Sneak Peek

What our Halloween looks like:
BYU had their annual Halloween carnival so we went to check it out tonight. Hayden was a cute princess, of course, and scored some candy and toys. Pretty successful if you ask me.

Goin' Fishin'
Decorating a Pumpkin
Throwing Rings
And Hayden's favorite, the bouncy slide

Also, as you may know, my birthday was earlier this week and my very loving husband decided it was time I had a new wardrobe. He came up with the brilliant idea of actually having Heather, his sister, help out with the clothes shopping because she is all knowing in that area. I must say, BRAVO! Thank you for helping my husband put some much needed new clothes on my back.

Fashion Show! Fashion Show!

Check out the boots....LOVE THEM! Everything I am wearing is new, including the jewelry. I sure do love Forever 21! Cute clothes for cheap prices. (The outfit I have on in the BYU carnival pictures is also new for my birthday.) Thank you Carl! You always know how to make me laugh and smile!

Our good friend Kathryn came by and brought the pizza, so we didn't have to cook! Yea for her! I sure do love you, Kaf!
I am so grateful for such a wonderful family and such great friends who love me! I love you all, too! Thank you for your thoughts and love on my special day!

AND LASTLY... A peek at my Halloween project! It is pretty much done, I just need to sew on the thing that it hangs from. Me and my friend Wendy from across the hall would work on this everyday while the kids were napping. It was a lot of fun! I'm still no pro, but it turned out pretty good! At least Carl likes it. Just don't look too closely at the stitching:)

The (almost) finished product!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

The Happenins

This is what we have been up to as of late.

1. Yesterday we went down to Provo and got to experience College Game Day on ESPN right outside Lavelle Edwards Stadium! Daddy O. eat your heart out! We tried to make it on TV, but to no avail. We were in the very back. Still fun though.

These are the tents of those loyal fans who braved the rain and cold to be front and center. I bet they were on TV.

Cutest cheerleader there!

The big monitor with the main sports announcers to the right.

All the loyal fans again, cheering on our Cougars. Too bad the night didn't go how we wanted. Oh well.

2. The Little MermaidThis is Hayden's new favorite thing to do. Watch The Little Mermaid. She LOOOOOOVES it. I kind of have to admit that I love that she loves it. It was one of my faves.

3. Just hangin' together.Awesome

4. Opening early birthday presents. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

My mom always reminds me that she had to wait 30 years for one of these beauties, but I think waiting almost 5 years is a long time too:)

Oh yes, there will be more to come.

Truth Be Told

Truth: Sunday mornings and I don't really get along.

It's not like I wake up in a bad mood or anything. Actually I usually wake up pretty happy, but as the morning progresses my mood drastically changes...and I blame it all on my time management.

We have church at 11. Carl always needs to be there by 10:30. No biggie. However, I always wait until he is gone to get Hayden ready and take Ella outside and grab all my things, and finish getting myself ready and get Hayden's snacks,etc. Before you know it, the time is 10:58, the house is a MESS, I'm usually frazzled and very impatient because I would like to make it to church on time, but I know it won't happen.

Sooooo since we only live a block away from church, I like to walk. But when we are leaving at 10:58 and I have to walk with a toddler who ALSO likes to walk, only slower, it usually means we get there at least 5-10 minutes late. So there I am--late, sweaty, tired, muffled, and annoyed. But we make it.

Here's another truth: I'm always amazed at how calm I can get once I sit down in that pew. I really do love going to church. It helps my sanity:)

So, to go back to time management. I really need to work on it. Then I can honestly learn how to enjoy a calm Sunday morning. What would that be like?

Amazing, I'm sure.

Our New BFFs

This week we had a fun adventure and got to babysit these cool kids for three days while mommy and daddy took a trip down to California.

Let me introduce you to Brynley, Caleb and Aubrey...some of the cutest kids on the planet.



Yes, that is right. I went from 1 child to 4 over night. You can call me super mom if you want. However, I can't take all the credit for my super powers because Carl would come over after work and stay for a few hours and play with the kids. He was great and they LOVE him!

(This picture makes me laugh everytime. Look at Hayden in the background...???)

We had so much fun doing things like this:

check out the hair

and things like this. Seriously, I wish everyone could meet Brynley. You would smile every time you talk to her. She has some pretty cool costumes. This one is my favorite:

Possible musician in the making?

Just chatting with her new best friend.

Hayden loved everything having to do with the baby, including feeding her. Except she didn't like when the baby sat on my lap. That's her territory.:)
I really do wish I had more photos, but towards the end I got lazy with the camera or I would forget it if we went somewhere. Lindsey, if you ever want to see ALL of the pictures, just let me know:)
All in all, everything went very well and the kids are all safe and sound and that's what matters! We had a lot of fun and it made me feel good that Lindsey and Brandon trusted me with their kids. And I'm so glad they could have a nice getaway. Everyone needs that once in a while.:)

Also, I think I learned a couple of things from this experience:
1. Hayden is not a perfect angel. I saw her steal one too many toys from the kids. We'll work on that.
...and...
2. I think I'll be okay if I have another child. I have had my doubts in the past if I could handle multiple kids, but this week proved that I can! Bring it on.

Randoms

Today was a good day.

Nothing really significant happened, it was just a good day. Hayden was cute, I'm almost done with my Halloween project(to be shown later), we got to play with friends, which we actually get to do pretty much everyday, I went to the gym, and Carl and I vegged and watched some TV once Hayden was asleep and Carl was home from his trip to the gym. Again pretty normal, but still it was a good day. Just thought I would share.

Here are a couple of random pics and videos to brighten your day, too.

I must have said something really funny :)

Sweet baby

Reading, she lovesssss reading

Look how well behaved Hayden is being during conference. Carl could learn from her. If only that darn, evil monkey wasn't lurking on his shoulder, then maybe he would have been able to concentrate.

One of my favorite things. Anytime we are at church and the music starts, she has to get the hymn book and conduct the music. It was the same for conference. Love it.

Look how cute her hair is, if I do say so myself! I can't believe it's long enough for this!

I must admit that this video wasn't my first choice, but since the one I did want was too big and didn't work, this one will have to do. Can you guess her favorite word in this video?


This one is for mom.

I forgot to mention that part of my good day was using my very first rice cooker! Thanks Mom and Dad. It worked like a charm!

PS. I now have a picture of the hole for our house. Go ahead, take a gander. It's on the post before this....