Halloween! (and other stuff)

We love Halloween here.  I love making costumes and the girls love wearing them.  Every year we have a family party hosted by Kristin Wood.  She is one of my girls aunts and is simply amazing.  She has boxes and boxes of Halloween stuff to put out each year at this fabulous party that she puts on.  I wish I had gotten more pictures of the games but I got plenty of the costumes and food.  The whole night is pretty fun. 
Costumes:

Aunt Kristin

Connor: After all this work for the costume, he ended up HATING it!

The FOOD:

Center piece

Monster cupcakes made by myself.

A close up of these fabulous cupcakes!!

Meringue ghosts were my favorite!

On top of Kristin's party, Halloween would not be complete without pumpkin carving for FHE.  This year as well as carving we made these luminaries for the porch.  The girls simply modge podged on tissue paper and faces to glass jars and put a tea light into the bottom.  They had such a good time making these and I think all turned out pretty great.

I've had the above written for some time and only now am posting and since I have been so bad about updating this blog I thought that I would  add in a couple of odds and ends.  This month Rachel ran for student council. She did great. She used her whole super hero costume as a theme for her running.  Posters were made with her in costume "saving" the school and her skit she had to preform was all super hero stuff. Unfortunately, she was beat out  by the other candidates.  (only because some of them cheated though! I have to throw that in) I thought that it was cute that she made t shirts her best friends.

And yesterday I was putting a chicken in the rotisserie oven with Sam watching me.  Once I got the bird in and rotating Sam kind of freaked out.  I didn't think that she would react the way she did.  I had to explain to her more than once that there was no head or feet because they had been chopped off.  She thought that it was all gross.  I should not have been surprised when I put a drumstick on her plate at dinner that she burst into tears and refused to eat it.  Kind of spazzy but cute.

 

Before and After

In February 2009 Rachel went through some changes.  First she got glasses and then she had braces put on her teeth.  Now 20 months and a few thousands of dollars later she has been transformed.  This morning Rachel got her braces removed and I just wanted to share a couple before and after pictures of my beautiful daughter.


Before:

(Rachel really will kill me for putting this first picture on but I love it!)

getting braces put on

The change begins!

 After:
(She actually forbid me today  from taking any pictures at the ortho office like I did the first time)

She took this herself.

What straight teeth!  Such a pretty girl.

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Canadian Thanksgiving

Saturday, October 9th, we were invited to go to Aunt Tami's house for a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner.  I was so excited for this.  I was excited for a couple of reasons.  Firstly, because I knew Tami had invited so many friends and family.  She was kind of stressed about where to fit everyone but it turned out so great.  Tami and Terry have great kids and I was looking forward to meeting with them again.  Also invited were cousins from Idaho that I have not seen much in the past few years.  It was a treat to see everyone.  I was also excited for this gathering because of  the food.  Ive had a lot of Tami's dishes and I was quite eager to indulge myself.  I think I was successful since I really left feeling like I was going to puke.  So after the party I decided that this  is what I am thankful for today :

 Family,

Uncle Doyle, Russel, his wife Heather, and their girl Riley

Sister cousins, Erika and Melissa

Cute Keri Burton

Ariel, Brant (yes, he is a dork!) and Terry

Riley, Ezra, and Aiden

My Aunt Tami,
She was a wonderful host and I was thankful that she opened her home and slaved over this hot stove all day. 

Good Food,

I have to say that this may look gross in this picture but next to Tami's "sweet" sweet potatoes, this was THE BEST!  Erin Anderson made this lovely corn pudding and it was Dee-lish.  So, I am most thankful that she went to Whole Foods, tasted their sample for the day, and came with it to the dinner.  Mmmm.  Really, I want some more.  Right now.

and finally, after this shindig, I am thankful for
Street Hockey

 

Why might I be thankful for this?  I dont know why, really, but it was so fun to just yell "Car".  We had goals marked out with Tami's shoes (one of which got run over), two teams, and a lot of just running around.  Riley was surprisingly really good at it.  Brant was not. (kidding)  His boys, however, were little animals with those sticks but loved every bit of it.  I am sorry to say the even though I am Canadian I had never really played street hockey.  My brothers and Dad always played but honestly I was to scared to play with them. 

Thank you Aunt Tami and I am marking you down on my calendar for next year!! :)

Kelsey in Concert

So yesterday we were able to go up into Santaquin canyon with our ward for a dutch oven dinner and talent show.   The trees were beautiful with the leaves all turning color and the temperature was perfect.  It really was a nice day to be up there.   Kelsey was asked to be a part of the show and share her talent on the guitar  I thought she did great, so why not share right?  After all, isn't that what this blogging business is about?  The first song she did is called Leather Bagpipes and the second is a song by Jason Mraz called "I'm Yours"  (one of my favorites).  I do have to apologize ahead of time for the shoddy camera job.  Not so good at the steady hand!  Anyway, enjoy!

The spot we were at  is called Camp Koholowo.  It is used as a young woman's camp during the summer so I have spent my share of time up there each summer!  I was excited to take my daughters up there since it is such a beautiful place.  After the talent show, I wanted to take them all on a short hike up to the overlook. This is an amazing site!  Pictures just don't do it justice.  Anyway, two years ago I took the young women up there and we posted a flag  as a reminder to them and to any who may see it that we were pledging to live virtuous lives.  We were excited to get up there and see that the flag was still there.  Tattered and worn and retied on by strangers it had survived its challenges and was still standing strong!  I'm sure there is a symbolic lesson in there somewhere. :)  I was glad that some of those young women and my own daughters were able to join us up there. 

My kids think they are famous!

So for the past couple of months, Rachel and Riley have had the opportunity to work for the church.  Yes, this summer they have been hired and now fired by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Thanks to my brother Brant, who works for the Mormon Channel (an online radio station produced by the church), he was able to offer a radio recording gig to my girls.   The best I can describe what they do is that they are basically recording a primary class.  Aunt Tami is the teacher (actually the host) and Rachel and Riley, along with three other children, are the students.  They read a lesson together and then answer questions from the teacher about that lesson.   The five sessions they have completed have all been on the New Testament.  R & R have both love doing this and have learned so much from the experience.  I have loved it because I have been able to drive up to Salt Lake with Aunt Tami and enjoy a great time with her and my girls each time.  The best part for the girls is that they each have been able to earn $250  for their skills .  They now think they are rich!  The program is called Scripture Stories for anyone who might want to check it out.  Aunt Tami is the host of this show starting soon.  I know currently they are broadcasting a different host but Tami's stuff is coming.    Go to radio.lds.org to listen.    Also at this web site you can go to the "program" tab and click on the program "Why I Believe" and listen to episode 7.  This is a recording my mom made of the story of her conversion to the church.  I pretty much love it!
So here are some picture of the girls and Aunt Tami in action.

Getting a "Pep" talk from Amen (Brant's editor)

Aunt Tami in the captains chair

Brant, Amen, and the girls getting ready to start

Aunt Tami taking a Tai Chi break between sessions.

Brant trying to look all business like :)

This blogging stuff is hard!

So, I'm a slacker...I know.  I figure I just have to make the time to do this because I really do want to.  Just know that I will never promise to be as diligent as those every day bloggers.  Im more of a once a weeker-ish.  Last weekend we went to the Payson Days carnival that was in town.  We took the kids and and the camera.  I had these great intentions to post about that weekend.  Well, I was snapping photos all over the place and got some really good ones that I knew I wanted to share.  When I got home to upload my pix, something had happened and they all erased except for a couple.  I was pretty mad.  Anyways, I think the problem has been solved by a new SD card.  The other one I had was pretty old.  These are the surviving pictures from the fair:

 












This week my little Sammy started pre-school.  It's a great deal for me and a huge deal for Sam.  A friend of mine wanted to do a pre school for her daughter and offered to include Sam and a few other little friends to come twice a week and learn the alphabet with them.  My friend has done it before and has a curriculum that she bought a few years back but the great thing for me is that the only cost is that of printing for the worksheets and she does it all each day.   I just love her.  She is a great girl and these kids are going to have a great time.  Once Sam has had a couple of days there I will take pictures of her in action at school and blog about it.  For now, here is her first day of school excitement. 

Really, how cute is she?!

Just this weekend I was able to take the girls up to Logan for their cousin, Olivia's,  baby blessing.  Dan's sister, Danalin, invited the family up to be apart of this special day with her family.   Because Dan was on call, I got to drive them up there for a girls weekend.  Even though we were only there over night it was really fun.  I love Cache county and Logan, especially.  It is a great town.  On the drive up there Rachel was especially bored and decided to torment Sam while she slept.  Yes, that is a Mike N Ike.

Kelsey loved Olivia and spent most of her time holding her.

 

Rachel and Riley just love being with cousins

I have to finish this update with some shots of Sam, of course.  I know it seems that I take the most pictures of her (I do) but she is so fun and plus I am around her the most.  It seems that I have to chase the other girls around to find them for pictures!  They are just to busy for ole mom.

She LOVES to pose.  This is unprompted!

She also LOVES the camera and being silly.

Ok, now down to blogging business.  I have a question for all you experienced ones out there.  I cant understand the whole positioning of the pictures.  Can I not put them side by side?  It seems I should be able to drag them where I want.  Sometimes I have them side by side but then they move . I know that I do have two pictures beside each other in this blog but I dont know how I did it.  I tried with face painting pictures but it wouldn't work.  Then sometimes I post a picture and it goes to the top of my blog!  Any tips?

My Little Thief

Poor Sam.  I spend most of my mornings working in my sewing room so the little girl gets neglected.  Now that school is in she is forced to entertain herself for a few hours each morning.  Generally she does pretty good.  She is much the same as Kelsey was at this age.  They both could easily play dolls alone or watch a movie and be perfectly happy.  The other day, though, I made the mistake of showing Sam what I would make her for a halloween costume and now she is driving me crazy to make it for her.  Yesterday morning she kept bugging me and bugging me to take her out to buy her some pink material for her dress.  Well, having guilt over ignoring her all morning, I agreed to take her to Joanne's Fabric  to get some for her.  (Of course, now, with me being the blogger I am...I took pictures)

The pattern of choice for this year

Pink material! She is in heaven!

So, we are having a great time. I'm wearing the mother of the year hat very well... being patient, taking pictures...all that good stuff.  Then Sam wanders off and comes back holding a package of chocolate coins.  You know the ones that taste like wax?  I tell her to take them back and when she returns I pick her up and get her in the cart and this is what I see.

Yep, wrapper and all...chocolate in the mouth.  She had torn open the bag and was helping herself.  I could feel my good mother hat coming off my head.  I was calm though.  I really was thinking "Yes! Something to blog about"  :)  So, anyway,  we paid for the coins and left the store without the pink fabric.  Sam was pretty much devastated to not get her material and even more upset when I ate the chocolate coins and didn't give her any. Actually, I couldn't eat them all.  They were gross.  Haha! that does sound mean doesn't it?  (In actuality, she didn't know that I was eating them,  just that she couldn't have any. )   I cant help but smile at her.  She really does keep our whole family laughing.  She was promptly forgiven for her thieving and I think a lesson was learned because she cant stop talking about the wrongs of stealing chocolate coins.