Pumpkin Carving!

I LOVE Pumpkin carving! York and Jenny (well just Jenny since York was sadly out of town) hosted our second annual Pumpkin Carving Extravaganza! (I just made that name up, but it has a nice ring to it!) We ate a yummy dinner, made caramel apples, and carved pumpkins. We really had the best time! I had stolen Lichelle's caramel recipe and was SO excited to make regular and mini caramel apples. Needless to say, I must have over cooked the caramel and it was more like rock-solid toffee. Still tasted good, but not many were eaten...

Last year, I made Londy a Dora the Explorer pumpkin, and this year she wanted Ariel. My attempt was pretty lame, but what do you expect? She was just upset because I didn't make an Eric pumpkin to go with it.

The caramel apples; we get a big "E" for effort!
Matt and Reesey
Londy
This is the "perfect pumpkin" that London picked out for me to carve Ariel on. I'm pretty sure the back was just dirty, and not moldy...
Just picture the pumpkin with long, flowing red hair instead of a burgundy dish towl!

The kids just played and jumped during the festivities; we love York and Jenny's house!

Cammers and Londy

Beck came out of Camryns room dressed like this. What a stud?!? Should we be worried? He's also taken to liking tiaras and clogs...
What is it about kids and hiding?

A big thanks to Jenny who took all these pictures! My camera will hopefully be done this week! Thanks again for having us over!

Fall Fun Stuff!

I really love fall! You wouldn't know it by my lack of fall posts, but I really am a fan! My beloved new camera is in the shop due to a cracked LCD screen (my fault) so picture taking these days is rare. I have my old camera, but the pictures are lousy because I used to let my kids play with the camera and now it struggles focusing... Those are my excuses for not posting all the fun things we've been doing!

Well, a couple of weeks ago, I was in charge of playgroup. The playgroup consists of Matt's friends' wives (obviously my friends, too) and all the millions of children we have. We get together once a month for a fun outing, and September was my turn. We met at Farnsworth Farms and they took us on a tour, a hayride, and we got to sample some of their products. I tired taking pictures that day, but as the one picture I posted shows, they all were blurry!

London LOVES preschool! They've had 2 fieldtrips so far; one to a dairy farm, and one, today, to a local pumpkin patch. I wish so bad I would have had my good camera with me today! We had such a great time! We went on a hayride to the pumpkin patch, where each kid was able to pick out a pumpkin. London wanted the "hugest" one there. We settled on the biggest one we could find in our little area. There were also lots of fun activites for the kids like: pig races, a gigantic hay bale slide, little slides, bounce houses, train rides, etc. We just had a great time! The best part was going to check on London tonight and finding her sleeping with her new pumpkin! She is just too cute!

.I had better get my camera back soon before I miss more valuable picture taking moments!

Spouse Tag!

1.Where did we meet? At his roommates housewarming party

2. How long did we date before we married? 6 months

3. How long have we been married? 5 years

4. He surprises me by.... giving me cute cards and gifts each month on the anniversary of our first kiss; he called them "month-aversaries!"

5. My favorite feature of him is.... his freaking huge dimples!

6. His nicknames for me are... honey, "Lennis" (not my favorite)

7. His favorite food... ice cream

8. His favorite sport .... it's a toss up between golf, soccer, and baseball

9. Where was our first kiss? His apartment. He kissed me out of the blue-we weren't dating or anything!

10. Our favorite thing to do? Watch tv after the kiddies are in bed, shop for deals, travel

11. Any children? two

12. Any hidden talents? He can pick up almost anything with his lobster claw toes! Plus he sometimes pinches with them; not so fun!

13. How old is he? 31

14. Who said I love you first? He did

15. Favorite type of music? Alternative; favorite is U2

16. I admire him most for.... his unfailing patience

17. Do I think he'll read this? Yeah, he's becoming a closet blog stalker in his down time at work!

I love my Matter!

She's Pierced!

On Friday morning, London said she wanted to get her ears pierced. I'd had a long running internal debate about ear piercing. Mine were pierced when I was a baby, and I always assumed I'd do the same with my little girl. Then I got to thinking, "what if she didn't want her ears pierced?" I decided to wait until she asked for it. We gathered up the troops on Friday night and headed to the mall. After FINALLY choosing a suitable pair of earrings, she was pierced! She did really great. They did one ear at a time, so she was a little shaken up with the second ear. Overall, I think she did great!

On a side note, I'm yet again up for a "Mom of the Year" award after the mall incident. In my defense, we were in a big hurry to get out the door, and I wasn't as attentive as I should have been... It started when we got to the mall. I had forgotten the double stroller, so we just let the kids walk. We were down in center court at the little playland when I saw Beck running with his shorts falling off. (Like I said, we were in a hurry, and I just threw on a pair of 2T shorts from a bag that my sister in law had just given to Beck from her little guy. I figured that because he is 2 they'd fit. I was wrong.) Then I noticed his bare little bum hanging out under his shirt. Luckily, his shirt was long enough to cover his "goods." Yeah, I guess he had taken off his undies sometime before we left. You should have seen the looks of the other moms in the playland. Priceless! I ran into the Gymboree and asked for a safety pin. The best they had was a Gymbucks button pin. We made do. Seriously, who leaves the house with their 2 year old wearing way too big bottoms with no underwear? Yeah, that's me...

A big thanks to my mom,Dave, York, Jenny, and girls for coming to the big event! How many families do you know that will take time out of their Friday night plans to see a 4 year old get their ears pierced? I've got the best family ever!

Overwhelmed???

This week has not been particularly great. I recently watched an Oprah (no I'm not a devout follower, but she's had some good shows lately) that discussed overwhelmed moms. When I dreamed of being a mom, I imagined myself as energetic, fun, and compassionate. If I were to describe actually being a mom, I hate to say it, but I usually say "overwhelming." I've always know that I wasn't alone in this feeling, but it was nice to watch that show where moms called in and shared some of my same frustrations. I've taken a small hiatus from blogging because when things get stressful or crazy in my life, I jump to the conclusion that I am alone when I see everyone "handling" life/kids/etc. much better in their blogs. Yes, I know that blog entries are just highlights. Does this make any sense? I hope so.

In my last ward, we had an amazing therapist come speak to the Relief Society. She discussed this in depth, and it was so comforting. She talked about putting some of our needs in the mix, and not only those of our family. I've been so overwhelmed as of late, and to help with it, I decided to take some scheduled time for me. I started planning on going to the gym Monday-Thursday mornings for a class and taking the kids to the Gym's daycare. I've also started to stress way less about the cleanliness of my house. I've never been one of those people that you can drop by, unannounced, and my house will be sparking clean, like I was expecting company. Granted, it's not a sloth pit or anything, but well lived in. My kids toys are in crazy places, and I usually have a load of laundry on the love seat because I like doing laundry, but don't care for putting it away... I have also come to the realization that I cannot control the way my children will react or behave in every situation, so I should not stress over how they will do in those situations. For example, London was in the Primary Program (her first one as a Sunbeam) last Sunday, and flat out refused to say her part, claiming she was too shy. Seriously! The girl is many things, but shy is not one of them. When it came to show time, she screamed for me at the pulpit, and never ended up saying her part. I know that in the big scheme of things, this is trivial, but her acting out in situations is a common occurance. Today, right before dance class, she threw a tantrum because she was "just too sad to dance today." It took a whole lot of coaxing and threatening (I'm sad to say) to convince her to stay at class. Overall, it's been a frustrating London week...Plus, Beck is potty training, and doing so great, but I think he may be using up most of my patience, so I feel like I'm short with London.

This is a super long post, so thanks for reading. I do it mostly because someday when my London is having a terrible "mom" day and is looking through my journal, I want her to know that frustration, and being overwhelmed is sometimes just part of being a mom.

Today, Matt and I watched Suze Orman on Oprah. I always love what she has to say about financial matters, and was so curious about what she had to say about the changing economy. Matt has tried to explain, on many occasions, what is going on, and I just kept getting more and more anxious about our family's future. After watching the show, I am reassured. She did such a great job of really explaining everything that is happening in financial America today. Let's hear it for Suze!

What to do, what to do...I was looking ahead to next Thursday, and making sure that our favorite show's season premiere's were all ready to record. Then I noticed the conflict. Three of my favorite shows overlap, and our DVR will only record 2 shows at a time. Then I got to thinking how lame it is that I'm actually stressing over this. I'm completely hooked on way too many shows. After much thought, it looks like the last hour of Survivor isn't making the cut. As for this post; not great, but my thoughts nonetheless...