Halloween '09

We made it through another Halloween. The day after Halloween is one of my most favorite days of the year. It was really simple and fun this year so it was all worth it. We did carve pumpkins earlier in the day but the kids weren't too interested and I finished it. I didn't even get a picture of it this year. The girls ready to go trick or treating. Joey was long gone by this point. He decided to be difficult that night.

Maddie as a very cute witch. Grandma Johnson made the cute tutu.

Maddie was very happy to be getting so much candy. Her bag came home very full.

Katie was an ASU cheerleader.

I don't know what Maddie is doing here but it is too cute. Maybe she is trying to give her sister rabbit ears.

Haylie came over to trick or treat with Nicole. Haylie was "tickled pink" and Nicole was a stick person. It was one of those costumes that she was determined to do and I just went along with it.

Her stick figure was made of glow in the dark sticks. In the dark it really looked kind of cool. She did have a hard time walking with all those sticks taped to her legs. She couldn't bend her knees very well. But it was entertaining to watch her.

After all the kids get back home. Joey was a football player. I did get him a skeleton costume but he saw someone else wearing it earlier in the evening and decided not to wear it. So he just wore his football jersey. It made him happy and so it worked.

Lots of candy and lots of fun!

We spent our October Break up at the cabin. The kids love being up there and spend almost the entire time outdoors. This is where Maddie spent most of her time. It was hard to convince her to get out for anything. I had to have a sucker to give her each time she had to get out. That was the only way to do it without tears.

This was a special trip because Nicole got to bring her best friend Haylie. Nicole got to go to Haylie's cabin over the summer so she has been hoping Haylie could come with us. They had a lot of fun together. They loved to go on quad rides by themselves. They thought they were so grown up. We also, spent a lot of time at the lake.



The kids all caught a fish or two.

Cooper got to make his first trip to the cabin also. He loved it so much. Geoff's parent brought their dog Coco and the two of them play so well together. Cooper wasn't sure about the fish Joey just caught.

Fishing and quad rides...that's what we do at the cabin.

The weather was so nice. It would cool down at night but not too much. We did have a campfire one night and make smores.

It is always hard finding the right time to go up to the cabin but the kids love it and it's always worth it.

My Birthday

I had another birthday last week. My kids can't understand why I am not overly excited about my birthday and even once said I don't like my birthday. But it was a great day. Some of my favorite happenings of the day:

~ Starting the day off right, at the gym. It always seems so hard to get there so I enjoyed it at least this one day.

~ Getting a phone call from my Mom early in the morning to say happy birthday but ended up crying telling me how proud she has always been of me. Ahhhh. So sweet and so nice to hear.

~ Going to get a pedicure all by myself. Loved the little bit of alone time. Thanks to Julie for offering to watch Maddie.
~ Picking Maddie up from Julie's and having her step right on my toe and mess up my pedicure.
~ Going back to the nails store and begging then to fix my nail. She wasn't too happy about it either. Oh well!
~ Having a fabulous lunch with my oldest and one of the best friends around! Thanks Julie! And watching Julie try to sit down. Too funny! She may have been in some major pain but she sacrificed it to go out with me. She will have to explain that one.
~ Having a salesman come to the door and ask if my folks were home. I guess I don't look 33, at least to one person.
~ Going to scouts with Joey. This may not have been a favorite activity but it was how I spent an hour of the day.

~Having a babysitter and going out to dinner with Geoff. Then we went to Yogurtland and I was excited to have Geoff go for the first time, since I love it. He got a tiny bit of strawberry yogurt with strawberries on top. I had to laugh. They have about 12 flavors and so many different topping but that is all he could come up with. You really do need a plan going in and I guess it was just too overwhelming for him. I loved it though!

~ Went home and had a little party with the kids. Then homework, bedtime and all that work!

It was such a fun day and I can say I liked my birthday this year. Thanks to everyone who made it great!

New cousin

This little sweetie is the newest member of our extended family. Reed and Hailey welcomed their first baby, Mollie Mae. She is the cutest little thing. I just love holding newborns. I loved her little hands and long fingers and of course her newborn baby smell. I need to go see her again , soon!
The kids all took turns meeting her up close.

Maddie is wondering why we are making her hold this thing. She wasn't too impressed.

Katie liked her the most. She didn't want to give her back.

Back to School

The kids are back in school. I was ready and they were ready so it was a happy day!

It was a bit rushed trying to get out the door on time. We had to take a minute and do pictures before they were off. I guess we were in such a rush I didn't notice they were in front of the half painted wall. But back to school means back to painting for me!

Nicole 5th grade

Joey 3rd grade

Katie kindergarten

Katie at her desk on the first day. She was so excited to finally be going to real school. She started the year in morning kindergarten. I would pick her up at lunch time and she was so mad that she couldn't stay. The school gave us the first two weeks of school to decided if we wanted all-day or not. I knew I wasn't going to have her go all-day. I wanted her to come home and be with me for one last year before she was gone all day. She came home the first week begging to stay. I let her try staying all day the next week and she is an all day kindergartner now. I was the one not ready but she definitely was and she loves it. She is such a big girl now!

So neglected...

I have really been avoiding my blog. It just isn't something that I want to think about. But I am blogging as my journal so I want to atempt to catch up. Maybe sometime soon I can blog about our summer but for now I will just pick up where our life is. There have been some exciting changes.

Like... we have a new member of our family! I must be crazy but I didn't want my kids to grow up without the experience of having a pet. I knew it would be major work for me but I felt that I was ready for it. I did all the research trying to find out the best dog for our family. I looked all over for puppies for sale but didn't want to pay too much for a dog. One morning I was looking and saw the perfect little guy. I called and she said I better come right away because they were getting so many calls for the puppies. I drove way across town wondering the whole time what I was doing. When I picked the kids up from school I told them there was a surprise waiting for them. They were really excited. It took them a while to really understand that he was our dog. They love him now and he is really a sweet little guy. We are still in the middle of house training him but he is slowly getting it. I haven't had to clean up any messes for a couple of days. Yea!!

Meet Cooper

We Moved!

Finally! Things have been really busy and a little stressful so I haven't posted anything for a long time. We were planning on moving into our new home the middle of May. We were packed and ready. We had renters ready to move into to our house. Our new home was finished and waiting for us to close and move in. Well, that is a lot easier said than done. It may be a great time to buy a house but it is definitely not a good time to get a loan. We were put off day after day and then week after week. It seems strange to me that it took 7 months to build our house and we met with the loan company at the beginning and started the process but when it came time to getting the final approval for our loan it took almost 5 weeks. They originally told us it would be 3-5 business days. I can't even begin to explain all the dumb things we had to do. It was a very frustrating month.
Our renters were being so patient and were willing to wait for a week or two but it finally came time to let them move in. We begged and pleaded to get our loan done in time so we didn't have to move everything twice, and go stay in a hotel for awhile. And this whole time our house is done and just sitting empty.
We moved out of our house last Friday. The day before we moved we were told we had final approval. It was good news but the frustration had kind of taken the fun out of it. Geoff went by that night and made sure the back door was unlocked and actually took a small load of stuff over. We knew it would fund in the morning. We had signed all the paperwork and just had to wait for that phone call to say we could have the keys and start moving in. We felt we had been inconvenienced enough and decided to just move in that morning while we had help and trucks. Our renters were starting to move in that night and I had to get the carpets cleaned sometime between. The builders did get upset with us but we justified it and everything did work out. They got paid and we got the house.
So I just had to document all that we went through to finally get to move in but I also want to say that we are loving out new home. There is still much to be done and we don't really feel put together yet but that will all come soon. It is a great feeling to finally be here!