Halloween 2009

I love Halloween! Michael, on the other hand, does not. As a result of our varying appreciation of the holiday, we always have a picture of me and the kids dressed up taken by Michel who is stubbornly...not. We had a fun time this year. Joshua was Optimus Prime from transformers, Andrew had his heart set on being Elmo, and I scrounged up whatever I could find in the dress-up box and ended up as a vampire thingy. Mike took the kids around this year while I stayed home to hand out candy. That is my favorite part! I love to see all the neighbor kids dressed up and having a good time.

This year I had a piano recital on Halloween. It's the first time I've tried it and it went very well. I think the kids were less nervous to perform because we were all in costume and acting a little silly. Joshua played "It's a Spooky Halloween" very well in his transformer outfit!

Butter Glut

Last night as we all sat down to the table for a beautiful home-cooked pot roast dinner, Andrew provided us with perfect blogging fodder. Mike and I were bussily cutting meat, pouring milk, dishing potatoes, etc. Everyone was talking and I was vaguely aware of Andrew asking for a roll over and over agian. I didn't answer him because I planned on getting him a roll when I finished cutting Joshuas meat. Once things were dished and everyone settled in, Mike and I looked over at Andrew and started laughing. He had gotten the lid off of the butter tub and was eating butter straight with his spoon. I guess he wanted the butter more than the roll, and if he couldn't have bread to put it on he would have to settle for the butter straight! That's our Andrew.

Random, disjointed, eclectic photos

Family home evening trip to the temple. We walked around and talked about the temple, then went out to dinner. Very nice family night!

Remember Joshua winning tickets to the circus? Well it was a blast. The boys both were chosen to help in the pre-show acts. Joshua held the ring for the jumping dog, and Andrew made a human bridge for the dog to jump over and weave through. We were able to see the animals in their pens beforehand which was my favorite part. It was a great show!

These are from a spontaneous Saturday trip to the dinosaur park in Ogden. We were very lucky that we chose that day - it was kids day and families got in for free!

Muffy the cat

I supose it is time to own up to my wacky actions. We have adopte a kitten. Her name is Muffy ( I'm not to fond of the name but the kinds love it) and she is a sweet thing. She's about 4 months old now. She spent the first two days here hissing and spitting at Jeri, and then changed her mind. Now they are good friends! Joshua says he loves having all these pets because it makes our house look wild. That is for sure!

The truth is out

Joshua and I had a talk this morning about Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. I let him know that they are all pretend, and that Mommy and Daddy are really responsible for all the middle-of-the-night surprises. I was really worried about his reaction because he has always had such amazing faith in these characters; but to my surprise he was really excited to be in on the secret. He was smiling ear to ear. We finished up the conversation by reiterating that Jesus and the gospel absolutely are real. He took it like a champ - my awesome little man!

American Festival Chorus - Rutter Concert

Allow me to take a moment to shamefully self-promote the choir that Michael and I are in. We are having our first concert on Saturday, November 7th. Each choir member was given four pass-along cards to distribute to friends and family that will enable them to get a $2.00 discount on tickets. I thought I would skip the hassle, and just post the card here. So if you are interested in a wonderful culteral experience, come to the concert! We will be singing music by the composer John Rutter from Cambridge England. Our conductor, Craig Jessop, was formerly the conductor of the mormon tabernacle choir. We will be joined at the concert by the Utah State Orchestra as well as the ache Children's choir. All in all, it should be a great show. Oh, and how often do you get to see Michael in a tux?! It's worth the price of the ticket just for that.

October...already

Do you ever feel like your arms are so full that everytime you see something else you want to pick up you find yourself dropping something you already had, and pretty soon your life looks like a clown juggling to make the kids laugh as he drops, picks up, drops, picks up etc? I'm officially there. Sure I can start exercising, but then scripture reading slips. I can adopt a kitten, but then the yard work slips. I can read a novel, but then my writing projects slip. I can have a Halloween recital, but the dieting slips and I find the needle on the scale creeping up. I can monitor my fertility, but don't read to the kids enough. I can start couponing, but I just don't haved ambition to cook...you get the point. There seems to be a repetative cycle here. I'm constantly trying to do more and better, and constantly falling short and neglecting, so I pick the neglectful aspects of my personality back up just to find I've lost something else... Just like that clown at the circus.
What can you do about that? I guess just laugh - and apppreciate it for the circus act that it is.