Halloween

I was all caught up and then I went and procrastinated putting the Halloween pictures up. It was a fun Halloween. I realized something about myself this year though. I love the whole month of October, the weather, the decorating, the fun, the candy. However, when it comes time for the actual Trick-or-Treating I find that I'm uptight and anxious. Halloween night stresses me out. I'm not sure why that is. Could it be that I'm worried we won't get a lot of Trick-or-Treaters? Possibly, we've never had fabulous turn-outs in any of the apartments we've been in. Our current neighborhood has been great, I even ran out of candy last year which was great except I was bummed because I love eating the leftover candy. Could it be that, as a very shy person, I'm anxious about so many people coming to my door? Maybe. Could it be that I'm worried that I'll come across some rude teenagers? Possibly. Whatever the reason, I'm always relieved when Halloween is over. But I'll still love it when it comes around next year.

After much thought, Nathaniel decided to be Mario again this year. This worked out great because he only gave me a couple of days and all I had to buy was new gloves which I found on the first try at Wal-mart.
Jonathan fit into the Link costume I made for Nathaniel a couple of years ago. He was really excited about it. Jonathan is a little taller than Nathaniel was at this age but it still works, I think.

For Brigham I knew he wouldn't go for anything high maintenance so I was thinking something pajamas-based. I went looking for solid color sweats to give me some ideas and I saw some cammo sweats and realized we already had some at home. I wouldn't even have to make anything! I'm all about less work, especially when Halloween is only four days away. I found a cute green hat with Army stripes on it, but he wouldn't wear it. I did manage to get a picture before he ripped it off.

The boys had a great time Trick-or-Treating with Dad. Although Dad was quite worn-out when they got home. They went all over the neighborhood and were out for a long time. Jaaromy tried to take Brigham too, but he's just not super cooperative so he only made it to two houses. It was unlikely that he would have eaten the candy anyway. Jaaromy's work had a Trick-or-Treat on Friday and he got plenty of candy then, so it's not like he didn't have any fun.

I hope everyone had a fun Halloween, I'm glad it only comes once a year! Just for the heck of it, I'll leave you with a picture of the full moon I took the other night. It's not fabulous, but I think I'd like to take up Astrophotography, so give me some time and maybe I'll learn how to do it better.

P.S. If you happen to read this the day I posted it, my Astronomy Picture of the Day has a much better picture of the Halloween Moon.

Pumpkin Day

It's not a national holiday or anything but we usually have Pumpkin Day on the Family Night before Halloween. I decided to call it Pumpkin Day because not all of us carve our pumpkins. Usually the kids paint theirs and Jaaromy and I carve ours. Jaaromy found the perfect pumpkin.


He thought that since it was so perfect it would be a shame to carve it. I thought that since it was so perfect it would be a shame not to carve it.


He decided to paint it.

We decided that Nathaniel was old enough to choose whether to paint or carve his pumpkin. He decided to carve it. Jaaromy helped him clean it out.


This is the principal reason why Jaaromy opted out of carving this year.


Nathaniel was very proud of his work.


Jonathan enjoyed painting his pumpkin.


Brigham started out so well...


...but soon ended up just like last year.


It was a fun family activity. I look forward to it every year.

Now I'm all caught up, and none too soon. I wouldn't want to be late posting my Halloween pictures!

Post #2

The week of October 12th was a very busy one for us. I had a concert which means I was gone Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night. Jaaromy came on Wednesday so they kids had a sitter that night(thanks Mom!). Friday Jaaromy's company had a bowling party so Jaaromy and I went and the kids had another sitter(thanks Sadie!). Saturday I had Super Saturday in the afternoon at which I made a way cute Thanksgiving decoration:

Saturday night was my dad's concert that I really really wanted to go to. Plus, it wasn't an Oratorio so I knew Jaaromy would go with me. So the kids had another sitter(thanks Kym from Helping Hands Care Agency!) So with all the leaving I did and all the baby-sitters, we decided to take the boys to the Dinosaur Museum.


I was impressed that Jonathan remembered the star room from last time we went, it's been over a year since he's been here.

The boys had a lot of fun and I even let them play in the sand and water room for more than two minutes.

Jonathan really enjoyed it and I even had to put him in a smock!


Nathaniel was more careful and kept himself clean.


Brigham was content to wander around the center. Although we noticed he was crunching on some sand later on...


I told Jaaromy to look scared and he wouldn't play along, luckily Nathaniel was happy to oblige.
Of course we played in the excavation room at the end. We were keeping an eye on the exit to make sure Brigham didn't run out into the lobby. In spite of this, we soon realized Brigham wasn't in either of the sandboxes. Jaaromy went looking in the lobby and I went back through into the museum even though I figured he'd gone into the lobby. I didn't go far before I turned back and tried to help Jaaromy find him in the lobby. He wasn't there so we decided to back into the museum. Jaaromy went through the front and I went through the back. Jaaromy was really worried but I had a pretty good idea where he had gone. There he was, in the sand a water room. I was impressed that he found it again and so quickly too. He wasn't very happy to be leaving. He'd had a lot of fun.
On the way home we stopped at McDonald's. It had a neat play area and the kids had fun. Everyone had a good time that day.

I know, I'm a slacker

I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I'm sorry I've been such a terrible blogger. I just know all of you have been dying to know what's been going on at our house. Well, there are a few things I want to blog about that happened all in a row and now I'm behind. So, I'm going to try and do a post every day until I'm caught up. We'll see how it goes.

Today's post isn't really about anything specific, just some things I wanted to share.


This is Jonathan's sunflower seed that he planted earlier this year at school. It started out in a styrofoam cup and kept getting bigger. I finally moved it outside in the flower pot. I know this isn't very exciting but I was really happy with how the picture turned out. Oh, and the picture was taken over a month ago. It's not nearly as pretty right now.


Here's Nathaniel getting his yellow-green belt. I'm proud of him for working so hard to pass his test. Sorry it's so blurry, the lighting isn't great and my phone doesn't have a lot of options.


Many of you already know about Brigham's thumb. It was smashed in the door at Aunt Rachelle's house. He was in a lot of pain and here is what it looked like the next day. Again, sorry it's blurry, I took one with the flash and it was over exposed.


This is to give you an idea of just how swollen it is.


The next day, Jaaromy was working from home but had to go to the church office building for his new ID badge so Brigham and I went with him. I actually took this with my phone and I'm really happy with how it turned out.


I have to throw this one in because I think it goes perfectly with the first one. I didn't plan it, he just happened to start climbing up right when I took the picture.
As a side story, we stopped at a McDonald's downtown after Jaaromy got his badge and I was looking for a seat while Jaaromy got the food and was finding a place to sit and right as I chose a table a homeless man sat down across from us. Well, it was too late to move at that point, so I stayed. Jaaromy sat down and I could tell he was a little uncomfortable. We didn't talk much while we were eating since he was looking right at us. Oh, but he talked plenty and stomped on imaginary bugs too. I couldn't understand what he was saying but he'd give a deep laugh every once and a while. As if that wasn't unsettling enough, Brigham also started laughing for some unknown reason. Jaaromy and I were left wondering if we'd missed something. As we were leaving Jaaromy felt like he should say something to him. But what could we say? "Good luck with your hopes and dreams, big guy!" So I just smiled. But hey, it makes a great story.

Thanks for sticking it out with me, sorry it's so long. I know I should have been posting more often. Let's do this again tomorrow!

Flashback

It's been a while since my last post and I honestly can't think of a single thing to post about. I was going to post about how we moved Brigham from his crib to his toddler bed but it was such a disaster that we moved him back. There are some things I just don't need to deal with.

So, since nothing of note is happening right now, I thought I'd share something that happened a long time ago. Lately, I've been going through all my pictures and scanning all my pre-digital-camera ones into the computer. I think I've decided I'm going to put them in a book. I made one for our wedding, I'd like to make one for each of the kids about their first year, and I think I'm going to do one each year we've been married. Or at least since Nathaniel was born since life was pretty boring before he came along.

Here are some picture from our wedding. Many of you might not have been there, some of you might have been there but have no memory of it. (Such as my nieces)


It was cloudy on our wedding day and it even rained a little. The colors aren't as vibrant but at least I could open my eyes.


Here's both our immediate families at the temple. One of my brothers and two of Jaaromy's brothers aren't there. Two were on missions and one was just late. Such a slacker. I like this one because Jaaromy's smile is so big. I'm pretty sure I had to give him a little squeeze on the behind to get him to do that. ;)


Here's the whole wedding party dressed up all fancy like! Aren't the little girls cute? Poor Shaela was 9 months pregnant! Hey, Jaaromy's brother decided to show up! ;) Ha! I tease because I love!


Please excuse the horribly fake smile on my face, it had been a long day and I'd been smiling for 99.9% of it. I thought I'd throw this one in so everyone could see how cute my nieces are. Whitney, Holly, Sarah, and baby Sadie! They're so grown up now. Really, they're all taller than me. Except for Sade but I'm sure that won't last.

I hope you found this portal to the past to be at least mildly entertaining. I tried to keep the pictures to a minimum and just show the best ones, or at least the best representing ones. Maybe something exciting will happen in the present so I won't have to keep looking to the past for something interesting to post. :)

Jonathan's First Day of School

The first day of Kindergarten was Monday. I wanted to post sooner but I've been picking and canning peaches.

This year the boys are walking. Nathaniel was always nervous about walking to school by himself even though he walks home by himself. Well, this year he has a buddy and it's been great.



Since Jaaromy isn't working at the moment he was able to walk with them to make sure they knew what to do. Of course we wish Jaaromy was working but it couldn't have been at a better time. He was able to help both boys through their first days of school.


They're so grown-up, walking to school and everything! They've been walking by themselves the last two days and they always hold hands. Nathaniel is a good big brother.


Jaaromy took this picture with his phone when he got there. He said Jonathan was one of the taller kids in the class. That's a first!

It's so fun to see Jonathan come in the door all pink cheeked from walking home. He's always happy to see me.

Gratitude Campaign

I saw this today and thought I'd share. I know, TWO YouTube videos in two days? Crazy. I am totally one of those people who wouldn't say anything but then would wish I had. Here's a way to do it that's very subtle but very powerful.