Spooky Halloween

Today I went to pick up the kids from school. They always get a few minutes to play on the playground before we come home. There was an eerie feeling on the playground today. There were no other kids, which was unusual and the weather was overcast. It reminded me of the movie, Lady in White. That movie was so scary for me when I was a kid and I still get a little creeped out just thinking about it. Remember the part where he gets locked in the coat closet? AAHH!! So spooky! I thought the weather and my feelings were quite fitting since today is Halloween.

In The Line of Fire

Today the kids were out riding their bikes when they came across a grasshopper that had been squished on the sidewalk. The girls instincts set in and they began to mother him at once.
Poor little guy. When we found him his guts were on the sidewalk and he was missing a leg. Not to mention that one of his arms was still moving. Carmen and Morgan loaded him onto the scooter and carted him around for awhile. Here they are doing some investigating.
He is going for a ride. I don't think Carmen understands the concept of death. Maybe she is in denial. She then ran inside and came out with two cups. One with water in it and the other was empty. She later informed me that the water was his swimming pool and the cup was land. I don't think he felt like going swimming.

Great Speller

Yesterday Graham brought home his first certificate that he earned at school. Attached was a free kids meal at Del Taco. So after his game I took him over to Del Taco to retrieve his free meal. It's amazing how excited kids can get over the simplest things. Let's hope he can keep up the good work. Go Graham!!

Here he is posing. He is acting scared if you couldn't tell.

More Family Photos

Family Pictures

We had our family pictures taken yesterday and thanks to Sarah and her nice camera, it didn't cost us a thing! The girls look so funny in this picture. It was one of our last ones that we took, can you tell that they felt done?? More pictures to come.

Love This Quote

I taught Relief Society on Sunday and I used this quote in my lesson. I really think it's great and so so true.

"The Lord’s way is not hard. Life is hard, not the gospel. “There is an opposition in all things,”21 everywhere, for everyone. Life is hard for all of us, but life is also simple. We have only two choices.22 We can either follow the Lord and be endowed with His power and have peace, light, strength, knowledge, confidence, love, and joy, or we can go some other way, any other way, whatever other way, and go it alone—without His support, without His power, without guidance, in darkness, turmoil, doubt, grief, and despair. And I ask, which way is easier?"

It was given by a Lawrence E. Corbridge of the Seventy and the title of the talk is, The Way.

Or so I thought.....

I have been wanting to start swimming laps and have never really dared, mostly because it would have to be sooo early in the morning, but my friend Jen, who teaches water arobics, encouraged me to try swimming laps with her on her off days. So I have decided to take up swimming laps two times a week. Today was my first day. I thought I would be pretty good, since I have been running for a long time. I felt like my endurance was great and swimming would be a great way to mix up my exercise and have a little break from running.

Well, whew!! It was crazy hard. I could only do a few laps and I was totally out of breath!! Not to mention that I have no idea about the breathing and the proper techniques of each form. (Jen coached me a lot with that too! :)) I am really excited to continue this challenge of exercising my body in a way that I am not used to....and who knows, maybe a triathlon will be in the near future?

Ward Trunk or Treat

We had our annual Trunk or Treat last night. Years ago, Sarah and John were in our ward and they were the Activity Chair people. They started this great tradition that our ward has carried on for many years. We have a chili contest, pie contest, costume contest, and best decorated trunk contest. The kids were so excited and they can't believe that we get to go trick or treating in another week.

Carmen, Graham, and Morgan in their costumes. Graham designed his own costume this year. He created a new super hero named Electrode. He has control over nature. Carmen had to be a ninja, Graham's costume from last year. She isn't interested in being anything girly. She first wanted to be an owl, then it went to a dog and we ended on ninja. Morgan (my girly girl) had to be a princess, of course!
I told the kids to pose and this is what they did. Graham is commanding the elements, Carmen is doing her best Ninja pose, and who knows what Morgan is doing.

Electrode

Ninja Girl

Little Princess

Morgan relaxing after a yummy bowl of chili.

Costume parade
My way talented friend Laurel. After seeing Mama Mia this year she decided she had to be ABBA. With her awesome skills, she made that costume. She won the costume contest for the adults, but the judges accidentally mistook her for Elvis. Sorry Laurel! I knew who you were!

After dinner we went outside and walked around to all the trunks and did our trick or treating. Morgan really loved it this year!

We were poor sports and didn't decorate our trunk, but we did give out candy.

I took 1st place in the dessert contest. I made a yummy pumpkin cake. I got the recipe from Melissa years agoand everyone loved it! I won movie tickets! Woo Hoo. I know what David and I are doing on our next date night.

Storytime

Here is an example of what a great husband I have. He works full time, goes to school full time and serves in our ward, but still finds time to play with the kids. Here he is reading a book to the kids. Every night he will sit down with them and read. They love the quality time they get with their dad! And I love the few minutes of alone time that I get. :) I didn't realize when I took this picture that Graham was just wearing boxers. That is what happens when I say, "Go get your jammies on." Sorry.

What's it Worth?

Graham lost his first tooth this last weekend! I was wondering when it was going to happen. He hasn't wanted to put it under his pillow because he doesn't think any amount of money would be worth trading for his tooth. He said, "I think the tooth fairy will only give me like $10 or something and I don't want to trade my tooth for that." We had to quickly correct him. The tooth fairy ain't givin' $10 per tooth, Dude! :)

We Had A Blast!!

I just got back from Dallas a few days ago and have been thinking about what to post. I had so much fun with Sam and Mom. Sam showed us a great time. Our schedule was pretty packed and we got to see a lot of the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Here is a little recap of what went on during our fun weekend!Me and Mom when we first got off the airplane.

We just met up with Sam at the airport.

That night we went to Taverna for dinner. It was a really yummy italian restaurant. We ate at a lot of great restaurants while we were there.

Sam made us a great breakfast.
Here Mom and Sam are posing at the stockyards. Every day, twice a day, the cowboys bring out the cows to walk down the street. It was fun to watch.
We did a little shopping and then went to a Texas barbeque place for lunch. It was called Angelo's and has been around for a long time. I got the chicken and mom and Sam got the ribs. They had a great signature barbeque sauce.
We then headed over to the Fort Worth Zoo. That was fun. The animals were really active that day and we saw some cool things. We also kept seeing people with BYU shirts on and we finally figured out that the TCU game was that night just down the street. Too bad we got creamed.

These penguins were awesome. They would come right up to the window and look at us. I kind of felt like they were trying to tell us something. Happy Feet flashback.

There was a huge cage that had hundreds of parakeets in it. You could go in and feed them or just be in there with them. Right when we opened the door two flew right at our heads. I screamed out and ran out. Sam shortly followed. Mom decided to buy a stick for $1 that had something sweet with sesame seeds on it. They flocked to her. It was so hilarious. I got a little video, but I can't upload it for some reason, but it was a hoot to watch!
Kimono Dragon and me.

(He's not real.)

We went to a market place called Central Market. It was so amazing. They had great fruits and vegetables and homemade fresh sauces and peanut butter. Tons of different cheeses that I had no idea what they were. Here is a picture that I took of the different kinds of olives that they had. We got some really yummy Queso dip and Salsa that had our breath smelling lovely, oh but it was good. We also got some fresh homemade tortillas. It's a good thing we don't have a Central Market by my house. I am afraid I would spend all my time and money there.

Friday we took the Trolley from Sam's work over to lunch at 8.0. This is a picture of me and Sam and Chris (one of Sam's friends and co-workers)

Mom and Sandy. She is also one of Sam's friends. She was really cute.

Bass Hall

Sam and I at the Kimball Art Museum. They had some neat art there. They had an exhibit with Monet and Van Gogh that day.

That night we ate at a place called Nonna Tata. It's a little restaurant that is owned by a lady from Italy. She is the cook and has a couple others that work with her. There were only 5 tables inside and 5 outside. Everything is made fresh when you order. We had to wait for our table for 1 1/2 hours, but it was so worth it! I got homemade pasta with ham rolled inside and a cheese sauce. Mom got veal crepes and Sam had lasagna. It was delicious.

Then next day we drove into Dallas and spent the day there. We went to two malls. It was fun to see all the designer shops that I would never be able to afford any of their clothing. There was a shop there that I did love called, Anthropologie. It was full of vintage type clothing.

We stopped by the Dallas Temple.
We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Hotel that night. Here are some pictures taken at sunset.

We went to meet Sam's friends Cory and Bonnie. They live in Dallas and met Sam through his radio station Proton Radio. They have DJed together since.

We ate at a great Mexican restaurant that night called Veracruz. I had fish tacos with blue soft shell tortillas. Oh my mouth is salivating just thinking about it.
After dinner we went back to Cory and Bonnie's to visit. Sam showed mom and me how to do a little mixing of music. It's a lot harder than it looks.

Cory and Bonnie have a ton of cats that congregate in their yard. I think they said the had 14? But they have named all of them and feed them. They are all healthy looking and clean. They have allowed three cats to live inside with them that stay inside at all times. It was fun to see. Here are two of them chillin on some couches.
We had a blast and the time when way too fast! Now I have to get back into my exercise routine after all the yummy food that I ate. Thanks Sam for the great time. You were an awesome host and we will definitely do it again soon! I love you!