Happy Halloween Part-1

Here are the pictures we took at Target. Adam's costume looked really cute, but now I feel kind of bad for making him wear it. The pictures are the only time he wore it. We didn't even make him wear it on Halloween.






On Friday Sarah had her preschool Halloween Party. Steven came dressed up and Sarah made sure he felt welcome. It was really cute. She kept asking him to sit by her, and would hug him and help him with the dances. I'm so glad they get along really well.




Steven was excited to get invited to his first Halloween party at his friend Cohen's house. My friends Crystal was very brave to host a party for 2-3 yr olds. :-)


We carved pumpkins a couple of times. I tried to get Sarah to help me get the seeds out, but that was too "gross" for her. I let her try and carve a pumpkin on her own, and it is very "holy." ;-)

"When I'm a Mom..."

Sarah decided about six months ago that she's never going to get married and have kids. Her reasons are: 1. She never wants to move away from her parents 2. She doesn't want to get pregnant and throw up. I only got sick once, but that was enough for her. :-)

Despite her decision to never get married and have kids she has now, on three different occasions, told us how she will do things differently when she's a mom.

"When I'm a mom I will let my kids watch TV all day long as much as they want!" This statement was accompanied by a lot of tears. I let my kids watch ~3 shows/day that I feel are educational or have some value. Sarah felt she hadn't watched enough and bawled. She cried and cried and told me that when she's a mom she'll let her kids watch TV all day long if they want, and I need to be the kind of mom she's going to be.

"When I'm a mom if I have a little girl that has a cat that pees all over the house I will let it pee all over the house." If you haven't heard, we got a new kitten. There are some upsides- My kids love her. And some downsides- She is mean to our older cat, she's crazy, she doesn't seem to like me, and SHE'S PEEING ALL OVER! If you haven't had this problem, it's awful. Cat urine really stinks. She's peed in my closet, Steven's closet, Steven's bed TWICE and on all our TV blankets in the living room. I told Sarah we're going to get rid of her if she keeps this up, just to prepare her. I don't think I would, but I was feeling her out. She didn't cry when I said this, but told Mike later that if it were her, she'd let the cat pee all over the house.

"When I'm a mom I will let my daughter sleep with me every night instead of my husband to show her I love her" On Wednesday Sarah asked me why I like to sleep with Mike instead of her. I told her that I love her, but I like to sleep with my husband, and it's what married people do. She said that I should want to sleep with her more, and told me that when she has a daughter, she'll sleep with her all the time. I told her we could have a sleepover that night and let us sleep with us. We didn't sleep well, but it made her happy. :-)

For someone that "never wants to get married and have kid," she sure knows the kind of mom she's going to be. I just hope I get the opportunity to bring these up someday. :-) I love my little mommy.

My Baby's having a baby!

Well, technically it isn't My baby, but it's my baby sister, which is close. :-) My little sister Ashley got married in January, and she and her hubby are expecting a little girl at the end of January/early February. I am SO excited!

Last weekend my other two sisters in Colorado, Becky and Jessica, threw her a baby shower. I wouldn't normal drive 8+ hrs each way with three kids to attend a baby shower, but it's not only her first, I also got to unload SEVEN bags of baby clothes. (that is only from birth-24months)

The shower was at my sister's friends home, which was very beautiful. It was catered and Mike got to watch the Utah game while sitting in a giant hot tub. I always love a chance to see my family, since it only happens a few times a year.

Congrats Ashley!

My baby (sister)


My four lovely sisters, Jessica, Kristal, Ashley, Becky and Me


Ash and Her Hubby Dave and Me and Ash



My mom decided to take six of the grand-kids shopping by herself and they all came back with new outfits. How do you solve the "Grandma will give me everything" syndrome? :-)



Mike took each of the kids canoeing on the lake and then relaxed in the jacuzzi.

Love Your Body 6k

Yesterday I ran the "Love your body" 6k with my friends Andrea Yazzie and Farah Reyes. This was my third year running the race, and their first. It's usually a 5k/10k, but they held the race at Thanksgiving point and wanted to loop it through the gardens, which added on another half mile or so. I was a bit disappointed in the lack of order by the race organizers, but other than that, I really enjoyed it.

I tried a couple things during the race that I hadn't before, and I think it helped. I chewed gum, which I thought would bug me, but it helped my throat from getting dry and cold. I also didn't listen to my ipod. I wore it, thinking I'd turn it on, but I didn't end up using it. I was also really happy that I didn't stop and walk a little like I normally do. I walked through one watering station to get a quick drink, but other than that I kept going. (I normally stop once or twice very briefly each race)


My time wasn't great, but I felt really good after I crossed the finish line. There were 1067 women that ran the 6k and my friend Andrea came in 23rd overall, and I came in 70th overall. In our age group there were 252 women and Andrea came in 9th and I was 18th. Farah was a real trooper and ran with her inhaler because she has asthma. I think the really fast runners ran the 10k, but I'm still pleased with the outcome. Interestingly enough my pace was 9:40, which is the exact pace I ran at the U's race a couple weeks ago. I had a lot of fun and am hoping to work up to the 10k for next year. :-)

Ballerina Sarah

Sarah's newest phase is being a ballerina. We put her in dance lessons again, in hopes that she'll like it more this time, and so far she's been inspired to be a ballerina. I bought her a new ballet outfit, which she wore every day for one or two weeks, until a couple days ago.

I was at Hobby Lobby buying fabric for a gift for my sister when Sarah spotted fabric with ballerinas. She insisted we make her soon to be born cousin Isabella a blanket with it. I told her it was too old for her, but I'd make her some pj pants and bought the fabric. This was on Wednesday. On Thursday she started insisting I make them. She reminded me that I made them with the Young Women, so it would be really quick and easy. I started the process, and she checked in on me every 15 minutes to see how far I'd gotten. She wouldn't let me quit until they were finished a couple hours later. :-)

Here is the final product. I'm sure she'll be wearing them everyday for a while. She won't let me wash them, because the fabric has sparkles, and she's worried about them falling off. (the poses were all her)



If you look closely you'll notice that the ballerina's on one leg are upside down. I wanted to save some fabric to make pj bottoms for her doll, so I turned one of the legs upside down not even thinking about the effect on the pattern. Thankfully Sarah doesn't mind at all.


This is one of her bff's Lillian. They are in dance together and love to match their outfits when possible.

Annual U of U race

Last Saturday the kids and I ran in the U's annual Alumni Scholarship 5k & kids fun run. It was mine and Sarah's third year and Stevens first.


We got there early, because I'm OCD on punctuality when I can be, so we had plenty of time to play around and "warm up."






Sarah wore her U of U cheer leading outfit, and was a big hit. A few people took pictures of her, and the Ute cheerleaders let her hang out with them. It was fun coming down the finish line and seeing Sarah yell, "Go Mom", "Great job mom." I didn't know she'd be there. It was really cute. She even sat on the shoulder of a boyfriend of a cheerleader. :-)





Here's a picture of me and Sarah after my race. It was only a 5k, but I was BEAT!


Then the kids ran the 1k. Mike has ran it every year. :-) Sarah enjoyed the run, but Steven needed a little help towards the end.




I just looked on the race website and you can see pictures they took of us HERE. I like the one of Adam below. My kids are on pages 1 and 6. Adam is #280. :-) I thought it was a little strange when an older gentleman came over and put the number like that and snapped a picture. :-)


My official time was 30:03, which isn't my fastest, but I'm not going to complain. I'm just happy I crossed the finish line. :-)

My husband "The Tool"

There are many adjectives I can use to describe my husband: Handsome, intelligent, industrious, thoughtful, athletic, wise, kind, funny, spiritual, Handsome (did I mention that)...but there is word that describes him perfectly, Tool. My husband is a tool, and not just any tool, a tool that will do anything for his little "daddy's girl." Yes, my husband is Sarah's personal tool. :-)


Last Thursday I saw a stray kitten by my in-laws house. I knocked on a neighbors door, and asked two neighbors outside if they know who it belonged to, but they didn't. I didn't want to leave it outside, so I brought it home with the intention of getting it to animal control. I told Sarah what I was doing and to not get attached. She did not mind at all, or so I thought.

Sarah gently cradled the cat all day and even named it Diamond. She named her Diamond because she is a sweet, sparkly cat. I kept reminding her that I'd called the shelter and they would be sending someone to get her so she could find her home. Every time she said that was fine and just kept playing with her.

In the evening the door bell rang and there was a man with a cage. Sarah dutifully put Diamond in the cage, turned around and began sobbing. She didn't throw a fit, she wasn't mad, but her little heart was broken. She cried all night long. She sat by the window calling out for Diamond. I reminded her that I'd said this was going to happen, but Mike gave me a big "Duh, of course she got attached speech," and also said I must not know my daughter well enough. (it was said nicely)

She drew this picture to illustrate her sadness. The crying girl is Sarah, and the S's on her face stand for sadness. The cloud above her head is like a dream and she is thinking of Diamond. The cat on the left is Diamond. She is in a cage and crying. The cat on the right is Mosey, and she's mad because she doesn't like Diamond. On the bottom of the page are various parts of Diamond drawn individually. Along with some random pieces of pizza.


To get her to cheer up I told her we could visit Diamond the next day at the shelter. Mike thought that was a bad idea, but I wanted to make her happier. I didn't want another cat, and Mike doesn't even like the cat we have. We visited her for about half an hour so Sarah could say a proper good bye and that was the end of it.

Until Today. I was at my in-laws again and Mike walks in, with Diamond. Yep, he went to the shelter and adopted her to mend his princesses "broken" heart. She was overjoyed and has been mauling her all day. :-) He's a very sweet dad.