I don't want to take a nap!

I told B that since it's trick-or-treat tonight, that he needed to take a nap so he would be happy! He really didn't want to. Amanda tried because Brandon said he wanted to snuggle with her. (Oh, that just melts a mama's heart!) But, he didn't sleep because they were watching kid shows. So, here comes the mean mom and I got him to sleep in about 5 minutes. But, not without him getting the final protest in. I just love how he is sleeping on this pillow facing the wrong way in the bed! Ok, Brando...you win!

Halloween Crazy

I thought these two boys looked so cute today waiting to go to their preschool Halloween party! Brandon is (obviously) Yoda and his friend, Matthew, is Spiderman! They also go to preschool with Spencer who lives next door. He is also being Yoda.

When I drive the carpool and help them get out of the car, I have to give them a superhero name as I lift them out of the car. Sometimes they pick the same name, Batman, Spiderman, Superman. Sometimes they have to be a little different, Black Spiderman, Red Spiderman...

This age is so cute and it's been fun for Brandon to have his buddies to go to school with! They had a great time at their party. Brandon came home and divided his treats with me. One for Mom, one for Brandon. Very sweet!

Arvy Party - Halloween take 2!

Brandon getting ready in Daddy's costume!

This past Saturday we went to our friends, the Laws, annual Halloween party! Always good food and fun people. We left before the pumpkin carving this year because we were hosting the Arvy's at our house for another Halloween party!

We had Maddox chicken, funeral potatoes, beans, fries, yummy salad, and my favorite...sugar cookies!

Some of the scarier ghouls having a dual in the backyard (Jace & Corvin)
Elphaba Amanda!

We played games provided by Grandma and Papa. The kids love these parties and hanging out with the cousins!

The cool ones who dressed up! Corvin scary guy, Maddie as Miley, Mikey as Stormtrooper, Brock is a rock start, Kristine with great dracula teeth, Grandma as a rock star, Emily as Tinkerbell, second row: Amanda, Jill as wicked witch of the east, Zach as Indy Jones, Grandpa as a Ute, Jace another scary guy, front row: Sydney as Glinda and Brandon as YodaThe 'losers' who didn't dress up! You were good sports to get your picture taken! Kellie with an impromptu boa costume, Scott as Scott, and scary guys flanking Jim as Jim

Other 'losers' showed up later, but were not photographed...Matt as Matt, Alisa as Alisa. Missing in action....Hillary and Steven and girlies who were feeling ill, or were just scared to show up!

Here are all the cousins (minus Brock who didn't want another photo) back row: Amanda, Corvin, Maddie, Kaili in a cute yellow tutu, second row: Greg as batman, Sydney, Zach, Ryan with a golf ball in his forehead, Jace, Front row: Kelsey as a fairy, Emily and Brandon

Gibby Halloween Party

A couple of weekends ago, we had my family up for a Halloween party! We had yummy soup, chili and Grandma brought bread bowls that looked liked pumpkins (the kids just ate that up! ha, ha, get it?). Also, tasty nachos and cookies.....We had a few rounds of Guitar Hero, but mostly we ran around chasing babies, talking and having a good time together! I'm thinking these two could be a remake of the Go-Go's! Any 80's fans out there?

Roger & Cozette (Utah fans...so creative:), Garrett who was Elmo, Elyse cute puppy, and Kate as a witch!
Stacie as a doctor, Ari as a Ute cheerleader!, Aidan as Lightning McQueen, and Isaac as Thomas! Dan was working...missed ya!

Grandma & Papa - Bob the Builder and Grandma in her "shirt"

D & Kat did have togas on earlier. Zach was Bob the Builder and Kayla was a bumblebee
Like father like son. Mom (Grandma) says this is her 'stupid son'

Sorry, that was just too funny!

(What she meant is he always has a stupid look on his face for pictures-but we got a good laugh outta that one!)

All the kids quietly watching 'Mr Magoriums Wonder Emporium' for about 5 minutes

Amanda as Elphaba, Kate, Brandon as Yoda, Zach, Sydney as Glinda, Elyse

Aidan, Isaac and Ari

A few fun fotos

First off, I am loving this late October weather! I went outside tonight after dinner, sat in the dark on the front porch and just hung out listening to cars, neighbors coming and going, and occassionally one of our children coming to find me. It was a nice quiet moment to sit and think about nothing in particular. I need to take more moments like these.

Second, I found a little photo book that we filled with pictures for our babies to look at during church. It's about 10 years old....but some of these pictures are so fun for us to look at. Enjoy a few!

Since we were halfway there....

I decided we should so something fun since the girls were out of school. Mike wanted to go to St. George and I was the one stopping us.....a new thing for me....being conservative. Anyway, since we were halfway to Gardner Village because of Abi's party, I took the kids to see the witches!

It didn't seem very crowded as we pulled into the parking lot. I had heard that the day before was a nightmare and was hoping we had gotten lucky. We just drove right to the last parking lot out in the field somewhere thinking it was silly to drive around and around looking for a place to park!

First, we needed some lunch! I was hoping we'd get to go to Naborhood Bakery, but as we rounded the building, there was a huge line! Since low blood sugar does not agree with 2 of the 3 kids, we needed something faster. There was a tent set up wit hot dogs, etc. and we stood in that line because it went faster. We found some rocks to sit on that were in a garden and Sydney knowing that we shouldn't step in gardens kept asking me if they let us do that...

Yes, Syd, it's ok.

Mom, are you sure?

Yes, Sydney, it's fine...eat.

Then, here comes a bee to torment Sydney...and only Sydney

So, she ended up standing out of the garden to eat her $4 hot dog!

Then, off to see some witches! The Outhouse witch is Sydney's favorite!

This one opens and closes her shutters. Brandon had a good time going down the hill to knock on her house.

We were waiting for Aunt Alisa and her kids to join us. When they did, I made them all line up for a picture. Thanks for humoring me, Kaili!

Here is a picture of our kids. Amanda is pouting because I wouldn't buy her a witch hat. I told her she could spend her money, instead.

Here are the kids after I bought them witches' hat, and a noisy gun. The girls had to pay me...Brandon just gets to be spoiled still. He has a lot of catching up to do.

See Amanda's smile?

Now, here is the reason I won't go back during UEA weekend. It was crowded. When we

got back to our car that we so quickly parked.....it took us 25 minutes to get out of the field where we had parked. We couldn't have traveled more than 50 yards. When we hit the paved parking lot, they had parking attendants helping and it only took another 5 minutes to get out of the parking lot! I was done at that point, but I hope the kids had fun!

There is a spider on my hat!

Let the Halloween parties commence!

First Halloween party of the season was at cousin Abi's place! Abi lives downtown, so we got to go in a big building and play in their social room! Here is cute Brandon as Yoda!

We quickly found Brandon's twin, cousin Zach! He was Bob the Builder! Kat tells us it's his 2nd year as Bob. Lucky for her! She didn't have to come up with anything, pay for anything new and it's a darling costume!
Thanks for a fun party, Abi and Hillary and everyone who helped!

Hillary's blog has more details of the party. Amanda & Sydney were out of school for UEA weekend. Amanda wanted to stay at the party, while Sydney and I took a Mommy/Daughter date moment!The group of party-goers! Sydney has fake eyeballs over her eyes!

We walked a couple of blocks to Hagermann's Bakery (a must try-YUM!) and shared a drink and some ghost cookies. We had a nice chat and enjoyed seeing downtown. It's under so much construction, that we haven't been around in awhile.

Here is what we discussed while having our date: On our walk, we saw a person begging for money. Sydney asked if we should give him some money. I told her that we give money to our church and the church helps. Also, that there are places that serve lunch and dinner and also a place he can go to stay overnight. She wasn't satisfied with this answer and just kept telling me that we should give him some money. So, finally I told her that I had a dollar she could give him if he was there on the way back. She was too shy to give it to him, so she said I should.

I told her ok and she kept making sure that I had the dollar in my pocket so it was ready to hand to the man.

We finished up our treats and headed back

(by the way, Sydney does not like to walk anywhre! This was a big deal for her to walk 4 blocks today. She only said she wanted to sit down once! Way to go, Syd!).

To Sydney's dismay, the person had moved on. I told her someone must have given him some money and he went to get lunch.

Then, I thought to myself, what a great lesson our girl had just taught me.

It doesn't matter that we give money elsewhere...it wouldn't have been a big deal to give this man a dollar.

And then, I would have been the one teaching my daughter.

As it should have been.

Thank you Sydney!

I had a great time on our date!

Party with the Gparents

One last party for Amanda's 10th birthday! The Gibby and Arvy Grandparents came up for dinner! We had Amanda's choice of Chicken Pillows and chocolate cake for dessert. She got a fun book that she immediately read (and $$) from Gibbys and Webkinz and clothes from Arvys (which she immediately adopted and dressed).
We love when the grandparents come to visit! We even sat in the formal dining room for dinner! Feeling special Grandparents and Amanda?

Thank you to both grandparents for being so loving and coming to celebrate Amanda's birthday! We are so blessed to have our grandparents live close to us!

I looked out the window...

and what did I see? Two inches of snow (oh) on October 13th!

Oh wait...it's the 12th, but that doesn't rhyme in my song.....

Who's that girl?

It's Nutcracker picture day. This means I woke up at 5am...not that I needed to, it's just that I don't have to get up that early anymore and I don't have faith that my alarm clock will wake me up! I had to be at the ballet studio at 6:45am to do my 'shift'....mandatory volunteering. It was actually fun and exciting to see all the girls in their costumes and make-up!

I helped mostly with the jr high/high school girls and it made me excited that my girls may someday be doing the same thing!


Amanda and I talked just recently about what activities she can give up as we try to simplify, and she always says that she'll probably quit ballet at the end of the year. Then, when it comes time to sign up....she wants to go another year!
After this morning, I felt for the first time that I really don't either daughter to give up
ballet or dance.

Anyway......here is a picture of Amanda's Blue Soldier make-up. Her pictures were at 2pm...now it's almost 7pm and she still is wearing the make-up. She's having fun!
Maddy L is in this picture and she is a buffoon this year.....the girls that go with Mother Buffoon. Amanda and Maddy did some make-up for Sydney...Syd just eats this stuff up!

Then, cute Brandon who loves getting his picture taken. But, usually by the time I get my camera ready...he's past the cute smile and has a more pensive look on his (messy) face!
It's gotten cold here today and we spent the day in the freezing air watching soccer games, going to McD's with Reed and Makaela for hot chocolate and watching the Utes play and beat the Cowboys! Go UTES!

Par-tay!

Amanda's friends party was this afternoon. Cute group of girls with a TON of energy! We played games, did a pinata, made parfaits, 'heavy, heavy hang over' for the presents, and they had to run to a boy's house down the street to see if he was home! The party was for 2 hours and they still wanted to play when it was over. So, Amanda & Sydney went to Maddy's house and Brando and I enjoyed some peace & quiet finally!

Left to right front row, Susie E., Maddy L., Brinley M., Shalee K., Cami M., Mary J.* 2nd row: Elizabeth W, Suzie S., Hanalee H., Amanda* Back row: Kiley ? and Ashley H

Brinley, Mary & Cami

Kiley, Ashley, Susie and Hanalee with the air guitars...

Giving wishes to her present givers

Bump on the head!

Manda Panda is 10 years old!

It's hard to believe our sweet girl is 10 years old! From the moment she woke up, she had a huge smile on her face! We could just see how happy she was that it was her birthday!

She asked for breakfast in bed.....so I got up a little early and made her some pancakes. I found some snack pack M&M's and decided to put the candies in the pancakes. Amanda liked that!

Next we let her open her present: Heeleys! We surprised her because we had told her that she should ask for those for Christmas! When she tried them on they were a little snug, so I ran back to the store during the day and exchanged them. Daddy took us out to Olive Garden for dinner to celebrate her birthday and she 'Heeley'd' al over the place! After a yummy dinner, we came back home for our traditional Backer's cake! The card in the picture is from her school class. It's also her VIP week and she gets to be 'line leader' all week! It took Amanda 3 tries to blow out her candles....I guess that's what happens when you get as old as 10 years! Here are 10 things we love about Amanda!

1. She is a sweetheart! She's always putting others needs and wishes ahead of her own. She is so kind to her siblings and very helpful to her parents! Just last night, she was helping Sydney (who was whinning about not being able to do Heeley's-she got Amanda's old ones) learn how to do Heeley's. She is always helping Brandon.

2. She is a tease. She knows how to have fun and likes to get people laughing!

3. She is very creative: She is writing a play and designing the sets in our basement. She has all the parts organized and labeled.

4. She is a smarty pants! Amanda has always done great in school! Now that's she is in 4th grade, she is getting some harder material, but she doesn't give up and shows real determination.

5. She is talented. If her Mom would teach her weekly, she would be a pro on the piano! With the little instruction she gets, she is able to play beautifully! She can also dance, play soccer and sing!

6. She is a good friend! Amanda has numerous girls that call everyday to play with her. The party is always at our house! People know that Amanda will always be nice to them.

7. She likes to hang with Mom & Dad! We love that Amanda will hang out with us and likes to talk! We keep telling her that someday soon, she won't think we are cool....and we'll be sad when that happens. She promises it won't happen!

8. She is adventurous! Amanda is always up for anything, anytime! She loves to take bike rides with her Dad. She will try any ride anywhere.

9. She is responsible: We can trust her to do whatever we need. I also love and appreciate the fact (since I'm a Gibson and we don't like phones), that she will make phones calls to anyone.

10. She is beautiful and she's our daughter! We just love Amanda because she is Amanda!

Happy Birthday, Amanda! We love you!