My first time hosting Thanksgiving dinner!

If course, all month I had the table in the formal dining room set up with Thanksgiving decor.

I made all the linens for the kids table. I thought it turned out cute.

Sophie really wanted to be a pilgrim this year for Thanksgiving. I almost told her, "no," when she asked me to make her a costume, but she is only young once, and I had fun doing it. She looked so cute, and had fun wearing it. She even packed a pilgrim baby around with her for the day. Con had fun dressed as an Indian, but that is more of an every-day occurrence for him. Notice, he wore his horse to dinner ?

A the last minute, out nice friends the Houston's were able to come to dinner. We had fun getting to know them. They are so well-traveled, and full of stories and adventures. They were great! We enjoyed getting to know them better.

Evia enjoying Thanksgiving dinner.

Jack-o-lanterns 2009

The older Sophie gets, the more she likes digging in it!

I think he did the whole thing himself!

Halloween night

Evia stopped in Halloween night. It was so fun to see her!

Grilfriend Halloween Party

I needed something to occupy my time last fall, and decided to throw a Girls only Halloween party. After losing the baby, I needed something to do to take my mind off things. I also wanted to say thank you to many the girlfriends who helped me through it. So, what better way than throwing them a party!

I was Kate Gooselin (in case you couldn't tell.) I think Kate Lee here, would be Jon. I could not find a wig anywhere, so I got this one, turned it upside down, and gave myself a haircut. Maybe I should have been a beautician.

Everyone had to bring food, and it was super fabulous!

Everything was so spooky, and all the girls went all-out! Love you girls!

I made all the napkins, and planned the table setting.

A couple neighbors helped me make the ballerina skeletons. Aren't they just SO CUTE!?!
I wish the picture was better. They even have painted toenails!

Halloween food ya'll!!!

So, my cute friend and I traded every week for the month of October, and we brought each other Halloween themed meals. These are a few of the things I made. I forgot to take pics of all hers, but they were darling! The kids LOVED it, and I hope she will do it again with me next year!

Pear Witch!

The whole platter!

Hotdog mummies

Spaghetti squash owls! My favorite, and SO easy!

Meatball eyeballs

Pear witch again.

Potato ghosts

One request

I got Sophie a new pair of boots yesterday, and today, she got them out, and said, "Mommy, if The Polar Express comes on Christmas Eve, would you mind if I wear these boots when I go?" I told her the boots were a perfect choice, if the Polar Express comes. She is so sweet.

hAUntEd wOOds at the DinOsaur pArk

The kids got to trick-or-treat along the way.

They got to make Dino snot, or slime. Conrad's favorite!

They got to assist in magic tricks.

And hang out with friends... What a fun night!

Haunted Gingerbread Houses

We made Haunted Gingerbread Houses the other night with the Deeds. The kids had a great time, and it was fun for the parents too. My previous neighbor Laurie Christensen taught me a great trick for making FAST gingerbread houses out of graham crackers. All you do is melt sugar until it turns the color of a brown paper bag, then stick the graham crackers in, and stick them together, and set them on a pan. They cool in minutes. Just be careful not to burn yourself, like I did. I still have a big black spot from the burn under my fingernail... ouch!

Before and After!

So, I have been looking for a chair for Sophie's room for quite a while. I found one at Down East Home the other day, but it was $99. That was way more that I wanted to pay, so I kept looking. I found this at DI last week, and it was $3.... yes, $3! So, I brought it home, and gave it a coat of paint, and reupholstered it, and voila... look how well it works!!!

I didn't want anything too big, or with arms. This was just what I was looking for. I love how the fabric on the seat matches the little plant holder on her desk.

Adult Halloween Party

Wayne and I went to a super fun Halloween Party the other night. Here is a pic of us as Antony and Cleopatra. We had fun dressing up, and Wayne won the archery tournament. I will add a slide show as soon as I have all the pics. My favorite costume of the night, was the polygamist man and his two wives. It was very unexpected and hilarious!

Pumpkin Patch With the Neighbors

We went with some fun neighbors to the Pumpkin patch, and the kids had a great time looking for pumpkins together and playing in the hay maze.

Pumpkin Patch

So, we went to the Pumpkin Patch to find pumpkins for Halloween. As you know, this is a very important decision in the life of a child! We love this pumpkin patch, because we get to pull a wagon to put the pumpkins in after we find them, but the kids like to ride in the wagon before we find the pumpkins. Wayne was a bit reluctant to pull the kids along, but he did it anyway. Conrad pulled the wagon most of the time after he and Soph got out. The rule is, that you have to be able to lift the pumpkin you choose. Conrad likes the ones with odd shapes, and Sophie likes big ones that are rather round. After much searching, we found the perfect pumpkin for each of us.

Advent Calendar!

Last year, a bunch of cute girlfriends and I made advent calendars for our kids for Halloween. They were not hard to make, but they were time consuming. I try to fill mine with mainly little crafts and activities, not many treats, as they get more than enough sugar this month. The kids were SO excited when I hung it up.

I started shopping early, like August, and I think I found great stuff. After Halloween last year, I gathered all the Halloween things floating around the house, and put them in a box. I ended up reusing some of the things from last year in the advent calendar too, and put them back in the pockets for the kids to get this year, and I don't think they even know!

The kids have something to look forward to every day when they come home from school, but they have to behave in order to get what is in the pockets.

Glow sticks for Halloween night.

Studio 5

My friend Linda is a professional organizer, and was asking for tips to make cleaning easier. I submitted a few ideas, and she went to KSL with them. They loved the way I use my apron when I clean, so they came and filmed me in action last week. Here is a link to the clip, and the page.

http://studio5.ksl.com/?nid=71&sid=8282535

Halloween Fun for The Kiddos!

So, in July, I started working on Halloween quilts for the kids. I made them, and kept them a secret in the craft room for months. I also made them each a Halloween tree, with handmade ornaments, and got them each pajamas (which they needed anyway) and Halloween tissue boxes. When they got home from school before UEA, I had everything set out in their rooms. You should have heard them when they saw it all! They were SO excited. The blanket was on each bed, the trees, banners, and tissue boxes were set up. Wayne and I gave them their PJ's later that night. They were stoked!!! It is so fun to do things for them, because they appreciate it so much. I hope we have made some fun memories for them.

Haunted Woods!!!

Tonight we went to the Haunted Woods! We Went to dinner at Arctic Circle, so the kids could get a square pumpkin and flashlight ring, then headed out to Provo Canyon to catch the train. We waited in line for quite a while, and Con was way excited to see the train up close and personal. We decided to sit in an outside car. It was a bit chilly, but fun. We saw a few haunted scenes on the way, and listened to a few haunted stories over the speakers. A couple crazy characters walked the train on the way up. On the way down we went to an inside car, where it was much warmer. The characters from the scenes boarded the train. Sophie was crying: to put it in perspective... she cried at Bugs Life, in Disneyland! Conrad's eyes were really big, but he said he wasn't scared. They were happy to get off, and both of them said they didn't want to do that again!!! On the way home, Wayne told the kids he thought one of the scary guys was on top of the van, and then he rolled the kids windows down, and told them to punch the scary guy out. Both kids started screaming and freaking out!!! I had to tell them the truth. I never knew Wayne could be such a tease! Our kiddos are so much fun! We are glad to have them.

Utah Share - Walk To Remember

Today was a sweet day. We were able to participate a walk in honor of Molly, and families who have experienced pregnancy or infant loss. We got there and registered. We got our t-shirts with Molly, and many other babies names on it. We wrote a little note for Molly, to attach to a balloon, and we listened to a sweet poem, and tearful musical number, then we were given a balloon to hold, as we walked a path through Layton Park.

We met our friends Kim and Craig Helgesen there, and Kim's sister-in-law, Lindzi Helgesen. It was nice to be there with someone we knew, and feel their love and support.

After walking with all the other families, we went back to the amphitheater, and listened as the announcers called out the names of each baby lost. When your babies name was read, you let your balloon go, and watched it sail away. Before we let ours go, the kids hugged and kissed it. The kids each let a pink balloon go for Molly, and Wayne and I let a white balloon go for each of our other miscarriages. It was so sweet. It was touching for me to listen to all the names, and see the two announcers tearfully release a few balloons of her own, in honor of her baby(s) . It was especially touching to see all the many balloons there, and hear one woman in particular, who let off eight balloons. I can't even imagine how hard things have been for her.






I have a new appreciation for Utah Share, and even though they were not called on my behalf in the hospital, they have done, and continue to do so much good for families at such a hard time. They provided the blankets and hat Molly was dressed in in the hospital. I was thankful for all the volunteers who made today such a special one.

After letting the balloons off, and getting a snack and drink, the kids wanted to play in the park. We let them play for a few minutes, but it was so cold. They had a great time... after all, life does go on. It's a good thing it does.

For more information, please visit: www. utahshare.org

Enchanted Woods

So, tonight we went to dinner at Pizza Factory (love the bread sticks!). Sophie was taking a bite of her pizza, when she lost her tooth! She found it on her plate, and saved it to bring home for the tooth fairy. Then we went to The Enchanted Woods at the Tree house Museum. We had a great time. My mom met us there with Emily and Allie. The kids dressed up, and got to go trick-or-treating, and listen to stories told by characters from nursery rhymes. It was fun, and the kids were darling. I had fun being there with my nieces, my kids, my cute mom, and my hot husband :) When we were driving home, Soph was playing with the flute she was given earlier, and Conrad didn't want to get his out, for fear of the rats following us home, as the Pied Piper was at the museum tonight, and told her story. hehe



The other pics at the first of the slide show are of a Halloween dinner we had on Thursday night. The kids helped make the witches. We had fun. When it came time for dinner, neither one of them would eat a meatball eyeball, and just opted for the plain meatballs.