Halloween

Halloween was lots of fun. It is WAY more fun with kids than without them. Eden's school group had a little Halloween party where they painted pumpkins, read Halloween books, practiced trick or treating, decorated sugar cookies, and ate mummy dogs and other deliciousness.

We also had a ward "fall festival" party with a costume contest, chili cook-off, trunk-or-treat, and.....*drum roll* pie cooking contest.

The drum roll is because Tyson signed me up for this pie contest and I've NEVER made a pie in my life. NEVER. Like....EVER. p.s. I don't even LIKE pie much. This was obviously for Tyson's benefit for me to learn to make pie.

I sweat.

I toiled.

I feared.

I made pie....three of them.

Practice pie #1: Basic apple pie. It turned alright.

Practice pie #2: Caramel apple pie. It turned out alright.

For the REAL pie, I chose to do the caramel apple pie because it was a little different than just your normal apple pie. And I was told this pie had RAVE reviews from everyone and their dog. Not MY pie, but when others have made this pie it was a success.

In the end, I didn't win.

Technically, I don't think I was part of the contest. I found out (after it was too late) that I was supposed to NUMBER my pie if it was to be judged. All that sweating and toiling. Ugh.

Tyson may have enjoyed having pie...after pie....after pie. But in the end, he may suffer from lack of pie. Because now even the THOUGHT of pie puts me in a state of panic and I may not eat another pie for as long as I live.

Now on to the cute pictures of my children during the Halloween season...

Leila with a full set of teeth.

She has been growing teeth like a wild-woman..but luckily they don't look like those.

Leila and Eden in the costume contest. Leila an indian and Eden a purple fairy. I wish the pictures were better, but they aren't. I tried to take other pictures of their costumes later and it ended up in complete meltdown...I decided it wasn't worth it.

Someone came up to me after the results and said that they were disappointed that Leila didn't win in the young kids category for cutest because they thought she made the cutest Indian ever and should have won over Frankenstein.

Eden's "loot" that she LOVES. Up until the day Eden GOT the candy she would say, "I can only eat ONE a day or else I'll get sick." Now that she has the candy, she always finds herself saying, "OK, just ONE more."
My Halloween dinner. Stuffed peppers....er....jack-o-lanterns.

In the end, Halloween was a success! The kids loved it and I don't have to make another pie for the rest of my life.

Tyson's Birthday

Tyson's birthday wish....a night without children.

Wish granted.

Present given by Tyson's family.

Thank you.

....Seriously, thank you.

This weekend our little family packed inside the car (along with a several loads of laundry that were screaming "DON'T THROW ME IN THE SAD, COIN-OPERATED MACHINES") and headed to Utah for a short vacation.

Nana, Papa, Macie, Kylie, and Lydia were more than excited to watch the kids overnight. And the kids were more than excited to spend a few days playing, playing, playing (especially at one in the morning).

A family friend let us use their little cabin (which was incredibly adorable) to stay in for one night.

Tyson and I went out to eat, watched a few movies, relaxed, and ate Haagen Dazs ice cream and gelato. Then we slept in until 10, ate breakfast parfaits and a bit more Haagen Dazs and gelato.

Heavenly.

This was Tyson's dream for this birthday. Happy birthday my love.

I admit that I greatly benefited from his birthday present as well. May as well have been MY birthday. :)

Yesterday vs. Today

Yesterday...

Then the day that most mothers with a little girl face came to pass...

Eden took the scissors to her hair.

And I'm pretty sure she took a little chunk of Leila's hair too.

I should have been suspicious when Eden was sitting behind our recliner with scissors.

Even MORE suspicious when Leila went back there, then came to me with a distressed look on her face, tugging on her hair like someone had done something to it....

....like CUT IT.

It started out where I saw a little chunk of hair on the ground. I put Eden in time out.

As I went towards the scene of the crime, I kept finding more and more little chunks of hair. Quite a few "little chunks" of hair ended up a pretty decent sized chunk of hair.

Honestly, I probably could have spared cutting it SHORT. The chunks were in the front, probably hide-able. Even the hair stylist said that she could probably just tapper the front and spare the rest.

But being the mean mother I am....the lesson needed to be taught.

When I told her we had to cut her hair short, she panicked,

"NOOOO! I WANT LONG HAIR!"

Then she tried reasoning with me,

"I won't do it again. Its OK long. I only cut a little."

Then she tried to get rid of the problem....mom,

"Mom, you can't cut my hair because I'm going to sell you to the GYPSIES!"

Even as we traveled to the salon she tried to delay the inevitable,

"I think the salon is closed today."

And then.... *snip snip*

Today...

Although, in the end, I'm probably crying more on the inside than she is.

Things the pictures don't say....

1. Her hair yesterday was in my "experimental side french braid" and had been that way all day long, though a nap, and by the time those pictures were taken...her hair was a bit scraggly.

2. Her hair in TODAY's looks all cute and sweet. But really it only looks that way if her hair is behind her ears....which she can't do by herself and thus is hardly EVER behind her ears.

Overall, its OK.

We survived.

It could have been MUCH worse.

But I hope Eden NEVER does it again.

And maybe I'll luck out....and Leila won't ever try to cut her own hair.

.....maybe....

Then again, Leila could really use a haircut right about now...

Perhaps Eden was on to something.

Women's Conference

What a wonderful breath of fresh air.

Just take it all in.

*Inhale in....Exhale out*

Ahhhh. Wonderful.

I forget how fabulous conference time is. I was so glad that I could go listen to women's conference tonight. It just re-opened my eyes to life and made me feel happy inside.

A peek at what you missed if you didn't attend:

Julie B. Beck talked on the importance of women in the church and the Relief Society as a whole, as well as the importance of visiting teaching and to truly love and care for those you teach.

Silvia Alred talked on charity. The thing that made me think was when she talked about charity not being an ACT but a STATE of BEING to have with you always.

Barbara Thompson talked about cleaving to your covenants. There is so much joy, strength, and comfort that can be given to you if you cleave to your covenants.

Deiter F. Uchtdorf talked about the 5 petals of the "forget me not" flower. 1. Forget not to be patient with yourself. 2. Forget not to sacrifice things that are good for things that are better. 3. Forget not to be happy now. 4. Forget not the "why" of the gospel (remembering the gospel not as an obligation but as a joy, guidance, and pathway). 5. Forget not that God loves you.

Women's conference really made me think about what I should be doing to better myself. It gave me that push in the right direction. Knowing the things I should be focusing on in my life and letting go of the things that, in the end, aren't that important.

If you couldn't attend, go online and read it or listen to it when it is available. Get that breath of fresh air.

This post is short and sweet...very sweet.

Another Vacation

This time we left Tyson in Colorado for two weeks to romp and play in St. George, Las Vegas, and California.

He was lonely. Sorry Tyson...work, work.

We did a lot of things and seemed busy the entire time. Below are a few posts of a few events we did while in California.

First, Second, and Third Time at the Beach

My Children's FIRST Visit to the Beach

This is the furthest they got into the water.

Then they both got scared, fell in the water, and cried....a lot.

My Children's SECOND Visit to the Beach

Eden really wanted to play in the sand, but FAR away from the water.
It was much more fun with cousins to play with.
And she loved catching sand crabs and watching them dig back into the sand.
Leila didn't want anything to do with the water. She was content digging.
And chasing birds.

My Children's THIRD Time at the Beach

We only went to fulfill McKell's dream of riding around in one of these family bikes.

It was high tide and there was a part of the beach where the water hit clear to the end where the rocks were. Eden was afraid that the horrible water was taking over all the fun sand parts of the beach. But then we found a small park and it didn't seem to matter that much what level the tide was at.

We did also go on the pier and just walked around one time. We enjoyed that as well, but I didn't get any pictures.

Deep Sea Fishing

Most of the kids spent time down below watching movies. Eden fell asleep on Kenji's lap. (Hi Leila!) Leila didn't sleep a wink....
My brother rented an entire boat to go deep sea fishing as a family. I love deep sea fishing. (Although several members of my family didn't share that same "love" as they spent half of the time throwing up overboard and the other half trying to sleep away the entire experience.)

It was much harder fishing with children. We went from 6 pm to 10 pm and lots of fish were caught. Not by ME particularly. I caught two that were deemed too small and had to be thrown back into the ocean. Eden tried to reel in one fish, but it got loose.