I'll give you a hint

image from maps.google.com

Okay, I can't stand it anymore.

I'm going to...

SOUTH AFRICA!

Sam's parents are on a mission for the LDS church. They are serving in the Cape Town, So. Africa mission. Sam's sister Karen was planning on going to see them in December. She wasn't crazy about doing the 27 hour flight alone so I so kindly offered to go with her. I didn't think that it would really work out because it is a very expensive flight, but the other day Sam's mom called me and told me that she had just talked to Sam and that he said I was going to go. WHAT?!! Uhhhh, okay! Of course it is understood that this counts as my birthday, anniversary and Christmas presents for the rest of my life, but I am sooo exited. A little nervous, but sooo exited!

I'm sure that there will be many more posts on this subject, but for now that's it. I just wanted to share my exiting news.

Don't be a hater!

Look at what my brother is making. Super cute kids picnic tables. You can even order it with a custom finish, and it's a great price. I'm thinking Christmas! They will ship.

I have very exiting news!!! I'll share later. No, I am not pregnant. That would be exiting but not the good kind. In fact I thought of dressing up as a pregnant woman for Halloween cuz that is the scariest thing that I could think of.

catching up

I need to catch up before the holidays get here and I never do.

last Friday was a crazy crazy day. The kids had a celebration at school (I'll tell you more about that later). We were asked to bring in some type of international food to share with there classes. I only signed up to bring food to Abby's class because I got her sign-up form first. I didn't figure I needed to kill myself making food for four classes. So on Thursday my friend Heather and I started making crepes. We made a ton of them, enough to bring to Abby's class and her daughter's class and extra for our kids to snack on after school. It was a lot of crepes. On Friday morning, as the kids were leaving for school, Gracie asked me what time am I coming to bring crepes to her class. I tried to explain to her that I couldn't bring them to all of the classes. She wasn't interested in my explanation, so I told her that I would see what I could do. I went inside and started making more crepes. I ended up bringing crepes to Bryce's class as well. Nate's class had other plans. It ended up being fun and there was lots of great food.

Friday night was Trunk-or-Treat at the church. I wasn't going to post pics of the kids costumes until Halloween, but they might be all covered up with coats that night so here are their costumes the night of Trunk-or-Treat. McKay is Dumb-Bo. Gracie is a pirate. Abby is a Witch. Bryce and Nate are some kind of scary thing that has a heart that squirts blood. It was a fun party. We love our ward, so many great people!

Next- Fall break. Monday we went to the zoo with our friends the Bridgmans. It was a warm, beautiful day. We fed the Lorikeets, which in all of the hundreds of time that we have been to the zoo we have never done that. It was fun.

Then Tuesday we did chores and hung out.

Wednesday it snowed like 6 in. and was cold and dreary all day. We went and played at the Carter's house.

Thursday the sun was shining and the kids played in the snow all day. Sam's parent's gave the kids snowball makers years ago and it has turned out to be one of our favorite snow toys. It makes perfect, baseball sized snowballs without freezing your hands. McKay liked seeing the reflection of himself in the side of the car as he through snowballs at the car. Abby and Gracie made snow angles. Bryce and Abby made snow forts and Nate spent the day at the museum with the Bridgmans.

Friday, today, we went swimming at the rec center. It has been a busy week

And last I just wanted to share these pictures of McKay filling his car up with gas. It's a toy cash register. I love this age. I can't get enough of him.

Other random things- Abby asked me if I would buy her a training bra. Bryce has his last flag football game tomorrow ( I still need to post pics of that). Nate had to leave school early last Thursday for fighting. I have another ear infection. Sam is behind on his homework. Gracie is spelling everything she sees and McKay's favorite thing to tell people is "you nice".

I know there is more that I want to remember, but this is all for now.

Me- "Do you want to ask the Carters to come to the zoo with us next week?"

Gracie- "That would be delightful."

Happy Halloween Phase 2

The pumpkins are carved, pumpkin seeds roasted, and pumpkin scented oil is burning.

Happy Halloween Phase 1

The decorating has begun, costume choices are being finalized, and large amounts of candy are being purchased.

My kiddos

Last weekend we went to Meridian Park for pictures. These are some of the shots of my kids. Sam's parents are on their mission so Sam's whole family meet to take pictures of all of the grand kids to send to Grandma and Grandpa. All 20 grand kids, ranging in age from 4 months old to 16 years old. I have to say I was totally stressed out about the task of getting 20 kids to stay happy and looking at the camera at the same time. I really thought that it was going to be a disaster. SURPRISE!! The whole experience couldn't have gone better. The kids were so cute and so cooperative, and we got some really cute pictures. I will be posting them later since they are a Christmas Present, but seriously, they are so cute!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Nate is one of the funniest kids I know, but mostly when he is truly not trying to be. This morning on my Face Book status I posted that this morning Nate told me that even after scrubbing his armpits extra, extra hard in the shower they still smelled like onions. He seriously cracks me up. Then tonight I asked him if he would be embarrassed if I posted the story on my blog. He didn't know that I had already put it on FB. He gets embarrassed easily, so just the thought of it freaked him out. He was screaming "NO, NO, don't do it!!. Just to mess with him, cuz I love messing with him, I told him that I was going to post it. He calmed down and said, "If you do post it, at least change the onion part to garlic." Is having your pits smell like garlic somehow less embarrassing than having them smell like onions?

I guess I wasn't really just messing with him after all cuz I went ahead and posted the whole story. Sorry Nate, but maybe some day you will read this and think it's funny.

Camera Play

Our trip to the mountains gave us the chance to play with our cameras. I have so much to learn about my camera. The three collages below show some of the things that we played with like aperture and shutter speed. It was a fun day. I have to say my favorite part was the chicken salad that Shay's amazing husband Frank made us for lunch. Thanks Frank!!!

Just for fun!

My friend Shay was headed to the mountains an Saturday to photograph fall and asked if I wanted to come along. Let's see, a drive to the mountains with an awesome friend to shoot just for fun or stay home and work on all of the projects that Sam wanted to get done. That didn't take much thought at all.

We headed up I-70 then up the mountain towards Grays Peak. We came across this great old building that used to be a bunk house for the miners. The old wood and faded red paint was beautiful!