"Tender Lumplings Everywhere, Life's No Fun Without a Good Scare!"

Today is the greatest holiday ever invented!  I love Halloween!  Today, Riley and I went on a date!  We stopped by my bestest friend Nicole's house to let her borrow some Halloween costumes and then went to lunch.  After that, we went and saw "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" in 3D.  I must say, 3D is really, really cool.  I thought the story was pretty cute too.  Cute movie.  Riley really enjoyed it (he's 7).  Then we came home, had dinner, and he and his brothers got ready for trick or treating!  Kaleb is Commander Rex (a stormtrooper), Riley is "the Gatekeeper" (spooky!), and Zachary is a knight warrior.  Dad took them trick or treating, and I got to stay home and pass out the candy.  I love seeing all the cute costumes kids have come up with, and I love, love, love it when the parents dress up too!  I am a witch!  But a nice one, because Halloween makes me too giddy to be evil.  Ha ha ha!  I love putting on the scary music for the trick or treaters too!  So much fun!  Next year will be really fun, too because I will go trick or treating with the kids.  Kurtis thinks Zach and Riley are old enough to go by themselves.  The protective mother in me said, I'm not so sure.  But Kurtis will do what he wants.  They are still out (of course), and I am having a lag in the trick or treaters at the moment, so I have decided to post pictures of the boys for you.  (Doorbell chimes) Oh, my who could that be, but my little ones!  Kaleb is tired and needs to stop, but apparently the other three are heading back out!  :D  Happy Halloween, to all, and to all a good night!

Kaleb's mask smashed up against his nose, but he said he wanted it that way when I tried to adjust it.  Silly kid!

Riley lost a shoulder pad during the night's excursions.

Pumpkins Scream In the Dead of Night!

I can't believe Halloween is almost here!  I am so excited!  It's the best holiday ever!  Last night, for family night, we carved pumpkins!  Thanks to my dad and his awesome gardening skills, we have pumkins this year!  We put on spooky music, and let our creative minds go to work!  The kids and Mr. Jones designed their pumpkins on paper first, but  not me, I prefer to freestyle on the pumpkin itself.  I live dangerously that way.  Kaleb made a Jack Skellington face on his (Dad drew the face on the pumpkin; Riley helped him with the design on paper), Riley went with a traditional pumpkin face, Kurtis did one with cat eyes, and Zach put  eyeballs all over his pumpkin.  He drew them on all over the pumpkin, but Kurtis wouldn't cut all of them out.   Mine is a cat silhouetted on the moon.  What can I say, I'm an artist.  We all are!  Ha ha ha!

See all the eyes on Zach's?

Riley's masterpiece.  It has pumpkin seeds stuck in the mouth because he wants it to be puking.

Kaleb's Jack Skellington

Zach's pumpkin is watching you!

I think Mr. Jones' pumpkin is excellent!  So fun!

Ta-da!  Here's my kitty!

Here they all are in the light.  I think they rock!

A Girl's Gotta Do What a Girl's Gotta Do

Today, I did something that I have wanted to do for years.  Ever since Mandy Moore (be quiet!  I like her!) dyed her hair dark brown, I thought it looked really good on her, and have been wanting to do the same thing.  But I would always say to myself, "Your hair is already brown!" and just dye it red instead.  This morning I did it.  I dyed it dark mahogany brown (or something like that) all by myself.  I love it!  Here's what I look like now:

Now, I just need to figure out a new style.  I love it long, but I need something different.

Luckily For Me, I Can Watch It Online

I was hoping that the fact that we got rid of tv would help my children become more creative and play outside more.  You know, be more active, use their imaginations (I know, a word that doesn't seem to be in their volcabulary).  [And no, we didn't get rid of tv because suddenly we think it's evil and there's nothing but trash on, and all that crap (Yeah, I said it.  That's crap).  Geesh, people.  I'm an actress with dreams of being on tv someday!  We got rid of tv for one simple reason.  Kurtis got a pay cut at work, so something had to give.  Sigh.  I miss FitTv.]  Any way, but no.  Zach's friends came over today, and because I told them they couldn't play computer games with their friends, he said he didn't want to play with them.  I told him too bad.  Then he expects me to tell them what to play.  Kaleb and his friends were having fun playing, so I pointed out that he could join them.  The three of them decided to take their game outside, and Zach just sat there, moping.  I just told him to go play outside with his friends.  Thank goodness he went running, or I would have probably yelled at him, or said something in anger that I didn't really mean.  Sigh. 
Thank you for listening to my frustrated rant.  I feel better.  Have a great day!

I Can Take the Screaming and Yelling

Riley finally got to have his birthday party today.  It was a really fun party.  He had a puppy theme, and I could only find puppy themed stuff on the internet, and everytime I went to click on the check out button, I just couldn't do it.  I don't know why.  Maybe it's because I felt like I was spending too much on the crap.  So he had a hodgepogde puppy party.  We used the puppy themed "Happy Birthday!" sign I had purchased two years ago for Zach's puppy party (huh, interesting.  I just realized that was Zach's 7th birthday, too).  There were unopened napikins too (that I forgot to use).  His cake had Scooby Doo on it, and in the treat bags, I put Snoopy pencils, and Star Wars yo-yos.  Well, what can you do, right?
Any way, Kaleb woke up this morning saying his tummy hurt.  I asked him why, and he said it was because he ate too much.  I was still in bed, so I just assumed that meant his brothers (or Dad) had helped him get his breakfast.  When I came downstairs, he told me he hadn't eaten yet.  "Oh, well, that's why your tummy hurts," I said.  "You're hungry."  Well, he wouldn't eat anything and he felt warm.  His temperature was 99.5.  Nothing to be too concerned about, but throughout the day, it kept going up.  I thought, well, I will just stick him in his room while the party is going on.  But he is just as whiny as his dad when he is sick.  I was betting that I couldn't just leave him in his room for an hour.  Kurtis couldn't just take the day off from work, he'd already done that on Tuesday, so I called my mom.  She agreed to come and help me.  My mom's the best!  She helped me get everthing ready and then just before the party, we took Kaleb up to his room.  Poor kid.  He did want to go to the party, and was so excited for it yesterday.  He knew why he couldn't come though.  He's so understanding like that.  He just whimpers a lot when he's sick.  Which is hard to listen to.  His dad moans.  I can't take it after awhile.
Soon, it was party time!  The cousins came (they are still here), and Auntie Kristie stayed (she's so awesome!).  The friends came!  We played a game where I hid bone-shaped pieces of cardboard all over the front room.  The kids had to get on their hands and knees and crawl around like puppies and find their bones.  It was cute.  Then we played pin the tail on the donkey (a classic game that everyone loves), and then we had a barking contest.  After that, we decorated sugar cookies with frosting and candy.  They loved it!  It was easy and I just got to sit back and watch them and take pictures.  Then we had cake and ice cream.  It was a funfettie cake from Pillsbury.  I dyed the vanilla frosting green.  Then we opened presents.  Then the kids got to run around and play until their parents said they had to come home.  So that party, I can mark off as a success.  Kids love me. :)

Kaleb seems a little bit better.  He ate some dinner and a cookie.  I'm glad.  I hate it when my kids are sick.  Riley was much more tolerable when he was sick.  He just layed on the couch and didn't move or make a sound unless he needed something.  I can deal with that.  Whinies?  Not so much.  They grate on my nerves.  But hey, I have all boys, so I suppose I will have to put up with them for a long, long time.  Then, when they get married, their wives can listen to them moan and groan.  I'm just grateful Kurtis doesn't get sick very often. ;)

The Bone Finding contest.  That boy in the orange won because Riley really found the most, but he knew where they all were, so it doesn't count.

Pin the Tail on the Donkey!

The winner of the dog barking contest!  Go Katie!  That was a hard one to judge.

Decorating cookies!

Blowing out the candles!

And finally, Presents!

A Not So Happy Birthday Present

Yesterday was Riley's birthday.  He turned seven!  He's so big.  It was such a special day.  His dad took the day off of work to help me with his birthday party that afternoon.  I baked a strawberry cake with strawberry frosting that I dyed orange.  Then Kurtis, Kaleb and I went to the store to get some last minute things for the party.  While we were in the store, Riley's school teacher called me.  She told me Riley said his tummy hurt and she thought he felt warm to her.  I'm thinking, yeah, he's probably fine, but I said since I wasn't home, I would be there in about twenty minutes.  We finished at the store (I forgot some things in my haste), and picked him up at the school.  He was pretty warm when I got to him.  We brought him home and and took his temperature.  It was 103.8!  Needless to say, we postponed his party.  I gave him something when his dad told me his fever was 104 and Riley told me he had a headache.  He felt better after that and started to act somewhat normal.  For his birthday dinner, he chose Arctic Circle mini corn dogs.  He ate most of them, but the whole time I was wondering if giving him corn dogs was even a good idea.  Then, after the meds wore off, he started to feel awful again.  His fever went back up to 103.  We opened his cards and presents for him while he watched.  He got a really cool Lego set that he asked for (anything Space Police, please!).  He tried to be excited, but it wasn't happening.
Today, he is fine.  Absolutely no fever at all.  His school said that because of the swine flu, they are being cautious and he couldn't go back to school for 24 hours after the fever breaks.  He was fine, all day though, so I made him do his homework.  He caught up on his reading that he couldn't do and did his homework from yesterday and today.  His grandparents and great-grandma gave him money for his birthday.  He was so excited today.  He was telling me over and over again that he had "fifty-five dollars and twenty-five cents!"  No, I'm not really sure where the twenty-five cents came from, but it was funny.  He also had fun working on his new Lego set.  But, alas, tomorrow it is back to the old grindstone for him!  (Yes, I am laughing inside just a little.)  But I love my little guy, and I wish his day could have been so much better.

Shut Yout Eyes and Sing to Me!

So Friday, I was just getting ready for the day, listening to my favorite radio station, and they said to text them to win Snow Patrol tickets and passes to the meet and greet.  I thought, oh, I never win stuff like that, and got in the shower.  Then when I got out of the shower, they said, we're still taking your texts!  I said, why not?  I texted into the show, and five minutes later, I got a phone call telling me I'd won Snow Patrol tickets!  Not only that (which is awesome enough!), I would get to meet the band!  Whoot!  Whoot!  Yay me!  So awesome!
The show was on Saturday night, and I have to admit, Snow Patrol isn't like my most favoritest band ever.  But I do like them a lot.  I just don't have any of their albums.  I don't know about where you live, but here, when we go to a concert, we want to rock out, dance, and par-tay!  Snow Patrol isn't exactly fast, dance and go crazy music, though, so I was wondering what would happen.
Kurtis and I arrived at around 6:30 and got in line.  It was surprisingly cold.  The sun was shining, but since it was going down, and the breezes were blowing, I was shivering.  Luckily, Mr. Jones is good for something.  He kept me warm(er).  When we got in, we went looking for our seats, which since they were on the fifth row, I thought would be totally awesome!  But no.  They were in the fifth row of the 8th section, which would have been awesome if they had put the stage on the other side of the room.  Oh well, I didn't care too much.  They were free!  I was told to meet Grant from the radio station at 7:50 to go meet the band, so at around 7:30, I decided we should go wander around a bit.  Low and behold there was my friend, Tiffany, who played my maid in "The Women" waiting for Grant too!  It was awesome!  We got to catch up with each other, and I met her friend who won tickets too, and brought her along.  Grant met us a bit later and we went downstairs to the backstage area.  We met the band who has cool accents (they are from Ireland and Scottland), but said they hate their accents.  Well, I hate mine too.  People are funny.  They sat down and we all got in line (there were about 10 of us who won tickets to the meet and greet, and our guests, so about 20 in all (maybe less, I wasn't counting), and they signed a picture for us.  Then we got to take pictures with the band, too.  It was so much fun.  But kind of akward, too because they didn't know what to say to us, and we didn't really know what to say to them.  After the picture taking was done, we went back up to our seats and sat down.
The Plain White T's came on just as we were finding our seats again.  Poor Tom.  He's the lead singer.  He was sick, so rather than cancel their show, they only played three songs.  My sister, was in the front row, dying to see them (they are her favorite), and was so sad that she didn't get to hear a full set from them.  The did a really good job, and from way back where I was, you couldn't really tell he was sick.  Sometimes his voice would get a little scratchy, but he sounded good.  I hoped he would play one more when the third was over, but Emily said he looked like he was in pain, so I guess it's better he didn't.
After that, we waited for Snow Patrol to come on.  One of the event guys came over to our section and told us he was moving our entire section down to the pit.  Which was way cool!  We were on the floor, about a section closer.  Which is awesome, except that because I am only 5' 4", I probably would have been able to see them better from the section I was in.  I loved it though.  It was a really awesome concert.  Snow Patrol's energy was just amazing.  We danced and sang along to their songs.  We even had a sing along during "Shut Your Eyes" (one of my favorite songs by them - it's on the blog playlist that will come back when Halloween is over).  He said, "This is the part where you guys sing along with us.  I'll start."  Then we sang "Shut your eyes!"  And he said, "Now well, that was good, but let me explain myself.  And I know I wasn't very clear, so I apologize for that.  But I want you to sing like your shoes are on fire, but you know - in tune."  Ha ha!  It was so much fun.  Then he split the room in half and we had a sing off.  Of course, my side won. ;)  So my conclusion is this:  If you like Snow Patrol, you will love them in concert.  When they come to a town near you, go!

After the concert, we went to IHOP, and we took Emily with us so she could get a ride home.  I made her order some food for her teeny tiny body, but she only ordered fruit.  She was lucky.  Apparently she got the last of the fruit.  Kurtis's meal came with either pancakes or fruit, but Emily took it all, so they brought him pancakes.  Then our waiter told me my meal came with pancakes or a salad.  I ordered from the light menu because I've gained ten pounds (yeah, I know...).  Kurtis said, "Get the salad!"  I gave him the evil eye and said, "But I don't want salad."  Then he said, "No, but I do, so you can have my pancakes."  Well, after we got all that cleared up.  Dinner was great, but I learned something while I was there.  I do not like egg substitute.  The pancakes were yummy though. :)

Left to Right:  Kurtis, Johnny Quinn (Drums), Nathan Connolly (Guitar), Paul Wilson (Bass), Gary Lightbody (Lead Vocals), Tom Simpson (Keyboard), and Me!

These pictures were taken by Tiffany's friend Josh with his awesome cell phone.  Thanks, Josh!  I'll be putting up the professional ones later.  They aren't up on the radio station's website yet. :)

We'll Make Great Pets!

I just experienced something pretty dang wonderful.  If you're a third grade boy!  Which Zachary is.  This morning, Zachary asked me to come to his school's "Snail Olympics".  It's just what it sounds like.  Olympics for snails.  I got to sit at the Mountain Climb table and help the kids time their snails.  We put them up to the edge of the clear cups or mountains and saw how long it took them to get up the "mountain".  It was pretty fun.  Some of the kids were afraid to pick up their snails and put them down, so even though I was told I wouldn't have to touch the snails, I did.  Some of the kids were also afraid that they were going to pull the shell off their snail (some of those snails had some pretty good suction going on!).  It was cute.  You get used to it, but they are slimey. Blech!  Then one of the teachers asked if Kaleb wanted a snail.  He said he sure did and one of the kids got one for him.  It was cute how excited he got.  His didn't really want to go up the mountain though.  It just climbed across it and then went back down.  One of the other games I saw was "Hurdles".  It was so cute.  The hurdles were crayons!
Apparently, Zach gets to keep his snail, too, so we now have two pet snails to add to our two pet dogs.  I never thougth we would have snails.  Maybe they won't live very long.  We'll just have to see how well Kaleb and Zach take care of their new friends.

Zach and his classmate get thier snails ready!

Zach's snail at the top of the mountain!

I tried to zoom in closer, but my camera is having issues that I don't understand right now.

Fall Foliage and Dinosaurs

I know it's the middle of the week and I should have posted this Monday, but I've been busy.  I had to do the laundry, fold it, and go to an audition on Monday (not to mention make dinner and all the other stuff I do all day).  Then Tuesday, my mom came over and helped clean my playroom and get rid of some stuff so we can turn it into Kaleb's room.  I want to paint it because the walls are cream in that room (boring).  When I asked what color he wanted his room to be, he said, "Colorful!"  To me that means rainbows.  Yikes.  I think we will just have to go to the paint store and let him look at colors.  Then his brothers will be all like, "why can't we have our rooms painted too?"  Babies. 

Any way.  I wanted to show off what we did this weekend.  Because of UEA, Zach didn't have a soccer game, so we decided we needed to go do something together.  Since Sunday was Conference for the LDS church, Kurtis and I played World of Warcraft the whole day while listening to the prophet speak.  It was a good day, too, but most people would find that particularly boring, so I'm just going to let you know about our day on Saturday.  Yippee for you! :)

Saturday, we listened to the morning session of Conference (until we had to go run errands).  They announced that they are going to build a temple in Brigham City, UT!  That's where I grew up since I was four years old.  That's pretty exciting.  My mom told me my brother, who just turned 18, said, "Wow, a temple!  This is more exciting than when we got a Wal*Mart!"  There's not much to do in Brigham City.  That's all I'm gonna say.

So after that, we went and got rid of our cable, looked for pants for Zach, and went to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden Canyon.  We took a picnic lunch.  Riley told me we weren't having a "real" picnic because we were sitting at a picnic table and not sitting on a blanket in the grass.  The kids had a lot of fun playing on the playground and looking at the dinasaur replicas.  I was just excited to be able to leave the house.  We went up the canyon afterwards and looked at the leaves that are changing colors.  It was so pretty there.  Here's some pictures that I took.  Some of them are blurry because I have started to shake a little.  I joke, and say I am getting Parkinson's.  My grandpa has it. Maybe it's just carpel tunnel syndrom, though.  I do sit at the computer a lot.

At the Dinosaur Park, you can excavate for dinosaur bones.

Run!  He's going to eat us!

Zach and Riley pretending to be dead while Kaleb hides from the dinosaur that ate them.

Ogden Canyon, UT

The edge of Pineview Reservoir

Coming back down the canyon, I saw this beautiful sight and told Mr. Jones to take a picture. 

Not bad from the car window.