Halloween Arizona Style

For FHE on Monday we carved pumpkins. Jagen had the great idea of doing it outside. Here in AZ it is still in the 70's that time of night and I LOVED the idea. It kept the mess outside and not in my newly cleaned house. Asey wanted to clean out her pumpkin all by herself. So after working on it for almost a half hour (to only get out like 10 seeds) we had to step in and help. Reese had a blast. She kept walking through pumpkin guts swinging a big spoon, until she had to go to bed.













Our neighborhood is still under construction and my kids would get maybe 5 pieces of candy if we stayed in our neighborhood. Some friends invited us to come to their neighborhood. (Thanks again Trendlers, so much fun!!) Basically we stepped into Mayberry. They closed the street, potluck dinner, everyone sat in their driveways, some with fire pits (because it is so chilly...NOT), kids running all over the place, a little tractor train, couple of houses had spook allies. It was so much fun for all. I gotta say didn't miss putting on gloves and jackets at all. Check out my cuties below. Check out what a cutie JD is.

Dorothy up close.

Dorothy and her little dog Toto.

Asey and her friends!

Jagen and her friends.

J.D. and his "friend".

J.D. the tractor train driver!

Goose Egg and a Black Eye

So the kids have "made" a "secret hideout" on an unfinished lot in the neighborhood that has a big mound of dirt and lots of rocks and stuff. On Friday, Tyce was there with a friend and was attempting to run up a rocky side of the mound, he slipped, fell and cracked his head on a rock. They rode their bikes back and came in all frantic. The poor kid had the biggest goose egg on his head and a scratch that didn't really bleed. Hard to believe, but I kept my whits about me and quickly sat him down, got ice for it, and got him some Motrin. The next morning it had gone down and looked pretty good, but this morning the swelling has dropped down to the bridge of his nose and he now has a black eye. We told him he should make up a really good story to tell his friends tomorrow at school...you know something about a big fight and you should have seen how the other kid looked.

See the scrape and wide nose?

The black eye!

Fun in Los Alamos

The kids had last week off for fall break. I decided to take them and head to Los Alamos for a visit. This trip was really great! There was something different about it. When we go to Los Alamos we try and time it with my siblings so we can all be there together. We usually spend our time doing fun stuff with all the cousins, games and hanging out. This time it was just us visiting. Most importantly we had a lot of great time with my parents all to ourselves. Jagen got in a couple of games of scrabble with grandpa. Which I say kudos to her if she likes it. (Personally, hate scrabble, can't spell, suck at the game.) We helped my parents with some projects. We spent a day doing fun stuff in LA that I realized I had never done with my kids. We went to Santa Fe one day, of course. We did get to see my two brothers that live in Los Alamos and Albuquerque, so the kids still got in some fun cousin time. Here are some pictures from the trip.



Watching the squirrels on grandmas deck.

The kids built a cousin fort in the front yard. The board says cousin club and they all signed their names.

A hike to the golf course tunnel

Resting on the wall

Cousin wrestle mania

Game of scrabble

We hiked out to the end of Barranca Mesa so I could show the kids how Los Alamos is situated on a bunch of plateaus. Tyce just learned about land formations in science so they thought it was pretty cool.

Tyce checking it out

Jagen crawling down the rocks

They insisted on climbing down to the edge. I can't believe I let them do it. But it was pretty cool!

Asey and I stayed up top
We went to the duck pond to feed the ducks of course.
Jagen helped Reese, all Reese wanted to do was eat the bread.

Grandma was nervous the whole time that someone was going to fall in.

I took the kids to see the three schools that I attended.

We went to Overlook Park so we could see the mighty Rio Grande.

My mom and the kids at Overlook Park

My four kiddos

This is the morning we left to come home. We had a great time with my parents! Thanks so much.

This picture may seem weird, but if you are from Los Alamos you know exactly where this is. When you come into town you see this mountain. It caught my eye right off and I decided I needed a picture of it. This makes me think of my youth and growing up in Los Alamos. It makes me think of beautiful fall colors (which I don't really see here in the desert.) It makes me think of the Cerro Grande fire that tore through this town in 2000. You can still see the skeletons of the burned trees on the bottom half of the mountain. It makes me think of my parents that love this town so much. My parents have lived here for 50+ years and this is where their hearts are.

Another Tag...Nine Things.

9 TV Shows I watch
1. Prison Break
2. Survivor
3. The Office
4. ER
5. Jon and Kate plus 8
6. Amazing Race
7. Lost
8. Life
9. CSI

9 Favorite Restaurants
1. Popolos Pizza
2. Cheesecake factory
3. Noodles Co.
4. Cafe Rio
5. In and Out
6. Panda Express
7. Paradise Bakery
8. Quiznos
9. The Melting Pot

9 Things that happened yesterday
1. I finish cleaning the house! Yeah!!!
2. Asey fell asleep at 7:00 pm
3. Jagen came home with 4 pages of math homework. (sigh)
4. We decorated for Halloween.
5. I facebooked. (I'm addicted)
6. I did laundry.
7. Reese bit her lip when she fell off the couch.
8. We went wireless
9. I kissed my kids!

9 Things I look forward to
1. Weekends
2. Nap time
3. Blogging and facebook (I say it again...I am addicted!)
4. Trip to Utah in November
5. The holidays
6. The words "I have no homework!!"
7. Dukes, Dockstaders, and BYU football at our house on Thursday!!
8. Date night this weekend
9. The Election to be over!!

9 Things on my wish list
1. My dad to be well
2. My backyard finished with a nice pool
3. A fun family vacation
4. A cruise for just J.D. and me
5. More time to get stuff done
6. A new van
7. All my pictures organized and scrapbooked
8. Kids that don't fight and tease
9. More patience

We met Brook

So we had a small brush with fame. Brook White from American Idol is from Mesa. So she did a free charity concert here last weekend - and it happened to be at the Mesa Amphitheater. (One of J.D.'s venues) Jagen was so excited!! She wanted to go so bad. We met my sister's family there. Brook is super nice and personable. Her mom is a chatter (J.D. and her talked for almost an hour about the economy) and her husband is a nervous Nelly. He kept freaking out every time someone hugged her. Which was a lot. We got to go back stage and meet her and get autographs. It was so fun!


Terry and I
Jages and Syd
Tyce and Parker
We all squeezed in for a picture.

(Why is Brook's belt so high?)

Mom's Side of the Story

Nuff Said!

Reese's Side of the Story

So I hear my mom tell people all the time, that I am a trouble maker. The buck stops here. I want to share my side of the story.

I have busy days. So many things to do, so little time. Here are some of, what I feel are, the most pressing things I must do everyday.

Everyday I get in this cubby. I need to organize the magazines and arrange the toys in the basket. Sometimes I get out a wipe or two or more to dust things with. See I am just trying to help my mom.


Pencils! I search out any pencils I can find and I chew off the erasers. This family needs to aim high... no mistakes. Who needs erasers if you don't make mistakes?

Somebody has got to check and make sure that the TP is unrolling quickly and smoothly. Yet another one of my jobs, since no one else will do it. I make sure and check each bathroom too!
The kids bathroom is in good shape...nice and fast!
Downstairs bathroom is known to be slow so I check it a few times a day if I can catch the door open.
I even sneak in and check my parents bathroom.
In Asey's defense, she will sometimes help me with this responsibility. She is on re roll duty.

My mom has a way of being neat and tidy about things. I am trying to help he loosen up a bit. So I often reorganize little things for her.





Now that Jagen is practicing the piano, I know she can use a little help. I love it when we play duets. I play the really high parts, or the really low parts. Jagen seems to think that she is better than me and that it is just noise. Whatever.



My favorite chore of the day is in my room. THE BOOKS!! They always need to be organized and rearranged.


Some of the TP from my previous job made it into this picture. Oops.

I always try to take a minute for myself though. I usually look at a few of the books along the way.

So there you have it. I have the best of intentions. I try to look out for the family and do a few things to help us all. I love my family!

Next time you hear my mom say that I am a busy body, remind her if I don't do these jobs, who will????

Time for a change!

I am sure anyone who might check my blog, even just occasionally, is sick of seeing those dumb high school pictures! They were funny, but now I am haunted by those pictures every time I pull up the blog. Time for a face lift and for a post!!

So I spruced up the digs. I gotta share...obviously the picture at the top is older, we took it at Christmas outside my parents house. Yes that is snow on the ground, and yes Tyce's ears really were that red. It was a bit chilly. I love the picture, because I think that my hair rocks. It is the best my hair has looked since high school. Who cares what everyone else looks like. JK!

Am posting a picture of my awesome parents from that same photo shoot. I have great parents. I thank my Father in Heaven everyday for the family I was born into. My heart is full with love and admiration for my mother and father. Thanks mom and dad for everything!! I love you so much!!