Halloween...yeah, it is over!

For some reason I despise Halloween! I am not sure why...maybe it is the expensive costumes that break or tear the first time you put it on...maybe it is because you try to buy your kids costumes a little bit early so there is a better selection and then you kid tells you that they can't be that anymore...or maybe it is because of all of the candy that you buy because you want to be prepared but then munch on it and have to buy more. I am not sure... What I do know, is that my kids love it!

Halle is Mitchie from Camp Rock...she is such a poser! I love it :) This would be one of the costumes that cost $30 and broke when she tried it on. Money well spent!
Kassadi is a Rock Star...We found a costume from the movie Camp Rock. But she says that she is a rock star! And yes...another $30 costume.
They have their arms around each other only because I told them they couldn't go out with their friends if they didn't. :) I love good bribery!

The girls went to a church event with some friends of theirs. They had a great time! Thanks Jennings for taking them!

Gabriel was supposed to be Thomas the Train, but I bought the wrong costume. Who knew?? Anyway, he didn't care so I didn't care! It was a choo-choo and that is all that mattered.

Kyle walked Gabe around to a few houses for a great trick-or-treating experience!!

I told Kyle that he couldn't go trick-or-treating unless he had a costume. So this is what he and Hayden came up with... They took a couple his undershirts and cut them up and threw some red paint on them and then they proceeded to paint their faces. Not sure what they were trying to accomplish! But it looked pretty good...and it was cheap too!

Hope everyone had a safe and Happy Halloween! I know we did :) Until next year...

Isn't my mom totally awesome??

My mom had to get dressed up for a work party and she needs your hippee votes!! Vote here.

In all of my years as her daughter, I do not recall her ever dressing up! I love it... can't wait to see what you wear next year!

High School Musical 3!

My friend Jeannie took the girls to High School Musical. They had a great time and couldn't stop singing the songs when they got home! Looks like I have another CD to buy for my car!

Thanks Jeannie!!

Boys will be boys!!

One set of small teeth... oh and another set of small teeth!!

Need I say more??

Baby Food....YEAH!

She loves it...loves it...loves it! I am so happy :) You know what this means? I can leave her a bit longer and not worry! Yeah! Another ounce of freedom...

Tag...I'm it!

4th picture in the 4th folder on my computer!

I actually think that this is a fun tag :)

This is a picture of Kyle and Kassadi that my friend Jamie took. I think this shows that my kids can be nice to each other for but a moment!! I love it... :)

Tag your it...Tammy, Sara, Jamie, Jamee, Brooke & Jen H. I want to see what you all got!!

By far the funniest video ever!!

If you didn't laugh, then you are crazy or you are lying!! Hopefully noone is offended by this!! But I laughed my tooshy off :)

Child proof....but not Gabe proof!

I went to all of this trouble to find child proof door things for my levers. I finally found some on ebay. And yes they are soooo hideous. But I was willing to do anything to keep Gabe in the house. He would unlock the door and let people in when I was showering or couldn't hear the door. CRAZY!! So here is how Gabe proof they are:

Looks secure! Here's Gabe...unlock the door first. Good thinking kid!
Push up the button...
Pull the lever down...
and out he goes!!! However, they are fairly adult proof and can be very frustrating!! Any ideas? I don't want to screw anything into my hardwood door. So we may be out of luck! Hopefully, you won't be seeing Gabe on a milk carton!!

Utah Visit...Just Me and Olivia!

Here is the low down on my super quick trip to Utah. It started off in Texas where I prepared one of my FAVORITE THINGS to take to our 3rd Annual Favorite Things Party. (I need to have one here too. I am sure that my friends would love it!) This is the tile that I did:

Olivia and I got up and out the door by 4:45 am for a 6:30 am flight. When we first got on the plane she fussed and I thought....oh my....we haven't even started yet. But after feeding her or rather keeping a plug in her mouth, she did beautifully!!

I then met up with a couple of girlfriends. I picked up Jamie and we picked up food and went to Wendy's new house. (And it is darling for all of those who are wondering!) We had a great visit. It was so nice to catch up with both of you. I love you both very much :)

Jamie made this beautiful quilt for Olivia. The colors and the fabric are so soft....I LOVE IT!! This is Michael...he is only a few weeks older than Olivia. They are soooo cute!

After lunch, I went and saw Erin's new house in Eagle Mountain. It is really nice....I just can't believe that you moved out there after we moved away! It was great to see you and Guy and the twins. I love how we can just get together and it is like we were never apart! I love you for that :) You are an amazing friend. One that I will love forever! Erin put together the party that evening. It was so much fun.

We then went to the party that evening at the Seminary Building. Kristen made this beautiful quilt for Olivia. I just LOVE it! The colors are perfect for her room. I have such talented friends!! Thanks Kristen :) I love that we have babies near the same age...unfortunately we aren't living close to raise them together!

I loved seeing you Diane...you is such a great example to me. You always has a smile on your face. I love you very much!

Tracie....I miss you! I will always think of you and your cute family when I think of where Olivia's name came from :)
I love you girls! It was great to catch up. Kimmers......you crack me up! Never a dull moment with you :)
These are the Harvest Cove Gals....I had such amazing neighbors when I lived there! I was sorry to leave all of you. We are however missing Jewels in this group. I was sad that you couldn't make it to the party. I miss you!
This is the group of gals that came. There were only 3 girls there that I was not familiar with. But for the rest of you, I LOVE YOU so very much. You have all touched my life in one way or another. I am so grateful for the friendships that I have with you. I love that it was as if I hadn't moved away...rather, I was just at home!
After the party, I headed up to Eden to spend time with my family. It was so much fun to hang out with my mom. We went to a festival in Ogden and had yummy lunch at Roosters Brewery and then we did a bit of shopping. I love you mom! You are so much fun to be with! Thanks for letting me hang out at your house!! Not that you had a choice in the matter....I hope to see you soon :)
This is my niece Brielle...I haven't seen her in almost a year. It is amazing how much babies grow in that time. She is just beautiful.
My big bro Chad...love you! Thanks for the tour of Mimi & Papa's house that you are building. You are doing a fabulous job. It is absolutely beautiful!
Brent...Thanks for bringing up your family Brent. It was great to see you and all of the kids. I love you! Jenny & Brielle...It was so great to see you and the kids! I can't believe how much they have grown. Also...thanks for signing me up for Scentsy! I can't wait to get started. LOVE the stuff!
Kids....Kids....and more Kids!! I loved seeing all of my nieces and nephews! I think that they were more excited to see the baby though. Hope to see you all at Christmas. But this time I promise to bring all of my kids!
Tonya...Thanks for coming even though you were under the weather. It was so great to see you! And you really do look great. I am grateful that you and your beautiful kids are a part of our family :)
After the weekend at my parents, I went and hung out with my Eagle Mountain friends. I went to lunch at Bajio (YUMMY!) with Peggy and Wendy. We had a great time. I made such wonderful friends in the short amount of time that I lived there. I would love to move back!
For the second year in a row, Andrew watched a baby of mine (last year it was Gabe) so that me and Wendy could go and get a pedicure! As much as I hate to have my feet touched (and I giggled and cringed the whole time) I love how they turned out! Thanks Andrew! Wendy and I also did some hot tubbing and of course we had to play our favorite Super Mario Bros.!! And as frustrating as that game can be, we had a great time. Thanks Wendy for being such a wonderful friend! I then went and saw Emilee and her new house. She too moved to Eagle Mountain. It was great to see you! I love your house too.
After hanging in Eagle Mountain, I took the trek back up to Bountiful and met my wonderful friends there for lunch at Robintinos (a favorite of ours!) Tami is my cousin (2nd from the left) and then there is Nat and Rachel. We have been friends for about 12 years now. I love all of you and I am so grateful to have you as friends. I miss you all so much. I miss our Christmas dinner and ornament exchange....maybe we should do that through the mail?? I love you girls!
I am sooooo truly blessed to have all of my grandparents still living and for the most part, healthy! I was able to visit with my grandpa (of course he was at the carpet store working!) He is such a wonderful man. I have such fond memories of hanging out with them. We were always so close! I love you grandpa! I love you to Dad! Although I didn't see you to much during my visit...I still love you ;) You are the bestest dad in the whole world!! Thank you for that......I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!
I even have my great aunt Liz. She is my Nana's sister. She too works at the carpet store. (Yes it is definitely a family run business!) It was great to see you Liz. I love you!
This is my beautiful Grandma!! I just love her smile! I am so glad that I went up to visit with her. She is such a wonderful lady, inside and out. I am so grateful for her sweet spirit. I hope that you get everything you want Grandma...you deserve it! I love you so very much.
I then went and picked up my mom from work and went to see my Nana at the rest home. Although she doesn't remember me, I remember her and who she used to be. She was such an amazing woman. I remember spending time with her in the car delivering her Avon magazines. She would pay me $2. I loved spending that time with her. I love you Nana...berry, berry much!
4 Generations HERE!!
We then went up to see my other Grandpa and to bring him dinner. It was great to visit with you for a bit! You look great :) This is my sweet grandpa that is sooo computer savvy! He loves to sent emails about politics! and other funny things! I love that he makes me and my kids a Christmas CD every year to listen to. You are a fabulous man and I love you!
After all of these visits we went to my parents and I had to pack because I had an early flight the next morning. This is what I see when I drive home from my parents....beautiful fall colors! This picture doesn't do it justice (because we were driving while this was taken.) I absolutely love the fall. It is my favorite season. We don't really get a fall in Texas. So it was great to see all the beautiful colors on our little trip!
Too all of my amazing friends and family....thank you so much for making our trip a success! I had such a wonderful time. I was unable to see a few friends whom I love and adore....Jewels, Joslyn, Elin and Stacy...Sorry girls! Also, Scott & Jamee...sorry I missed you! I hope to see you all soon. I LOVE YOU ALL!

*A big thanks to Steve who made it all possible! Thanks for being such a great Daddy and spending time with the kids. I love you very much... They had a great time! Also thanks to Jamie and Stacy who took care of Gabe so Steve could go to meetings. I greatly appreciate it :)

You would think that it would have been a vacation!! But we were going, going, going. It was great!

Nana & Papa's Visit To Texas!

A little late, but here you go! Randy and Steph came to visit the middle of September. We had a great time with them!

We went to the park...Kyle loves to do back flips off of things and Gabe was trying to copy him. Luckily no one was hurt!!

We went to Pedernales Falls. It was absolutely beautiful. I love that there are all of the great things to do within driving distance of our home. The kids had a great time playing in the clear springs. I got a ton of pictures here but my camera for some reason was making them all dark. So this is the best I got.

We had a fun Sunday dinner. The girls set the table beautifully. They were excited to eat on the dining room table...which I think that we are going to try and do every Sunday. We never use this room. Now we have an excuse to!
We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner one night and celebrated Kassi's Birthday. She wasn't sure about sitting on the saddle. Not sure I liked all of the hollering either! But it is a birthday she will remember.
They had face painting at the restaurant too.
We went to see the bats come out on Congress Avenue Bridge. It was really cool. It would have been better if there was a full moon to illuminate the bats. But what we did see was a fun and stinky experience. One that I think that everyone who lives near Austin should do.
We also went to Krause Springs. It was a little piece of heaven on earth. It was surprisingly pretty and clean! The kids had a great time playing in the water and swinging on the swing. Even Papa and Steve did the swing. Steve made a great video of this day, but couldn't upload it because he put it to music that was copyrighted....any ideas how to get around that?




Krause Springs is privately owned and taken care of by a family. It is a neat place. This is the butterfly gardens that we walked through. Really cool!
We had a great time Nana and Papa...thanks for visiting us here in Texas!
Until we meet again...