What do you get when you gobble down treats?

I must say that Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love to make the costumes and every year I get a little more crafty. This year Madison decided to be wonder woman. This was one of my funnest costumes yet. Nolan was a cowboy because that's what I told him to be, otherwise he would be batman every year. And, plus it was easy to put together.

We had our Ward Halloween party on Saturday and that is always so much fun. We have it at the neighborhood park so its nice to let the kids run around unsupervised.

It seems every Holiday that has anything to do with candy, we seem to lose Madison. Wait... Madison sneaks off to see what what goodies she's rounded up. During Easter Egg Hunts, she can't even wait until the hunt is over. She pops those eggs open as soon as she gets one and eats all the candy. Or if we are at a party with a pinata she grabs as much candy as she can and hides somewhere to eat it all and then usually feels sick the rest of the night. I tell you my kids are smart! Well last night was no exception. She did her trick or treat rounds and then I realized that I hadn't seen her in a while. I looked under the ramada, and guess what I saw?!?! yes, Madison gobbling up all of her candy. All of the other kids were playing and going for seconds and thirds in the trick or treat line, but there was my kid, hoarding her candy.

So I come to my next favorite thing about Halloween. RECYCLING! When we came home from our party I had the kids pick 15 pieces of candy that they wanted to keep (Judd and I kept some too, just the good stuff) and the rest goes right into the bowl to hand out to trick or treaters on Halloween. I know I will only be able to keep this up for a year or two more, but right now the kids don't seem to mind.

I was excited to get them all sort of looking at me at the same time. Had to show it off
Coulson loved his flannel shirt so much that he tried to eat it. This was one of many attempts to get a good shot.
Judd didn't have a costume so I decided to shave a pumpkin into the back of his head. It was a big hit.These are the cutest cowboy pictures!!! I was so happy!

You gotta love him!

"You have the potential to become anything to which you set your mind. You have a mind and a body and a spirit. With these three working together, you can walk the high road that leads to achievement and happiness. But this will require effort and sacrifice and faith."
-President Gordon B. Hinckley

I am an Awesome Wife!

Judd's birthday is on Tuesday. He's going to be 31! Since he has school on Tuesday nights, I decided I would take him out last night. Let me tell you how cool I am. I planned this whole really cool night out. This is what was supposed to happen...
I was going to borrow my dad's quad and we were going to drive up into the mountains and have a fire and cook dinner and watch the sunset in while it was quiet. I made a special CD to listen to that was semi-romantic. He had no idea about this so I was getting excited. It took some planning. I bought all the yummy food and my dad had it all prepared and strapped up to the quad so we could just drive right up there and go.
Here's where things start going wrong.
The whole day Judd is trying to pry out of me what's going on. I didn't budge. I told him to dress super casual, but wear cologne. He thought I was taking him line dancing. I'm not that lame!!! Anyway, we get all dressed and head up to my parents house to pick up the truck. Its about 5:15 and we are making good time. We drive up to the place we were going and a sign said that the gates are closed from sunset to sunrise, so we were worried that we were going to get locked in. So we decided to drive down there and ask someone if we would be stuck in there. The first people we saw were these guys who looked like they lived down there. They had this old beat up camper and were playing horse shoes and were so drunk they could hardly stand up. Judd gets out of the car to ask them, and of course, like everyone Judd meets, he becomes their instant best friend. They let us know that we would be able to get out because they have 2x12 pieces of wood that they can lay over the tire guards. Thank goodness we didn't need them.
Now we are pressed for time because of all the messing around. We parked the truck and started to unload the quad. We quickly found out that one of the straps for the ramp was broken, so we tried to fix that. So while Judd is swearing and trying to fix the ramp I was watching the sun set over the mountains!! That was supposed to be romantic time!! Finally, its almost dark, we get the quad down and start driving fast to find a spot before we can't see anymore. We almost got ran over twice and I swallowed a bug, but we found a spot. Judd had to hurry and find fire wood and I was trying to get everything ready. I pulled out my radio with my romantic CD only to find I didn't bring enough batteries, dang it! Judd was collecting fire wood and found a scorpion on his arm! Drunk people could be heard shouting in the distance, we missed the romantic sunset. Judd lifted up his chair and got dirt all over my steaks. But you know what?!?!? It was one of the funnest nights ever. Our dinner was sooooo yummy (a little gritty from the dirt, but still yummy). Steaks, corn on the cob, tater tots, garlic toast and pie for dessert. The weather was beautiful, Judd got to shoot his gun. We got to hang out around the fire and talk. It was awesome. See husbands!!! See what a little planning can do?!?!? The disasters only made it more of an adventure. Next time we'll leave a little earlier.

Move Over Twilight....

This book is soooooo crazy. I seriously couldn't put it down, really I contemplated not sleeping just to read it. If you love Twilight you have to read this. Its not a vampire book but it is gooooood! Okay, so maybe not better than Twilight but definitely right up there.

A Tribute to Fashion

I am so glad that I have a girl. I get to dress her in pretty clothes, braid and curl her hair, play dress up and house. Oh wait... I don't just have any girl, I have my Madison. Man, is she as unique as they come. Lately I've been trying to let her be more independent. I let her get her own snacks, go to the bathroom at church by herself and little things like that to make her feel like she is a big girl.

I love to shop for kids clothes. Especially girl clothes. They make the cutest stuff for little girls now days. So before school started I took Madison school shopping to get some new outfits. She's picked up on my love for shopping lately. She goes through the isles picking things out left and right.

"Look at this, can you believe how cute this is???" she says

or "I can't believe it, this is the most fashionable shirt."

So we shopped and found many cute things including Sketchers shoes that she had to have that were $45!!! I don't even spend that much on my own shoes. She was happy.

So now we are almost through the first quarter of the school year and ask me how many of those outfits shes worn. Go ahead. Ummm, about zero. She won't even wear her new shoes. She continues to wear her bratz shoes even though they give her blisters. I have been in many an argument trying to get that girl to wear her new stuff, but only to be in a torturous power struggle.

I've decided that I don't care anymore. Its her outfit and her social funeral. Just kidding, I don't think kindergartners even give two hoots for what each other are wearing, so why should I?? If she feels good about her outfits then that's all that matters. It won't be too many years until she is dragging me through that horrible Hollister store. That horrible store that has no lights so you can't even see the price of the $50 thin as heck t-shirt you're buying, and is like a maze that keeps you locked inside and plays the loudest music that makes you want to have a seizure. Okay, so you know now that I hate that store. Anyway, I know that's where we will be in a few years and I should just enjoy the cheap clothes while I can.

So I've decided to do a little fashion slide show of the outfits she's worn the last couple of days to school. One week she wore the same pants 3 days in a row!!! I'm really bummed that I didn't get a picture of the black purple and blue leopard print dress with a bright yellow shirt underneath. That one is classic. I'm sure she'll wear it again. I'll keep you posted.

Mother Nature's Farm

We took the kiddos to Mother Nature's Farm for our play group last week. It was a really cute place. I think we would have enjoyed it more if the weather was cooler.

Nolan was a little confused on how to feed the animals. He would pick out one little piece of hay and try to poke it at the goats' faces. He figured it out after a while. He didn't get bitten so that counts for something. There were no significant injuries the whole day, and that says a lot for Nolan. He sure did love the tractor ride though.

Double time

Okay, I've been tagged to do my 6 quirks. There are so many to choose from. In fact, the more I think about it I find out how weird I really am.

1. I'm a joint cracker. I try to crack every thing, toes, ankles, fingers, back. I call it my snap crackle pops.

2. I love to smell things. Especially magazines. I could just sit and sniff the pages for hours. Not the perfume samples just the smooth pages. Sometimes I even rub them on my face. I told you I was weird!! I also like the smell of Nolan more than anyone else. He hates it, but I make him sit with me just so I can sniff on him.

3. I, like Marianne, am so completely competitive. I won't even let my kids cheat to win Candy Land. Judd and I used to play racket ball and if he would beat me I would chase him and try to hit him with my racket. But if he let me win it made me even more mad so he would get chased for that too. I don't beat my husband, I promise. I can't catch him. I can't believe that he still married me after that.

4. I'm a control freak. I love doing things my own way. When Judd comes home from work it throws me all off because I have to share control all of a sudden. I've noticed Madison is the same way. We have lots of power struggles.

5. If the house is a mess I won't cook. I don't know why, but something about having one mess on top of another makes me crazy. Especially if there are dishes in the sink. Everyone knows if they want food they have to pitch in and clean up. Geez, I'm a joy to live with!

6. You would think that because of my control freakedness that I would be a super tidy person, but that's not the case. In fact, I'm pretty messy. My clothes are everywhere. All of you who have to be totally clean to go to bed.... you would hate me. Half the time I fall asleep with my clothes and shoes on and when I finally wake up in the middle of the night I just strip them off and throw them on the floor beside my bed. I never remember to wash my face at night, seriously after everyone is in bed and I've picked things up I pass out. I do all of that stuff in the morning.

Okay, I'm tagging Natalie, Makenna, Kelli and Meg.

TAGGED AGAIN!!

Crazy 8's

Eight TV shows I watch:

Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, The Office, American Idol, So you think you can Dance, Split ends, Shear Genius, and Tabitha's Salon Take over.


Eight favorite restaurants:

Gecko Grill, Cafe Rio, Texas Roadhouse, Thai Basil, Papa Kelsey's, Red Robin, Rosas, chick-fil-a


8 things that happened yesterday... that's quite an eventful day,

ummm... I cut hair, took care of a sick husband, took care of kids, cleaned, hung out at my parent's house, got Red Robin for dinner, watched the presidential debate and changed diapers.


8 things I look forward to:

Cooler weather,
Holidays,
exercising in the mornings
Doing the marathon, actually I am dreading the deadline,
when my kids go to sleep and its quiet,
one day Judd will be done with school,
moving into a bigger house
having more kids


8 things I love about the fall

The colors!! My whole house is in fall colors
my birthday
Thanksgiving and Halloween
the clothes
boots
being able to go places with out sweating your rear off
season premiers of my favorite shows
having winter grass


8 things on my wish list:

new carpet
a new wardrobe when I lose this baby weight
a family vacation
a vacation for mommy and daddy
a baby sitter for vacation
I still want my kayak
a maid, I know that will never happen
a clean back yard

for this one I'll tag....... Jessica Slade, Heidi and Bre

Fire Station

We took the kiddos on a tour of the fire station for play group today. I don't know who enjoyed it more... the mom's or the kids!

The kids learned stop drop and roll and they also were able to sit in the fire truck. We had such a fun time. Not only was it a great play group idea, but it would also be good for a girl's night out!!! Just kidding!

GAR Pictures!

Here we are... the awesomest team ever!!
Rick (with the crazy hair) me and Carter.
Sierra Adventure Sports
Yes, we wore pumpkin shirts. Its okay to be jealous that you don't have one.
This is us at the starting line. We are smiling.
El Rico... the best navigator ever!

Here's Carter right before the humongous wall

Rick and Carter trying to get my rear over the wall

I actually had to have Carter in a choke hold and we helped pull Rick over. That was funny.

Conquered it!And for some reason we were still smiling. Just kidding. We had so much fun! It's almost impossible not to have a blast racing with those guys!

Like I said.... We are awesome!

YAY, I'm Alive!

I took the day off of church today (a few of you may have noticed my struggling husband in sacrament with the 2 older kiddos) because I am in pain. Its a good pain though! I am just saying yay for me for finally completing the Gilmore Adventure Race yesterday! This was my 3rd year doing it. The first year we were totally lost in the woods and had to quit, last year we were a few miles short of finishing but the race was called off due to horrible weather. But this year we did it!!! It took us 7 hours and 30 miles or so, but we finished and I am soooo happy!! No serious injuries other than bruises and scratches from all the bush whacking, but I didn't fall off my bike once and some of those trails were pretty gnarly (such an 80's word, I love it). Now that I've done that I kind of don't have any plans for the rest of the year. So I am letting you all know, not to brag, but if I tell you I have someone to report to.... I'm signing up to do the PF Chang's Marathon in January. There, I said it. AHHHHH! Yes, 26.2 miles and I'm scared!! Scared bad. I really don't like to run, but I just want to see if I can do it. Just something I want to check off of my "things to do in this life" list. Anyhoo, as soon as I get some pictures of Adventure Race, I'll post them for you all.

Tagged

About my guy:
1. Where did you meet? At one of those silly Young single adult parties. I guess those things are good for something once in a while
2. How long did you date before you were married? Six months
3. How long have you been married? 6 ½ years
4. What does he do that surprises you? He wears Cologne when we go out on dates once in a while. That's always a nice surprise
5. What is your favorite feature about him? His torso, I won't go into details why.
6. What's your favorite quality about him? He is very loyal and dedicated to his family. In fact he is very dedicated to any task he is given and he always works hard to make sure things are done right.
7. Does he have a nickname for you? Tina-weena (no one better repeat that!) or wifey
8. What is his favorite color? Red
9. What's his favorite food? Steak.
10. What's his favorite sport? He loves all sports, but his favorite is basketball
11. Who said I love you first? I think I did, I can't remember
12. When and where was your first kiss? It was at that very same young single adult party. He was pretty smooth back then
13. What's your favorite thing to do as a couple? We just like to be alone. Driving, dating, talking, anything with peace and quiet!
14. Do you have any kids? How Many? yes, 3 kids
15. What is a hidden talent that he has? I think his hidden talent would be dancing. He's always dancing in front of the mirror. He thinks he's good too!
16. How old is he? 30
17. What is his favorite type of music? He likes mostly rock, country and punk. Isn't that a weird mix?!?!?
18. What do you admire most about him? He does anything for our marriage. He always says sorry and puts up with my crap. I am a pretty demanding wife, and he keeps me happy. That is admirable.
19. Do you think he is going to read this? He doesn't even know how to get in to the blog. So probably not.
I'm tagging Caroline, Kelli, Marianne and Alisa

Quote of the day

Nolan "Mom, when Coulson turns into a girl I want to marry him."

Not enough time in the day

I had good intentions to post something but just wasn't sure if there was anything interesting enough going on. Now that last week is over with I feel much better. For any who didn't know, last week was nuts. I was working a lot and I had to plan the Relief Society opening social activity and to top it all off I was asked to speak in church. Whew! I did take some funny pictures though. I thought I would share.Amber was kind enough to let me borrow her bumbo chair. As soon as I brought it in the house the kids thought it was the coolest thing they'd ever seen. They are not convinced it is for the baby. They apparently think its a TV chair. Luckily Madison was at school when this picture was taken. Otherwise there would have been a huge fight over it.

Okay, this is a slide show of events. Nolan was quietly playing at the table, when Madison pranced in and said "How would you like to dance with a fair young maiden my handsome prince?" She was being so goofy that Nolan, being a boy, can't resist being goofy. He got down from the table and they danced the ballroom dance. Until...

Madison lost her footing and fell over. I love when she gets hurt how Nolan just stares at her and waits for a reaction.

The mean scowl. Then without skipping a beat the ballroom dance turns into a wrestling match. Where do kids get their energy???
The other night we had a movie night. Judd and I came into the living and saw that they'd invited their friends.

He does exist and he smiles too. I swear with all of the other stuff going on that Coulson gets the cold shoulder. Poor Guy. I haven't put a picture of him in for so long. Here he is.

He found his thumb.

The stare
No mama can resist a smiling baby

Meet Jeremy

For the past couple of days Madison has been playing with the boys at school. She said she is on the boy team and what they do is chase the girls around the playground. She thinks it is no longer cool to be a girl. This morning I told her to go and get dressed and she got dressed into her brother's clothes. She wouldn't wear a bow in her hair, she didn't even want to bring her girl back pack. This was our argument:

"I only want to wear boy clothes! Can you go to the store and get me some?"

"No Madison, I'm not going to the store today, and besides, your girl clothes are just fine. You don't need new ones."

"I don't want to wear girl clothes!! I want to be a boy. I don't like girls, they scream and act all ignoring (annoying)"

"Heavenly Father made you a girl, its okay to like boy things but you're still a girl."

"No I'm not, my name is Jeremy, I'm a boy and that's final!" (she actually said that)

"Fine, Jeremy, what would you like for lunch?"

Okay, so I gave up! That is very out of character for me. She is taking this really serious. I'm worried. I didn't think they started in on this tomboy phase so soon! Sounding the Alert! I need all of my friends with little girls to have her over for a play date STAT. Call me.

This is her in her boy outfit. She's very happy about it.