Halloween Carnival

Our ward had a little Halloween carnival last night and I would have to say that it was a big success. Ususally our ward does their own version of trunk or treat and it usually ends up with people lining the walls of the cultural hall handing out candy. So the kids ends up just walking around in a big circle with their bags wide open and the hardly even have to say anything. It usually lasts about 15 minutes and then it's over. BORING!!!! If you ask me and I don't think that the kids need a ton of candy and how not fun is that for a kid to walk around and not even have very much fun. well I put up a little stink about it this year saying that I wanted to do something funner and that would get the kids more involved. I guess a few other people agreed because they planned this super fun carnival. They had a bean bag toss into a pumpkin face, basketball hoop shoot, golf put-put, a trivia game, fishing, cupcake walk, ring toss and a penny toss game. Plus they had refreshments. The kids got to play the games and those in the ward that wanted to participate that didn't have kids just came and picked a station to sit by and handed out their candy as well. It was really fun and a ton of people showed up. Parker sure had a fun time with all his friends from nurery and I think he was the cutest pirate around. Paige is too little to know what was going on but she was a cute little pink leopard. It is sure fun to dress the kids up and let them have a great time!!! I hope the ward does something similar next year. Yay for the activities commitee, they did good!!!!


Me with Paige, there is a spider hanging above me, that is what is in my face.


The fishing game. Parker loved this, he got M&M's, one of his favorites


This was the penny toss, wherever your penny landed you got a prize from the corresponding bowl.



My two cuties!!

Yay the floor is in!!

The floor in my scrapbook/storage room is in and finished. I think it turned out really nice. Matt and I both like it better than our kitchen floor. We are so happy to have out house back to normal without all the clutter in the kitchen. Thanks to my dad we have the room pretty much finished. Who knows how long we would have had to wait for the other guy to do it!! I think my dad is going to put up a couple of shelves for some extra storage so that will be nice when he gets those in there. Meanwhile we are just happy to have a floor. So here is the picture of the finished room. I will take another picture when the shelves are in and the room is totally complete. Don't be afraid of the color, it really looks nice with the dark wood floor and with everything in there it isn't quite as alarming. I think it is fun and bright!!!

My SIL

Tara, this post is for you. I don't really have much to say. We have been up to the same old thing around here. We did have a little halloween/birthday party for Parker and two of his cousins on Sunday out at the in-laws. (OOPS I forgot my camera) Tara do you have any pictures from Sunday??? It was a great time, the kids all got to dress in costumes and they recieves trick or treat bags from grandma Kerry. Parker was spoiled as usual, it is fun to see him get excited about things this year. He will be 3 on Saturday and is starting to really understand and able to communicate with us. We also recieved the Phantom Ghost at our house last night. (Someone rang the door bell and ran and left us a treat on the doorstep). Now it is our turn to return the favor to someone we know. I just finished up a batch of cupcakes that I am going to decorate with bright green and orange frosting. They are still cooling and not finished or else I would post a picture. I might let Parker run and ring the doorbell. We might have to do a few practice runs at our house so he won't get caught in the act. We have a ward party/carnival tomorrow so I know I will have pictures from that. Until then have a great Tuesday!!!

P.S MY storage/scrapbook room is still unfinished. We finally got fed up with the run around and my dad decided that he would be able to do the flooring. He is a busy guy and we appreciate him helping us out. He is about half way finished, I am hoping that he can finish by Saturday so I can have my house back to normal before Big Brothers b-day.

Birthday

Today is my 26th birthday. I don't have too much planned for the day. This morning I went and had a massage from the college in the hopsital (I had a Gift Certificate from last Christmas). The massage felt sooooooo good. It was wonderful to leave the kids home and go into a quiet and calm place. It was so relaxing. I loved it. As I was laying there I kept thinking, I should do this at least once a month. I deserve that right, well we'll see about that. It is nice to think about, but then reality sets in. When I came home I was surprised by Matt and the kids with this beautiful arrangement of flowers. My man had actually thought of something in advance and had it all planned out. He talked to the florist earlier in the week and told them what he wanted and that he would pick it up on Saturday. After I left for my massage he ran to the florist and picked it up so it would be there when I got home. What a wonderful surprise!!! Here is a little dedication to my wonderful husband. I think I got the best man in the world. He is so good to me and treats my like a queen. He helps me with the kids (Which I think a man should do because they are his kids too), he helps me clean and lets me do fun things with my friends and mom and sister. He works so hard to provide for our family and so that I can stay home with the kids. I know he is tired of school but he only has about 5 months left. GO MATT!! I love him so much and think he is the best!!!!! I think Matt and I are going to dinner tonight by ourselves while grandma babysits. It will be nice to have a conversation with each other and not be interrupted and not have to tell Parker to sit down, stop throwing food, clean up spills. You know what I'm talking about. Overall I am having a great day and I know it will just keep getting better.

Princess's Have Fun

Can I just say that I have the best Mother-in-law!! She is so wonderful. She always comes up with fun things to spoil my kids and her other grandkids and many other kids in her life. Last night Paige and I were invited to a "Princess Party". Grandma Kerry had made tutu's for all the little girls to wear. They each got their picture taken and then Aunt Teresa went to get them developed. While she was gone each princess got to decorate a picture frame. Then we had a light dinner with rolls and meat and cheese, fresh fruit and some chocolate dipped pretzels. After they ate dinner they got to decorate pink cupcakes. Teresa returned with the photos and each princess got to take home a photo of themselves and then a group photo. They also received a party bag to take home that had some play jewelry, a wand, a glass slipper with M&Ms inside, and some other fun stuff. We had such a great time!!! It was fun to be together with a bunch of girls and to do all the girly stuff. (I wasn't quite used to all the girly things, so I need to get into that groove) Paige
looked so darn cute in her tutu. She was the littlest Princess there. We love you Grandma Kerry, Thanks for all you do and for the "Magical Night"!!!!

Pumpkin Patch

Okay so there have been a few fun things that we have been up to lately so I have a few posts to do this afternoon. The first is from Wed. when my mom and me and the kids went to a u-pick pumpkin patch. We thought Parker would love to pick out a pumpkin that was just his size. I asked him and he said "it's Parker Size". He was all about picking one his size, he didn't want to get a big one or a baby one, he just wanted one his size. We also found one that was sissy's size. While we were there they had his little maze from straw bales for the little kids to go thru. Parker loved playing in there. I was all about him playing in there it was FREE!!! Not too many fun things in life are free!!! I also got a few pictures of the kids on straw bales in front of a scarecrow. We had a fun time and enjoyed one of the fall activities around the area.

Scrapbook room

So I have been waiting for about a week for the floor in my scrapbook/storage room to be put in. I am not sure what the problem is, but the guy who is supposed to be installing it hasn't shown up. In the mean time I am going crazy looking at the gigantic mess in my kitchen. I had to empty the scrapbook/storage room into the kitchen to make room for the flooring to be installed. For anyone that knows me, I think I have a few OCD tendancies, and organization and clutter free are some of them. I am having a hard time constantly looking at the mess, but I am trying to think positively that it will be worth it when it is finished. I will post pictures when it is done, who knows when that will be. I went a little crazy with the paint color, but I will keep you all in suspense until I post the final pictures. I have this room envisioned in my mind and I hope it turns out that way.

Snow

We got our first snow of the season last night or early this morning. When I woke up and looked out the window and saw the white stuff sprinkled all ove the ground I was not happy. I have decided that I don't really like the snow. I hate driving in the snow, I hate trying to find a parking spot or going to the store in the snow, I hate being cold, and it always seems like it is around way too long. So I am excited about the holidays coming up, being able to be with family and friends. So I have learned to live with the weather knowing that it is a marker for good things to come. Parker was excited when he saw the snow he looked out the window and said "snowman". He was ready right there and then to go outside and build snowman. I told him that when there was enough snow we would build him a snowman. When he gets so excited about things like that it makes me pause for a moment and think about the simple joys in life. The excitement of a youg child is contagious and I know changes is good so I will be mentally preparing for the changing of seasons and digging out our winter clothes so we can stay warm. On a side note, Paige turns 6 months tomorrow. I can't believe she is half a year old. She is getting her first tooth on the bottom and has been a little cranky. She was a momma's girl before, but now she won't even let someone look at her without tearing up. I can't wait until that stage is over and she will let someone else hold her for a change. I promise some picture to come when we start doing something interesting in our family, maybe Halloweeen, it seems like that is the next fun thing coming up. Happy Saturday. I am going to go curl up with some hot chocolate and a blanket to stay warm.

72 Hour Kit

So the past few weeks I can't get the idea out of my mind that our family needs to have a 72 hour kit ready. I am not sure if it has to do with everything going on in the economy right now or what. So I decided that it was pretty important and I have been working on getting it done the last few days. I had quite a bit of stuff already on hand and made a trip to the store to pick up a few things and something to store everything in. I wasn't able to get everything into one container so we have one with food, one with clothing, and one for first aid. Plus a big garbage can with a lid on it for a bunch of other items that will be handy if we were ever to need the kit. I decided that if we had to pack up and leave it was necessary to have everything together to just grab and go.(Hopefully if that happens there will be time to grab my scrapbooks. They are pretty important to me) So now we will start the tradition of rotating and going thru the kit every 6 months at conference time. That will be a good reminder and a great family activity. Now if we can just get our years supply of food we will be all ready.