Grandma and Grandpa came to town...

We got to go over to Aunt Fays and visit with Grandma and Grandpa for a little bit this afternoon. She made us some homemade corn dogs with a new little mini cooker she brought with her. They were AWESOME... when she said she would make us corn dogs for dinner, I was thinking like frozen Costco dogs. These were not frozen Costco at all... they were amazing... even picky husband ate one and loved it. Thanks Grandma!

We have to giggle because 2J's towers over her now!

Harley, Fay's new puppy was the center of attention...

His has the best little personality... what a cutie.

Oh yeah, back to the visit (I can't help it, I LOVE dogs)... well it was pretty quick, we had to eat and run. And Grandpa and Gene and Fay were there, I just didn't get any more pictures. We will see them again tomorrow... I will get more pictures then.

No School Day...

TGIF! I love Fridays! No School today... do I love no school days? Hmmmm....
Is it okay to just let the kid NOT do anything productive, on a no school day?

Maybe if I planned something fun and exciting to do on our no school day....
Maybe if there weren't so many things I always feel like I HAVE to do on our no school day...

We get to go see Grandma and Granpa, visiting in town, that will be fun for the no school day...
We get to go have lunch with Dad, that will be fun for the no school day...

I have to get better organized so I can have a plan for these no school days. There are more just around the corner, with teacher conferences, Thanksgiving (I don't even have a plan for that yet), Christmas, Winter break...

It's not like me not to have a plan for everything... someone pinch me! I'm spinning out of control!

Halloween 2007

I got the call from My Man all the way in Nevada, that he was waiting on a truck and wouldn't be home before 10pm last night. We had originally thought 4pm... so it was a blow to my already fragile system. But there was nothing I could do about it, so I just tried to endure.

2J's had signed up to go help at our Church for their annual "Trunk or Treat". He was going to help hand out Hot Chocolate, and Apple Cider, and donuts with the other kids that were just too old to go begging for candy at this age.

So the night before a lady from the church called and asked him to dress up, but nothing scary, just something fun or funny.

The night before...

As he gets out of school on Halloween, we do the "have to have a costume in 2 hours" rush! He wants to do "Ace Ventura"... but that was way too much pressure on Mom, and nobody would recognize him anyway! And I was not going to spend a ton of money on this... I was "Grinching" very badly. So we found some pieces to put together and he went as a Hawaiian for $3.

Can you believe he is letting me take his picture?

Okay I kind of tricked him into this one... "No Mom I am not doing the Hula"... Snap!

His friend Conor dressed as "Jared Zabransky", the Boise State football player... I guess that would have been a little more masculine! Duh!

Oh well, a good time was had by all. I stayed home and paid bills inbetween door bells. I have to say, I am not a fan of Halloween, but I do like it when the little kids come to the door all excited and I have candy for them. (I can't wait for grandkids!!)

Of course our dogs were totally freaked out with all the goblins stopping by and ringing the door bell. But they were much much better when our Main Man got home. All the pieces of our Family Unit were back in place.

Kids Everywhere...

Yesterday, my bff had to spend some time at the hospital with her mother in law who had fallen and broken her hip. Her 3 middle children were out of school for a fall break. So there were 5 of them, Ky, Kaitlyn, Kaileigh, Meisha and Carson, and they came to stay with me for the day.

When they arrived, I had forgotten how much stuff you have to pack around for kids and babies. The stopped at the door and peeled off coats and hats and shoes... there was a huge pile, but it made me think of going to one of my sisters houses.

A funny side story... I was always amazed watching my sister and her husband get their 6 kids out the door. One morning when we were visiting them, I was watching Brett sort through a huge pile of shoes mounded up by the door trying to find a match, and I asked him in amazement, how they did this on a regular basis. He said "Oh my part is easy, I am just in charge of the shoes and coats... Patsy does EVERYTHING ELSE"! And I knew by his tone... he knew what it took to do "everything else" and was so grateful for his wife and that his part was so simple in comparison, that he would never complain.

It was all coming back to me, how much more organized you have to be with little ones. Carson is 6 months, so I would have to be on my toes and make sure I was one step ahead of him.

They wanted to watch some TV, which gave me a chance to see what had been sent with them, she remembered everything, breakfast, lunch, babyfood, diapers, movies, toys, blankets. So while they were in a gaze, I went in to fix them breakfast.

We got in the groove pretty quickly, but even when they were calm cool and collected, I couldn't leave to go in the office and get any work done... so we watched movies, and played. I could work in the kitchen, and do dishes.

Ky and Carson are best buddies, and I really only got to feed and change him. Ky attended to him the rest of the day.

He even got him to take a little nap. The older 3 siblings are girls, so needless to say Ky is very attached to his little brother. My Man has always related to him being surrounded by girls in his family too, and they celebrated together when Carson was born!

I found some craft boxes, and they made get well cards for their Grandma.

We had to be quick to keep the crayons and stickers out of Carsons mouth... but we got the job done.

It was really fun when 2J's got home from school... Meisha loves him!

These two are hambones for the camera!

It was a fun day, busy, and I was exhausted when Mom came by to get them, but everyone was fed and safe!

I think I needed this day, to give me some compasion for mothers who have little ones at home, teaching, and training and loving them. It made me realize, that I am very selfish with my own time.... there are so many who don't have near the time to take care of themselves as I do.

Weekend Activities....

Saturday was an early morning... our youth were going on a 5am trip to the Temple, and both of my boys were attending. So my first instinct was to sleep in and enjoy a quiet morning home alone, in my pj's curled up in a warm bed, watching a chick flick....

But my bff suggested we get up early with them... after all, as mothers we are up anyway, making sure they are up on time, and don't forget anything on their way out the door, and we never can go back to sleep afterwards.

So we should make good use of our extra time in the day (she is obviously the level headed one in the friendship).

It was early, but we did have a wonderful peaceful time in the Temple and we were out before the sun was all the way up. In the end I was very happy she makes half our decisions for us.

When the youth arrived back at the chuch building, some of our men were cooking a big breakfast for them. They have the coolest portable grill on a trailer, they can pull up in the parking lot, and they had sausage, and eggs, and pancakes.... YUMMMM!!

Both of my boys really love breakfast... so this was a real treat.

After breakfast, 2J's was off to a clients house to clean her windows. Then he spent most of the rest of the afternoon chopping and stacking wood for another lady in our Ward. He is such a good kid.

While he was out working, his Dad was home catching up on his nap taking... which includes, two dogs, a blanket, and 100 channels to surf.

Sunday we drove about 35 miles West to a small farming town to attend a baby blessing of a daughter of some friends of ours from Seattle (she married a boy that is from this area, so we are so happy to have these opportunities to see them). The family drove over to be with her for the day and promplty left to drive back to Seattle. It was very special for us to be included, they are great friends, and the baby is soooo cute!

They have 3 boys and 2J's loved getting to see them again, and have a few minutes to catch up on the coolest fastest shooting air soft guns, and share their war wounds and scars.

My chef hasn't been in the kitchen for a while, but I loved this one... he had a craving for onion rings... here he is with his full goggles on cutting the onions.

Boys don't cry you know!!