounces of soda. Boy, was I glad I was already holding the baby!

This was attached to the cookies my visiting teacher dropped off today.

"Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. . . . We have enough women of fame and fortune;

we need more women of faith"

(Margaret D. Nadauld, "The Joy of Womanhood," Liahona, Jan. 2001, 18; Ensign, Nov. 2000, 15).

Don't you love this reminder? It seems the world we live in is becoming more and more 'get you before you get me' kind of place. We often think if we don't take care of ourselves, who's going to? Therefore, we rationalize rudeness and selfishness and pass up the opportunities to grow closer to our Heavenly Father.

I'm not preaching, just letting you know what's on my mind...

Joshie's indecisiveness

I don't know how devoted you are to Dora, but we have most of her books. This picture is from the Halloween one. Boots can't decide what to be for Halloween. He ends up being a chicken and a baseball player and something else I can't remember.

We're going to end up with something like this for Josh, I think. So far, he wants to be a ghost, R2D2, Indiana Jones, a ninja, and Yoda. We get excited about each idea in hopes that it will stick, but he keeps changing. I'm running out of time to get the costumes together so he might end up with a ninja mask, Indy's fedora, a Yoda robe with R2D2 legs poking out the bottom, and a ghostly sheet ties around his waist!

Already?!?

Sammers just barely turned 9 months last week. He's added a couple more things to his bag of tricks. The cuter one is his own version of Peek-A-Boo. When he's in his car seat, he likes to pull the shade over his face and then pull it back with a huge smile. It's amazing to think 6 months ago all he could do was lay in your arms. Now, he can take a game of Peek-A-Boo and adjust it to fit his situation. Imagine if we kept learning at that speed all through life!

This is his second trick. He toyed with it last week. Monday, we caught him on the fourth stair up. Tuesday, his insane daddy encouraged him all the way up! Thanks a lot, daddy! Today, I caught him again about five stairs up (there are 16 in this stretch!) and called his name. He turned around and flashed me a huge smile before going rigid and sliding back down on his belly. This is the not-so-cute trick!

Ummm...I think we need our baby gate back if our cousins are done with it!

Alex the Meat Fairy

Alex likes us-he gave us some meat. He knows how to win over this family!
The way Manda explained it, when a store rejects part of their order, the guys at work are welcomed to it. Alex brought home a few boxes of meat Saturday, and passed on some of the luck to us. Alex gave us 12-2 lbs packs of ham, 24-1lb packs of hot dogs, and 12-1 lb. packs of bacon. Honestly, the boys were excited, but Jared could hardly contain himself. The only thing better than meat is FREE meat! (It was even his idea to take the picture!)

Thanks Alex!

Field Trip with Dad

Jared took the boys to Kennecott Copper Mine on Saturday. They looked in some big holes, dug for pyrite and took pictures wit5h this giant tire that goes on one of the trucks. Cam actually took this picture.

Gymnastics has always been my favorite olympic sport

Mwah hah hah hah hah!

Jake :You're really gonna check us out of school early?
Me : Why yes, angel, we're going to see daddy at work.
Cam: Really?!? We're going to dad's work.
Me: Sure thing, Babe. And then, Mommy is going to take you out to lunch!
Jake & Cam: Wow! That's awesome! You're the best mom ever!
Me: Oh, you guys are pretty awesome, too.
Jake: What are we going to do at dad's work?
Me: He wants to show us their new office and the game room and let some lady give you a big, fat

FLU SHOT!

Jake & Cam: Whaaaat?

Me: It was all dad's idea; I just wanted to take you out to lunch!

Cam: Will you and dad get the shot, too?

Me: Yep, we need to be healthy, too.

Josh : Will we get to watch daddy cry?

Me: If we get there in time...

Pumpkin Carving

We carved our pumpkins for FHE last night. We found it goes much better if you wear a Kool-Aid mustache.


The boys with their pumpkins; Sam was scavenging yucky stuff on the floor

Cam, Jared, & Josh digging out the slimy stuff

Jake decided to use a stencil we found on the Internet. He poked holes through the stencil and then we played connect the dots with the knife. I think it's supposed to be Jack from "Nightmare Before Christmas".

Our week in review

Just like Gloria Gaynor said, "At first I was afraid, I was petrified! " But I did survive the Book Fair last week. Monday, I was ready to run. By Tuesday, I was getting the hang of it. And by Wednesday, people were actually asking me questions like I knew the answers or something! Thursday was a blast as I laughed through the last couple of hours working with a good friend and my sister. I counted it up and I was at the book fair for 32 hours this week on top of teaching preschool for four days. After that much time, I think I definitely rock Book Fair!

To top off the busy week, Jared and I went to the Reba concert Friday night. Jared actually bought the tickets for me back in August. I was so excited to go since Reba is one of my two all-time favorites. I had tickets once before, but I sold them so we could put every penny down on our house. The guy we sold them to went on and on the next day about how great the concert was - I finally got to have my house and the concert, too! Reba sang with Kelly Clarkson and they did song from both artists.

Saturday it got pretty cold finally. Sunday morning, we woke up to the first snow of the season. There was only a little, but it was enough to get us excited. Too bad it all melted before we could play in it.


That's Reba in the black. She's skinnier than a toothpick!

This is the stage from our seats with no zoom. They had just finished "Fancy".

Cam, the Power Ranger, eating snow from the first snowfall Sunday Morning

Joshie, Jared, & Sam getting as close as they dared to the cold stuff

My first baby

I was tagged by Sarah so you can all read about my first pregnancy! It was so long ago that I'm surprised I can remember all this!

1. Were you married at the time? Yes
2. What were your reactions when you found out you were pregnant? excited and dumbfounded
3. How old were you? 24.
4. How did you find out you were pregnant? We had gone to Louisiana for our first Christmas and on the drive back, I was so exhausted and certain restaurants smelled horrible. Once we got home and I had the flu, we put it all together and took a test.
5. Who did you tell first? Jared and then our parents
6. Did you want to find out the sex? definitely - I had to prepare!
7. Due date: August 21, 1999
8. Did you deliver child early or late? 2 days late
9. Did you have morning sickness? For 9 months! one trip to the hospital for an IV and 2 to the Dr.'s office for IVs; nothing stayed put; did you know you can survive on only a tablespoon of water/gatorade an hour?
10. What did you crave? Wnedy's hamburgers
11. Who irritated you the most? people that told me I couldn't be that sick
12. What was your first child's sex? boy
13. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? lost 17 the first few months and ended up at about 5+ pre-pregnancy, so 22 altogether
14. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? dehydration and the cord got wrapped around his neck for a little bit during delivery
15. Where did you give birth to your child? Am. Fork hospital
16. How many hours were you in labor? 4 hours. Water broke at noon, left for hospital at 1, he was born around 4
17. Who drove you to the hospital? my mom
18. Who watched? Jared with his face in a pillow most of the time; my sister videoed the safe stuff, my mom was there and Lisa (they all hid behind a curtain during the icky parts
19. Was it vaginal or c-section? vaginal
20. Did you take medicine to ease the pain? Absolutely!
21. How much did your child weigh? 6lb 14oz
22. What did you name him/her? Jake as in Jake Ryan from Sixteen Candles - I don't think I named him after Jake Ryan, that's just the movie that put the name in my head
23. How old is your first child today? 9years, 1months and 11 days

reba countdown

Wake-Up call

I've really felt like I've had a ton to do the last week or so. I hosted a baby shower for our neighbor on Saturday, I'm trying to do Wolf Scouts as a single leader, my normal Mom duties which are never done, I'm in charge of the upcoming Book Fair at school, and I need time to plan preschool so I can teach preschool!
Anyways, that's how I justified watching Oprah for an hour while I fed Sam a bottle and put him to sleep. Since I only see Oprah about once a month, I know this was the one I was meant to see . Take a little time to at least watch the slide show and read the story (follow the link).

To all of my mom friends : Slow down!

Our new address - call if you need directions!

So we moved without even packing a box!

Actually, the Lehi City Planner (or at least the one from six years ago) is a brainiac!

With new houses going up in the field west of us, someone noticed our addresses were off. So, six years ago when our neighborhood was being planned, someone mislaid the planning maps over one another and our addresses are off by 100 units west. One neighbor asked why not just give the streets in the new neighborhood real names, then the off numbers won't matter. I guess it's because it's Ivory Homes and the Mayor doesn't want to mess up that huge deal. He's better off bugging our whole neighborhood instead of Mr. Ivory!
We got the new street signs today. My change of address form is sitting here next to me waiting for attention. Not that it will help, Lehi Post Office has a reputation! My checks all have a non-existent address, but I have 3 3/4 boxes with that address! All of my bills will now go to the people on the street behind us because they are now 950W. Maybe that's not so bad - he's a lawyer! Do you think the city planner will come watch all of the boys while I go stand in line at the DMV to make the change on my license?

So, for Christmas card purposes (since that's all regular people snailmail anymore), our new address is

3465 N 850 W

all the rest of the info will stay the same until Lehi decides to change our zip or our names or something!