Halloween 2007!

We started partying for Halloween last Friday night when we had our first Halloween Party, Truck-or-Treat and games. The kids loved it and it got them even more psyched for tonight.

Saturday night Randy and I went to our Annual Halloween Party with some of our best friends. It was a blast. We laughed, we ate non-stop, we danced, we had a great time and we sang some rockin' karaoke. We had them begging for more... yeah we are THAT good. Randy and I dressed up as the Ultimate Outdoors couple, with him a hunter and me the fly fisher. We were pretty smokin'. We partied hard and we were ready to crash by the time we left.

Today Little Man had a Pumpkin Carving Contest at school. Due to issues last night we didn't get any carving done. After talking with Little Man I worked hard and fast all morning and got a Skull Pirate ready to go just in time for judging. Sadly he didn't win. And even sadder when he was carrying it down the hall he dropped it, and it broke into a few pieces and was no longer recognizable. He was so sad. So was I, no picture and all of that work! We came home and I carved our other one quickly in to a scary face. I didn't take a picture of it individually.. but you can see it in the background of some of Little Man's Pictures!

The kids had Trunk-or-Treat tonight and then to a few friends homes for a little bit more. They thoroughly enjoyed it. Little Miss was a Ballerina don't mind the purple jammies under.. she had to stay warm! Little Man was Spiderman. They got tons of candy and are still bouncing off the walls instead of sleeping like they are supposed to be! All in all it was great. We have candy coming out our ears.

Until the next one.

Happy Halloween!

Things I have Sewed!!!

I am in love with my new sewing machine. It makes sewing a breeze. Since purchasing my machine I have finished three projects! And have several more in the works. And now I am going to brag. If you aren't interested in my bragging session, promptly close the window. Otherwise I warned you.

I made Little Miss her ballerina Halloween costume. Leotard and cute tutu. I love it.. so does she. And it is super cute on! I keep forgetting to get pictures of her in it. But you can see them after Halloween they will be up.

I made a table runner for my table. I love it! It was quick easy and fun. And it adds some fall motif to my house.

I made myself a dress. A very cute dress too. It was a lot of work. I sewed things in the wrong places and spent HOURS unpicking them. I am happy with the results. And even happier when I was asked where I got it, and I said I made it that I was informed it didn't look homemade! YAY ME! I feel accomplished.

Now I just have to get started on all of the projects I have on my list.

Tagged!

I have been tagged by Jennifer. Here are the rules.
A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I have had 9 surgeries in the 8 years I have been married.. they all occurred before my 7th Anniversary though.

2. It takes a lot to upset me.. but lying to me totally ticks me off.

3. I don't like yelling. I hate to be yelled at or yell at anyone. When I do I have great guilt and immediately apologize.

4. I was a Cheerleader in High School. It was totally fun!

5. I love anything creative I can do as long as it isn't scrap booking or card making or something of that sort. So not my thing. Painting, photography, sewing, and stuff like that totally lights my fire.

6. I did FFA in High School. I still have my cool Navy Jacket and my Black Wranglers.. they still fit. A little snugger but they fit.

I am tagging, Lei, Tiffani, Amber, Misty, Emily, and April.

New Toy!

I got a new toy. I am anxious, and excited about it. I looked at every sewing store here and finally decided on an Elna 6005. It does everything I need and so much more. It was a KILLER deal, so great that I couldn't pass it up.. I was going to wait until Spring. It can do way more than I even get.. but I will get it. I get free classes on how to use it as long as I have it. And with a 20 year warranty it will be a LONG, LONG, LONG time. I am feeling domestic and Super Momish. I am working on a Halloween costume for Little Miss and I can't wait to see it done..and don't worry I will post pictures of my creation. Any great ideas of what I should work on next? Randy informed me I am going to make him a dress shirt. Umm.. okay. I will do it.. but will he wear it? I realized that I have a whole new list of "needs" now that I have a new toy. Christmas is coming.. maybe I should sew all of my gifts this year. Wouldn't you love that! And as I type this and look at this picture I realize it is happening.. I am slowly becoming my Mom. That's okay though, my Mom is freaking RAD!

Scared..

I like to be scared with a good movie.. or with things that are just sudden and scare you and make you scream. It is strangely fun. Last night we want to the Haunted Corn Maze with friends.. I had an opportunity to be "scared and scream" several times. It was so much fun and had me laughing my head off. We had crazy chainsaw man coming towards us and even though I knew he was there it still made me scream. We laughed so hard we almost peed our pants. Even when you knew someone had to be in the corn and suddenly they jumped out it still made me scream. It was fun and a much needed night of laughter and silliness. I love October and the Haunted Houses and Corn Mazes so if you are close to one go. You will love it. I can't wait to take my kids when they are old enough to not get too scared.. or maybe we will just take them to a non-haunted corn maze.

Growing Up!!

Little man has lost two more teeth. The 2nd being yesterday and the other one last week. Look at how cute he is without those two front teeth. Adorable huh? He has now lost 5 teeth. And I am loving this gummy look.

Conference Weekend

I love General Conference, and I cannot wait for April when we get to hear from our beloved Prophet and other leaders again. I am always sad when Sunday Afternoon session comes. I enjoy every minute of conference. This year was one of the first years we didn't watch it with friends or family at all. It was just our family and it was quiet and nice. There were many talks that stuck out to me. I particularly loved Elder Dallin H. Oaks talk, Good, Better, Best. I gave been contemplating how I am spending my time everyday. Is it good? better? or best? Are there things I can do better? Of course! Last week I had decided to read the Book of Mormon in two months, so about nine pages each day. And I hadn't been doing as great of a job as I would have liked to. I was getting it done but it was feeling more like a burden, I had other things I wanted to do. I quickly realized that I need to change my priorities and that it belongs in the BEST category. And I am going to set aside more time for my personal scripture study and do my best to do the BEST with my time.


I also loved Sister Beck's talk. It helps me to know what I am doing is important. I want to be a Mother that Knows. Being a Mother is the most important thing I can be doing with my time. I have many other things I do with it, but my role as Mom is what really matters and what should always be my first priority. It is nice to hear and to know that being Mom matters more than anything else.


President Hinckley, I seriously love him. I loved hearing him speak about the Book of Mormon and the truthfulness of it. When he speaks the Spirit is so strong and bears witness of the truthfulness of what he says there is no doubt that it is true. I know that as I study it more my testimony will grow stronger of it and I will be able to share what I hold dear to my heart.


President Eyring.. is that weird to hear?? That is who Randy had chosen.. he is so smart! I love him humbleness and the sweetness about him. I loved his talk on the importance of journaling the Hand of God in our life. How often His hands our in our life and we fail to recognize it properly. I will try to do better and make notice of this more. When I take time to notice I see it all around me. From when I had shingles and my Mom coming over so willingly and serving me by taking care of my kids and home. To the sweet note I received from a friend that made me feel like I matter. The Lord inspires us to do good, are we always listening and willing to be His Hands?


President Monson.. I love him. He has been my favorite for years. He reminds me of my Late Grandfather, and has since I was a small child. There is something about him that just draws me to him. I loved the talk about his friend who died in World War II and how he shared the story and this boys mother was listening to General Conference. You never know when or how your life will make a difference to someone else.

Conference was uplifting and wonderful. I always enjoy it and look forward to it. I can't wait for the November Ensign so I can indulge myself in all of the great talks and also for April, when I get to hear them again.

Cookies X 6

While eating lunch today I looked at my Craisin bag and saw a recipe for Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies. I thought it sounded great! And since I purchased a cute cookie jar last week while at Kohl's I thought I should fill it with these wonderful morsels of goodness. I decided I should do a double batch so the cookie jar would be nice and full, and I would feel nice and domestic and Super Mommyish... not sure that is a word.. but I am going with it!


I started and things were going well.. until I realized that I had but 2 tablespoons of baking soda in, not the required 2 teaspoons. I figured it would be okay and proceeded to bake a pan. And put another one in the oven. I tasted my first cookie about 3 minutes into cooking the other pan. Holy nasty. Bitter, soda, salty, nasty cookie. It was awful.

I called my Mom.. she suggested adding the recipe again, making it a triple recipe so I figured it was worth the shot. Yeah.. it didn't work. The dough was yucky. I then called the baking extraordinaire Jeni. Love Jeni, she is great. And not only is she a great person she is the BEST cook I know. Seriously wonderful and the person I knew would know what to do with my situation. I called her and explained I what was going on and she assured me this kind of stuff happens.. and then she said I needed to do the recipe 3Xs more to get it to the right amount for the soda. Yes you read that right 3 times more. So my doubled recipe was now going to be 6Xs the original. That is now 2 pounds of butter. Lots of other ingredients and lots of work. I looked at it and thought about chucking it all and going to the store and filling my cookie jar.. but I couldn't. I am a pretty good cook. And I am always up for a challenge so I decided I could do this.

I already had my Kitchen-Aid mixer maxed out to capacity with the dough I had already mixed up. I got out another bowl and my hand mixer and started in. Slowly it started coming together. Little Miss decided it would be good to turn the mixer on while the mixer was sitting up right and send dough everywhere and there was a big mess. Thankfully after I quickly told her to turn it off I realized she just wanted to help and got down gave her a hug and told her it was okay. And promised to let her help when there was something she could do. I should have taken a picture once all of the dough was mixed.. it was a HUGE pile of dough. I am talking massive and overwhelming. But the dough finally tasted really good. I decided I could bake a batch and see how they turned out.. and to my pleasure they tasted good. So I kept going until I had baked 200 cookies and decided I could freeze the rest. Yes I still had lots of cookie dough left over. Probably the amount I was originally wanting.. so next time I decide to make cookies they are already done! Woo hoo!!

We decided that since it was Monday FHE night that we would deliver cookies to friends of ours. And ended up giving away close to 100 cookies tonight. The kids loved it and we now have a perfectly full cookie jar waiting for little hands to reach in and get their yummy treat. My short baking session turned into hours of baking. But the kids learned it is nice to do things for others and that it made them feel good inside. I don't plan on mixing up that many cookies again. I think I will leave that for Mrs. Fields.

You should look!

At my photo blog.. especially if you are a certain someone.
That's all.

The Truth..

I know why I got shingles. At least I am pretty darn sure I do. They say stress brings them on.. who is "they" you ask, the Dr's, People, Google. Let me explain September. September 1st, I had a wedding to shoot alone.. my first one alone. It was a very busy and fun, long day. And then I had the editing that I had to do. And I got it done and back to the people 5 days later.. yes I am crazy. September 6th, bridal portraits. September 7th, 2 weddings. Yes you read that right. Two weddings, one day. Thankfully Misty came and worked with me all. day. long. And then we stayed up going over who is proofing what and got everything organized. September 11th, family photo shoot, Lupus Support Group Meeting I am in charge of that no one came to.. and the I had HFPE to go to. I went and left shortly after, I was tired and just needed to go home. And the rest of that week I was editing, being Mom, volunteering at Little Man's school, trying to keep up on the house, laundry, cooking, driving kids in the carpool and going every which a way non-stop, and busting my Butt to get the Lupus Walk off of the ground. Friday, the 14th came and I felt something weird on my back but decided to ignore it. Saturday came the 15th and they itched more. I went to my walk had the event go off successfully, came home and showed Randy my bumps. He made me go to the Dr and I was diagnosed with Shingles. I wanted to believe it wasn't really stressed related. But seriously, that much in 15 short days it will give anyone shingles. And I am doing the walk again next year, but not with 5 shoots within two weeks of it. That was insane. That is the truth as to why I ended up with shingles.. I love to be crazy busy. It keeps things exciting. Evidently my body doesn't want me that busy or stressed again.

What's your personality?

I saw this on Kim's Blog, so I joined in. This is what I have tested as everytime I have taken any sort of test. When I was in college and met with a counselor for what to be when I "grow up" they had me do a test and I am an ENFP through and through. So no suprise. And I think it fits me pretty well in some aspects. Others.. not as much lol! Join in and let me know what you are!

You Are An ENFP

The Inspirer You love being around people, and you are deeply committed to your friends.You are also unconventional, irreverent, and unimpressed by authority and rules.Incredibly perceptive, you can usually sense if someone has hidden motives.You use lots of colorful language and expressions. You're quite the storyteller! In love, you are quite the charmer. And you are definitely willing to risk your heart.You often don't follow through with your flirting or professed feelings. And you do break a lot of hearts. At work, you are driven but not a workaholic. You just always seem to enjoy what you do.You would make an excellent entrepreneur, politician, or journalist. How you see yourself: compassionate, unselfish, and understanding When other people don't get you, they see you as: gushy, emotional, and unfocused

What's" Your Personality Type?