Thankful

the Gospel. family. a healthy body. hot showers. change in seasons. sticky kisses. dishwasher. sisters. grandmas. college. chocolate. primary songs. prayer. photos. washing machine. blogging. journal. naps. a good read. a warm bed. a fully functional vehicle. mom. fresh produce. disposable diapers. pizza. cell phones. Sunday. NPR. supper club. automatic bill pay. bedtime stories. scriptures. Jeff. email. sunshine. holidays. Ensign. fresh sheets. babies. vacuum lines. swiss cheese. marriage. 5-year-old art. fairytales. the United States of America. quilts. lotion. bandaids. Snapfish. testimony.

Time Out

I spent last weekend with female family members at Time Out For Women! Lucky! Last year my great friend, Brandi, invited me to go and we had such a good time that I wanted to take my whole family and go again this year. What this means is that I have been waiting for this for a whole year! I was so excited when it finally arrived. Can I tell you how easy it is to get packed and ready and go somewhere by myself? I kissed my kids goodbye and left them (even my infant son) in the very capable hands of their father and was off. This is a picture of my mom, sisters and I leaving my parents house for our girls-only weekend.

The first night of the event featured Chieko Okasaki and Hilary Weeks. Not a Hilary Weeks fan? Well, just invest in one of her CD's and you will be. She is fantastic. I fell in love at last year's Time Out and was so happy to see her again this year. This picture is of my adorable sisters and I.

Our whole clan laughed together and cried together. Pictured are two of my aunts with their daughters and daughters-in-law.

Saturday we got to hear from Mary Ellen Edmunds, Emily Watts, Jill Manning (wondering how to make sure your family is safe online? Check out her stuff at www.deseretbook.com/jill) and Emily Freeman. It was refreshing, uplifting, inspiring, encouraging...all the things a Time Out is supposed to be. Here's a group shot of us on our way out.

A few things I learned at Time Out: Being in a room with 3000 other Latter-Day Saint women makes you realize that no matter what you are going through, other women understand you. Women come in all different shapes and sizes, so I guess I'm ok. Olive Garden has whole wheat linguine (this, by the way, is fantastic news.) Being hooked to a breast pump for a good portion of time is not a lot of fun, and makes you feel somewhat bovine. Hotel pools sometimes close, destroying your plans to do water aerobics with your sisters. Music can evoke powerful emotions. Being alone in a car for several hours gives you a lot of time to think...which is a very good thing.

And where will I be a year from now? At Time Out For Women!

What Have I Done?

It happened. I finally caved to social pressure. And now I am filled with regret. I should have stuck to my guns. Marched to the beat of my own drum, but no, I didn't, and now my actions are irreversible. See, I am fully aware that Isaac's long locks were funny looking and crazy. That's the part I loved! Not everyone was in love, however. I frequently got comments like, "Wow! Look at that hair! When are you going to cut it?" So, cut it I did....

Now I hardly recognize my own child! He looks completely different! He looks older and chubbier. Even his eyes appear to be a different color since he is now a blonde. I cried big tears but it didn't help. Isaac's hair is gone forever.

Happy Haunting!

Our Happy Halloween began with the arrival of a spooky package in the mail filled with frights from Grandma. There was even a new toy for Isaac inside!

The package was complete with sugar cookie mix, frosting, sprinkles (the hit) and cookie cutters. We got right to work making our Halloween treats.

Next on the agenda was the local craft fair. Both Daisy and Levi's dance classes were invited to perform. Levi did a stellar job at his "Ghostbusters" routine. Even though it was his very first performance he was not scared at all.

Daisy's class performed a stunning number to "Purple People Eater" (What? Her horn didn't give it away?)

Before we knew it, it was time for Grandma's annual Halloween Party, and this year was better than ever complete with games and even a spook alley. Isaac won the best costume award as our little puppy (ok, there was no best costume award, but he was so cute!)

The older kids had a bit of costume schizophrenia throughout the Halloween holiday, but for Grandma's party, Levi settled on the purple dinosaur and Daisy was the ghost.

This is a shot of all the costumed cousins at the festivities, featuring the oldest grandchild holding the youngest.

There were two cool things about carving pumpkins this year: Grandpa and Grandma joined us and we grew all the pumpkins in our very own garden! Daisy carved hers all by herself and Levi was totally grossed out by the guts.

We met dad for dinner one night while he was studying late with some friends for midterms and ended up eating at Pirate Island almost by accident. If you are as unfortunate as we were until we happened upon this eating establishment, count yourself lucky that you now know of the coolest place to take your kids to eat! No more Chucky Cheese! Pirate Island was a dream come true complete with real pirates (I swear our waiter was Jack Sparrow himself) and great food. Highly recommended by the Dansie family. Located behind University Mall.

The next costuming took place for the carnival at Daisy's school, which we would have missed out on had it not been for Grandma calling and saving the day. It was the most well organized school carnival I have ever been to! The kids had a blast and it was super inexpensive. We're sold on the school carnival from here on out.

Our final Halloween event was the glorious trick-or-treating. Since my poor kids have a mom that is ANTI trunk-or-treat (don't get me started) they had to get their candy the old fashioned way...which they loved. Levi was totally in character as the coolest cowboy in the west. Daisy was delighted when he surrendered the ghost so she could be Casper again. All our festivities made for a super duper happy Halloween. Hope the same for you!