HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Well, Halloween's all done. What a fun holiday we had at our house. Now that the kids are getting older and starting to realize what the holidays are all about, we are really having fun watching them get into each of them.

I'm posting all of the pictures from trick-or-treating last night and from Zach's Classroom Halloween Party at school.

Zach's teacher was nice enough to let us come and watch Zach's class during their halloween parade. It was so much fun! When we came in, they were all dressed up and sitting on their tables, they were so cute! Here's our little fireman!
















And we had to get a picture with Zach and his teacher, Mrs. Paxman, that was dressed up as a cowgirl. Zach was excited to tell us that her horse's name was Rusty. She is so great with the kids and we are so lucky that Zach has such a great teacher!



We were also able to snap a quick picture of Zach and Hailey together. Hailey just loves her brother and wants to be just like him. Which means she absolutely loves it when we go to his class, she thinks she should be sitting right there beside him every day.



While Zach was off marching through the classrooms, Hailey found a beanbag and a Barney book. She was so excited to sit and read "just like Zachary" she said.



Later that night, we took the kids trick-or-treating. Last year they weren't much into it, but this year they really caught the purpose and were off running to each door to trick-or-treat and get more candy. We actually made it to every house in the neighborhood. Zach was ready to head back by that time, but little Miss. Sugartooth could have gone on forever - especially since she was getting sugar. I didn't get any pictures of the trick-or-treating like I planned since it was sprinkling the whole time, but I did get a few of them going through their buckets once we got home. They were so excited about all the fun things they got.
















WE ALL HAD SO MUCH FUN!

My Little Fireman

The last few weeks, Zach's school has had a few visits from our community helpers. The first visit was from a Lehi City Policeman - even better for us, it was the officer that is in our ward and lives just down the road from us. He showed them all of his tools and equipment and even let them climb in his police car and push buttons. Zach was thrilled that he was able to turn on and off the siren a few times.

Last Friday, the school had the fire department come out. They showed the kids their equipment and even dressed up Zach's teacher in their fire clothes and oxygen tank. They were even shown all of the fun and interesting things one the fire truck. Luckily for me, Friday was the day I was helping out in Zach's classroom and I was able to be there for the fire truck part of the presentation. When I left and was walking across the parking lot to the school, I could still here the oohs and aahs of the kids as they were shown different things.

After their presentation, the kids went back to their classrooms and Zach's class made fire hats - just like the firefighters had. He was so excited to come home and show Hailey and I. He was so cute, I had to snap a few pictures.



He had to do a silly face picture too!



I just love having him to go kindergarten (although it's been hard to realize he's growing up) because the teachers and school do so many fun and creative things for them. He loves it and looks forward to kindergarten every day!

Octoberfest!

October is a very busy month for us. Between all of the birthdays, anniversary, fall things to do, and halloween - we are more than busy having fun. My mom likes to get all of the grandkids together - sometimes at different times - but more than often together to do a bunch of fun things. This year, we had to split it up a bit, but we had a couple of fun full days of activities for the kids.

The first thing we did was take the kids to the pumpkin patch. Nothing beats watching the kids run through the pumpkin fields looking for that perfect pumpkin!


























And of course, we had to take some pictures with the scarecrows and the cutouts.












And what trip to the pumpkin patch would be complete without a couple of runs through the little corn maze?















Having way too much fun!



After we decided we'd had enough fun at the pumpkin patch, we headed back to Nana and Papa's for some fun decorating! We:

1. Decorated cookies,




2. Decorated gourds,




3. And then painted our pumpkins - of course blue for Zach's and pink for Haileys!


























And if that wasn't enough fun for one day, we had a birthday party for our cousin Ashton and then we got in our costumes and trick-or-treated! Nana and Papa always like to see the kids in their costumes, so we get all dressed up and then trick-or-treat members of the family in the different rooms of their house. The kids have so much fun!

Our firefighter and beautiful princess!






Trick-or-treating!
















What a fun day we had!

All About Jeremiah

Kelsie tagged me. I often skip out on tags, but since I recently wrote all about myself, it seems only right that I now write about Jeremiah.



1. Where did you meet your husband?
We met in the Young Single Adult Program in Connecticut. I took a job in CT after I graduated and met him when he came home from his mission.

2. How long did you date before you married?
Technically, we didn’t “date” much. We knew each other for about 4 months and then we were pretty much going steady. It was more of a jump from friends to serious. We were engaged 5 weeks later and then were married 2 ½ months after that. We both knew what we wanted and didn’t feel it necessary to drag it out.

3. How long have you been married?
Coming up on 9 years this Thursday.

4. What does he do that surprises you?
He always cracking jokes at the most surprising times.

5. Favorite Feature?
His handsome blue eyes, which he has passed to both of our kids.

6. Favorite Quality?
He’s very loyal – even when others are talking about their wives and their interesting personalities, he never says anything about me. Even though there is plenty to complain and laugh at!

7. Does he have a nickname for you?
Bokkie – supposedly it’s a South African term.

8. Favorite Food?
I would have to say Baby Back Ribs or my Dad’s tritip with Spade-L seasoning.

9. Favorite Sport?
Definitely basketball – he plays twice a week and has coached it at the K-8 school he’s working at. Although, he does enjoy watching and playing football, baseball, soccer, golf, etc.

10. When and where was your first kiss?
In July of 1999 at my apartment in CT.

11. What is your favorite thing to do together?
Go to the temple, we don’t get to do that much together anymore since the kids are so young, but we used to go every month back in CT before we had Zach. It was special because the nearest temple was at least 2 hours away and we had to pretty much take the whole day to go. Right now we just like being together and doing fun things with the kids.

12. Do you have children?
Two. Zach is 5 ½ and Hailey is almost 3.



13. Does he have any hidden talents?
He’s great at making me laugh, even when I’m seriously worried about something. He has a unique talent at making me feel relaxed.

14. How old is he?
Thrity-two (just last week) – yes, that’s two years older than me. He likes to joke that he likes “older” women.

15. Who said I love you first?
I did, although he probably thinks it was him.

16. What is his favorite music?
Rock - not the really hard stuff, but stuff like Aerosmith, Linkin Park, etc.

17. What do you admire most about him?
He’s great at being a dad. He has more patience with the kids than I do most times. He is always playing and tickling them on the floor.



18. What is his favorite color?
Blue.

19. Will he read this?
Only if I tell him to.

20. Who do you tag?
Let’s see, I’m curious to hear what each of sisters/sister-in-laws have to say about their husbands, so I tag Holli, Afton, Michelle, and Kylie.

"Hair" You Doin'?

I really love fun school activities. This week was Red Ribbon Week at Zach's school. In addition to teaching the kids the dangers of drugs, they did some really fun activities to get the kids involved. On Monday they had the kids wear red and Tuesday was wear you favorite sport team clothes. But our favorite, by far was Wednesday, which was "wear your pajamas and come with crazy hair" day. Zach was so excited to wear his pajamas, but even more excited to do his hair crazy. Any of you who know my son, know that with his double cow-licks, his hair pretty much stands up in the back without any help. But of course this wasn't good enough for him, we had to use water and hairspray to get the all over CRAZY look. I had to keep from laughing because he looked so funny, but he was so excited. I was worried that he'd be the only one with such a crazy hairdo, but when we dropped him off, there were plenty of kids with their hair just as crazy. It was a fun day for him and he was thrilled that he was able to participate.



Check out that CRAZY hair!

Cookie Monsters!

For Family Night last night, we decided to make cookies. I got a great deal a few weeks ago on some premade cookie dough, so I went the easy route and used that. The kids have watched Nana make cookies a bunch of times and wanted to put the dough on the pans themselves. Zachary decided he wanted chocolate chip dough and Hailey chose peanut butter dough. I did one row for them and then gave them each some in a bowl and let them go to town.















They were having so much fun and I was impressed at how well they did. Hailey got a bit more help, but still did great.
















At times it was hard to decide whether they were having more fun eating the dough or putting it on the pans!















Once we got the pans done, we put one them in the oven. Did you know that if you have 2 children staring at baking cookies that they somehow cook faster? I didn't know that, but Zach was just sure that if they stared at the cookies, they would hurry up and cook.
















And you can't help but have a warm cookie out of the oven - YUMMY!















We had so much fun and we all got to enjoy some yummy cookies! My two little cookie monsters made it so much fun!

Holy Toilet Paper Batman!

Ever find one of those deals that you just can't turn down? Well, it's been a crazy couple of weeks at our house, to say the least. September and October are the months for case lot and stock up sales at pretty much every store in our area. I save all year for this time when I can stock up on food and anything else I think we'll need in an emergency. One of this year's big buys: toilet paper.



Yes, that would be 38 6-pks of toilet paper stacked on my kitchen counter. After I got them all upstairs and organized, I actually found more at a little bit better price at another store. So what did I do??? BUY MORE OF COURSE! Yes, 20 more 6-pks of toilet paper. Here's a few pics of our "not so little" linen closet stocked full of toilet paper and paper towels.















So you're asking yourself who in their right mind would buy this much toilet paper right? That's 348 double rolls or 696 single rolls of toilet paper! Well, first of all, it was a great price, almost a full $1.50 - $2.00 lower than you can buy at Walmart currently. Secondly, this not only covers our family for a full year, but beyond. If you've been watching at how fast prices are going up quickly, you can understand how I'm all for not having to pay extra for toilet paper for as long as possible.

And before you get concerned, this is not the only thing that I have a years supply of. My family will be able to eat, stay clean, and keep our house clean for a full year. So, it's not as if we're only prepared on the one end (no pun intended).

But seriously, after seeing how so many natural and man-made disasters are happening all over the world, it feels good to know that should anything happen, my family is somewhat prepared. Our church strongly encourages everyone to have a good year supply of food, clothing, and other necessities in order to make sure each of our families are able to survive for an extended period of time.

SO STOCK UP AND SAVE! I once read that if you aren't getting strange looks at the store when you are stocking up, then you aren't buying enough. I was getting plenty of strange looks as I was buying all of this, so I guess I can feel confident that I bought enough.

GO PREPAREDNESS!