Happy Halloween

Here is our line of carved pumpkins!
The kids drew on the faces themselves, then Mom and Dad helped cut them!


Taylor is a Ninja and Dylan a pirate, don't you love the parrot?


Gretchen is a not-so-wicked witch!

Baby's First Pictures

We got to take a peek at this little guy inside of me, yes that's right, it's a BOY! We are really excited. We did think it would be great to have 2 and 2, but 3 boys will be a blast! I was worried that Gretchen might be disappointed and upset that it wasn't a girl. But, she was so cute and said, "I just wanted a new baby in our family, I didn't really care if it was girl or not." Taylor is super excited for another brother. I don't know if Dylan really knows what's going on. On both sides of the family, boys definitely dominate the grandkids. So, we're just following the trend.

BYU v. UNLV

We've had season tickets to the BYU games this year. Mike has used them each time and has taken one of the kids with him. Well, it was my turn and I took Taylor and my sister, April and her son had the seats next to us. It was a beautiful fall day. And it was a good game, with the Cougars pulling off a win in the end, BYU 42, UNLV 35! Hopefully, they can keep it up and win the rest of the games this season, including BYU v. Utah!!! (I had to put that in there, too many of my friends like the Utes)

Bronco and Taylor.

My organized pantry

So, with all of my quirks...sadly, one of them is not being organized (just ask Mike, or come look in any of my closets). Yesterday the most organized person I know, my friend and neighbor, Valerie came and helped me organize my pantry. It was so good to clean it all out and start fresh. She had some great ideas that I had not even thought about, that made such a difference. The containers probably made the biggest difference. The way everything is set out, makes so much more sense. I can access everything much better and I actually know what is in there now. Thank you so much, Valerie for taking the time and helping me! I feel motivated to tackle some other areas of my house now.

Tagged - Quirky things about me

Here are the rules for the tag: Link the person who tagged you (that was Stephanie & Kristin I don't know how to link you, sorry). Mention rules on your blog. Tell about 6 quirks of yours. Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same.

Here they are, in no particular order...

1. I have to have things symmetrical. This applies to many areas of my life. My hair for instance, my layers have to be equal in thickness, the amount of layers on each side of my head must be the same, and it must be perfectly even along the bottom. I am a hair stylist's nightmare. Also, when Gretchen got her ears pierced I couldn't stop myself from studying one ear, then the other, over and over again to make sure the earrings were perfectly symmetrical.

2. Things have to be done the correct, "by the book" way...I follow recipes with perfect exactness, just how it is written, measuring out each 1/8 of a tsp. When assembling something, I've got the instructions right there. I plant my bulbs by measuring the 6 to 8 in. in the ground with a ruler. It drives me crazy when someone says, "I think I know how to do this" and then they don't do it right.

3. When I hear a new song that I love, and then download it, I listen to it over and over. Then within a few short days I'm sick of it.

4. After I've popped microwave popcorn, I have to take the bag outside to open it. If you open a popped bag inside, all that steam and more importantly the potent smell is released and I feel like it lingers for hours...and I don't like it. It greatly reduces the smell to initially open the bag outside. Mike always rolls his eyes when I do this. When we were just on our trip, and stayed in a hotel, they had a complimentary bag of popcorn and microwave. Mike popped it up and would not let me open it in the hall. That smell drove me crazy.

5. I love Science fiction, this is all thanks to my dad. I don't think most people would peg me as a "sci-fi fan". I like Star Wars (that is such a shame that you have never seen those movies, Stephanie), Star Trek--mostly The Next Generation, Battlestar Galactica, Lord of the Rings, you get the idea. Basically, I'm a huge nerd and I'm so happy that our satellite provider carries the Sci-fi channel.

6. I usually put on one sock, then one shoe, the other sock, then the other shoe. Not two socks, then two shoes. I don't think I necessarily have to do it this way, it's just the way I do it.

Those are just some of my quirks. I can't wait to read about all of yours...

I tag--
Ashley
Sara
Amy
Jodi
Aurora
Shanna

Pumpkin Patch

We went with Dylan's preschool class to the Pumpkin Patch! The kids had fun sitting on the tractors, climbing on bales of hay, and picking out our pumpkins that will become Jack-O-Lanterns in just a few short weeks.

Salsa

This was my first time canning! We had a ton of tomatoes in our garden and last week before the cold came, I picked all the ripe ones and headed to my sister's house. We made some delicous salsa and she taught me how to can! It was fun, and even though I wish we could have made even more, I think it was good for a first time.

Florida trip--Part 1 Wakulla Springs

On our way to St. George Island, we stopped at Wakulla Springs State Park, about 14 miles south of Tallahassee. We went on a 40 min. riverboat ride and saw lots of wildlife... alligators, different birds, fish, turtles, and even a couple of Manatees. We had a hilarious guide that had this deep southern accent and two missing front teeth. He kept saying the animals were posing because "I got 'em trained like that" and talking about eating the turtles in turtle soup. We loved seeing this part of Florida and all the animals.

Florida trip--Part 2 St. George Island

This was a beautiful island that you had to take a bridge over to, in the Florida Panhandle, along the Gulf Coast. The island was pretty much all beach houses and a few shops. It had gorgeous, soft, white "sugar sand". The water was warm and there were not big waves that would knock the kids over. We found seashells, chased crabs, saw big pelicans flying over, watched fish and dolphins jumping. Of course, did a lot of relaxing in the sun and floating in the ocean. And the beach was not crowded at all. We spent 4 days at the beach house, with good friends, Ryan & Janelle and their cute baby, and Andy & Heather and their four kids. We had a great time! By the way, I felt pretty good the whole trip (so glad about that).

Florida trip--Part 3 Disney World

We went to Disney World with Andy and Heather and their kids! We only had one day there, so we went to the Magic Kingdom, which is exactly like Disneyland. It was such a great day, kind of drizzly and overcast--so not too hot. For the first half of the day, there were no lines and we got right on to the rides. Gretchen said her favorite ride was Space Mountain, Taylor's favorite was Splash Mountain, Dylan liked the Race Cars and the train that took us around the park. Mike liked Thunder Mountain and I liked the Peter Pan ride (I didn't get to go on the roller-coaster ones). It was kind of funny (and kind of not), at the end of our long day, we were roaming the huge parking lots, because no one bothered to remember where we parked. After running ahead for us, Mike finally found our car.

Soon to come

I need to get pics posted of our Florida trip. However, I have like 300 to go through. So in the next day or two I will go through and decide what is post-worthy and maybe I'll even do a slide-show. I will say, it was an awesome trip! We made some great memories!

Modesty Fashion Show

Gretchen's Faith in God group did a modesty fashion show for one of their activities a couple of weeks ago. They invited the moms to come watch. All the girls were so cute in their modest outfits. Gretchen loved wearing her favorite hat as she strutted her stuff.