Halloween (the holiday that seems to last as long as Christmas)

Is it just me or is Halloween starting to become as commercialized as Christmas??? Purple and orange lights for houses, blow up decorations in the yards, parties, junk food overload... need I go on? I kid, but seriously it's becoming quite the event, and don't even get me started on costumes. Ok I am officially going to talk about our costume experience this year. Ebay, i love it and hate it at the same time. Erick wanted to be Harry Potter so we searched for and won a costume complete with glasses that was brand new for about 7 bucks. Love ebay. Next, was Rachel's costume, she wanted to be a cheerleader. There were TONZ of options. We ended up winning a nice High School Musical cheerleader costume for $9.00 including shipping, still loving Ebay. Then said costume arrives, Rachel's tries it on, and she comes out it near tears because the dress doesn't even cover the bum. Now I am hatin' no returns on Ebay. I promised a costume, and talked her into Alice in Wonderland. She has the perfect hair, and shoes, and headband. All that's missing is the dress, no problem. I will just grab one at the store. Well 3 hours later I realize that starting at Rachel's tween size all the girls dresses are scanky!!! Way too short and french maid lookin-NOT HAPPENING at this house. I then called my mom and begged her to "help" me whip up a dress for Rachel during her upcoming visit. Little did my mom and I know how UN-simple the Simplicity pattern would be. My poor mom literally worked day and night to complete this dress by opportunity to wear costume number 1. We owe her BIG TIME!!! This dress is never leaving the family. She's the best! So without further ado...




The kids had fun going to the Heritage Museum, the costume parade at school and class parties, trunk or treating with our ward, and trick or treating door to door at grandma's in St. George with Jayla and Kenedy! I am starting to get costumes earlier next year (just like I am going to start Christmas shopping earlier every year too! wink wink)

Our First (and maybe our only) Pets

Rachel and Erick have been asking for a long time if they could have a pet of some sort. I personally don't really care to have pets. But upon further consideration I decided that if we wanted to try having a pet, fish might not be so bad. They are low maintenance, cheap, and you can just flush em when they die (I know I'm not very sensitive to fishs' feelings.) So when the kids got a free bowl, fish food, water sanitizer we pretty much had no excuses left. The kids had to pay for their own fish and net so they of course chose the cheapest 13 cent goldfish. So without further ado we introduce Pooky and Boomer, our fish.

Catch up!

Erick graduated from Kindergarten, (so glad they have a ceremony to celebrate this momenteous occasion (can you sense the sarcasm dripping here?) It does give the parents a chance to see them sing some pretty cute songs though!

Rachel also got an award at the awards assembly chosen for her sweet music skills!

During our break between school years, Brian's family had a family trip to the ranch where the hightlight was the cousin camps the kids participated in. Erick was in the "Buckin Broncos" group, they learned cowboy manners, dressed like cowboys, rode an actual buckin bronco constructed by Brian and his engineer friend, and shot paintballs at targets.


Rachel and the older girl cousins were in the group "Hula Hunnies." They made some crafts and their Aunt Kortni taught them a genuine hula and how to perform with poi balls.


And last but not least the kids started 1st and 3rd grade yesterday! Everything went smoothly and Erick likes being at school with Rachel and riding the bus home with her. She likes being his mother hen;) They both got great teachers that they like, and that makes me happy too! And don't worry I am keeping plenty busy at "home" alone all day long!!!

Adventures in Idaho

Over the fourth of July we packed the minivan to full capacity and set off for a road trip to Utah and Idaho to visit family and camp at Yellowstone! We started in St.George, then Syracuse, then to Twin Falls to visit one of my best friends and old roomates from College. Her family took us to Shoshone Falls and then to the local frozen yogurt bar "Kiwi Loco!" We had so much fun and she's one of those friends who is always fun to visit and her family is so easy to be around!



From Twin Falls we made the short trip to Rupert to visit Brian's grandma and some of his relatives.

The next morning was fourth of July and we headed to Rexburg after church to visit Brian's brother and his wife. They fed us a delicious dinner and saved some fireworks and sparklers for us. We finished the night off with ice cream buffet, my favorite!!!

The next morning we left Rexburg to make our way to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. We met up with my family in Jackson Hole then went to Jenny Lake where we did a beautiful hike and took a boat ride.


Last, but not least we CAMPED in Yellowstone! It was cold and rainy/windy at night, but around 60 degrees in the day. We ate yummy food, (CAN YOU TELL I'M ALWAYS ABOUT THE FOOD?) we saw lots of beautiful scenery and nature, animals, waterfalls, gesyers, hot springs, mud volcanoes, and of course OLD FAITHFUL! Such a change from here in the desert. I am relived to say we survived and encountered zero bears. (One was put down in our campground the week before we got there!! Thanks to all our friends and family for having us, and putting up with me while I got after everyone about their food. (People, I was really afraid of bears getting us, okay!)

It's Great to Be 8!

Rachel celebrated her birthday with a friend "almost sleepover!" They came over at 6 dressed in their pjs, and ate pizza, then we did nails, hair and make-up, and ended the night watching a movie on sleeping bags! Everyone left by 10, and it was by far the most relaxing, fun, at-home, party we've done yet!

Then this past Saturday, Rachel made the decision to be baptized! Most all of our immediate family was able to be there, and my grandparents and sister's family made the 14 hour round trip to be here for her special day. We so appreciate all of our family and friends who made it! Rachel really took this decision seriously, and has even made a list in her new journal of temptations she is trying to resist so that she can remain pure and clean. Most of them had to do with Erick;) The day went smooth and we all felt happy and peaceful, until we went in to the font room where I had left Rachel's towel. Someone who had gone before her had used it, and left her towel-less. In a moment of panic one of my friends found an extra one in the closet! Thanks to my friend Eliz who took her amazing pictures for her announcement!

Rachel's 1st piano recital

Saturday, June 5th was Rachel's first piano recital. At the rehearsals on Friday night she was pretty nervous and didn't want to go through with it at first, (she's a little shy), but after a quick pep talk in the hall with mom, she decided to participate. The day of the recital came and she kept assuring me she was fine. She kept practicing her song off and on all day on her own. When it came to actually perform her piece, she wanted me to go and sit with her, but she did it and played it well!!! This was a HUGE step for Rachel, she's working on developing courage to do things in front of other people so this experience was very good for her and we are very proud of her! Both sets of her grandparents were there which really meant a lot to all of us considering her song was only a minute and a half! Thanks grandmas and grandpas!

Zion National Park

We had a fun Memorial Day weekend up in Utah this year! We spent with weekend with the Eves side of the family, and we had a great time. I've been wanting to take the kids on a hike so I asked the whole family if they wanted to go to Zion and hike on Memorial Day. It was perfect because we had to pass the cemetary where my grandma and grandpa Eves are buried. So we were able to celebrate the holiday truly by remembering our loved ones who have passed on. We decided to hike the Emerald Pools trail, and it was beautiful! We had such a good time that we decided to get a national parks pass good for one year of hiking fun! We missed Christel's family though, but we are going to be able to do this with them in Yellowstone next month, YES!

All About Rachel

Every year at Fay Galloway ES the music and art teachers work very hard to put on a Multicultural Fair. It involves teaching a muscial/dance number to each grade 1-5, and then the art teacher has each grade study a different country and do a coordinating art project. Rachel is in 2nd grade and they studied the customs and culture of Russia. She made the traditional Russian nesting dolls, and the fancy glitter eggs. These pictures of her are at the fair doing their Russian dance number! It is so cute to see, and I am especially proud of Rachel because she tends to be shy and doesn't like to perform, sing, dance, speak in front of people. She is starting to be courageous and come out of her shell a little. She has a piano recital in a few weeks, so that will be another test of her courage!
Also, over the weekend Rachel had her first daddy/daughter campout! They went to Mt.Charleston and it was a little cold and windy, but they had a great camping experience including (but not limited to): making smores, building fires, air mattress going flat in the night, dead squirrels, hiking, and soda for breakfast!

The Bulls

Erick is half way through his first season of t-ball. He likes it, but there are no rules, no outs, no batting order, and sadly no dug-outs. We kind of feel like it's not real baseball, but he's having fun! The kids just play out in the grass, and every person hits one time, then they go to the outfield. After a ball is hit, sometimes they throw it to first, and sometimes they throw it home. Sometimes the runners run to first base, sometimes they run to third base. It was funny and cute at first, but now I am ready for him to learn something about the rules of the game... mabye next season? I know its important to just have fun, but I am one of those competitive moms that cares more about just having fun, I admit it. But he sure looks cute in his uniform!

Little Bunny Foo Foo...

The weekend right after Easter, we had a BBQ with some friends in our backyard and noticed something small scampering across the grass. Someone said they thought it was a mouse (I of course freaked about that comment, EW!) But later we saw that it was a little cotton tailed bunny. The next morning at breakfast we saw 2 eating grass. The next day or two we saw a third one join the party. So now I guess we have 3 pet bunnies living in our backyard. The kids appropriately named one Foo Foo, one Cookie, and the third one is nameless. Any suggestions?

Race for the Cure!

Anyone who knows me knows that I H-A-T-E running! But in September I came to a point in my life that I needed to make some goals to work towards, one of them being to run a 5K! So December quickly came and Brian and I were going to do the Santa Run, but he got hurt and I didn't feel ready. Then another run come up in February in Henderson for the Library but I chickened out and we didn't sign up. Finally I signed up to do the Race for the Cure and although I had been training since September I finally felt ready! So this week as I was running my side stiches came back! I get them when I am stressed or nervous because I don't breathe deeply enough. Every run this week ended badly. So of course I was nervous for "the RUN" on Saturday. Once we showed up I started to feel excited. I felt prepared, I had taken some advil and said a prayer to get through this. Thinking if I just do this, I won't ever have to do one again! I will have completed my goal. My sweet husband who had been running the 5k in less than 30 minutes, stuck with me the whole time. Although we don't know what our time was because we missed the start, we fininshed the whole thing together without walking. He encouraged me the whole way, told me when the drink stations were coming, and when we got to the mile markers. Although I still had my side stitch, the advil had worked it's magic and the pain was dull enough to push through. Right when we finished I said, let's do this again!!!! I loved this particular run for a few reasons: (1)it's a great cause, and close to my heart with my grandma having been through it, (2)it was neat to be amongst 18,000 people doing the same thing
(3)all the volunteers treated the participants like celebrities, and (4)it was neat to see downtown Las Vegas all closed down and quiet. We'll be there next year, and we're bringing more of you with us!