find joy in the journey

share the gift

It is the evening of November 30th.  Our Christmas trees are up.  But not decorated yet.  I pulled all of the Christmas decorations from the storage space under the stairs and the boxes and tubs are stacked in the dining room.  I was excited to find leftover gift wrap from last year which I will use tomorrow to wrap our Christmas books.  I just completed the finishing touches on a short but sweet message that will be stuffed into our Christmas cards this year.  The half-gallon carton of egg nog that I bought for Thanksgiving is now all gone.  Thanks to Payton.  

The Christmas season is upon us.

And I want to remember to enjoy it.  And slow down.  And focus on what this season is all about.  That's what we all want, right?  I think it takes some careful reminders and deliberate choices to make that actually happen.

The video below has definitely inspired me and it makes me feel peaceful.  Which is what this season is all about.  Hope, joy, peace.  

Each time I watch it I am filled with love for my family, for life, for my Savior, and for the opportunities He gives us to remember Him.  These are quiet, gentle reminders.  It's not blaring on the tv, but something very still that speaks to my spirit and fills my heart because I know it true.

Take 2 minutes and enjoy this message. 

The first gift was not wrapped.  Had no bow.  Wasn't purchased online.  Or in a store.

The first gift of Christmas was a simple gift.  A sacred gift.

It wasn't gold, or frankincense, or myrrh.

It was a gift of love, and life, and peace, and hope.

Given by a father to all his children.

For God so loved the world and so loved you and you and you and every single one of us.

He gave his Son.  He is the Christ.  He is Christmas.  He is the gift.

This Christmas season discover the gift.  Embrace the gift.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.  John 3:16

thanksgiving 2014

Happy Thanksgiving!  

It has been another wonderful Thanksgiving day with delicious food, relaxing around the house, and slowing down enough to really pay attention to each other and the things we are most thankful for.

We watched a couple movies this afternoon and evening and Anna said that I belonged to her and made me her pillow.  I asked her why she was so cuddly today.  "It's because I don't get to cuddle with you very often."  Which is true.  And this is another reason I am so grateful for these holidays and days off of school when I can shut out all other distractions and responsibilities and JUST BE with my family.

We started the morning with the traditional Turkey Bowl.  The kids game started at 8:30am.  Scott and the kids went over to secure the park field and I went on a 2.5 mile run, returning back to the park just in time for game play to begin.  It felt so good to get out and do something active and enjoy the beautiful weather!

While everything was cooking the kids played some Mario Kart 8 and then got out their airsoft guns to go hunting for turkeys.

I should note that a few minutes before I took this photo Payton stepped on a scorpion.  Barefoot.  Luckily it didn't sting him.  And it was a good reminder and teaching lesson to the kids that they should always wear their shoes in the backyard.

Dinner was served right around 3pm.  Mmm.  Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, creamed corn, green beans wrapped in bacon, crescent rolls, homemade butter, Martinelli's apple cider, and egg nog.

Payton is always SO excited for Thanksgiving because that is when we bring out the nog.  His favorite.

Payton is also great at introducing great conversation topics at Thanksgiving dinner each year.  We can always rely on him to keep things interesting.  This year we discussed what kind of animal we would each choose to be.  When the final choices were made it looked like this:

• Payton - emperor penguin
• Anna - horse
• Conner - killer whale
• Scott - great white shark
• Me - bald eagle

 It's times like these, when we sit around the table for half an hour after the meal has finished, talking about the most random things (animals, super powers, pilgrims, dream jobs, etc.), and I look around the table at each of these faces and I can't help but smile.  And feel love and joy and gratitude for this family that I get to take this eternal journey with.  We have a good time together. :)

october stories

Here are a couple stories and tidbits from the month of October that I wanted to throw in before they end up too far in the past.  And I may or may not have one more Halloween post.  And the promised 3rd installment of Anna's Night Owl Party.  {sigh}  My hope was to get it all in before Thanksgiving.  We'll see how it goes!

One of our good friends from Oregon happened to be in town and popped in for a visit!  The Cluffs moved away from St. Helens about 5 years before we did (2007), but there is something to be said about the bonds you form with moms/friends/women when you are raising your babies together!  Tim and Tiffini have such a great family.  Cream of the crop.  And it was so fun to see our kids get along SO well.  Between our two families there was one boy in 9th, 8th, 7th, 6th, and 5th grades.  Ethan, Zach, Wyatt and our boys bonded over a game of Risk and discussing Studio C.  I loved seeing that they had so many common interests.  If I could just pick them all up from Idaho and move them to Vegas I know they would be fast friends.

As you can see, the girls - Mallory, Anna, Darcy - hit it off and there were many hugs when they finally had to go.  Thank you Cluffs for stopping to see us!

At a Court of Honor this month Conner received a BUNCH of merit badges from Scout Camp (he actually attended 2 Scout Camps this summer) and he earned his Life rank advancement.  Payton also pulled in a few merit badges and walked out with his Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class in one fail swoop!  And he's 11.  There's something to be said for having your dad as the Scoutmaster.

We took the kids to see Meet the Mormons.  What a great movie!  And I'm not just saying that because I am Mormon.  The documentary featured inspiring stories of 6 individuals and showed how living the gospel has shaped their lives.  By the end Scott and I were bawling (thanks to "The Missionary Mom").  And we love David Archuleta's single from the movie, "Glorious".  You should go give it a listen.  Great film.  And just beautiful cinematography.  The only thing I would do over is make sure we arrived earlier to avoid sitting on the second row!

All of the kids have made their way through the Fablehaven series this fall.  Love it.

Anna was so excited to be the Student of the Week in her class.  //  At Activity Days the 8-9 year old girls learned about freezer meals and even assembled some honey lime chicken enchiladas to take home and some to share with busy young moms in the ward.  I thought that was such a great idea for an activity!  It made me realize how easy and thoughtful it would be to share something like a freezer meal once in a while. We all know how crazy the dinner time hours can be!

everyday browns // vol. 7

The weather this month has been beautiful!  Barefoot weather for most of the month, although at this moment I am wearing slippers and my feet are chilly.  I always say that November is my favorite month here.  We're looking at a forecast of 70 for Thanksgiving day!

Fall finally showed up too!  Love!  There aren't a ton of trees like this around town but the ones that do turn red get a lot of local love.

Anna wrapped up her fall soccer season.  At the final game she played goalie for the first half and pitched a shutout.  She even took a ball to the face and maintained her position to block the ball again on rebound.  In the second half she played forward and scored two goals!  We have been super proud of her this season.

I've been doing some projecting and moving things around here.  I painted Anna's old twin bed frame black and set it up in Payton's room.  He LOVES it!  Then we moved the twin/trundle bed to the scrapbook room.  I moved the computer desk from the scrapbook room to the family room which has created a total of 8 feet of computer work space.  

I really like this new set-up.  Surprisingly, I find myself to be much more productive and even more surprising I'm on the computer LESS.  I found that I would often go into my craft room to do computer things and get sucked into click after click after click on the internet because I was isolated from the rest of the family.  Now I do what I need to do and move on quickly.

After I shared my house update post last week Scott took me to Home Depot and we bought closet doors for the craft room!  Yes!  I spent 4 hours on Saturday painting the doors (and I have the pain in my back to prove it).  The room is looking super cute and polished (I'll share pictures sometime).  With all the rearranging I took the opportunity to clean up and clean out a lot of my scrapbook drawers and shelves.  That felt great!

Nothing like warm sheets and blankets straight out of the dryer.

Payton was my photo assistant after church yesterday.  Our Primary Presidency has a fun little surprise for the kids this Christmas!  I hope they like it!  We sure had fun creating it.

Other randoms: 

Reading . . . The Language of Flowers.  What a beautiful story!

Listening to . . . Imagine Dragons Night Visions on repeat.  Especially love Every Night and America and My Fault and I Bet My Life and pretty much the whole album.

Watching . . . all the Twilight movies with Scott.  Watching those movies feels like going home or hanging out with a good friend.  I'm not ashamed.

Creating . . . fall crafts (fall banners and this plate).  Earlier this month I hosted our monthly Girls' Night Out.  We made crafts and ate pumpkin crunch & spiced apple cider with Twilight playing in the background.

Celebrating . . . Conner's 14th birthday!  Am I really old enough to have a 14 year old?  Apparently the answer is yes.  But in all honesty, I am loving these growing up years!  Onward and upward!

Celebrating . . . that I got a hair cut today.  Hallelujah!  It has been 6 months since my last cut and 9 months since my last color, which is okay because I fit right in with the ombre trend.  This was my inspiration photo.

Anticipating . . . I am very much looking forward to several GREAT things coming up in December -- girls weekend in Portland!  Going to a concert!  Having my parents here for Christmas!  And all of the many wonderful things that happen in the Christmas season.  It's almost here, but not yet.  Gotta celebrate the pilgrims first!

are your trials changing you for the better?

On Wednesday morning Anna and I walked to school as we usually do.  We noticed that several of the trees on the path had been pruned extensively since the last time we walked, on Monday.  

"Ugh, I don't like it when they cut the trees back so much. It makes them look strange." I said.

"Mom!  That's just like that video I watched on the Mormon Channel!  Where the farmer has a bush and he cuts it back and the bush is not happy about it.  But the bush grows back even more beautiful."

Yes, that's exactly right.  Here is the video she was referring to 

"Anna," I continued, "so what does that story mean?"

Um . . . 

"It means that when we face trials and hard times - just like when the bush is pruned back - we can learn and grow and come back even more beautiful and stronger, just like the bush."

"Can you think of a way that that compares to our family?" I asked

Thinking . . . 

"Think back to when we moved to Las Vegas.  That was really hard for a while.  We didn't have any friends. Going to a new school was scary and trying to learn things a different way was hard.  If was different going to a new church after being in the same ward your whole life.  It was so hot and sunny all the time you could barely open your eyes.  We lived in that little apartment . . . ."

"Ya, with smokers underneath us! Blah"

"At the beginning, that move was a big hard thing for our family.  But because of those experiences we learned and grew so much.  We learned how to make new friends.  We became closer together as a family.  We are stronger just like that bush."

She smiled.  And we continued on with our walk, the subject soon changing to spelling tests and how to walk with a janky leg.

I love these little moments where we can share and learn and make connections.  

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Another video to watch:  The Refiner's Fire

Happy Sunday!

2 years at home

Believe it or not we have now lived in our home for 2 years and one month!

It's crazy to think that the whole house-hunting, short-sale waiting, apartment living fiasco, and finally signing the papers and getting the keys was over two years ago.  Because of all that, I am so thankful for the home that we now own and get to enjoy.

We know our neighbors.  We really enjoy the proximity to school and how that enables us to walk there each day.  The neighborhood is safe (and gated) which means I feel just fine when the kids ride their bikes across the neighborhood to see if friends from church can play.  Other than denying us one of our paint colors, living within an active HOA has been a very positive thing.  The neighborhood is clean, well kept, rarely are there cars parked on the street, and right now they are hanging up Christmas lights on the palm trees at the entrance.

Waiting for this house was definitely worth it.  For the area that we get to live in and for the killer price we snagged the house for.  (Already, the value has grown so much.)

We do like our house, but there is a long list of to-do's to go along with it and we knew that going into it.  I wanted to take a second to jot down all that we have done so far, so I can feel good about our progress on that list!

I personally painted 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, the family room, laundry room, hallway, and half of the kitchen

I also painted the floor, window, and door trim in all of the above listed rooms rooms

New water heater (the old one died on us)

New dishwasher (the old one died)

New pool pump (the old one was very old)

Replaced 4 bathroom faucets because the old ones literally crumbled to pieces

Four new toilets because I needed that part of my bathroom to feel fresh.

Four new lighting fixtures - 2 ceiling fans, 1 bedroom light, and this light in the kitchen which I love.

Installed smoke detectors.  Because there were none!  Yikes.

Plantation shutters & trim on 9 windows.  This is an expensive job so we felt thankful that half of the windows in the house were already done.  We just had to finish the job.

Professionally installed window film on ALL windows except for 2 or 3.  This is something that is unique to living in hot desert climates!  It is basically a reflective film that is applied to the interior of your windows to keep the heat out. 

Replaced the tile around the master bedroom fireplace with pretty glass tile.

Exterior of the house was painted, along with extensive stucco repair

New front door and pretty hardware

New exterior lights - entry, garage lights, and 4 other exterior lights

Replaced the giant back door slider with a more manageable (and attractive) set of french doors.

Two more new exterior doors - one on the master bedroom balcony and one on the side of the house.

Repairs made to the cracked & crumbling cool deck in the backyard and a new coat of paint

Not to mention the bags and bags and bags and bags and BAGS of yard debris that we removed from the backyard over the course of a few months.  SO many weeds and dead plants. 

A BIG item on that list was painting the exterior and we were able to accomplish that earlier this year.  I shared the before pictures in an earlier post and talked about clashing heads with the HOA on colors.  They won, of course.  And while I didn't get to paint our gates and balcony railings in black, we made up for it with some beautiful black iron garage and entry lights.  

Remember the BEFORE:

And here is the AFTER:

Ohhh baby!  What a difference a fresh coat of paint can make!

And how about this new front door?

I think you need to see the old door to really appreciate this clean and simple beauty.

I was a little bit worried that switching from a glass door to a solid door would cut down on the light in the house.  But it has been just fine.  I painted the interior side of the doors (yes, me) a bright white and that really helps to brighten the space.

Let's take a closer look at the hardware transformation

Goodbye ugly brass,

Hello, beautiful

The door hardware is Emtek.  And all the lights came from Lowe's.

I just love it all.  And as I guessed, our neighbors were very appreciative of the update.  Like, they literally came up to us and thanked us for painting the house.  Haha.  That's how bad it was.

When we fix the landscaping we'll really be on their good side. 

Speaking of more projects . . . When we moved into the house I made a long list of all the projects, updates, and changes that needed to happen in order of priority.  That list has been on our fridge all this time and we are slowly and carefully checking things off the list, as I pointed out in the beginning of this post.  

Here is what we have remaining:

High Priority - do as soon as possible

• Finish painting the interior of the house -- we have the master bedroom, master bath, upstairs hallway, the rest of the kitchen, and the giant entry/living/dining space to do with it's 20 foot ceilings.
• Replace the upstairs trim with 4" molding
• Install closet doors in the scrap/guest room.  
• New carpet in all the bedrooms, hallway, stairs, living room, and the weird patch of carpet in the dining room.

Medium Priority - start planning/budgeting for

• Front & backyard landscaping
• Replace counters and sinks in all bathrooms
• Paint or change out the stair & banister railings
• Replace all of the interior brass doorknobs with brushed nickel (love the Emtek doorknobs).  Maybe the hinges too.
• Fresh coat of paint on all of the interior doors

Low Priority - wish list items

• New lighting fixtures in the entry, dining room, and over the stairs
• Master Bathroom remodel -- the tub and shower need some serious TLC and the barely functioning brass vanity lights need to go.  (This just makes me laugh - we have a total of 18 vanity lights in our bathroom and only 7 of them actually work!)
• New double ovens (in stainless) to match the rest of the kitchen
• Stone accents on exterior of the house

Some small projects mixed in there with several rather large projects.  Who knows when or if we'll get to everything.  But I'm pretty happy that this is still the original list that we made when we moved and we haven't added anything to the list.  Just trying to work through the basics - and a few frills - to make this house feel updated and like our own.

And whether or not we get to all of these projects we enjoy the space we are living in and feel blessed for it.  Hello, I got my dream white kitchen!  That counts for a lot.

singing and drumming in downtown las vegas

For the second year in a row Conner auditioned and make the cut for the school district's middle school honors choir!  For the past 6 weeks they have been practicing weekly and last week was the big performance, along with the high school honors choir.

What made this year's performance ah-mazing was the fact that they got to perform inside The Smith Center.  This building is gorgeous!!  And the acoustics are crazy good.  Just a beautiful performing hall.  I can only imagine the shaky knees and thumping hearts of those 6-8th graders as they stood on this massive stage and looked out at the sweeping audience and 5 balcony tiers.

They did a fantastic job.  The high school choir was amazing (something to aspire to next year).  And the guest director gave the kids an experience they - hopefully - will never forget.  This man, Dr. Rollo Dilworth, has over 150 choral compositions that have been published and he even brought one of his brand new, never before performed compositions for the combined high school and middle school choirs (360ish kids) to present that night as the closing number.  It was an arrangement of Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho and it. was. phenomenal.

We met Conner outside and he was on a high.  It makes me so glad when he gets to have great experiences like this and he appreciates it and soaks it in. 

Earlier that afternoon we dropped off Conner at 3:00 for his dress rehearsal and the rest of us went exploring around downtown.  First we stopped at Fremont Street and took pictures outside the infamous Heart Attack Grill.

Yep, you eat for free if you weigh over 350 lbs.  Payton doesn't make the cut.

But honestly, Freemont Street felt really yucky, dirty, creepy (and naked - "I'm averting my eyes!") to us so we left pretty quickly and walked the 2-3 blocks to the Downtown Container Park.

Ahhh, much better.  I'm telling you, the vibe in this place screams Portland and the Pacific Northwest.  Scott completely agrees.  It is so not Vegas.  And we love this little quiet, clean, hipster block in the middle of downtown.

The kids played, Scott and I sat nearby and chatted, I bought a bag of kettle corn for munching, and we just had a lovely little afternoon/evening.

As we walked out of the park we noticed a semi-circle of drums out in the open with random people beating to their heart's content.  Of course we joined them! 

Soon they began a drum ceremony to awaken the mantis.  Ok, we're down with that.  Whatever "that" is.  The drumming intensified as the countdown began, 3 - 2 - 1 and BAM!!!

Massive, hot flames shot out of the mantis antennae.

Now this is what is what Vegas is all about.  Random, cool stuff, with high entertainment value.  

And it is possible to like both:  the laid-back hipster vibe AND the flashy entertainment vibe.  Just as long as you can steer clear of the naked brand of entertainment.  :)

valley of fire, part 2

There was just too much to squeeze into the last post!  Here are a few more spots that we visited in the Valley of Fire state park.

Rainbow Vista

Beautiful vistas.

And awkward poses.

At this point the kids were starving so we walked across the street and found a picnic table in the shade of this hill to eat our picnic lunch. 

After lunch we checked out the Rainbow Vista trailhead and decided rather than taking the hike we would just wander around and explore the area.  It was a good choice.

 

 

Fire Canyon

 

 

The Cabins

I was really excited to see the cabins.  You see, there is a sweet 97 year old woman I've had the opportunity to visit a couple times.  She told me all about growing up in Overton (which is adjacent to the park) and how she met her husband.  He was part of the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) and was stationed in the area with the assignment to build these stone cabins.  They were made in the 1930s as a shelter for travelers.

How cool to see this piece of history come alive.

The lighting in the doorway was perfect for portraits!

Windows are awesome too.

  

Elephant Rock

And as if the park saved the best for last, Elephant Rock is positioned by the east entrance/exit and we got to enjoy this one last sight before leaving for the day.

That is one impressive rock!

As you can tell we had a great time in the park.  What a wonderful treasure to have just a little over an hour away from our home.  

Visiting tips:  

Entrance fee is $10 ($8 for Nevada residents)

We entered the park around 9:30am - we did a hike, had lunch, and saw everything that we wanted to see - and left at 1:30pm.  4 hours was perfect.

Bring lots of water.  It feels a lot warmer than your thermostat would leave you to believe!

Pack a picnic lunch.  There are several really nice areas with picnic tables & shade for enjoying your lunch.

Here is my first post about our visit - Valley of Fire, part 1

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

After leaving the park we drove to Overton, about 10 miles away.  We stopped at The Inside Scoop for some ice cream -- with a constant stream of locals coming in for burgers & ice cream it was a happening place!  Overton is a small town, but rich with personal history for me.  My grandfather, great-grandparents, and great-great-grandparents all lived there. We even drove up to the Pioneer Hill Cemetary and were able to find my great and great-great-grandparents' graves, along with other relatives.  What a cool experience!

valley of fire

Another month, another opportunity for a great hike and exploring outdoors! 

The kids had a 4 day weekend, and now that we are in November and the temperatures have cooled off a little bit, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to go check out Valley of Fire.  This has been on my list for the longest time.  But as the name implies, this is a place you DO NOT want to visit in the summer.  It is hot, hot, hot!  I missed my chance in the winter/spring and I have waited for the summer months to tick by and the temperatures to drop before attempting the day trip.

And let me tell you, Valley of Fire did not disappoint.

And I have over 200 pictures to prove it.  Ha!

Whittling it down for this post was hard, but I'll do my best.  First stop of the day, 

Beehives

As soon as we parked the car the kids bolted out to play.  Running, climbing, scaling, shimmying, proclaiming "I'm the kind of the world!", and having the best time.

This area is called the Beehives because the sandstone formations look like, well, beehives.

 

Atlatl Rock

After walking up a giant metal staircase you are rewarded with some amazing petroglyphs.  What a sight!

So amazing!  And this was just the first of many petroglyphs we would see throughout the park.

 

Arch Rock

 

Soooo, I'm not sure what we were expecting but the Arch Rock was a little underwhelming.  It was pretty tiny.  We probably need to visit Arches National Park to get our fix in the arch category!  But we took a photo with it anyway and laughed on our way back to the car.

I didn't take any photos at the Visitor's Center but it was nice.  There were many displays that were interesting to the kids - they took their time reading the placards and studying the history of the ancient inhabitants, the different types of rocks, etc..  There were also a few live desert animals in display cases - snake, tarantula, scorpion, lizards - and that's always fun.

 

Balancing Rock

As we climbed down the kids begged me to take their picture in this position - as if they are falling down a cliff . . . and their predicament has somehow made it necessary for Conner to eat Payton.  ??

As I read up on the Valley of Fire before our day trip I came across many reviews comparing it to Mars.  Although I have never personally been to Mars, from what I've seen of the Mars rover and sci-fi movies, I would have to agree.  Super fine red sand and red other-worldly rocks spread across the landscape.  A pretty great place for exploring and pretending that you are on another planet.

 

Mouse's Tank

Mouse's Tank was our first "hike" of the day.  A short 3/4 mile round trip trail.  It doesn't sound that long, but walking through sand the entire way makes it feel longer than it actually is.  You can see that Anna is trying to get her footing.  The kids were a little nervous about getting all that sand in their shoes, but it was so fine that it never really bothered anyone.

The trail was also called Petroglyph Canyon.

This canyon also reminded us all of The Three Amigos, when they are traveling through a canyon in search of the singing bush and the invisible swordsman.  And so we decided that that should also be our quest.  Faaaar-ley, farley, farley, farley, far-ley!

And then I saw this rock and I said, "hey guys it's the USS Starship Enterprise!"  To which Scott corrected me by pointing out that it was actually a Romulon vessel, and Payton responded immediately by jumping up on an adjacent rock and acting out a battle sequence as if he was at the helm of the Enterprise.

We are super nerdy / awesome.

Anna was obsessed with all the little caves and niches, declaring each one her "home!"  And then she would go on to point out where she would sleep, where the kitchen was, where she would sit, etc.

Even kissing her "Home" goodbye when it was time to move on.  What a silly girl.

I loved all the lines and textures in the sandstone.  Isn't this beautiful?

We came across another "home" for Anna and after proper inspection she determined that this was her favorite.

I love seeing the kids play together and enjoy being outdoors so much!  Not an electronic device in sight!

Well, I think that is more than enough photos for one post.  I'll share the rest of our day in another post!

Valley of Fire, Part 2

halloween 2014

First, the Pink Princess.  All month she planned on being a witch.  Then 2 weeks before Halloween -- and before I had had time to make a witch costume -- she needed a costume for the fall festival so she rummaged through the costume bin and pulled this together (remember my Captain Irony costume?). And she LOVED it.  So much so that she gave up the idea of being a witch.  You should have seen her eyes when I came home from the store with that princess crown -- "it's just like Elsa!"

Next Merlin.  No, not the Merlin with a long beard and wizard hat.  And as much as your initial instincts might tell you cowboy, he is NOT a cowboy.  The kids have recently become hooked on the BBC show Merlin, which follows a young Merlin and his wizard training and friendship with Arthur, etc.  Anyways, it is a great show.  Family friendly, clean, entertaining enough that it's the first thing the kids watch on Saturday mornings and I hear plenty of comments of exasperation/frustration as they are that invested in the plot.

So Payton really, really wanted to be Merlin.  We warned him that it was most likely that no one would know who he was.  And he was totally okay with it.  That is just like Payton - to do his own thing and be completely confident in it.  And you'll see from these photos that he owned the character.

I should note that I did not pose him for these pictures.  I simply called him over for pictures and he stepped right into character.  This kid cracks me up.

And this costume share would not be right without a side by side comparison to the actual Merlin:

See what I mean?  We worked on piecing this costume together and we were both really happy with the way it turned out.  

And while Conner has aged out of trick-or-treating he still dressed up, thanks to this $5 find at Party City a few months ago.  Captain Kirk.  That phaser rifle is his own design -- a mocked up nerf gun.

What a good looking group!

And will you look at this, Scott and I got in on the Halloween action too!

 

That would be my mom's prom dress from the 70's.  And a Dumb and Dumber Tuxedo which passes really well for 1970's prom.  (I wore this costume a few years back for a Halloween Bunco at my house - holy moly, I just looked up that blog post . . . it was 7 years ago!  Crazy!)

What started off as a random comment - "Hey Scott you should dress up as my prom date!" - to a man who does not dress up for Halloween, turned into a really fun couples costume!  We got a lot of comments from people which led us to brainstorm what we need to add to make it even better -- corsage?  boutonniere?  prom king crown?

We were invited to trick-or-treat the night away in a nearby neighborhood.  We have heard many things about how this neighborhood does over-the-top Halloween.  When we pulled up at 6pm there was long line of cars waiting to get past the guard gate.  Once inside there was a bounce house

Lots of fun & spooky decorated homes, 

And plenty of homes handing out the coveted full-size candy bar.  Some passing out two each.

It was a very nice evening, the weather was fantastic, and I just realized that this was the first time ever that we trick-or-treated all together as a family!  Usually one of us stays behind to hand out candy at home.  Pretty nice!

Really - how lucky am I to get this guy to dress up with me!  I felt like pinching myself all night.

Great Halloween.  Great costumes.  And great memories.

Now, I just need to get some photos printed and add them to my Halloween Memories Album.

SUNDAY // week in the life 2014

The LAST day!  Whew!  I made it to the end.  Everyone was really good sports about all my picture taking this week, but there were a several more sighs and eye-rolls when I brought my camera out on this last day. But I know how important this kind of a project is and how much it will mean to me - and all of us - in the future.

I pointed out to Scott that my first Week in the Life project includes photos of the boys (4 and 2) inside the shopping cart at Safeway, shopping at our tiny local scrapbook store, naptimes, Blue's Clues, and little snack bowls of Cheerios.  All things that are no longer a part of our life.  That's why I take the time to record these everyday details -- the Star Wars bedsheets, jumping the fence on the way home from school, piano lessons by mom -- because they won't always be a part of our everyday and I want to remember it.

After I have a few days to let this project simmer I'll move forward on compiling all the photos and some words into some kind of an album or book.  Right now I am leaning toward a digital photobook via Blurb.  I'll be sure to share the results when it is complete.

For Sunday I'm sharing just photos, no words.  Yay for another Week in the Life documented.  And yay for family, home, routines, messy rooms, laughter at the dinner table, good books to read, and smiles all around.

 

 

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And yay for Ali Edwards' brilliant idea: Week in the Life.

SATURDAY // week in the life 2014

Saturday was an interesting day for taking photos because we were pretty much bums all day.  I had a couple projects to work on for Primary but for the most part we just hung out at home.  Here's a peek at our lazy Saturday:

7:51 AM - A change in the weather is a-coming!  After enjoying temps in the mid-80's all week, a cold front moved in and dropped the temperature 20 degrees.  Welcome Fall!  

10:02 AM - putting the final touches on my sharing time lesson for Primary tomorrow all about faith.  In the fall we get some pretty great direct sunlight through the large window above our front door.

10:11 AM - Anna is still on a crafting kick.  Now, if I could only convince her to organize the craft cupboard a bit.  It's a disaster in there.

2:53 PM - I went down to the church to swap out the Primary bulletin board with the new theme for November.  It turned out SUPER cute.  

3:20 PM - Plenty of chillin' going on back at home.

3:26 PM - Payton is bored out of his mind.

4:48 PM - So we finally got out of the house and went to a movie (Alexander & the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day) and dinner at Applebee's.  Thanks mom for the giftcards!

8:09 PM - I declared that I wanted to watch a "mom's choice" movie so I stopped by Redbox on our way home from dinner.  We sent the kids to bed, I grabbed a blanket and a few pieces of candy from the candy bucket, Scott grabbed his iPad to entertain him, and we watched Winter's Tale.  That has got to be the weirdest movie I have seen in a looong time.

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This week I am documenting our everyday lives along with Ali Edwards and her project Week in the Life.

christmas cards: yes, it's that time

I have never been someone who purchases Christmas gifts throughout the year.  In fact, I have a personal mantra that I don't allow myself to start thinking about Christmas until November 1st.  I want to experience the season - every part of it - while I am actually IN the season!  Now some people can plan waaay ahead and that totally works for them, but not me.

With one exception . . . . . . Christmas Cards.

About mid-summer I begin thinking about the photo I want to include on our cards.  

And in October I start playing around with various online card services until I find just what I want.

This year I was browsing Tiny Prints and I found that I am SO drawn to silver and gold.  It is just so beautiful and classic and festive.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Oh, it makes my simple heart pitter patter.  This weekend I bit the bullet and ordered our Christmas cards from Tiny Prints, using one of these favorite designs.

Right now the site is offering 25% off any order through 11/4  -- code SWSALE25 -- and free shipping for orders over $49 -- code FREESHIP49

Typically, I've found that you can get the best deals when you order in October or early November.  Maybe there are some great deals in the month of December, but I don't like cutting it down to the wire!  My cards are always stuffed, addressed, and ready to drop in the mail the first week of December.

Last year I also used Tiny Prints and I was very happy with the quality.

Okay, the next step on the Christmas action plan is to make my Christmas planner.  I'm going to need a place to jot down all my to-do lists and Christmas ideas!

 

FRIDAY // week in the life 2014

9:18 am -- First off, hooray for no school and sleeping in!  Second, we pulled this boy into our room to chat about a couple things and then it led to a discussion about church dances (he gets to attend when he turns 14 in just a couple weeks).  His dad, the ladies man, had plenty of tips to share.

11:07am - weekend chores and responsibilities.

12:33pm - We put on some costumes and headed out in search of free/discounted food on Halloween.  Stop #1 - free donuts at Krispy Kreme.  Stop #2 - $3 burritos at Chipotle, and then we found out that they don't start offering the discount until 5pm.  We turned around, came home, and ate a donut for lunch instead.

1:52 pm - Anna pulled supplies out of the craft cupboard, sat herself down, and created this.  I LOVE it.

2:13 pm - Time to carve the pumpkins.  Only Anna and Conner participated.  Payton decided that he does not like the feeling of pumpkin guts on his hands so his pumpkin remained whole.  Instead, I hooked him up with some homemade slime to mix up.  For whatever reason he was totally okay with that tactile experience.

4:13 pm - The traditional Halloween photoshoot on the front porch is complete!  I'll share those photos in another post.

 4:49 pm - Dinner!  Mummy meatloaf is now a tradition after serving it up 3 years in a row.  Also, carrots, drop biscuits, and orange soda.

6:20 pm - Let the party begin!

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This week I am documenting our everyday lives along with Ali Edwards and her project Week in the Life.

THURSDAY // week in the life 2014

 11:17 am - After a morning of balancing my checkbook and gathering the last bits of party supplies it's time for a little snack.

1:32 pm - I was in charge of Anna's Halloween class party and went around the room snapping photos of every child.  I got many nice smiles from the other 23 kids and of course this is what my own daughter gives me.  :)

2:31 pm - Conner was so relieved to see us at late pick-up.  We had made plans for him (and Payton) to stay after school so he could complete an English vocab test he missed.  After Anna's party & dismissal we would drive over and pick him up.  He told us that 2:30 would be perfect.  Well, at 1:57 I received a missed call & voice mail from him - while we're in the middle of Anna's party - letting me know that his vocab test didn't take as long as he expected and could we please come pick him up.  Sorry!  He and Payton just sat outside the school until we were able to swing by.

3:33 pm - No homework and beautiful weather.  A great afternoon of playing outside.

3:35 pm - Blue skies and palm tree fronds.  Our tree is getting SO big!

5:35pm - I put Payton in charge of cooking the bacon for dinner.  

6:34pm - After picking up Conner from District Honors Choir practices he and I finally got a chance to sit down and eat.  Waffles & bacon for dinner tonight.  I always like to warm up my syrup in that little glass measuring cup.

8:39 pm - Spent the evening putting my Silhouette to work cutting out words and leaves for the November Primary bulletin board.  "Living the Teachings of Jesus Christ Strengthens Me & My Family."

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This week I am documenting our everyday lives along with Ali Edwards and her project Week in the Life.