Halloween slideshow..

We have so many Halloween pictures to post.. parties, friends, candy, painting pumpkins.. but it's going to have to wait. All we have today is old Halloween pictures. I posted this slideshow last year, but there are new pictures added.. so watch at your own risk.

And I also said this last year, but it still rings true. Adults who don't dress up are L.A.M.E.
You get one chance to dress up as something fun and crazy, so don't let it pass you by!

Happy Halloween! We are off to Trick or Treat with cousins in Utah!

Buns of Steel

As IF those mega buns were real. I wish I had that much hair! For those who know me, know that I can make a dime sized ponytail with my thin hair.. if I am lucky. At the last minute, I borrowed hair extensions from my friend Rachel! Thank you girl! It was a huge lifesaver because I literally had TWO bobby pins in my entire house... and that's all I needed for these long locks.

note to self: Even if you are planning on wearing fake eyelashes, you should apply mascara anyway.. because you'll never give yourself enough time to actually put the eyelashes on.. And also, buy a tube of lipstick to wear on special occasions, like Halloween. That red face paint you put on your lips was totally ug.

Trunk or Treat

Halloween is absolutely the BEST.HOLIDAY.EVER! I love candy and I love dressing up.. so when you combine the two, I am one happy girl! Aaron is catching the Halloween spirit and even made his own gun holder this year! Yay for duct tape! We bought the boys outfits at Target, but pieced ours together last minute. I quickly sewed together my dress from a white sheet, wrapped tin foil around a belt and spray painted an old water gun black! And for friends in HS who still tease me about my white winter boots.. let me just say that you NEVER KNOW when they will come in handy. On Saturday night, we hit the Halloween party at our church and took home the award for best family costumes.. that's the way we work it, yo!

My favorite pictures of the night are----in no particular order---

May the force be with you.

I loved telling my older boys to smile. Every time I said it, they would scream from under their masks, "I AM!!!" They never thought it was funny, but I did.

My husband was a sexy Han Solo. You should have seen his gun! I was going to wear Princess Leia's gold bikini outfit to the ward party, but decided it would be best for the bedroom. And it was. This is exactly what I looked like later that night.

thank goodness it's bedtime.

It's been one of THOSE days. I am exhausted and can't get in bed fast enough. But before I do, I thought I would write down a couple of funny things the kids said-- because we all know it just aint happening tomorrow...

Zack wouldn't finish his dinner tonight and when I told him to hurry and eat it, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "No. I think Hank will eat it." Hank is the little boy I take care of 5 evenings a week. Yes, we still watch him and yes, I still love him. He is such a sweet boy and lives up to his nickname "Hank the Tank." Zack's comment just cracked me up because he knows very well that if he doesn't finish his dinner, the human vacuum baby will most definitely eat it for him. Hank isn't a fat boy, just really solid and he loves to chow! I tried to tell Zack that Hank won't always be around to finish his meals for him. Zack looked at me and smiled really big while saying, "Mom, I think Hank is a BIG FAT Panda!" We all laughed hard, not because he was making fun of our little adopted child, but because he said it with so much enthusiasm. I am pretty sure he got that line from Kung Fu Panda ? but I can't be sure..

A few hours later, we were all on the squished on the bottom of their bunk beds having our night time ritual. Aaron was playing tennis, so I was in charge of telling the famous "sleep story." I hate telling made up stories to the kids... because they never think I am funny. No kidding, Aaron could say the exact same words as I do, and they all giggle with delight, but when I tell the story, all three of them stare back at me with confused looks on their faces. I usually just end up telling a story with a moral because it's always safe and (apparently) that is my duty as the only female in the house. Anyway, tonight I didn't feel like telling anything so I convinced Ben that it was his turn. And this is what he said. "Once upon a time, POOP. The end." All three boys roared with laughter and I just rolled my eyes. Seriously-- why are they boys so gross? But truthfully, I was just grateful that the story was so short so I could kiss them goodnight and leave them alone. I don't mind that they are still whispering and giggling, as long as they stay away from me. I closed the door to their room feeling like Ben's story describes my life perfectly. "Once upon a time, POOP. The end." Baby steps until the weekend..

Just so I don't sign off on such a depressing note, I thought I would leave you with one of the funniest things I've seen on TV in a long time (aside from the SNL political clips.) Aaron and I were watching a recorded episode of Ellen (I told you I was a big fan, even though she's gay. I really love her, but not in THAT way.) Anyway, Dennis Quaid was on the show and she made him enter a local Starbucks and repeat everything she told him in a hidden earpiece. It's a hilarious clip and everyone who has an extra three minutes should watch it...

I still have it recorded on my TV and have seen it entirely too many times... Aaron now comes home from work, puts his hands in the air and shouts, "DENNIS QUAID is HERE!" and every time he does it, I am reminded of why I married him... because he can always get me to smile.

Anyway, that's all. Must get sleep.

blah, blah, blah

My posts lately have been so random and scattered, that I just don't have a title for this one. I honestly don't know what I am going to be able to fit in. Right now, my hair is wet from my shower and I literally have minutes before I need to scurry off to something else... I am going to type as fast as I can..

The boys best friends are our Hawaiian next door neighbors. Brenden and Anlou are 9 and 11... who obviously have no problems with playing with a 7, 5, and 2 year old. Zack thinks he is one of the gang and often answers the door with saying, "Hey guys, do you wanna play?" The five of them have a great time together playing video games, talking about Star Wars nonstop and throwing big dirt clods in the acres of nothingness across from our house. These little Hawaiian boys crack me up by some of the things they say... such as "we love having you guys as neighbors cause the people who used to live in this house always tried to run over our baby brother." If not running over babies qualifies us as good neighbors, then we can't go wrong. Unless I allow Zack to back my van out of the driveway, that is.

(wait a minute.. is Ben's ring pop in his mouth or on his finger! Whoa.)

[Trying to move on to another subject without the awkward transition..]

We have THOROUGHLY enjoyed all the out of town visitors we've had in our new house. I am afraid I will forget they ever came if I don't at least document it. These have all been in the past week or so! Wahoo!

• My cousin Kara just moved to Sin City and bought their first home! Yeah! Her mom and sister came to visit and I just LOVED seeing them. We stayed up way too late talking (thanks for putting up with us, husbands!) No picture to show for the visit, but here are the girls on the Strip all gorgeous and mustardy. They didn't even plan to match so perfectly, but how cute are they?

Kara, Karen, Carla, Katelyn and baby Nixon (who happens to be Red Sox fan.)

The two hotties on the right are SINGLE and ready to settle down and get married (ha!) Any takers? Email me and I will set you up. Kevin.. you can't, because they are your first cousins and that's illegal. If Proposition 8 passes in California, cousins may qualify as proper marriage candidates.. you never know.

• Suzanne and Jason and their kids vacationed in Vegas and we were lucky enough to hang out with them for TWO whole days! We had a great time with them at the Silverton, watching the disappointing BYU game, AND especially playing cards with them. Several years ago they taught Aaron and me a fun card game and now they can't beat us at it. I keep telling them they need to play to their full capacity and stop letting us win. Really, guys.. try a little harder next time. It would be so much better if you were giving it your all.
  

We LOVE them and their darling kids and wished we could make one of their girls marry one of our boys. Morgan and Luke used to kiss on the lips when they were little toddlers, but something tells me that it's Ben and Ashtyn who love each other... I mean, I am no relationship expert, but this love letter says it all. The holding hands picture is cutesy, but the "sleep over" and the "call me" is screaming TRUE LOVE ALWAYS, dontcha think?

• Adam and Francine came without their kids for their 7th Anniversary and we were happy to have them stay for a night. I wish I had pictures to show for it, but when Francine's around, I never need to bring my camera. But then again, she doesn't blog very often so I am going to have to wait MONTHS for those pictures! I do have one shot of our Sunday evening trip to see the Bellagio water show..

Aaron conveniently had a "church meeting" to attend so he didn't join us on the Strip... {he's so righteous.} My kids LOVE the water show and the ever changing conservatory at the Bellagio, but they HATE walking back up the hill when it's all over. They were all begging to get in the stroller and somehow, we were able to fit them in. I pushed them all way to the car like this.. Who needs to buy a triple stroller anyway?

• Last night we had Matthias over for dinner and it was fun to see him.. I wish his wife could have joined us, though. We are keeping our fingers crossed that he and Andrea will end up here permanantly! Vegas is the place to be...especially if you want visitors! We have had 5X's as many people at our house than our ENTIRE time in law school. It's all about location, baby!

When I am not entertaining visitors, I am painting like a MAD woman! My husband would call it an obsession.. and it may very well be. I have lots of house updates to show, but frankly, I just want to post them all. Just come and see me!

What NEEDS to be documented is all of the funny ZACKISMS we've enjoy the past couple of weeks. He is growing up so fast and we can't keep up with him and his entertaining personality. He thinks he's so big! He starts out his sentences with "ACTUALLY.." and responds to questions with "I'm not QUITE sure." When Aaron and I were busy putting in a ceiling fan, he came in the room to tell me that his arm was hurt. I ignored him and he said it again. Aaron kindly responded because I obviously didn't care. When Zack heard the response he said, "I wasn't talking to you, Daddy." That went over well.

He wants to do everything himself... and sometimes it's not pretty. Today when I was cleaning up the dishes, he came in (pantless) and said, "Mommy, I did it!" When I asked WHAT he did he said, "Wiped my bum all by myself!" I knew that was trouble. He led me to the bathroom.. and I was pleasantly surprised to that he did it in only ONE ROLL. It could have been much worse. The toilet flushed okay and when his hands were washed, he said, "You love me so much, mommy." As if to say, "I know you're so proud." I am proud and I do love him, but only sometimes.

I happened to have the camera in the kitchen this morning when Zack insisted on pouring his own milk in the cereal bowl. He's been doing this for some time now, but I will soon forget if I don't capture it on camera. I sure love this crazy little boy (and the big boy in the picture too-- notice the Trix cereal in his soccer bowl...)


He (Zack, not Aaron) has been walking around the house with his eyes completely closed. He peaks every once in a while, to keep from running into walls. Many times he has walked up to me with both eyes closed tightly and will ask me a question like, "Where's my shoes? I can't find them?" When I tell him his shoes are on his feet, he opens his eyes, looks down and says, "WHAT? I didn't know that!" And each time he gets me to laugh (and I am sure that's why he continues to do it.) Yesterday when he woke up, he seemed a little stuffy. He kept saying to me over and over (with his eyes wide open, mind you) "mom, I can't see! I can't see!" I told him that his eyes were open and that he was seeing just fine. He got frustrated and said, "NO, I can't see out of my nose." Then proceeded to breathe with a stuffy nose. When he was finished he said, "See? My nose can't see!"

Two seconds ago, as I was typing, Zack came in the room with his eyes shut tight and his favorite pillow case wrapped around his head--neatly tucked under his chin. He looked like an old, blind begger woman. Without looking at me he casually said, "What's up mommy?" When I asked him why he keeps his eyes closed, he said, "Because I YOVE it." And so do I.

ps. For all those ladies who went to book club last night (we reviewed The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands) I want you to know that I made my husband a delicious lunch WITH a note on the napkin.. and I did it all with a smile. When I grabbed a brown paper sack for the lunch, I noticed that a little someone had colored on it..


I found it hilarious, not because it was colored on, but because it was put back in the drawer after they decorated it. Did they hope no one would notice or did they purposely want dad to have a festive lunch? The mystery will never be solved. But to everyone who's reading... I hope you have a happy "HALLWENN!"