Happy Halloween!

I know, I know, you are shocked by my posting again in two days! I just thought I would scare you for Halloween, ha ha. Anyway, since I have been such a slacker where Halloween is concerned (we did not put up any decorations aside from the pumpkins on the front steps and the leaf bag jack-o-lantern, which by the way was given to us already filled up by my mother-in-law) I thought we should go all out yesterday. We started off by going to the Halloween parade at the elmentary school.

We enjoyed especially spooky weather yesterday, it was cloudy, foggy, misty, damp- perfect for Halloween.

Rex made the first snowball of the season.

Katie Grace and Owen were spooky vampires.

Then we carved our pumpkins that we grew in our garden.

The kids all came up with their own designs, did most of the scraping of the guts and

Katie Grace even carved her whole pumpkin all by herself.

Notice her pumpkin is eating it's young, how morbid!

I had to take the picture quick 'cause Owen could barely hold his.

Then we enjoyed Ghost Casserole for dinner.

We got the pumpkin seeds ready for roasting.

Then we had Halloween brownies for dessert!

Hers is a ghost covered with powdered sugar so you can't see the shape very well.

Bat brownie for the little Bat himself.

Owen and Matthew enjoyed black cat brownies

(because those cookie cutters made the biggest brownies).

Kris was awesome and made some orange jack-o-lantern pancakes for breakfast this morning.

And Katie Grace made a pumpkin seed necklace for her puppy.

I think we have redeemed ourselves as far as Halloween goes

and to think we have a night full of festivites to attend to this evening

we are just havin' one rockin' Halloween! Hope you all are too!

(P.S. the idea for the casserole came from People magazine and the pumpkin eating it's young came from Family Fun magazine, the pancakes were our idea but generally I am not that creative all on my own (although Gracie is!)

Moving On

Our new (old) house

It's definitely fall here (well really almost winter since we are freezing our butts off!)

Happy Fall Y'all!

This summer Kris' grandparents asked us if we wanted to buy their house. I don't think they really thought we'd take them up on their offer but we felt like the timing was right. We needed more space (read: bathrooms) and they could no longer handle the stairs so we decided to go for it. I have always loved this house and been drawn to it's history. An old home has a way of telling a story and this one is no exception. It was blessed by an apostle who stayed here once. It survived the flood (Kris actually remembers it), and as such contains much groovy 70s remodeling. The move was especially difficult for our grandparents since this is the home where they raised their family. They lived here for over fifty years and the home has been in the family since being built in 1901. I was apprehensive about the whole situation since everyone knows this as their grandparents/parents home and I knew it would be difficult to move on and let it go. I worried that we would never feel like it was "our" home, but as they moved more and more of their things out it became easier for us to envision ourselves living here. I love it here. There are tons of changes I would like to make (and hope to someday) but for now the things I thought would drive me crazy aren't really bothering me. For instance: the kitchen/dining room is smaller than our other one; the curtains are all straight from the 70s; there are eight (yes, eight) different kinds of carpet throughout the house, including in two bathrooms and yes, I have four little boys whose aim is not always spot on, so- ick! (Although, I have decided that vacuuming a bathroom floor is easier than sweeping and mopping.) AND- the first floor carpet is a light pink which is just perfect for grandparents but for a bunch of kids, not so much. Honestly, I am just learning to deal with these things and not complain and it hasn't been bad at all. We are loving our ward, Matthew finally has boys his own age, we love the school, and we are enjoying the extra space and living in the country. And we have a pretty awesome view out our back window! (Don't you think?)

And for a little Halloween fun I thought I would treat you to a poem by our little miss Katie Grace. In her own words (and spelling):

Once there were some vampires who didn't like blood.

They said it tasted like mud.

They drink strawberry smoothies instead.

It's blood they dread.

They opened a strawberry smoothie shop.

It's on top.

I go there sometimes.

I hope this rymes.

Goodbye.

Don't die.

(I saw this poem hanging on the wall outside her classroom while I was waiting for her parent/teacher conference today and just couldn't resist sharing. Luckily, she remembered the whole thing. I wonder what her teacher thought when she read it!?! P.S. She's going to be a vampire for Halloween.)

And, who can resist Halloween underwear? Not me, that's for sure!

Lingering

We are enjoying the last vestiges of summer, ok so it's technically NOT still summer but you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at the thermometer. So we had one last (maybe) trip to the water park for some fun in the sun. This is just making up for losing the entire month of June to the rain gods.

Slow it down there, kiddo. Can't you READ?!?

You'd think we live in Arizona or something. Of course, it's probably still too hot to go to the park there yet. Kris admonished me for complaining about the heat a few days ago (it can be hard sometimes in a house without AC!) He said, "Are you kidding me, you've got nine months of winter around the corner!" And I hung my head in shame, I knew he was right so I'm repenting and embracing the unseasonably warm days and savoring the warm sunshine while it lasts!

Hiya Love

(celebrating our first anniversary in Sedona, AZ)

Today it's been 13 years since Kris and I were married in the Mesa Arizona Temple. In the process of cleaning out and packing I stumbled across some photos of our first anniversary and it has flooded my mind and heart with so many memories. We were oh so young (and skinny) and in love way back then. Seeing these pictures made me want to go and read some of the letters from our courtship. We had a (mostly) long distance dating relationship. We met on a blind date arranged by his aunt and Kris was only in town for Christmas. The connection was instant, love at first sight you might say, we hit it off, all those cliche terms could apply. We went out a few more times while he was in Arizona and when he left he promised to write. I still remember the anticipation of waiting for his first letter to arrive. I think we both knew where this was headed, he even alluded to getting engaged in his first letter and we had not even kissed at this point. We wrote many letters and spent many hours on the phone, much to the chagrin of my father as this was back in the day before every person on earth owned a cell phone (gasp! I'm soooo old!) We used prepaid calling cards to minimize the damage. I cherish the letters I have, actual concrete evidence of us confessing our undying love for each other. He is a beautiful writer, talented to be sure. Here's a poem he wrote for me about our wedding day.

Our life has brought many challenges, ups and downs and yet here we are thirteen years, 8 moves (almost), 5 children, countless arguments, just as many makeups, and I still feel like we are just in the beginning stages of a lifetime full of wonderful memories. Our love continues to grow, to deepen with time and experience. No, it is not the young love of thirteen years ago it is something much, much more. I love you, Honey! Happy Anniversary!

Jumper

Rex is a jumper.

He finds immense joy in jumping from high places.

He finds even greater joy

when there is an audience to his jumping.

And it makes me laugh every time.

Sometimes Owen likes to get in on the action,

but usually he won't jump from as high as Rex does.

When Tara was here, he had her take a ton of action shots

while he jumped from the rocking chair arm.

She kept telling him to do different poses in the air.

We got a lot of laughs out of him on this night.

And that's what he loves best, to make people laugh.

And to jump, of course.

The arm of the couch works well also.

Now he's moved on to jumping off the kitchen counters.

What kind of mother am I?

A Baptism + A Blessing = A Really Fun Weekend

Saturday was a big day for our Miss Gracie, she was baptized! This was an exciting day for her and we were so proud of her for being baptized. We were so happy that Grannie and Pops could come up for the weekend and for all the family that came out to show their support. The weather was absolutely beautiful and so was the baptism.

Gracie and her good friend Macy are just a few weeks apart so they had the wonderful opportunity of being baptized on the same day, lucky girls!

Later, we went out to lunch at Craigo's with everyone. We had lots of fun visiting and getting stuffed, even Colby!!!

The next day Dan and Michelle blessed their sweet little Mia. Grandma Owen, Aunt Judy and cousin Kathleen were able to drive up for the day. After church we went over to Dan's parents for lunch, there was tons of yummy food and good company!

Thanks everyone for coming and helping us to celebrate these wonderful events! We love you all!