Class Halloween Party

Karen and I were in charge of Rachel and Gavin's school Halloween Party. The kids had tons of fun playing games, making these darling "BOO" signs and eating lots of healthy goodies - oranges, apples, grapes, cheese and crackers.


These "BOO" signs were so simple to make. Karen and I spray painted the wood before hand. The kids then Modge Podged the scrapbook paper and cut outs of words and spiders onto the wood. The kids were so proud of their finished project and Karen and I were pleased it went over so well.

Happy Halloween

Despite the rainy weather, the girls managed to get some trick-or-treating in. They were a little soaked, but they are kids and enjoyed every minute of the thrill. Rachel went with Aunt Aly and Madyson to the Down Town Alliance Trick or Treat. Becca waited at home with mom, helping me to get cookies made and projects completed.

Rachel was a Beautiful Butterfly and Becca was a Candy-corn Queen(an idea all her own). They both looked cute and warm!





This year the boys weren't really into the Halloween thing. They didn't carve pumpkins and I didn't allow them to trick or treat. Don set up the movie projector in the garage and the boys and their friends wandered in and out while drinking homemade rootbeer and eating pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. We had How to Train Your Dragon going on the big screen, which attracted lots of little trick-or-treaters.


All in all it was a good Halloween!

Super Craft Weekend

A few weeks ago, my sisters, my mom and I decided to have our own "Super Saturday." With craft ideas planned and supplies purchased, we gathered at Aly's house to craft the day away. We had a blast and despite all the interuptions from the kids and every day life, we actually accomplished most of our projects.

Our biggest conquest was learning to cut vinyl with the Cricut, which took us 2 hours to figure out, but we finally succeeded. The end result was these darling projects. The first 3 we "lifted" from my cousin's website which you can find a link on my blog and the last one was taken from Poppyseed Projects, which can be found at www.poppyseedprojects.com. The "BOO" and pumpkins are just made from left over 2x4's, cut and painted. The "BOO" was cut from vinyl and modge podged on, but you could use just regular cardstock.




It always fun together with great people and create new things and share ideas. Thanks for a great day girls!

Lost Battle

Well, I lost the husband vs. wife battle again. Don has been hinting that he really needs ANOTHER gun safe because the current one is just too full and there is no more room for guns, which he thinks he is in need of. So Saturday we needed to go to Ogden for the annual Bizzare. He being the wise and cunning guy that he is said that we needed to take some items to Mr. Smith up at Smith and Edwards. Well I should have known there was an alterier motive to this trip.

He ended up in the Sporting Goods section browsing the gun safes and before I could blink he had wheeled and dealed himself a new Browning safe. My next question was where were we going to put it? He said, "In the spot where the current safe is." Great and what are we going to do with the old safe. Well, put it downstairs, of course.

For those of you who don't know about these safes, they weigh a ton. All I could picture was the safe sliding down my stairs and going right through my wall. I did not want it moved to the basement. But once again, I lost and Don recruited some of Darek and Parker's friends, tied a rope the safe and lowered it to the basement. And no it did not go through the wall. Thank goodness.

















So here is the new Browning safe, positioned once again in my family room. Now he tells me he needs to purchase 3 more so that when the kids leave home they can each have one. I give up!!! It looks like gun safes will have to become part of my decore! LOL!

Fall Family Fun

Nothing is better than spending time with great friends. This past weekend we met up with our good friends, The Jones' and went up Middle Canyon to enjoy the beautiful fall weather and scenery. We roasted hot dogs and smores and sat around the campfire catching up on the past summer months.
We then took a hike up to the water fall. It was quite a climb, the the view from the top was spectacular!!! You could see all the autumn leaves and the peaceful sounds of water running. It was a terrific break from all the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
The kids had a great time climbing to the top and encouraging us parents to keep pushing forward. Thank goodness for Don's rope which came in handy to help us "older" people up some of the steeper spots.



All in all it was a great day spent with family and friends.

Bedtime Stories

Last Monday night I took a much needed break from the hub bub of life and sat down to read some picture books we had purchased at the school book fair last week. What a terrific time we had! It was such a relaxing moment just to read and cuddle. We read the new Splat the Cat Halloween book and what an adorable book. Splat is so lovable and we relate so well to him as he is just like our cats. I had picked up "Thump, Clack, Moo" which was as comical as all the other Click, Clack, Moo books. Duck always keep us in stitches. My last favorite was Skippy Jon Jones in Outer Spice - also another great laugh. The Skippy Jon Jones books have become such favorites at our home as we love the Siamese Kitty Boy! Just wish I could speak Spanish better.

Despite all the craziness of life, it's nice to know we can find peace and happiness when wrapped up in a couple of good books.

Girl's Night

The girls decided to have a couple of friends over to have a Fashion Show/Makeover night. They planned everything out right down to the clothes that would be worn at the fashion show.

They first started out having facials which consisted of applying a mask to their face and then allowing it to dry for 5 minutes and then peeling it off. It was funny to watch their expressions as they "peeled" their faces.



This is Mallory with a hole in her forehead

Here are all the girls "peeling" away.



Next was makeup. Becca was the "makeup artist as she applied powder, blush and your choice of eye shadow and lipstick. Everyone looked fabulous.





Finally....time for the fashion show. Becca was the announcer with mom as the photographer. The fashion show was presented to an audience consisting of Mom, Dad and Parker with Dancing Queen playing in the background.





What a bunch of cuties.


Trixie even managed to get some runway time.


Dad set up the projector in the garage so we could have a big screen movie. The girls completed the night by watching Furry Vengeance and eating popcorn and brownies.


What a terrific evening spent with such special little girls! We love you guys!

Darek Update

Darek went back to the Orthopedic Dr. today and they took another x-ray of the leg. Great news - the pin is right where he put it two weeks ago. The Dr. was very pleased and told him that he still needed to stay off of it for another 4 weeks. At that time they will x-ray it again and probably give him an okay to put pressure on it. He will still be using one crutch for a couple weeks after that.

Even better news! He can go back to school!!! Ye Ha! He will have to start back slowly, but I'll take anything right now.

The bad news for Darek is that no ATV or motorcycle for another couple of months at least. Poor kid. Now he will have to look forward to snowmobiling rather than motorcycle riding.

We are so glad that it is healing so well. Dr. Klatt thinks that he will need no physical therapy. He says that kids his age usually bounce back rather well. Amazing what the human body can do when you are young.

Family Project

Well, I succeeded at talking Darek into working on a Merit Badge. He chose to work on his Family Life. He needed to complete a project with his family and so we decided on making fleece blankets to take back to Primary Children's Hospital. This was a project we could all help with. Mom did all of the cutting and the others helped with the tying. He even talked his girlfriend, Jacquie into helping him. He was able to complete 10 blankets, which we delivered to Primary Children's today.

Update on Darek

Darek is doing really well. He has finally decided that it is not so bad to get up and walk on the crutches, which was a hurdle for us last week. He gets around pretty well on the crutches and has even attempted the stairs. We will keep hoping for big improvements.
Also, pray that I don't loose my mind trying to keep him entertained for 2 weeks. He is not one to enjoy sitting and watching T.V. so already he is becoming bored. I'm going to try and see if I can slip in some merit badge requirements without him knowing what I'm doing. We'll see how that goes.

Here are some pics showing the incisions for the pins.

Gotta Go Back To School

The 2010-2011 school year has begun. Three of the kids headed off for their first day, Parker by bus and Becca and Rachel by foot. The morning went really smooth and although everyone was nervous they all left in good spirits. We'll hope the day continues to go well.

Parker is a big 8th grader this year. He is excited to be the "BIG MAN" on campus. He has a terrific schedule with lots of great teachers. We hope for big leaps this year in his reading and writing!


Becca is a 5th grader this year. She is growing up so fast. Not much of a little girl anymore. We have watched her grow this summer and she is turning into a beautiful young lady. However, she did allow me to walk to her classroom and into her classroom which is way more than she let me do last year! Thanks Becca for still being mommy's little girl.


My baby Rae is a big 3rd grader this year! Oh how the time has flown. She was so excited to go to school today. She has Miss Andrew's this year and they have something very special in common. Both of their names are Rachel Dawn! Miss Andrew was Darek and Becca's teacher so we are very excited to spend another year with her.


Two cute girls!


Darek's first day of school won't be for a couple of weeks. He will be having a teacher come to the house and do his work with him. Hopefully this will keep him from getting to far behind. The Dr. hopes that in a couple of weeks he will be able to attend for partial days. So this picture is Darek's "First Day of School." What a life!


I hope that all your kids' first days were good ones and that the school year is prosperous for all.