Trick-or-Treat

Halloween night was so much fun, and I think most of that was due to great weather! When it's cold and windy it's just miserable. I seriously can't remember a halloween night as warm as this one was. What a blessing! The girls also had a great time. It was so much fun as Madi understood what was going and really got into it. I thought she would be shy saying trick-or-treat at neighbors doors, but she loved it. Ryan and I took turns holding Avery and as we approached each new door, she would try grabbing at the bowl of candy getting her hands on some. It was pretty cute that she knew what candy was!

Notice I have to hold Avery down, she kept trying to get up!

Our good friends stopped by and they made me laugh so hard with their gray hair and wrinkled skin. Emily stuffed her pants and shirt with padding and Quinn wore these tight grandpa pants. So funny! And their kids were adorable in their princess and frog costumes!

A great pumpkin and...a wonderful surprise!

As always on Halloween the tradition is to buy a pumpkin(s), carve a delicate face or object of worth and proudly display the finished masterpiece on the porch for all trick or treat-ers to see! We asked Madi if we should do a scary face or a happy face, and again this year it was unanimous, we went with the less scary and did a happy face...

Madi and dad getting right to work!

Madi wanted to do it by herself, but constantly kept getting frustrated that she couldn't cut into it, who can blame her?? It's tough cutting into one of those things!

But she was pretty happy overall!

Avery didn't help much with the carving, ok, she didn't do any of it, but she did sit patiently and watch Daddy and Madi carve it. Of course her patience was due to the fact she was eating a ghost-shaped sugar cookie...that can keep any baby/toddler/teenager/adult happy at least until it's gone! Here she is showing and tantalizing the left-for-later crumbs strewn across her face for all viewers, like US, to crave.

What a happy pumpkin! Way to go Madi and Dad! (At the last minute we decided to add two teeth...we thought it would fit in with pocatello folks a bit more. haha. jk!;)

Even with a happy face, he still looks a bit scary. Everything is just scarier in the dark!

---------------------------------------------------

So after we carved, examined it for per-fect-tion, (like it really matters?!) ate sugar cookies, we took our masterpiece of a pumpkin out to his new home-the porch. But when we opened the front door, to our surprise, there sat a box. It must have come a few hours earlier and we never heard anything. We rush it into the house and open it like it's Christmas morning! Ryan's mom-bless her, sent us a cute dinosaur costume for Madi! I have never seen Madi light up as much as she did when she saw it!! Her smile and enthusiasm seriously made the room glow! (Thanks Mom and Bob for that great gift! I wish you could have been here to see her! I think we were able to catch a glimpse of that in these pictures!)

She wanted to see the beauty for herself! ;)

She had it on the rest of the night, growling and running around, of course like what else, but a ferocious dinosaur! She even wanted to wear it to bed, I probably would have let her (ok maybe not) if it wasn't so tight around her head...I know, I am such a uptight mom, huh?!

Sometimes it's almost a natural instinct for Madi to turn into some sort of animal, and dinosaurs especially...haha. She makes one "scary" dinosaur! ;)



Mom also sent Ryan this amazing NACHO LIBRE mask!!! haha! That's awesome! Mom bought this mask in mexico, right??

(Ryan says: I even have the belly of a luchador!)

Halloween Humor

Hope everyone has a fun and safe HALLOWEEN!!!

A NEW adventure and how it ALL began!

I have been addicted to scrapbooking since the day my best friend Emily introduced me to it back in 8th grade. I have almost everything you can imagine from paper, stamps, accessories, to a fun cricuit machine! I love scrapbooking, taking pictures and journaling, (it's pretty obvious as I blog and take pictures of almost everything and then scrapbook it too!)

I love scrapbooking and recording stories so much in fact, that in the summer of 2006, I tried to use that passion and make my own business doing other people's scrapbooks while making money on the side. So I came up with a business to do just that, where I would met with a customer and look over their family/personal pictures, record their stories about each picture, and get their vision of what they wanted. After gathering as much information as I could, I then would use my creative skills to make them a beautiful scrapbook of all their most treasured memories! I had a layouts, prices, flyers and many other things ready to go! But I just could never get it started with one thing popping up after another...(life is just crazy sometimes!) Yet, that dream was always in the back of my mind hoping one day to emerge! So I am totally EXCITED to say that that DAY is HERE!!!

Last week a friend of mine invited me to a heritage party, I had no idea then, that I would fall COMPLETELY in love that night! (Don't worry, I didn't fall in love with some second cousin or something, I still love Ryan...haha). My friend, Cristi had mentioned Heritage Makers back in August, but I didn't really understand it. I was intrigued but just thought I would keep doing what I was already doing. Even before I was introduced to Heritage Makers, I was feeling something exciting stir within me as I walked in and saw all the beautiful display of family books bound together in all sizes with memories from everything you can imagine! There were books, cards, posters, calendars and scrapbooking pages showing generations of family stories, photos, and memories. I never thought I would enjoy digital scrapbooking as much because I have always been a glue stick, scissors type person, but I am really excited to do more digital scrapbooking, but also deciding to be a consultant. So wish me luck as I start this NEW adventure in my life! (If anyone wants to learn more click the link on the side -Heritage Makers).

Updates and PICTURES for Grandparents!

I haven't posted pictures in awhile of the kids for the grandparents, so here are several pictures of what the kids have been up to lately!

Madi and Avery playing around...

Avery's not so sure of the snow... (yes we got snow last week! About two inches!)

I bet you can't guess what Madi is doing here!?

She wanted me to tie the belt around her so she could have a dinosaur tail like an Ankylosaurus. Pretty scary!!
Hmm...Where's Avery?!

Madi has been playing with flashlights a lot lately too. (This picture is pretty blurry, but you get the point!)

Avery being a Lil' Punk...

The next Pablo Picasso...Madi Style!

Avery's and Madi's many silly faces...(Madi always posing as a some sort of animal, this is obviously a vicious velociraptor pose!) This picture makes me laugh! What silly kids!


And lastly Madi finally earned her bike! (She had to go poop ten times in the toilet, and for those that know Madi she has always had problems with this, so she has improved her performance...haha and is on her way to conquering the toilet!) It took her two days to learn to ride her bike and now you can't stop her.
She loves her new bike!

GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN!

I have been totally spoiled by my husband this past week... having a girls night out Wednesday night, Thursday having a scrapbooking night with some other girl friends, then Friday afternoon I had the chance to go to Boise with my mom and hang out all weekend with some of my best friends! Staying up late or should I say early morning hours talking and laughing like giggly teenage girls with no responsiblity! It has been non-stop girl time the entire week! So fun! Ryan took care of our girls and the house while I was away! Thanks babe!

This is my best friend, Kimberly who I haven't seen in almost 5 years! (and it looks as though my hair was on fire, or a bad highlighting job!) It was so great to see her and spend hours catching up! She is living in Oklahoma now with her husband and their three CUTE, CUTE kids! She is also pregnant with number 4 and it's a girl! Below is a picture of her
cute little boy, Parker. He looks like he is starting track early.... Ready-Set-GO!!! He is such a cute boy!

Saturday morning I went out to breakfast with my beautiful friend, Joanna! We had such a good time together as we always do and got lots of strange looks at the mall, as we
laughed our heads off while shopping together. Isn't she beautiful?!  Thanks Joanna for an awesome afternoon! I am so glad I got to see you!

I also got to spend some quality time with my best friends that I have known since middle school, Emily and Krista!!! It's been almost two years since I have seen Emily! We all have so much in common and yet are different in so many ways, but our friendship goes deep and I know we will always be friends! I love these girls!

Emily's family grows grapes in their backyard and when we were young we used to eat (more like swallow) them all the time during this time of year. So while I was there I got to enjoy some delicious sweet grapes! It brought back so many memories!

Kim, Krista and I got together late Saturday night and just had the greatest time! We tried over and over again to get a good picture, but kept laughing and making faces, finally I think we got a few!

I LOVE YOU GIRLS! Thanks for the fun and crazy weekend!

Latest Addiction and Recent Reads

The past two or three months (maybe longer) I have been addicted to reading. I have always enjoyed reading a good book, but haven't been as big of a reader after getting married and having kids... until recently! I find that I get addicted to something for a while and can't stop! Where all my free time is spent doing just that, whether it's scrapbooking, going shopping(which my husband gets nervous when that addiction springs up from time to time!), baking, blogging, reading blogs or whatever it is I get addicted to at the time, I only want to do THAT and not much else... Like last year I got into making cards, and got so excited about it that I made them day in and day out for almost three months! Yet, I haven't made cards since! And even blogging, I became utterly addicted to that too, which now I don't feel the need or desire to do it as much as I did just a few short weeks ago. I think, why can't I space things out?? You know... read a little here, do a little baking there, maybe get a couple of scrapbooking pages done today... but no, I find myself just wanting to do whatever it is that I am craving at the time. So, like I said, I have become addicted to reading. As fun as it is to read, the craving to read will probably pass soon just like everything else, but I really hope it doesn't! I wish I could manage my time better to include more things. I just need more hours in a day! Don't we all though?! :)

Anyway, I thought I would share some of the books that I have read recently. I know some of you are always looking for a good book and I recommend these...

The Peacegiver by James E. Ferrell. I read this about two months ago and absoluetly LOVED it! Life Changing!! It's one of those books that should be read at least once a year!

The Great and Terrible- The Brothers, by Chris Stewart. It is one of 6 books I believe, and it was great! It's about a family and their struggles with the decisions that were going on in Heaven before we came to this earth and how Satan through deception was able to take 1/3 of the souls of Heaven with him. I can't wait to get my hands on the next 6 books in the series!
The Five People You Meet in Heaven, by Mitch Albom. I actually read this book a long time ago, but couldn't remember a lot of it, so I read it again. I have read a few other books by this author and have really liked them. I like the way he writes. This particular book was pretty good, not my favorite by him, but its a quick read, makes you think a lot about how important each life is on the earth and how all of us can effect each other.

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown and all I have to say is, wow! I read the Di Vinci Code a while back and loved it, and heard this one was just as good or even better. And it was! It kept me reading till early morning and late hours! Great book! I also just finished Digital Fortress yesterday which is by the same author, but I didn't like it very much at all!

I read The Writing On The Wall, by Dean Hughes. He wrote five books before this which many of you probably have heard of, Children of the Promise. These are called Hearts of the Children. I really enjoyed this book. It is the first volume of six. I just started reading volume two, Troubled Waters today and I really find myself engrossed with the characters and the story line! So far so good!

And of course the Twilight Series were really fun to read! So if you haven't read those yet, you should!