9 Reasons I Love Halloween/October

I love the month of October. So much has gone on, that I haven't been able to blog about everything. But I did figure that I could share some things that I love about Halloween....


1. Dressing your kids up in fun costumes, makeup, and a crazy amount of hairspray. (Reagan is a Rock Star. Jenna is Ariel.)

2. Getting to dress up as an adult and go to parties that don't involve the whole family.

3. Church Halloween Activities. Who doesn't love a bowl of chili, one too many cupcakes, and some Trunk or Treating!



4. Work Halloween Parties (where we saw a lot of people from our Church Activity).




5. Group Violin Lessons -- Halloween Style




6. My Birthday (I don't like getting older but I do like all of the attention).
7. My Dad's Homemade Pumpkin Pie (It is literally the best you will ever try).



8. Pet Costumes. Bear is sporting a spider costume. I love it!



9. Family Visiting. (My Parents came to visit us for Jenna's birthday and my birthday. Who could ask for anything more...)

Happy Halloween Ya'll!

4 Things Tag

4 RANDOM THINGS I LIKE ABOUT MY HUSBAND:
1. He is very funny. He always says or does the silliest things to make me or the kids laugh (even when we are upset).
2. He loves me and I know it. (kind of dumb I guess but I feel his love in everything that he does)
3. He has great legs! ;)
4. He is a very responsible person...where as I am not.

4 JOBS I'VE HAD:
1. Waitress at On The Border (my first job and definitely my worst job. As I often tell Ian, I wasn't meant to serve but be served.) :)
2. Metabolife girl (I worked at a kiosk in the mall for Metabolife)
3. "Fragrance Model" for Cool Water. Fun title but I was a perfume girl. I worked for Cool Water and would go wherever they wanted me to go.
4. Dental Hygienist (this is what I went to school for and worked for about 3 years as a hygienist)

4 MOVIES I'VE WATCHED MORE THAN ONCE:
1. Pride and Prejudice
2. Enchanted
3. Legally Blonde
4. Oklahoma

4 TV SHOWS I WATCH:
1. The Office
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. The Soup
4. SNL

4 PEOPLE WHO EMAIL ME REGULARLY:
1. Ian
2. Jamie
3. My Daddy
4. Anita (my big sis)

4 OF MY FAVORITE FOODS:
1. Pumpkin Pie (must be homemade...preferably my Dad's recipe)
2. Tangelo's
3. Ravioli
4. Crab


4 PLACES I WOULD LIKE TO VISIT:
1. Italy
2. England
3. India
4. New York


4 THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO IN THE COMING YEAR:
1. Spending some quality time with my family (vacations).
2. Redoing our kitchen counter top
3. Paying off my car
4. Furnishing our home a bit more

4 PEOPLE I TAG:
1. Erica
2. Marcie
3. Marty
4. Cindy

Jenna

MY BABY IS 3!!!! I am in shock that my baby is not a baby anymore. Today is Jenna's 3rd birthday. Mama and Papa are visiting and helped out with a little party for her. She has loved her birthday weekend.

Jenna is a sweet little girl. She is very loving and cuddly. She loves to dance and sing. Shockingly, she loves everything princess. :) Jenna is one happy little girl. We are so blessed to have her in our family.

Here I am pregnant with Jenna. Reagan was so excited that Heavenly Father had answered her prayers by giving her a baby sister (she prayed for a girl every night).

Jenna's birth.

Princess Jenna.

Ready for church.

Jenna's 1st birthday was a costume party.
(cheerleading outfit was pre Dallas)

Jenna at her 3rd Birthday Party.
She was one happy princess.

10 Years

The other day, I received an email from my older sister, Anita, about a Breast Cancer Walk that she is participating in this weekend. I hadn't realized that it had been 10 years since our mother has been cancer free. It brought a flood of emotions to me.

My mother had breast cancer twice. The first time, I was in elementary school. I remember being in either 4th or 5th grade and having to go sleep at our friends' house (my mother's best friend with kids our ages). I remember saying goodbye to her as she and my dad dropped us off on their way to the hospital for surgery. I felt scared and sad. I didn't really understand it all but I knew that it was very serious. I have always been very close/attached to my family and just spending the night away from them was hard. Pam, Mom's best friend, did a great job at trying to keep us busy. Despite this, I was sad and scared the whole time.

My mother came home and things went back to normal. To a child, it was as if nothing had ever happened.

As a freshman in college, my mother found out that she had cancer again. All the memories came back to my thoughts. This time it was different. I understood the situation. I understood the possibilities, both good and bad. It truly was scary.

My mom had 2 surgeries the second time around. The first time they thought that they didn't remove all of the cancerous cells. So they had to go in again.

After she came home, I became her nurse (Daddy wasn't quite as gentle). I cleaned her. I changed her bandages. I fed her. Seeing your mother as the one that needs to be cared for is a humbling experience. You become like the parent, wanting to take the pain away from her. And you become the one that tells her not to worry, that her daughters will not go through what she has. That she doesn't have to be sorry about passing that gene on.

Now, here we are 10 years later...

My mother is one of the strongest people I know. I am greatful for her love, her determination, and her example. I know that she is one of the greatest blessings that the Lord has given me. He has blessed our family through her life. Thanks to Him, my children get to love this incredible woman and learn from her, just as I have.

Mommy/Mama, we love you!

2 Down and Hopefully No More!

Reagan got her cast off!

It is a miracle. My eldest child had her 2nd cast, in less than a year, removed. She is limping around (the doctor said for about a month) slowly. But she is getting to where she wants to go....which is nicer than me playing fetch. Reagan is on her way to a fast recovery and we are happy that our poor little girl will soon be running/dancing again.

I would like to thank.....

Holly has passed the Brillante Weblog-Premio 2008 Award to little ol' me.

Here are the rules: I have to answer the following questions with one word answers and one word only! Then I must pass it on to seven others.

Here are the questions:
1. Where is your cell phone? pocket

2. Where is your significant other? work
3. Your hair color? highlighted

4. Your mother? spicey
5. Your father? kind
6. Your favorite thing? bed
7. Your dream last night? nightmares
8. Your dream/goal? happiness
9. The room you're in? office
10. Your hobby? shopping

11. Your fear? death
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? happy
13. Where were you last night? bed
14. What you're not? adventurous
15. One of your wish-list items? furniture

16. Where you grew up? Corpus
17. The last thing you did? type

18. What are you wearing? clothes

19. Your TV? big

20. Your pet? fish
21. Your computer? silver
22. Your mood? ill
23. Missing someone? family
24. Your car? toyota
25. Something you're not wearing? socks
26. Favorite store? expensive
27. Your summer? fun

28. Love someone? family
29. Your favorite color? blue
30. When is the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? yesterday

I am passing the award on to:

Melissa T.
Ivy
Liz
Brooke
Cami
Marcie
Cindy

Lawyer Coloring Book

Every kid loves coloring books. Ian recently sent me this one for the girls. It is sadly accurate in an exaggerated sort of way. Reagan and I had a good laugh.

Here is a link to the file. I have recreated some of my favorites.

This is my suit. Color it gray or I will loose my job.

This is my Elevator. It take me way up high. People who are not lawyers stand right next to me in the elevator. They are alright, but I would not want my daughter to marry one of them.

This is my desk. It is mahogany. Important people have mahogany desks. My walls are mahogany too. I wish I were mahogany.

This is a client. He smells bad. He has money to spend. I like him.

This is the Senior Partner. He hates me. He calls me bad names but he gives me lots of raises. My wife calls him "papa."

This is my pill. It is round. It is pink. It makes me not care.
Watch me take my round, pink pill . . . and not care.

Gas

This morning, Jenna was walking down the stair and passed gas. She immediately said, "That's my gasoline! It's funny when I have gasoline!" I thought it was funny that she called it gasoline. I guess it would make some sense to get the words mixed up. :)

This Past Week

I have decided that I should probably write a post considering that it has been a while. So here are a few happenings from this last week.

This woman (shown below) sent an item to the youngest child in our small family of 4.

For those of you who know the woman shown above, you know that this type of gift is quite typical of her.

Might I just add that Jenna announced that this is her favorite shirt. Figures...

Reagan has adjusted to her walking boot and is quite fast on it. (She dressed herself.)

The highlight of last week was having Taylor spend the weekend with us. It was Reagan's first "sleepover". We all had a blast with her.

On our way to pick up Reagan from school, Jenna keeps on asking if Taylor is going to come home with us. Obviously, Taylor was a hit at our house.

On Saturday, we met up with Marcie, Jossi, and Rylee for lunch and a movie.

Sunday was Stake Conference. We were blessed to have Elder Bednar come and speak. It was a wonderful conference.

I am determined to spend this new week searching for items to decorate our bare house. I just don't have the gift of decorating and never know what to get. But I am determined! Hopefully, it won't take another year before I get something up on the walls.

"You Say it's Your Birthday..."

Happy Birthday to the Man I love!

Today is my hubby's birthday. He came home early to let the girls celebrate the day of his birth. Reagan decorated and made him a gift of playdough. Jenna wanted to get him the "Troy" Ken doll from High School Musical but she was outvoted by Mommy who gets more votes than everyone combined. I got him tickets to see Carlos Mencia in a few weeks.

We love this guy so much! I am constantly seeing how blessed I am to have him. He has given us a wonderful life filled with great love. We are everything to him, just as he is for us. I couldn't have asked for a better person to love and be loved by. Happy Birthday Hun! We love you!