Only Me?

Yesterday we got some ads for the local grocery stores and I like to browse, but never really worry too much about them. However, the ads this time had multiple things that were "buy 1 get 1 free". I called Greg up and told him about it and mentioned that I couldn't buy anything since our freezer is too tiny. I then proceeded to tell him I wanted a deep freeze (we have talked about it forever) and asked him to pick it up that night, I even gave him the dimensions we had space for. Lucky me, he agreed and I am now so happy to say that I have a big freezer in my garage that is just waiting to be filled up. I went to the store today and got $100+ worth of free meats and other things. I just wonder, am I silly to be so excited about something so normal and not fun? Is it silly that I can't wait to go to Costco and buy a bunch of frozen goods that I normally wouldn't buy due to lack of room? Well, silly or not, I can't wait to go. Thanks Honey for being so willing to indulge me.

A BEAUTIFUL DAY!!

I wish all Fall days could be as beautiful as yesterday was. It was warm, with just a hint of coolness in the air. The kids asked to go to the park and I just couldn't resist. We actually got a little hot walking over there. Ryan is now brave enough to go down the fire pole and LOVES to show me each time. Nathan is in his Pj's not due to my lack of getting him ready, but it is Red Ribbon Week/Spirit Week at his school. And then there is cute little Annie. I remember she was yelling something funny in this picture, but I can't remember what. We still haven't gotten the results in from her x-ray, but the swelling is almost all gone and we just see lots of bruising (I bruise really easily, and I assume poor Annabelle has the same genes).

True Blue

Greg has season tickets to BYU with his dad and uncle this year and luckily his uncle couldn't make it today so I got the other ticket. It has been a good three years since I have made it to a game (the last being with the youth in my ward) and it was so great to be there. The game started at noon on a PERFECT fall day. I couldn't of asked for better weather--I did get a little sunburned on half my face though.

Greg loves BYU football, sometimes a little too much. When something goes wrong on the field he gets so upset and then as soon as they do something right he is back in the game. Today was one of those games where things were going great, then scary, and then great again. Luckily we pulled through (I would not have wanted to be present for last weeks game) and Greg was a happy camper the rest of the day.

It is funny to me how serious some people get into sports. They think that if they yell at the refs, or the other team, no matter how far away they are, something is going to happen. It makes me laugh when I hear a "crazed" fan getting a little overboard. I just like to watch the game and try to make sense of it all. Some people are so pessimistic and crazy, like the world will end if a team loses. I guess that makes me totally female, which is good, but I guess some people like to get crazy at games and if it makes my trip more amusing, then I say go ahead and yell!

Day 2 & 3

I am amazed at how a bruise works. I am thinking I will try to remember to take a picture every day to document it getting worse and then better. Poor Annabelle is no where near looking any better though. Every couple hours I notice it is getting worse. At least she is still smiley.
Here is day 2:

And here is this morning:

I have had people tell me it is going to take weeks, and someone last night even mentioned the word months, so hopefully it will be weeks. I can't even imagine how her face would have looked if we had tile. It is getting easier for me to look at. I just try to picture her adorable face from before and I give her lots of kisses and tell her how pretty she looks.

It was all going so great...UNTIL

The last 2 days were glorious compared to my awful Monday. It wasn't perfect, but SO much better. Nathan even helped me grind some wheat for cookies and bread (it is really hard!). And then the world came crashing down. Actually it was Annabelle. She was sitting on a stool at the counter helping me make pizza when one thing led to another and she somehow fell face first on the floor.

This picture was taken this morning, and since it has gotten more black and blue. Greg looked at it and researched broken noses online. He didn't think it was broken, and it said there isn't much a doctor can do when it's so swollen, and it was already after hours so we didn't take her in last night. She slept through the night and woke up REALLY happy. But when I saw her adorable face this morning I had to turn away, it really made me so sad and scared. I took her into the doc and they did an X-RAY. They don't think there is a break, neither the doctor or the technician, but they are sending it to a radiologist just to be sure. They told me it will just look awful for awhile and that even if it is broken, they can't do much if anything. My biggest fear is that there will be some sort of lasting damage and Annabelle will have a big or crooked or weird looking nose (how vain, but that is how I feel). Right after it happened I said a prayer and got a great feeling, so I am trying to go off of that. Only time will tell.

I should have known!

Last grumble I promise!
Nathan has been on Fall Break since last Thursday. Since I usually have to wake him up for school I thought he would sleep in every day, at least until 8. No such luck. He was up at 7, or EARLIER, every stinkin' day. Then this morning, guess who was still sleeping at 7:20! Growl!

Why do I do this to myself?

The day started out great. I went to the gym and the kids were even all asleep when I got home, oh wait, Ryan wasn't, but he stayed quiet in his bed for a little while. Anyway, I was able to read my scriptures and was really touched by Alma 5. I felt pretty good all morning. The kids and I ran a few errands and once we got home it all went downhill. I tried to finish both Annie and Ryan's costumes, make lunch and get Annabelle to take a nap. The nap thing isn't working so well lately, which means at about 5-6 until bedtime Annabelle is a beast. She will stay in her room though, so I at least had some semi-quiet time. That is when I got the crazy idea to try a few new recipes (four-stupid I know, now). I have been kind of lazy with dinners lately so I want to surprise Greg with a feast. Instead of perfection, which I know I couldn't attain but I was hoping for somewhere close, Greg came home to chaos. I had too many unknowns going on at once, and three crazy kids running in and out. Honestly, I don't know why I torture myself. So many things went wrong with the different dishes and it made dinner late, FHE late, and me in a foul mood which made the kids and Greg in a foul mood. I just hope no one was walking by our home tonight between 6 and 8. As I sit here and look back to my ridiculous evening I wonder why I couldn't have thought better and maybe just tried 1 new recipe. I know part of this comes from my awesome and amazing mom, but I hate that I allowed myself to go from a wonderful spirit in the morning, to a very nonspiritual mood in the evening. I don't vent too much on here, so I apologize. My life seems so hectic right now with so many things and people pulling at me for attention. I don't know how my mom, or other women with more kids, ever survived. Right now I am calm and the dishes are done, but tomorrow it starts all over again. And even though I promise myself that I won't yell and I won't freak out about the little stuff, somehow between now and tomorrow when Ryan spills his milk all over me, again, I will lose it. All I know is we are having something simple for dinner-macaroni and cheese perhaps.

While I Vaccuumed...

...The kids had a lot of fun with my camera.



I am not sure what or why Nathan looks like he is going to attack someone and I love Ryan and his air guitar playing. Annie is making a face as usual (but if you notice her clothes match a little better today, she even was excited to show me they both had blue). I think Santa is going to get at least one of the boys a camera for Christmas, they really love taking pictures. I am always finding funny pictures on my camera when I upload them. Maybe I will give one of them mine and then I will need a new one (hint hint Greg).

Scarecrow Festival

We decided to enjoy the BEAUTIFUL weather today and headed over to a local carnival. There were lots of little carny games to play and of course my boys wanted to do them all. There were about 20 jump houses or giant slides (we went on the big shark slide behind us in the pic) and Annabelle especially loved those. Fishing ponds, haunted houses, and race cars--all out in the wonderful sun. We succumbed to the yummy smells and had lunch and snacks at the carnival. I got a Navajo taco that was awesome and there is caramel all over my car to prove we all had some really yummy caramel apples, the stickiness was worth it.

Crazy Annie

Notice Annabelle's beautiful choice of outfit today. She is SO particular about what she wears. She only likes pants with flowers or butterflies on them. That means mostly leggings and jeans are out. She likes to make piles of her clothing and the other day she made a pile of all her "pretty pants" and the jeans were all thrown to the side. Take a look at her shoes. We can't find the matching purple shoe, but I know that as soon as I throw it out we will find it. So, of course Annie thinks it is great to wear 2 different shoes. I have decided to just let her pick her clothes on days when we aren't doing anything too nice. Hopefully someday she will look back and just laugh and her stubbornness.

These are the best bubbles ever and I feel bad for those of you who I have not shared them with. You can get them at Gymboree and they just float around you, you can even catch them. My favorite part is that they don't get soapy wetness all over the place. Try them and you will never want the cheap ones again.

How Many?

Nathan got a book from the library that inspired a fun little adventure. He walked around the neighborhood to some of his friends' houses to get their guess for how many candy corn were in the box. While Nathan tried to help one of his friends we both agreed that it wasn't fair to give it to him. Then, when I tried to explain to Nate that usually you give the winner all of the treats, he got a little sad so Kyler got just a little baggie of the candy corn. I think Nathan's favorite part was counting to 225. Personally I am happy that he didn't give them all away, too.

Camping...in the Snow

We have had this big family camp out planned for a few months, and of course this weekend it just had to snow. Luckily when we first arrived, and our family was first so we got some exploring time, it was cold and sunny. We were able to go on a mini hike and even see a bunch of deer. On the drive up the mountain Ryan asked, "Can we push pause on the movie so I can look out my window?" OF COURSE!! It really was beautiful, all the fall colors, the lake and even a couple waterfalls.

As more and more family go there it only got colder and colder. All the little kids were a little upset due to the cold, but the boys loved it. Thank goodness Uncle Jeff and Uncle Devin had a fire going all night, and early the next morning. And I don't know what we would have done without hot chocolate and cider (thank Grandma for getting some more).
It was a really nice set up, we had 4 cabins for the 29? people who showed up (and we really missed the four who couldn't make it). Thank goodness for those heaters in our cabins. We slept pretty warmly and were able to sit around for breakfast and games the rest of the day. Grandma Pam was nice enough to watch the all the kids (~10) while a bunch of us adults played some fun games. When we woke up to snow this morning the kids were not even a little saddened (as I was). They were rearing to go outside and play. I wasn't sad to leave, as Nathan was, I thoroughly enjoyed taking a warm shower and getting into warm slippers and non-smoke smelling clothes. It was a lot of fun to get together with most of the family and hopefully we will make it a tradition and do it every year, just a month or so earlier I hope.

Welcome to Paradise!

Imagine having a door opened for you and your kids and immediately being offered two kinds of delicious cookies, one of each for each of us. Then a nice elderly man telling you how to order, since it was an interesting set-up. Then as you walk over to the cookie/ muffin counter, where everything looks absolutely wonderful, the nice ladies say the cookies are buy one get one free. Next you go to check out the sandwiches. This part was great, they had an actual sandwich right there for you to look at and decide which looked the best (the bread sold me at this point). Then with my sandwich came a complimentary warm cookie-YUM! What a great 1st impression I got, and what delicious food. I can't wait to go back.

Peaches

In between conference on Saturday I was able to do my first canning by myself. Well, if you don't count my two boys who were REALLY into helping me. I didn't have too many peaches, but four bottles is better than nothing. Each of my kids packed 1 bottle. I hope I did everything right. I guess I will find out in a few months when we eat them.

Welcome Home Elder Jeff!

Last night we had the great fun of going to the airport to pick up Greg's little bro from his mission to Germany. Grandpa called while I was getting dinner ready to say that his flight would be 20 minutes early, and Greg hadn't even left work yet. Through divine intervention, and a little speeding, we made it to the airport before the supposed time of arrival. And of course we waited. And waited. It wasn't even THAT long, maybe a half hour, but my boys were SOO restless. I think maybe they just weren't sure what we were doing. If you notice Greg and 2 of his brothers are sporting mustaches, all Chris's idea and if you know him you understand. When Jeff finally made his way down the stairs there was a great cheer and lots of hugs (though my kids were silly and shy).
I haven't had any of my own siblings serve missions, YET, but this is the 9th for Greg's family and I have been able to be a part of 6 of them. It is such a wonderful experience to send them off, hear from them for 2 years about all the spiritual experiences that they get to go through, and then now, as they return home and see how they have matured, both physically and spiritually.  I can't wait to be able to talk to him more. Welcome home, Jeff!