HaPPy HaLLoWeeN

I was so tired after waking up, wide awake at 3:30 am and not being even remotely tired until 20 minutes before I am supposed to be awake and getting ready for my early morning walk. I dragged myself out of bed at 6:05, went on my walk, came home and woke up all the kids for school, got dressed started some laundry, crawled back in bed and Laren, since he was going to a meeting at CDOT a little later than normal, took the kids to school for me on his way in. Oh, that was SO nice!!




Then Tyler and I played with cars and talked in my bedroom, looked at a couple of catalogs for clothing and curtains. Then I dressed him and made cupcakes, rushed to Rilyn's class Halloween party and home to frost the now-cooled cupcakes. Thank goodness for the double ovens that made baking them a snap!!


After lunch I took Rilyn to Payton's house to play. Payton is the daughter of my friend that I walk with. Then I drove quickly home with Tyler, found a gift bag and baby girl outfitI had purchased in advance for my friend Sarah who just had her baby last Thursday. I then sped to Papa Murphy's to pick up a cute Jack-o-Lantern Pizza for their family and went 20 minutes South to Sarah's neighborhood to deliver the goods and see her cute new baby girl!! This is her 4th baby and her 3rd girl in a row! She is a cutie!! But I didn't have the same feeling holding her as I did holding my little new nephew, Zack. Must be something about your own family or something?


I couldn't help but be a little jealous though when Sarah said Lizzy (her new baby girl) only wakes up once in the night to feed. My babies didn't do that until they were about 10 months old!! Sarah's Mom was there for the week to help her.

I stayed just long enough to make me have to be in a hurry again! Tyler was downstairs in the playroom with Katie. He wouldn't come up. I had to run down and get him and then get him out to the van and buckled. We raced back to our neck of the woods and I picked up Rilyn, ran home to get the cupcakes and candy corn for the Halloween Bingo Game and went to the school.


I had to park way out away from the school on the street. All the parking lots were full and the street was already packed with cars. Tyler had finally fallen asleep but we had a long trek ahead of us and I had to carry cupcakes, not him. Plus, he was poopy. So I got him out of his carseat and changed his diaper in the van. Then I wiped my hands real good, carrying extra baby wipes and diapers is convenient. We made a mad dash into the school, well as fast I could with cupcakes and other stuff and a 5 year old and 2 year old in tow.




We got in and missed the costume parade but had plenty of time to fill the cups with candy corn for the Bingo game and get the cupcakes set out. The kids were very excited and talkative. When I first walked into the room all the kids turned to Kyle and said "Your Mom is here, Kyle!" It makes me feel good to know that they know me because that must mean I'm there helping my son or his class enough for them to remember and hopefully that makes Kyle feel important. Because he is so important to me, just like Rilyn, Alyssa, Kayla and Tyler are.





The class party went well, they made an edible spider out of brownie bites and red hots (for eyes) and licorice (for legs), ate their goodies (which were plentiful) and I called for the BINGO game. It was chaotic and fun all at the same time!!

I gathered all my 5 kids (they all go to the same school, thankfully), except Tyler who is not yet in school, and came home. Rooms needed cleaning (again), we needed dinner - you know that same Jack-o-lantern pizza - then dishes, costumes needed to be put on and finally we could go but not before we answered the door to about 10 trick or treaters. We finally had to turn out our lights and leave a bowl of candy on the front porch to get out of here!


We were gone an hour and the kids came home with their buckets FULL of candy!! I do not think we've ever had THIS much candy! Ugh!! With the ward Trunk or Treat last night, Trick or Treat Street at School on Saturday and now Halloween they have already had enough sweets --and me too!!




We came home, they had some candy, we took some pictures and read scriptures and now they are all in bed, except Tyler who is here sitting on my lap as I type. He is playing with my hair and giving me hugs. I'm exhausted. Laren put the candy away and is getting ready for bed. I need to get there too! Good night!! :) and Happy Halloween!!!!!!

Halloween Eve

Halloween Eve

Today is the day before Halloween and our festivities just keep coming! Tonight is our ward Trunk or Treat. I'm a little bummed that we are not having soups and chili's with it - just cookies and cider. So I went to the store this morning and spent a fortune on candy. And then I spent another small fortune on stuff for cupcakes for Kyle's class Halloween Party tomorrow. Maybe I should have just forked out $15 for the cupcakes from the bakery because I paid nearly that for the cupcake stuff to make!!

Last night we carved pumpkins and since Laren was out of town, I got the honors of helping the kids do that by myself. It is a messy job, but fun too. It seems Laren has been out of town for many of our Halloweens through the years (because of work - which there is no rhyme or reason why, it just ends up that way).

On my way home I stopped at Papa Murphy's and picked up one of these for dinner:

And, I almost forgot but Taco Bell has free tacos today from 2-5pm because a guy on the Red Sox stole a base when playing the Rockies last week. So go and get your FREE taco!! :)

Week in Review...

My Week...

*There are several highlights of my week, one is a 2 edged sword and that is my beloved Rockies being in their first World Series. I'm SO excited for them, yet sad that it looks like they will get swept by the Boston Redsox just like the Rockies did to Philidelphia and Arizona. I had to turn off Game 3 tonight, couldn't watch.

Cookies we made to take so we could be the Halloween Phantom this week!

*I went to Kallie's (my Sister) on Wednesday and got to hold the cutest newborn in the world. You know you're pretty attached when they do this





And you could just kiss them to pieces anyway!!!



Along those lines, seeing my Sister have a baby after 9.5 years has caused me to do some internal pondering about being a Mother to my own 5. Laren and I have felt for a long time we would have 5 kids, even before we had 5. We felt that way back when we only had 2. So now we have 5 and have had for almost 3 years now. I can't believe my "baby" (yes, I still call him that and he is 2.5 now) is growing up so quickly.



I felt for so long that my years of child birthing would never end. And then it seemed to pass quickly, too quickly. I had my last child and then I got my body back (which I'm quickly losing because of too many Halloween and other treats) and sold my house and bought a bigger one to raise these 5 kiddo's in. I have been well on my way to being done with babies of my own. I no longer own a crib, an infant carseat, baby clothes, etc... And, I still think we are done having children of our own but I don't know if it's my baby getting older or seeing my Sister with her new little one or what but it really makes me mourn the loss of no more babies around here.



I think it must be something that every Mother experiences at one time or another, but for me there is a lot of nostalgia and a bit of sadness involved. On the one hand I'm happy to be moving on-- and boy am I as I listen to my "baby" screaming at 10:35 pm and he won't just go to sleep. But on the other hand I want to reach up and slow down that clock, turn it back a little, make time pass a little slower. I want to enjoy this stage of life and not let it escape without relishing it.

In honor of Red Ribbon/Drug Awareness week at School we had school Spirit week and this was Kyle's Orange hair on Crazy hair day.

**Enough blubbering, while I was at my Sister's we made this:

Isn't the snowman cute?!! I can't wait to put it out. But now I will have to fix it first because said "Baby" knocked it down a few times and it now needs some more gluing.



**Thursday my girls had piano lessons and Kayla said she loves her piano teacher (who happens to be Japanese but very Americanized and wonderful in most every way). Just a few weeks ago Kayla was telling me she was not liking her piano teacher and wanted her old one back, but her old one is expecting a new baby and is no longer teaching piano. Hmm, I was so happy to hear Kayla take an about face in her opinion and it shows in her practicing as she is playing some very upbeat classical pieces (Bach) and it is so fun to hear her play. And when I look at that sheet music I stand in awe because it looks so hard! Alyssa and her playing, well she does not have the same motivation but I think she enjoys it.



**Friday, I went to lunch with Rilyn, Tyler and my friend Cassie who I walk with every morning and her youngest daughter. We had fun and time almost got away from us but we realized it just in time for me to get to the school to pick up my kids and her to get to her kids as well. Also, Laren and I had not had a date night in nearly a month. We have had something going on every single weekend, whether it was our Halloween Party, General Conference, Super Saturday, Time Out for Women, etc...



**So for our date, I picked what we did and we went to The Great Indoors. I love this store, although it is a bit spendy.


A snapshot of some of products on display at The Great Indoors.

I love to browse for ideas. We went to the store at Flat Irons instead of the one by Park Meadows and the store at Flat Irons has this cool escalator that takes both us AND our cart up! It was amazing!!

Shopping cart going down escalator.

So we went there for me and because Laren felt a bit left out, we went to Best Buy that was next door. Just kidding, Laren was a good sport but we went to Best Buy to get an extender cord for my Printer so I could free up some desk space for myself.



**Today Kyle had his big Wrestling Tournament. Laren took him to that while I took the other 4 kids to the Practice for the Primary Program. Then in the Evening was Trick or Treat Street at the School.

Rilyn as a Ladybug.

My kids had a good time and each won something Fabu at the Spooky Walk (cake walk) -- they give out entire cakes and entire packages of cookies here. It's unbelievable!

Me and Tyler, after his tantrum because he didn't like getting make-up on his face.



**Tomorrow is our Primary Program. I'm optimistic that it will go better than our practice did today. The kids always seem to pull it together the day of the Program. And I'm bracing myself for 3 hours of Church with 6 little Sunbeams.

Inspiring...

Inspiring

As I've mentioned before, I do not watch much TV but I do enjoy Oprah whenever I get the chance, usually a few times a week. And today I happen to catch 45 minutes of the show while I made dinner.

I turned it on just in time to see one of the most inspiring things I've ever seen in my life. It is the "Last Lecture" given by Professor Randy Pausch who teaches at Carnegie-Mellon University. It was his "last" lecture because he is dying of pancreatic cancer and only has a couple of months to live.

He gave his "last lecture" on Oprah and he says some very important things in there about living and living the best life possible and it just inspired me and motivated me about as much as only very important things have. Make the opportunity to check it out, I guarantee you you will NOT be sorry!!

Go here and click on the link that says "Watch Randy's Last Lecture."

This guy has an attitude that is one I hope to adopt. I just kept thinking as I watched, How could the Lord take such an amazing teacher/person from this earth. We need him around so we can learn more from him.

Time Out

Time Out

Friday and Saturday I went to Time Out for Women sponsored by Deseret Book. A girlfriend asked me if I wanted to work the event for a free ticket, so I did. 2 other friends also did it.

We had to get there 2 hours early each day and then stay late by almost an hour. I would probably do it again, but I have to say the early hour on Saturday about killed me off!

I did get to see some great performances and listen to some great talks and music. On Friday, Mary Ellen Edmunds spoke and Jenny Oaks Baker performed the violin. And then Jenny's nephew Jared Oaks played the piano while Jenny was at the violin. I have to say Jenny Oaks Baker ROCKED the house!! She was EXCELLENT!!! I had seen her perform at Womens Conference in Provo, in May but she was much better at performing this time around. There is no disputing her absolute accuracy in playing the music!

On Saturday, I listened to Viginia Hinckley Pearce; Richard Holzapfel, a professor of Religion; Dean Hughes, BYU Professor and author; Pamela Hansen, who wrote Running with Angels; Daryl Hoole, who is like the flylady for our parents generation; and Kenneth Cope performed 4 times on Saturday.

Kenneth Cope signed my cd (which this one is probably my least favorite of his albums, my favorite is his new one Face to Face which isn't all that new. But he is working on a new one called Son of Man and I was interested to learn he is the Bishop in his current ward).


I love Kenneth Cope's music. Of all the LDS artists he is by far my favorite. But I was interested to find that he is not as great at performing as his cd's sound. I spoke with him several times and he is so laid back and down to earth.

As it turned out, instead of working the Will Call desk, I was ushering and was assigned to be right up next to all the Presenters. In addition, I got VIP seating for being a volunteer and I was able to sit right behind all the one's presenting too.

So I had several opportunities to just small talk with all the "famous ones." In talking to Sister Pearce I learned what a hard-working, busy lady she is. Also she definitely looks like her father's daughter. She has his wit and sense of humor! She is such a great lady whom I admire.

She also told us that her Dad, President Hinckley, is doing well health-wise. He does rely on his cane more than he used to but the most difficult thing for him is his hearing, but he is 97 years old! Also we learned that Jenny Oaks Baker is Dallin H. Oaks' daughter. And Jared Oaks is his Grandson.

I also talked to Dean Hughes on a couple of occasions. He was so down to earth and easy to converse with. And he gave a great talk on Competition and how it is not good for us. You know, competing with other women or people who we think have life better than us.

No more glasses

LASIK

I never had to wear eyeglasses until I was in 9th grade in high school. Then I only needed them rarely for driving and when I sat at the back of the classroom. Crazy me, I always wanted glasses when I was younger because my older sister had worn them since 1st grade and I was jealous.

Well, finally when I needed them in 9th grade they were not my favorite thing and I hardly ever wore them and subsequently rarely put them on. By the time I was a Freshman in college I decided I wanted contacts. I couldn't get away without my glasses on as much for distances like I could when I was younger.

So I went into the mall and got contacts. The first few times of wearing the contacts they took forever to put in and they were not so comfortable to wear. I had a roommate teach me lessons, the most important of which was to never wipe your wet finger on a tissue before inserting the lens because then all those little fuzzies get all over the contact and are torture on the eyes!! Another thing she taught me was to always put the same one in first.

Well, because I did not like wearing glasses I wore my contacts pretty much every day for the next 15 years or so. I did go through one short spell of not wearing them after I had my first baby but my inspiring friend Julie, at BYU, told me about how she didn't want to let herself go after having her first baby and so she was determined to keep wearing her contacts even though the glasses were much easier!

So I stuck with my contacts until last year on September 1st when I had LASIK. I remember being so nervous. We had put money away in our HSA all year to pay for it. I had my surgery and everything went well and I've been glasses free ever since.

Laren with his glasses on. This was the first one I came acrossed that he was wearing them in. A close up would've been better.

Well, today is the big day for Laren! He is going in for LASIK. He did not have to regularly wear glasses except for driving until about 5 years ago. And he has never worn contacts. So he is anxious to rid himself of his glasses. I actually think he looks great in glasses. But he doesn't like the way they look on him or the hassle of them and not being able to wear sunglasses, etc...

He's Here!

Zackery is here!!

Zack

Yesterday morning we got the call from Doug, my brother-in-law, at 7:30 am saying that Kallie (my sister) had had her baby!! Kallie wasn't due until November 11th, but we had talked on the phone a few times the past few days and she was losing her mucous plug and had lots of cramping. She really wanted to make it to 37 weeks, but not enough to agree on letting the doctor give her Tributalene when she went to the hospital in labor night before last! I can't blame her there, I would say that is too little too late!

Labor and Delivery went well. Zack weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz. and was 20 inches long and is very healthy. He is the CUTEST baby I have seen since I had my own babies!! ;) He has quite a bit of short blonde hair, blonde eyebrows and eyelashes. He looks a lot like the Clawson side of the family but overall I would say he is a mix of both sides.

I took Kallie up a gift, some flowers and a pizza (from Costco that her husband and kids could cook later for dinner) early in the day with my 2 younger kids. I did not hold Zack at that first visit because Dakota, Kassidy and Drew had just arrived and I wanted them to get in their first loves with their new baby brother. I realized as I was making the hour journey back home for parent teacher conferences that I forgot my purse at the hospital. It had my cell phone, my wallet, drivers license and you know, pretty much all that is sacred to me in it!!

So it was a great excuse to go back up after Parent Teacher Conferences and get it. This time I left Tyler with Laren because he'd been a typical two year old and I was getting a bit frazzled. Laren had his meeting at the Stake Center but was willing to take Tyler along. So I took my very excited 4 older kids with me so they could see their newest cousin. Rilyn was especially happy she got to see Zack twice!

The only sad part in all of this is, is that I forgot my camera! Kayla did remind me that I could use my cell phone to take pictures with it and so I did get a couple on that and thanks to you Crysty for helping me out so I could post a picture here! Though the quality is severely lacking, he is not only cute but such a sweetie too. Very calm, at least so far!