adjustments

There's been a major call for change and simplification in our home. I quit my job (such a great stay-at-home job) and while the extra money will be missed, I am so glad to just be a mom. Now when the girls happen to be asleep at the same time and I have a spare minute, I don't have to feel guilty if I'm not rushing upstairs to work. I can clean up my kitchen, get dinner started early (I've been neglecting my beloved crockpot; such a helper), work on a project, WRITE, or heaven forbid, take a nap. I am thrilled about this change and grateful for my husband's support in all of this.

I will be posting some pictures soon of our Halloween and Thanksgiving celebrations. They were simple and fun. I am also excited to share some home projects that I dived into the day I decided to quit. I have fallen in love once again with paint. Stay tuned for pics.

For now I have a question for all you bloggers: is it worth it to stay private? This is our family blog with pictures of our little girls; should I protect us and stay private or is it safe enough to just forgo the hassle and be public? Let me know your thoughts. Please.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Hope your pies were as good as ours. holy delicious.

a little change in plans...

I think this picture epitomizes the last few months for my sweet husband. He returned to school down in Provo, taking on 18 credit hours and six hours a day on a bus. He still works full time as a commercial broker with clients that expect 50 hours a weeks from him. He's elders quorum president in a ward that is bringing in new members like crazy and thus requires a LOT of support and time. And on top of that, he ran for a seat in our city council which has been requiring most of our evenings and weekends and every other spare minute in between. WE ARE EXHAUSTED.

On the upside, we've been learning and growing a lot during this time. We've realized the real VALUE of friendship. As David has been campaigning and facing tough opposition and accusations, etc, etc, we've relied heavily on one another and also our friends. Simple words of encouragement and support can change everything. I'm so grateful for everyone who has sacrificed their time and efforts to help further David's campaign to help our city. He was the high vote winner in the primaries and I feel confident that he could have won the seat this coming Tuesday.

On the downside, he was disqualified from the election last Wednesday. All candidates are required to turn in contribution reports outlining the details of any contributions to their campaign. Every report is given a grace period if you are late, except for the last one. And he was 40 minutes late. So he's now out of the race.

In the end, David made a mistake, but its amazing to think that out of FIVE people who are constantly helping out with these details, NOT ONE of us remembered. It was on all of our calendars, we're usually emailing, calling, and texting one another about these details, but not this time. Perhaps this blunder will present an opportunity down the road.

Once we dealt with all the feelings of frustration, embarrassment, and disappointment, we concluded that there's nothing we can do but move forward and find other ways to stay involved in our city. I know there will be positives that come from this.

We're grateful for the lessons we're gaining from these experiences, as tough as they are, and for our friends who are still standing by us.

bedtime stories

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. We do love when Daddy is home. So much.

Latest Hazel story:
Today we got in the car after church and David says, "Oh boy, we are going to hurry home so Daddy can use the bathroom."
Hazel replies, "Oh, Daddy. Got poops?"

even fairies carve pumpkins

The other night for family night, David and Hazel went out to find the perfect pumpkin. I think they did a pretty good job.

And yes, the tiara and the wand were very helpful tools.

Unfortunately, I didn't get an "after" picture that night and we went out of town shortly thereafter. We came home to a rotten, wrinkly old pumpkin that we'd accidentally left in our front room. He was cute while he lasted.

y mi cupleanos

October 17th is just the best day of the year. Really, its too bad you all couldn't have been born on this day. The leaves have started to fall, the air is cool, and pumpkins are popping up on everyone's front porch steps...and its my birthday. AND lucky for me, my husband understands my deep-rooted NEED for a good, sweep me off my feet surprise. And this year topped them all.

The day started with this
And ended with this:A few weeks ago (okay, maybe more like a few months ago), I casually mentioned that the perfect birthday date would be an entire evening at Lagoon without the kids. I know that sounds like a request that should be coming from a twelve year old, but I have a slight obsession with ROLLER COASTERS; the thrill, the anticipation of that first big fall, and knowing that if you're willing to wait, you can do it all over again.

So David's mom came to babysit and I started getting ready, thinking that we were headed for Lagoon. Then David came in and said "So, I'm taking you shopping." Shopping? My disappointment must have been pretty obvious and he got really offended, telling me that I'm hard to please and this is why he doesn't like surprises. I felt horrible! I couldn't believe we were arguing on my precious birthday and I felt even worse that he thought I was ungrateful.

So I tried my hardest to be very excited about shopping (tends to be more stressful than fun for me). We went to dinner and then headed to Salt Lake and THEN, mumbling something about needing gas, he pulled off at the Lagoon exit. To say that I was SURPRISED AND EXCITED would be an understatement.

An entire night of roller coasters, no kids, and laughing til my stomach hurt and my throat was sore with a very cute boy by my side--what more could I ask for? Oh yeah, and then we went to Coldstone's on the way home. It was perfect.

27. geesh.

eternity

On October 10th, my mom was sealed to her husband, Jay Grimshaw. Both of my mom's brothers and one of her sisters surprised her and came last minute. We were all together in the temple. It was perfect. (pictures soon to come)

birthday boy

So he's 26 now. We actually celebrated David's birthday the night before, on the 7th, by eating at one of our favorite restaurants, Tucano's, with our good friends, Mike and Juliann Law. Then we went to a play called "Curtains" that Mike was performing in. It was honestly one of the best plays we'd been to in a long time (not that we go too often) and one of the BEST DATES we've had in a while.

On his actually birthday, we had a campaign "calling party" with some of our great friends and supporters out here in Ogden. The highlight of the night was the Chinese food and double layer funfetti cake. We did get to sing happy birthday right before bedtime.

Why not wear Mickey Mouse ears to a birthday party?

so a little while ago...

I have to back up a bit so I don't miss important "happenings" in our little family. On October 7th, David was invited to speak at Weber State on leadership. He kept worrying that he wouldn't have enough material to cover his 45 minutes and I told him that he'd probably go OVER his time limit, and he ended up taking the perfect amount of time. It was so fun to hear him sum up a lot of his experiences, especially those we've had within the past few months. I always enjoy hearing my husband speak!

These pics are horrible because I took them discreetly with David's iphone.

I took the girls with me and Hazel sat quietly for a while and then she got really STILL and very QUIET. Her Dad's speech didn't really pique her interest.

Charlotte just wanted to flirt with the college boys behind us.