Trick or Treat

I helped with the kindergarten Halloween party today and I had to post this picture of Wes and his teacher! She looks NOTHING like this Hill Billy! One of the little girls in his class would not go in the classroom without her mom today because she was afraid of their teacher! They have the best teacher there is. She cracks me up!


Wes is being a great leader for trick or treating tonight! Teaching Brooklyn all the ins and outs.

This is at one of our neighbors, Brooke is a trooper, she didn't want anybody's help. Miss Independent!

Her costume was so sparkly in the sun. I wish the picture showed it. Oh well. We live on a hillside, so we brought the stroller thinking she would get tired of walking. Nope! She wanted nothing to do with it. She walked all the way up the street and anytime you tried to touch her, she would FREAK!

At first Brooke would say "Trick Tree" before anyone would come to the door. But after about 6 or 7 houses she just started to stick her "Punkin" out and say "Nummy!" to them! At this house there was a little tiny puppy that she was trying to go inside to play with. Every house that had a dog she wanted to go inside to see it, even if they were barking like crazy. She is not afraid of any dog that I have seen.

Here is Wes and two of his friends on our street, they are brothers, Darrell and his other brother Darrell! Kyle (6) and Kade (5). And Wes towers over them!!! They are cute boys, they have the best manners. By the way, do you like how long the sleeves are on Wes? This would be the same costume as last year! He loves this costume. He has been a fireman 3 times! (9 months old and the past 2 years, he has also been a frog and Woody from Toy Story)

There are two fun things here to do that are free during Halloween. The first thing is a Haunted Train ride (www.stingtown.us). The kids and I went on Monday with Tracy's family and then tonight we went again with Dave and his sister Holly and her little girl Rylie (Wes & Brooke's cousin in the picture). We had to wait in the barn for about 30 minutes for our turn on the train. They were playing a movie and serving popcorn while we waited! It was pretty spooky in the dark. Dave had me record it on my little Canon camera. It isn't the best recording. I will try to post it later. Brooke watched it all and Wes buried his face in my back! Last time we went while it was still light outside so it wasn't as scary.

The second is a "Drive By Haunted House". Every year they decorate their house as a haunted house and write a scary story about it. Then they somehow broadcast it over a radio station so when you drive by you can listen to the scary story and watch different parts of the house light up. They always have such a huge turnout. Their street is packed every night.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Wes's Halloween Program

The afternoon kindergarten classes put on a Halloween Program for the parents. They sang songs and recited fun poems. It was a really fun program that lasted 30 minutes. I tried to post some video clips, it didn't work. I will try again for Gramea & Papa!

The group here on the left is Wes's class. He is on the top row, second from the left (the fireman).

Brooke was dressed up too! She was dancing and clapping and having a ball with all the kids!

Wes is a happy boy. Garrison is on his right and Savannah is on his left. She looks a bit evil with the red eyes!

I had to take this picture. I bet he thinks nobody is watching him play with Caleb's antenni (sp?!)! Now I can show him and try to teach him that we can see him!!!

Brooke is a witch. She likes these tights. Everytime I put them on her she stares at them and smiles! I like how her skirt is poofy in the stroller too!!!

Is there such thing as too much reality TV?

Dave and I like the reality TV! Maybe a bit obsessed with it! We tivo it and then watch it when the kids go to bed. We love when 8pm comes around and they are sound asleep! Here are our picks for the season. Some of the nights were hard to decide what to record. We can only record two shows and we don't watch anything live anymore! It isn't worth the time, you can watch The Office in like 18 minutes! Here are our picks, some of them are just mine thrown in too.

• Dancing with the Stars: I like Julianne and Helio. I really don't like Marie Osmond and Jonathan (I think that is who she is with).
• The Bachelor: He should choose Sheena!
• The Biggest Loser: Neil was funny drinking 2 gallons of water and gaining 17 pounds! We like him and David, Bill and Kae. We don't like Amy, Hollie and Julie.
• America's Next Top Model: I like Heather, she is autistic. But very beautiful!
• Survivor: China: We are so glad that Sherea is gone! We like James, Todd & Frosti if he sticks with the new tribe, and Denise. We don't like Courtney, Peih-Gee and Peih-Gee's friend.
• House: House makes me laugh how politically incorrect he is.
• Scrubs: Why does it have to be the last season?!
• The Office: Everyone should watch this! Some of the mannerisms remind me of one of my brothers. People at Dave's work say he is just like Andy, and our neighbor looks like Dwight!
• ER: It has been on forever, I just have to watch.
• Numb3rs: I like this show and now have Dave watching it! I like it because it uses math to solve crimes!!!

So you tell me...too much?!

Who are you?!

I want to hear from you!!! I know that there are lots of people that read my blog because you tell me, but I want to hear from you on here! Please leave me comments. You don't have to leave your name if you don't want, leave it as anonymous! Thanks for reading about my life with my kids...it is a fun life. No complaints! ;)

I can't get enough of my kids

I am trying to learn some of the features on my camera, like partial metering and flash exposure compensation. So I took the family back to Bicentennial Park for more pictures. At first I started to keep a log with each picture I took so I knew what settings I had, but that didn't last very long as Brooke's attention span is only about half a second! In this first picture I had already taken one that was posed and cute and by the time I put the flash up and wrote "flash" down she was turned and headed across the bridge, so I called her name and she turned back around and gave me this totally fake smile!
This oak is the same one as the last post that Wes couldn't believe how big it was. Dave thinks it was here when Pioneers came through.

My flash exposure compensation, I have no idea if it worked! I suppose it did, I was using my flash as a fill flash, but trying not to wash him out at the same time.

This tree is so cool in pictures. I like this one of Wes.

I like everything about this picture and the next one, I like the light, the colors, the tree, that Wes is looking away and Brooke is playing with a chunk of wood.

They are both in their own worlds playing with this old oak tree and loving it.

Way over exposed, but I like it. Wes really wanted to go for a walk on this board walk. So we did. The water was disgusting, but he had a great time and Brooke insisted on walking all by herself without any help. She tripped a few times, but didn't want any "hands". She is way too independent. Makes me nervous for the future!

Ah Wes....

"Ah Wes" is "Doing Great". It was chilly outside today, but I made him take a picture anyway, with his white ankle socks and crocks! This is at the Bicentennial Park in Provo. This tree is GIGANTIC! Wes asked me, "Mom, who in the world planted that tree? That is so old." He is a thinker, makes me wonder how old it is too!

Halloween Party

Saturday Dave and I were supposed to go to the football game, until it was snowing! So Dave decided to watch it at our friend, Carl's house instead. His wife was having their grandchildren over for a Halloween party and asked if Wes and Brooke wanted to come too.

First we had to stop by my friends house and we were talking about this little party and she mentioned that we could go in her back yard and pick out pumpkins back there! So Wes and I went back there with Cynthia picked them out. We thought that was pretty cool. They were the biggest pumpkins at the party.

Brooke didn't quite get painting her pumpkin, she kept putting the paint on her face. I guess she has watched me put make-up on one too many times! Every time I washed her face off, she would do it again. And if I tried to help her paint her pumpkin, I would get yelled at. So I left her painting her face.

Wes did a fantastic job painting his pumpkin. He painted a face first, it has green eyes and a smiley face, and then he drew lines and dots and things! He had a lot of fun painting, he was very proud of himself. He did it all by himself.

After decorating the pumpkins, all the kids put on their costumes and danced around the house and took pictures. Sue (Carl's wife) made goodie bags for the kids and had a pinata for them, they loved it. They had everything "orange" to eat. She was very creative in planning this party for them.

Here are all the pumpkins. Yep, my poor kids, are the only ones who didn't have their parents helping decorate the pumpkins. My kids probably had the most fun doing though! There was no way for them to mess it up or carve the eyes wrong or paint the hair the wrong way. Lucky kids...

Here are all the costumes. Wes was a police man and Brooke was a witch. We need to figure out Wes's real costume. We still aren't sure what he will be. The rest of the kids are Carl and Sue's grand children. I am glad we are their friends! We have been friends with Carl for so long. He is a funny guy.

Here is a silly story about him....a couple of weeks ago he really hurt his back and is having therapy on it now. Anyway, Carl was carrying Sue's luggage up the stairs and through his back out. The next night he was home alone while Sue was working late writing some contracts. Carl was in severe pain and taking pain meds that said 1-2 pills every 4-6 hours. Well he didn't think they were working well enough so he was taking them every hour. He kept calling Sue and she was very worried about him because he was making no sense to her, so she left work and was speeding home to him. Well, she got a speeding ticket on the way there. She finally gets there and takes him to the ER. The doctor tells her that his oxygen level was way down and puts him on O2. They take xrays, and he has a slipped disc. They were up all night long and very exhausted. As many women know, when a man doesn't feel well, it is the end of the world. Well, Sue knows this first hand!!! So the next day, she is finally taking a nap (Carl is settled in) and to doorbell rings. She is so groggy (she had been away on business the week before and just got home the day before this happened) and confused when she answered, it was a representative from a local funeral home. While she was writing contracts the night before he called the funeral home to come over and bring him information on their services!!! He forgot to mention it to Sue! Just another one of his funny jokes.....