Halloween

Lots of pictures - few words - little time - crazy life:)








Highlights of Halloween this year:
Frankenstein walk - arms out, slow, moan
Joy School Parade - which Josh did by himself when the other kids decided it wasn't their thing
Anna discovering suckers
Justin and Josh doing the Frankenstein walk together
Visit from Kays and beautiful day at the beach
Dreaming about escaping to another country for a couple of months like they did
Trick or Treat at retirement home - Many of the residents loved the kids, many were not so excited
Disney Store Halloween party - NEVER GO! way too many people and cranky moms
Trunk or Treat - Food, Friends, great candy.
Little Monkey - anna hated pretty much every aspect of her costume
Josh not letting me wash his face or hair and looking pretty scary at the park with a half green face and gray hair.

Best - don't have to paint skin green or dye hair black for a little while.

I know I know...

I go in spurts it's true.. post a lot then nothing... for weeks as my sister tells me. However, I don't have time to do a long post now although it's on my to do list this week. I just had to put a plug out there for my extremely talented friend Paige. She's a clothing designer and has just launched a new kids line that I love. She hand makes all of the clothes and they are so different from other stuff I've seen. So check her out at rockerroos.com. If anyone felt the need to order any of my children some of her clothes I definitely wouldn't complain.

More fun pics and stories coming soon....

Famous

Justin and Josh went camping last Friday with some friends and ended up getting interviewed about the state parks getting closed as a result of budget cute. For all of you who want to watch Josh picking his nose on T.V.

Go here:
http://cbs2.com/search/Link.ashx?R=http%3a%2f%2fcbs2.com%2fvideo%2f%3fid%3d115078%40kcbs.dayport.com

There will be a commercial and then the clip will start.

Cute little boys

Phone Charger Saga

Yes I finally got my new charger in the mail.
No it doesn't work.
Yes I got the right one.
Yes I will order another one today.
No I'm still not getting a land line.

Until then, I still have Justin's phone - what an awesome husband.

September 11th

I meant to do this yesterday and got distracted. On this day, or yesterday, I just want to say how much I love our country, and how important it is to remember what we have here. I spent many years in the Middle East and I still get teary eyed whenever I hear certain patriotic songs. I remember when we were living in Saudi Arabia my Mom would make us recite the Pledge of Allegiance and learn the National Anthem when we were little, to make sure we knew where we came from and didn't forget. And there was at least one occasion where she kissed the ground when our plane finally touched down in America.

I hope to pass down this love and appreciation to my children, despite all the cynicism that's out there. Josh already knows the words to I'm Proud to be an American, and can point out every American flag.

Yes there is a lot wrong with our country, but the wonderful thing is that we have the freedom and the ability to fix what's wrong. So on this day I would say be grateful, for all that we have, and if you want to change something, educate yourself and work to do it. Get involved and leave a legacy of freedom.

I read a friend's blog where she asked everyone where they were on September 11th, 2001. I'd love to hear where you were as well - so I totally stole the idea :) Please leave a comment and tell me what you remember about that day.

I had just started my freshman year of college and was in my dorm room when it came on T.V. I didn't know my roommates very well yet and I ran over to my next door Arizona buddies apartment and we watched it together. My family was planning on moving back to Saudi Arabia on the 25th of September. I remember how deserted campus was that day, and I remember going to President Hinckley's address. Mostly I remember that it didn't feel real. I tried to have a normal day and it just couldn't happen.

I didn't write much in my journal unfortunately - but these are some of the notes that I took during the devotional:
"There is no reason to fear for lives of loved ones if they were not there- the terrorists are hoping for panic"
"Be respectful of all people"
And the over arching message was that it is possible to feel peace in troubled times. "Do you young people understand that you have the world's power of peace in your hands?" The question of a prophet.

The Birthday Boys

Josh's party was at Crestview park. Which was perfect, although slightly farther than I'd anticipated. I was a slightly nervous wreck before the party started. I think I was almost as nervous as I was at my 15th birthday party. Would people come? Would there be enough food? etc. It was slightly ridiculous - but it turned out really fun. The above picture was what the boys did after the festivities and below is what the girls and the babies did.

The cake - I hate decorating cakes with a passion and I'm not enough of a perfectionist to do it well (something I'm trying to work on a little bit). Luckily Josh wanted a spider man cake. So I talked him into a chocolate sheet cake with purchased spider and spider man decorations. He was thrilled - although I was a little self-conscious when I brought it out, you see I let him put the decorations where ever he wanted. I do love how all little kids gather around the cake and the presents, it's almost as exciting for them as the birthday person.The highly anticipated pinata - no my party did not have a theme - hence the pirate ship pinata and the spiderman cake - all picked out by the birthday boy.

Luckily Eva was there to break it for the kids - who were all satisfied with one piece of candy.

Josh was dying to open his presents - it was really bordering on rude. Just look at the longing in that face. He was polite after opening them though. He loved them all - we had way too generous of friends! After opening presents he stood on the table and yelled, "I love you all soooo much!"








We also had a little party for Josh at home on his actual birthday - just check out the snowman cake... ya I didn't even do that - all Justin.

Justin's birthday. I really really wanted to surprise my husband. I never get to - he always wants something complicated that he has to pick out - oh and I'm really really bad at keeping secrets, I get way too excited. But this time I was determined to pull it off. I had money that he didn't know about, and then told him with wanting to do his own business thing we really didn't have the money to buy a TV but we could put money toward it. Then I threw him a little surprise party - just me and the kid, the day before his birthday - genius I know. He was honestly surprised about the party and really excited, but my sweet Josh had already told him about the TV. They were talking about birthdays and Josh said, "We already wrapped you a present Daddy, it's behind the piano." and apparently looked horrified after because he knew he wasn't supposed to tell. oh well. I can say Justin was quite pleased though. He also got, "tickets to take me to the big theater just me and you" from Josh:)
Utes decoration although you can't see the red balloons. Justin admitted he thought I used black because he was old - it was because now he can actually see the Utes games:)
Happy happy Dad! We also got to go out for Thai food and to Disneyland the next day thanks to some amazing babysitters!!