Family Pictures

My sister Melissa is the most amazing photograher. She takes our family pictures every year, and I am yet to be disappointed. My favorites are the close ups that she gets and the little moments that are never planned.

Check out her Photography Blog http://www.melissastevensphotography.blogspot.com/

Thanks Melissa.

Here Comes Santa Clause...

Sunday night we were invited over to my brother-in-laws parents house for dinner and... drum roll please.... Santa Clause! Every year they surprise all the kids with Santa and each of them get to sit on his lap and tell him what they want for Christmas. Of course, this year was a ton better for Jack. He even gave dear old Santa a hug. Clara was just happy to be held. And actually, I think she liked looking at her shoes more than Santa. AJ on the other hand... all he wanted was Santa's beard. I think he was trying to tell all the other little kids a little secret... uh-oh.Just as Santa was getting ready to leave, Jack remembered one very important item on his list that he had forgotten to tell Santa about... Spider Man slippers. He was so worried about it, he had to go back and tell him. *We don't want to forget to tell Santa!

Life with Jack and Clara

You know you have a toddler boy when:
1. You find cars in your bathtub because it makes a good race track.
2. Your yard is covered in footballs, soccerballs, army men, and muddy shoes.
3. He pretends to be Spider Man ALL day long, and insists that you call him Spider Man rather than his given name.
4. He makes you watch everything he does. "Watch this", "Turn around", "Did you see me"... and will not stop until he has your full attention!
5. He takes 1 hour long baths and by then end you are worried that your base boards are going to rot because of all the splashing that was done.
6. Everything in your house is made for jumping off of....
7. He knows the names of all the Football teams because that is how he spends his bonding time with daddy.
8. Your pantry is filled with endless amounts of treats to bribe him with so that you can get him to do what you want through out the day.
9. He knows all too well where "time-out" is and pretends to send his toys there when they are being nauty.
10. He is the last thing that you see when you close your eyes and the first thing that you see when you open them (literally).

You know you have a baby girl when:
1. You get to wake up to sweet smiles every morning.
2. She loves getting dressed!
3. You see alot of this.... through out the day:
4. You smell like baby spit-up at the end of the day even though you have changed your clothes 2 times already.
5. You find yourself burning candles 24-7 just to ensure that your house doesn't smell like diapers and spit-up. And of course you can hardly smell it, it's what you are used to, but you worry about visitors acutally wanting to come back to your house.
6. All she needs is a glance her way and she is filled with giggles and smiles!
7. She has endless amounts of hair flowers to match her wardrobe, which by the way is also over flowing - just because little girl things are completely irresistable!
8. Almost every room in your house is stashed with diapers and wipes.
9. You keep a carpet cleaner on hand for the endless amounts of spit-up, drool, and "oopsie" diapers.
10. They are the last thing that you see when you close your eyes and the first thing that you see when you open them (and occasionally through out the night).

I love my two little rascals.

Ups & Downs...

We all have our days, weeks, and months. Those times that we are feeling down and depressed, hurt and offended, sad and alone. Well - mine was last week. It was a hard week, a really hard weekend, and a terrible Sunday morning. I can't quite put my finger on what was bringing me down... really it was a combination of a lot of things... things that I don't feel like going into. But I woke up Sunday morning feeling quite sluggish and very negative. I tried playing the Lillies of the Field from the Tab Choir... sadly it got me nowhere. Usually this CD always works - I keep it in my car and play it for the little moments or days that I might have and it instantly cheers me up - but this time - it failed. I slowly got ready for church, I think I thought if I took too much time, Scott might let us stay home... it didn't work. Clara even tried spitting up all over me as we were walking out the door - but I was lovingly forced to quickly change into something clean so that we could get to Fast and Testimony Meeting.

As we walked into the Chapel, I was instantly filled with the Spirit. It was incredible. All of the down, hurt, and sad feelings were gone. I felt inspired to bear my testimony... I did. Joy continued to fill my heart and those negative feelings were pushed out as the rest of the day progressed.

This past week I have been overwhelmed with happiness and joy. I have had a fantastic week. Each day has been filled with something exciting. I am blessed with so many wonderful friends that care about me, an amazing family that supports me, adorable kids that fill my day with smiles and laughter, and the most incredible husband that carries me through my toughest times. I LOVE the ward that we have moved into. Everyone is so inspiring to me in different ways.

Thank you to all of you that made this week as good as it was. Alicia and Amanda I have had so much fun hanging out with you and letting our kids play together. Steph Jones you are so fun to have as a neighbor and I think our projects turned out adorable!!! Everybody that came to my house and did Micro's it was so fun seeing all of you - I hope your skin feels lovely! Candice you are such a great sister, and thank you for all the Christmas music - my house is always blasting the carols! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!! I had so much fun spending the day with you. You are the best and I am so grateful for all your advice. Scott you are not home much, but thank you for all your hard work to support our family, thank you for the weekends that you let me sleep in, thank you for not caring about the lack of dinners that have been prepared, and thank you for you.

I love you all.

Hello Toilet!

I think it's safe to say that Jack is officially potty trained!
He caught on to the whole pee thing really quick - in less than a day he was telling me that he had to go pee. It was pretty exciting. But the whole "log" thing - was a little tricky. It had been about 2 weeks, and I could not get him to go on the toilet... only in his pants, yuck! I knew he wasn't scared of it coming out of him, I knew he wasn't scared of the toilet, and I knew that once I could get him to do it just a few times he would catch on... but I could not figure out what was going to get him there for the first gew times.

We bought LOTS of treats and toys, I even started taking his favorite toys away from him. I tried spider-man underwear and told him that Spider Man would be sad if he pooped on him... nothing worked. I was quickly loosing control with him.

One morning, he went first thing in his pants... I was frusterated. I told him I was not going to change him and he had to sit in his poop. (Not literally sit, but just hang out in his yucky pants for a while). He freaked! He has always hated having to hang around in dirty pants... so HELLO... why did I not think of this before??? The rest of the day and the next I told him if he went in his pants he would have to sit in it. It worked like a charm... by the end of the nex day he was going in the toilet, and the next day in the toilet, and the next day and the next.

Halelujlah! He is trained... poop, pee, and even stays dry through out the night!

1 kid down... 1 more to go... but not for a while longer.

The week of Thanksgiving

It started off the best possible way! A girls night out to an amazing showing of .... TWILIGHT! Our loving husbands stayed home with all the little ones, while us girls loaded into my moms car and headed out for the best love story of all time.

Was in love... still in love.

Wenesday my mom suprised the older grandkids with an early Christmas present.... Cowboy Clothes! Shirts, belts complete with belt buckles, and boots! Jetta in the middle, her stuff is all pink... the shirt, the belt and the boots! I love it!

Thanksgiving day was filled with lots of food, fun and laughter. It started out with a Turkey bowl in the back yard. Yes, the back yard. My parents live on 5 acres. So there was pleny of room to get a good game of football on. Later that morning we went out with my sista Melissa, she took our family pictures - as always -they turned out fantastic. Those pictures are soon to come. We started dinner off with a weigh-in. I gained 2 lbs... ugh. But well worth it - the food was delish!

Later that night we started with our traditional Gingerbread House making. We set up tables in the garage and everyone brings LOADS of candy, we break out the Christmas tunes and get our creativity on! We have been doing this for so long you'd think we would be pro's by now - and I guess some are - but really we all just like to load the sugar on so that we can eat it later.

Uncles Miles is the best. The kids love him, especially Jetta. She has a crush. We had the harest time keeping the kids from literally inhaling the candy! Henry was pretty sneaky about it, every time his parents weren't looking he would shove handfuls into his mouth. It was hilarious. Here Jackson is showing me his soon to be rotted teeth. Lovely. Jetta being the sassy little thing that she is. Took the frosting and started to squeeze it into her nose. Even after her mom told her not to.Once we are all done. All the "kids" (that would be us) have to leave while the adults (that would be the grandma's) give each gingerbread house an award. Things like... "Best Martha House", "Most Colorful", "Best Use of Candy", "Best Dr. Seuss House"... stuff like that.

Clara was quite worn out at the end of the day. Here she is relaxing with Scott... or maybe posing for the camera?The next morning us ladies got up at the crack of dawn... literally... about 4:30 AM... to hit the Black Friday Sales. We went to Babies R Us (for Clara), Target (a must!), Joannes (better than you would think), Costco, and a couple others. It was insane, but well worth it! I saved over $200, at Joannes, my sister Melissa spent $50 and saved $150 ... so yeah - I think we did well. At target we were stopped by the channel 2 news - they made us do a "I got a good deal dance"... I am sure we all looked like the biggest fools. But we laughed it off.

It was a great Thanksgiving. I hope you all enjoyed yours. Happy Holidays! Oh - and it's time for Christmas Cards. I would love to send them out to whoever would like. Please e-mail me your address so that I make sure I send them to the right home. mccallrandall@gmail.com

Joy School

I have Jack in a Co-Op Joy School Group. Basically there are 6 kids and each week we rotate dropping the kids off at each house. When the kids are at your house you are in charge of planning the day out. I had the kids at my house Thanksgiving week. We had a lot of fun talking about what they were thankful for, what Thanksgiving is all about, the pilgrims and the indians, and what kinds of food you have at a feast. Reminder: these kids are all in the 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 range - you have to keep things simple, and short!

We made indian hats that said, "I am Thankful for..." and then each feather said something that they each had mentioned. Some of the things were... spiderman, the color pink, carrots, grapes, toys, trucks, mommy's and daddy's.... it was really funny watching them try to come up with what they were thankful for.

We also made Turkey's with their hands. They loved having the paint on their hands and then seeing it transfer onto paper.

I know I am about a week late on this - but Happy Thanksgiving!

My Sisters got TALENT!!!!

I am sorry Melissa, but I just have to show people how talented you are!

My sister Melissa is an artist - an unbelieveable artist! My little sister, Cami, asked Melissa to draw a picture of her boyfriend next to his horse. Cami wanted to give it to him for Christmas. So Melissa worked and worked on the picture. She was trying to get it done in time to give it to Cami while she was in town for Thanksgiving. She did not want to have to mail it and worry about it bending. Well, one afternoon she walked in the door and found THIS.......He little boy Henry wanted to add to her beautiful horse picture. I am sure he was just trying to be like his mommy. So sad. There was nothing she could do to fix it, she tried everything she could think of... but it was ruined.

So what did she do? She did it all over again.... IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS!!!!

Here is the final product....
Can you believe it? She has got amazing talent! Way to go Melissa, you are incredible!

Online Black Monday

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.

The sales are not over yet! Monday is the "Black Friday" for all internet stores. Click on this link to ckeck out all the sales online. Another opportunity to save more money and with out the crowds!

http://www.bestcybermondaysales.com/

Happy Shopping!

Wheeler Farm...

Last week I took the kids and met some friends from high school at Wheeler Farm. I had not been there forever, its probley been since junior high. But it was fun to be with the girls and let the kids run around while we caught up... not that blogging doesn't do that for us - but it's always more fun in person. It was fun having Heidi in town with her little guy Max. Amanda and her little girl Millie just got back from living in England for the past year. And Alicia lives here with her two little guys Andrew and Jackson. Jackson was so funny to watch crawl around in the dirt... a total boy!

It is so weird that we all have kids now... but it's fun that we can all get together and watch the kids run around. We have decided to do a play group every monday. Anyone else that wants to come along - we would love it! Even if you don't have kids and want to hang out, it would be fun so to see you all!

Sorry I missed our first "official" play date. I have got to get this kid potty trained before Thanksgiving weekend, he is sooooo close!

Also, we want to plan a date night around the Holidays when everyone is in town. For those of you that don't live here, e-mail me your schedule so we can get something planned!

Poor Cougars....

We lost. And we lost bad. But oh-well, we still love our Cougars! Congrats to all you Ute fans out there, your team did great. We had my family over for the game. We ordered pizza, drank too much soda, ate lots of chips, and indulged in ice cream! It was a ton of fun. The kids all wore the cougar colors. Luckily I had a blue and white shirt for Clara in the closet, most of her things tend to be in the pink color range. Clara, Jackson and AJ. At the last minute Jack pulled the two little ones in and gave them big hugs - I love the squishy baby faces!

Our cougar family.

HIGH SCHOOL

I saw this on my friend, Alicia's blog. It brought back a ton of memories! Tag to anyone else that wants to reminisce the good old high school days!1. Did you date someone during high school? Yes. Mark Reese - about 1 year, and Andrew Webb - about 2 years.

2. What kind of car did you drive? First a Nissan Sentra - wrecked that one. Then a Honda Accord. But my parents had the sweetest Defender 90 - and I was lucky enough to drive that one around town here and there.

3. Did you pass your driver's license test on the first try? Please. Of course.

4. Were you a party animal? No. I went to some parties, but stayed away from that. I had a cousin who was a party animal, still is. I saw him spiral down hill and it kept me on tract. I still pray for him. Although I did have one crazy party at my house my sophmore year, my parents were out of town - and I broke way too many rules. I was grounded for 3 months. It was terrible. But I never did anything like that again. Unless you consider Tracie Frei's party that I helped plan (I have to take some credit -that was the sweetest party in the entire world!). But that wasn't at my house - so I got away with it. But tracie got nailed. That party has gone down in history, it was even talked about at her wedding.

5. Were you considered a flirt? I don't think so. I always had a boyfriend. But maybe everyone else would say otherwise, you have to ask them.

6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? None that I can remember.

7. Were you a nerd? Me? I was way too cool. S.O.D girls!

8. Were you on any varsity teams? Diving.

9. Did you ever get suspended/expelled? No way.

10. Can you still sing the fight song? I don't even remember the tune.

11. Who were your favorite teachers? ???? I can't even think of a single teachers name right now.

12. Where did you sit for lunch? I think I left school most of the time. But if I was there, probley the lunch room...?

13. What is your school's full name? Olympus High School... home of the Titans!

14. What is your school's mascot? A Titan.

15. Did you go to Homecoming and with who? Junior year I think I went with Dillan Hopkins, and Senior year I think I went with Mark Reese. But I am not too sure on that one. I could be thinking of a different dance. I don't know?

16. If you could, would you go back and do it again? Heck yeah! But I would do things differently. I would have more fun with the girls, less boyfriends... maybe no boyfriends, just a lot of dating, and take school more seriously.

17. What do you remember most about graduation? That I was late and got there right as our graduating class was walking in. It was a close call.

18. Where did you go Senior Skip Day? I didn't know there was a senior skip day? I skipped alot of days.

19. Were you in any clubs? I don't remmeber, I think just diving.

20. Have you gained some weight since then? If you count pregnancy, yes. But on average - I weigh less than I did in high school.

21. Who was your prom date? Andrew Webb.

22. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? I think so, if I am around for it. I didn't do the 5 year - but the 10 year could be fun.

23. Did you have a job in high school? I mostly did diving, I think that was my job. But then I quit and my mom told me if I didn't get a job she would take my car away - that got me out the door and I landed a job with the great. "Euorpean Connection" - Remember those days, Ashlie - we had fun!

I kindof have a bad memory - if you can't tell. But from what I remember High School was awesome while it lasted! Good times, good times!

BABY LAUNDRY IS OFFICIAL!!!

Baby Laundry is finally up and running!

Their minky designs are to die for! They just started carrying the most adorable baby shoes! And they are soooo affordable!

Check it out...

www.babylaundryandmore.com

***Free shipping on all orders before Dec. 18th!

Enjoy!

Sick & Helpless

It is Sunday afternoon and I am home with the flu. Ugh. Not fun at all.

It has been a long week for our family. Scott and I have always said that we think we have pretty good immune systems - but this week is making me think otherwise. I started out feeling sick Tuesday. It began as a pretty bad stomach ache and turned into feelings of pins and needles through out my whole body. Wednesday night I started feeling better... but then Scott started feeling sick. But he got it alot worse, he was throwing up all night long. The whole time he was sick I kept saying, "I am so sorry, I know exactly how you feel" (wrong).

By Saturday he was back to normal. Saturday was a nice relaxing day. Scott only had to work 2 hours, so we spent most of the day together. That night my parents watched Jack and Clara for us so we could go to the Temple. The Temple was great, and we felt fine. Later that night we were laying in bed and talking about how crappy the "bug" was that we got. We talked about how little we have been sick since we have been marriend and how we are going next week to get flu shots. Soon we both fell asleep, but I woke up only a few hours later to an aching stomach and a few too many trips to the bathroom.

I think what really happened was that we got hit with two different bugs in our family this week. I was hit with a body flu bug first, Scott then got the flu and on top of it the body bug that I had, and then just when we thought things were better, I was hit with the original flu that Scott had.

So now, it is Sunday afternoon and I am laying in bed browsing the internet with some random and not so fun stomach aches and pains. Scott is on his own with the kids. Usually I would consider this a good afternoon (minus the sick part) - but it has not been easy to listen to Scott try to get both kids ready for church by himself, feed them lunch, and take care of me. I feel so helpless.

Husband,
Thank you for taking care of me. This time, I really do know how you feel.

Sweet Love

I think these two kids are finely starting to love eachother. Jack is so sweet with her... no recent attacks... that I know of...?
Clara has turned into a fantastic baby! She is so smiley and giggly all the time. I can really get her going - it is so adorable!

Dr. Oz & The Science of Beauty

I am a big Oprah fan. I tivo all of her shows and after the kids go down for the night I enjoy my evenings with Oprah! Tuesday she had Dr. Oz on the show and they talked about the Science of Beauty. I found it very interesting, of course I am an esthetician so all this beauty stuff goes along with the field that I work in... but then again, what woman does not find beauty interesting? So here are a few things they talked about on Oprah that I thought I would pass along for those of you that missed it!

Skin Care
Ways to keep our skin young through the kitchen...
1. Stock up on legumes, avocados, soybeans and nuts.
2. Eats lots of Salmon
- Salmon contains carotenoids. Carotenoids are a powerful antioxidant that improves the skins elasticity!
3. Tomatoes Tomatoes Tomatoes!!!
- They contain lycopene. Lycopene protects your skin against sunburns... therefore helps to protect against against aging!
- Eat the tomatoes with a little bit of olive oil and it helps your body to absorb the lycopene.
4. Pomegranates.... yummy!
- Promote collagen. Collagen is the main protein in your skin that keeps you looking young.
- My tip for an easy way to get the seeds out... Cut the pomegranate into 4ths. Fill a large bowl full of water. One by one open the pomegranates under the water and pop the seeds out. The seeds will sink to the bottom and the white part will float to the top. This also keeps you kitchen (and you) from getting stained with pomegranate juice.

Hair
1. Get a charcoal filter for your shower head.
- It takes out the chlorine. Chlorine drys your hair out.
- You can find a charcoal filter at any hardware store or large department store.
2. Keep you hair protected from the sun.
- The sun fries your hair and takes away natural body.
- Wear a hat
- You can also find shampoos and conditioners that protect against UV rays
3. Styling Tools
- Reduce damage caused from heat
- 2 Products were recommended. Citrus Shine Serum, only $6.99 and Got 2 B Crazy Sleek, only $4.49

Cracked Heels
1. Use Stridex Pads, only $5.99
- They contain salicylic acid. This helps to exfoliate off the dead skin.
2. After you use the Stidex Pads, rub on some cocoa butter, Vaseline, or Eucerine to help moisturize.

I hope you enjoyed the little bit of info I shared with you from her Science of Beauty show with Dr. Oz. I know I did!

Jackson on the phone...

This little one has been driving me crazy. He tests me all day long, and most of the time I probley don't pass. Please little guy, mommy needs a break.

Vote

Go out and vote.

I did.

Post Baby

After I had Clara I lost my baby weight quite quickly. I lost all but the last 10 lbs in the first 2 weeks. I lost 5 more lbs in the following 2 weeks. And then after that it was coming off at about 1 lb a week. I am pretty sure I can thank nursing for all the weight coming off so quickly. I started nursing Clara not really thinking that I would get very far with it. I only did it for 2 weeks with Jackson. 1 - I didn't like it, at all. 2 - I got the flu and was left with hardly any milk. I am sure I could have gotten my milk to come back in, but because the first 2 weeks were so painful, I didn't really care to keep doing it... so I quit.

While I was regnant with Clara it was a constant debat in my mind... to nurse OR not? A few weeks before she was born I had to talked to quite a few people that had talked me into giving it a try... a good try. So when she was born, I went for it. It was hard in the beginning, a little painful, although not as bad as with Jack. I remember talking to one of my Aunts about it. She told me if it was hurting, it meant she was latched on wrong and to readjust. She was right. So together, Clara and I worked at it - and we got through it.

I got to the point where I was loving it. It was my special time with her. I loved just sitting and holding her. I loved how she would look at me, like she was memorizing every part of me as her mother. It was a real bonding experience. I finally understood why women nursed and loved it.

Recently I decided to start working again. But I knew that Clara would not take a bottle, and therefore I could not leave her with anyone. So I stopped nursing. It was bittersweet. Its so nice to beable to have other people feed her, to feed her while I am doing my shopping and not feel like I have to pause for 20 minutes and find a dressing room, a bathroom stall, or go back out to the car. But I miss my time with her, the bottle just doesn't give that same bonding time with her. I miss the "FREE" part of it, the price of formula really adds up. And I really miss the way my body was responding to the breasfeeding!

I was eating just about everything insight. I had ZERO control. But it didn't matter - because no matter what, I felt great and I was still dropping weight. Now that I have stopped and my body is back to normal, I am realizing I have to get back to my diet to feel good again. I really need to get to the gym, but where I will find time besides going at 6 am in the morning, I don't know if it will happen.

So back to vegetables, protein, lean meats, and light on the fruits I go. Breakfast. Snack. Lunch. Snack. Dinner. Here I come. Hopefully that treadmill will be my friend again... mabye if my dear Clara starts sleeping through the night, I will get an extra boost to get out of bed at 6 o'clock in the morning?!? But for now we will focus on the delicous foods that are now cut from my diet and the "healthy" foods that will replace it.

On My Mind....

Day Light Savings.
Yesterday day light savings occured here in Utah. Why do we have this? Well, I know why - but seriously why? It is so frusterating for me to figure out the kids schedules when the times of day are changed. Now Jackson will be waking up at 6:30 or 7:00 am instead of 7:30 or 8:00 am ... and I am going to have to "try" to get him in bed at 6:30 pm instead of 7:30 pm ... I know they are just hours on the clock, but I hate having to readjust schedules to the time change. Also, Utah has decided to "do away" with day light savings, but for some reason is doing it gradually? What is the point in that? Just get rid of it all together.

Pregnancy.
Fear number #1 right now. Getting pregnant! I just had baby number 2. I can't handle an "oops" right now.

Prop 8.
Californians.... Please vote YES! I believe our countries values are on a slope downward (or maybe a plunge downward)... If proposition 8 fails, I believe that both our own and that of our childrens future will change forever. And, let me please state this is a MORAL issue not a racial issue. My wonderful Aunt that lives in California sent me this article. It is one of the best I have read. Please check it out.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/05/california_decision_will_radic.html

Obama.
Ugh. That is all I can say.

The Economy.
Of course we all know the economy is upside down right now. As bad, scary, and frusterating as it is... I personally have learned alot from it. I have learned to be more "frugal" with my money, not necessarily by choice, but that's okay - one can never learn too many money saving lessons.

The Gospel.
Most of these topics all boil down to one thing. The Gospel. Daylight savings really doesn't have anything to do with it. But pregnancy... well, I was talking to Scott about this fear of mine, getting pregnant after I just had a baby... and this is what he said, "If you did get pregnant, it would be our miracle baby. For some reason that baby was supposed to be sent to our family and it had to be now." He had a good point. God has a plan for us - not always do we want to take his plan with a smile, but we do it anyways.
Prop 8, Obama, and The Economy... well at this point all we can do is pray. I was sitting in Fast and Testimony meeting yesterday and a couple of the testimonies were about the state of our country. Each person came to the conclusion that as long we stay near to the Lord and do as our dear Prophet asks we will be comforted. Our country may be in shambles, but we are so very blessed, we have the Gospel.

TrUNk oR TrEAt

This year we did the Ward "Trunk Or Treat". I loved it! It was so much fun seeing everyone there, seeing all the costumes and it was soooo easy! Jackson didn't even walk to all the cars and his bucket was over flowing!

I stayed at the car with our little chilli pepper and passed out the candy.

Scott walked around with the Monkey. Yes... Jack is a monkey... not a bear or a lion or a horse. Ha ha. And yes, someone did ask if he was a horse...? Our chilli pepper is really eyeing that candy... maybe she will have a sweet tooth just like her mom and brother....?Halloween was so fun. Jackson was so proud of all the candy he collected. Too bad he woke up this morning with only a puzzle, spider rings, and a pack of marshmallows to show for it! Yes, I stashed all the candy in a closet... he doesn't know when to stop eating candy... it always turns into a fight all day long with him... I figured it would be best to just hide it so that only "I" know where it is... ha ha hah.

Rockin' in Style!

I am not really one for dressing up. Scott on the other hand, loves to dress up. And when it comes to dressing up, it can never be something simple - it has to be over the top. So when we got invited to go to a Halloween Party, I knew we had to do something extreme, but didn't want to go out and spend alot of money. I looked through our Halloween costumes and realized we had almost enough stuff to put together some "80's Rocker" costumes. I had to go out and get a few added accessories just to make it cRaZY enough for Scott... but I think I did a pretty good job...

Halloween parties are always fun. It is fun to see the different costumes and the creativity. Scott was 'runner-up" for best costume. The guy that one dressed up as the Joker from Batman - and he actually looked alot like him. It was a little creepy.


Johnny, Lorna, McCall, Scott, Taylor, Jessie. Thanks for the fun Halloween party!

The Witches at Gardners Village

Have you seen the witches at Gardners Village? You have to go! It is such a fun thing to do around Halloween. Just one more thing that adds to the spirit of the Holiday!

This year I went with my mom and sister and the babes. Its so fun to walk around and look at all the creative displays, go in and out of all the fun stores, and of we had to get a carmel apple and candy at the candy store!

They also have a fun a petting zoo and pony rides for the kids. So fun. Hoo-ray for Jack - he rode "Queen" and loved it!

"You Out Making Money?"

Scott usually comes home for lunch every day. And every time he leaves, Jack gets sad and asks him not to go. One time Scott said, "but daddy has to go make money so we can pay for things". That was pretty much the end of the conversation and Scott left to go back to work.

Yesterday Scott called home to say hi, and this is what happened...

The phone rings...
Jack starts yelling, I wanna talk I wanna talk...
I see that it is Scott, so I let Jack answer...

Jack, "Hi."
Scott, "Hey Jackson."
Jack, "You out making money?"
I grabbed the phone and said, "did you just hear what he said?!?"

Scott and I could not believe it. We were shocked that he had actually picked up on what Scott had said the other day. He is starting to be a really perceptive little guy - it's crazy!

Ha ha. We will be laughing at this for a while. At least he understands that you have to work to make money.

5 Years Later....

October 18, 2003 ... the date Scott and I were married for eternity in the Mesa, AZ temple. So Saturday was our big 5 year anniversary. What do most people do for their 5 year? Go on a big trip... get a nice hotel for the night... get a siter for the night... go to a movie... have a nice night without the kids...? Ha ha, yeah, we did none of those things. Scott spent the day working, which means I spent the day with the kids, alone, just like every other day. We were planning on getting a siter for the kids, but the week leading up to Saturday changed our plans...

Tuesday Clara was a disaster. I was with some friends and they mentioned trying a formula with less iron because it is softer on their tummies. So I did it. All week long she was a wreck. When I finally decided to go back to the original formula (Saturday afternoon)... within one feeding she was back to normal! Once I had figured out what her deal was, I tried calling some girls in our ward but it was too late. They were either busy or out of town for the Holiday weekend.

Starting Thursday Jackson was having some terrible diapers. I think he had a little bug. No fever - but he was not eating much and was complaining that his tummy was hurting him. That combined with the diapers, I am pretty sure he had a little something. But of course, Saturday afternoon he was better - eating like a champ, no more tummy aches, and thankfully no more messy diapers.

So what did Scott and I decide to do? We went out... with the kids. The weather was nice so we decided to go to Gateway and walk around and get some dinner at Tucano's, one of my favorites, even though I am not much of a meat eater (especially red meats) but for some reason, the all you can eat salad bar and meat gets me.... it's so delicious. But, it was actually a really fun night. The whole time we kept looking down at Jack and Clara and thinking... here we are 5 years later... out on our anniversary with our kids and so incredibly happy.

To My Love,

Happy 5 Years! You are amazing. Thank you for being the best husband and father. I am so lucky to have you. You are perfect for me... you compliment my flaws and turn them into perfection. I love you.

Love,

Me