Elf Yourself

Kai and I decided to chreograph a little Christmas dance with the kids- its about 30 seconds long!
To see it: Go here!

We'll make one with Raia later!

Many Thanks . . .

Thank you to all of you who had supportive and uplifting comments about my last post ; all things I needed to hear, though I especially enjoyed Kanoe's comment:)


I think you will find it nice to know that as I was walking through the hall of our church building, I passes the primary room and saw my eldest daughter leading a song for all the children to sing.
I stopped and watched her, both of us had matching smiles. I took courage from her and had a fantastic day leading (poor technique still present- but happy heart accompanied it). When we got home I told her what a good example she was to me e and that I took courage and followed her example. She told me that she was hoping I would walk by and see her. So sweet:)
I found that same daughter in her room reading scriptures out loud so that her brother could copy the words she was saying and "read" the scriptures too. My cup runneth over.

**
In other news: I had such a great time taking pictures of the Johnson family. They were so well behaved and full of smiles. When I complimented them, Darrin said it was the first good photo experience they had had in a long time and Jodie said they had been so worried about how their kids would behave that they said a prayer in the car before they got out. There you have it. Prayer works! You can see more of the Johnson's here.

I didn't think this day would come . . .

Never in my life did I think the day would come when I would receive a calling that would make me not want to go to church. I thought I had served in every capacity and though some are more preferable then others, I received a calling that churns my stomach in unpleasant ways. Would I ever turn a calling down . . .no. I believe we need to do our part because that is what keeps the ball rolling. Do I complain- never! Except to my husband and now the whole world of bloggers- but you won't tell will you?!

What could this new calling be that makes my knees shake with fear and and eyes fill with tears? Have you any guesses?
Well I'll tell you. I am the new Relief Society Chorister. That is right, I lead the music. I would rather give a lesson to 5ooo people. Come to find out, I can't lead music worth a darn. Even worse, I can't lead music and sing at the same time. So if you find yourself in Relief Society with me, do yourself a favor, keep your eyes on the hymn book. I am pretty sure my song leading technique does little to invite the Spirit.


Kiera's comment: "Maybe after your done waving your hand at the old ladies, they'll give you a calling you do like." I guess I have complained to her too. Whoops. The complaining stops here.

Cunning and Compassion

This scene was witnessed at Chuck E. Cheese

Cambria playing air hockey with some random child her age.
Cambria: Hey! Look over there!
Random kid: looks away
Cambria: scores while kids is not looking
Random Kid: looks back at Cambria in disbelief
Cambria: (laughs) Okay, that wasn't fair, I'll let you do it to me now. (Looks away)
Random Kid: scores.

So funny.

Bubba

Can you see why I love this boy?!

Share the deals

Until midnight tonight, Hapari Swim wear is offereing 50% off code FALL50

Snapfish is offering an 8x11, 20 page book, buy one get one free until 11/7 code 1BOOK2FREE

Babylegs is offering 10% off it's new fall faves. code FAVE10


Good day to you!

Fun on the Farm . . .

I so did not change the picture format mid way through my upload! Why does blogger suddenly decide to shift my pictures to the left when I had clearly marked for them to be centered. Ugh!

We kicked off the super long Halloween 5 day vacation at the in-laws house- Ben and Amanda more specifically. Nevada celebrates it's

statehood on October 31ST . Because of this we usually get the last Friday in October off of school.

It was such a hard night! Kiera was feeling so shy that she wouldn't leave my side, Cambria broke into tears three different times, once because she found Pete on the very first try of "Don't eat Pete!" and didn't get to play anymore, the next time because she scraped her hand on the stucco wall and the third time because she gently hit a boy because he and his friends were relentlessly teasing her about being a witch (hard to get after her on that one because truth be told I would of hit those mean boys myself if I were her- but I did scold her, hence the tears) Raia was screaming because she is Raia, and that is what she does. The only one who had a blast was Malachi. And he really really had a good time, so maybe all that bad was worth it just for him.

In the end Cambria decided that she did have a good time after all, Kiera's competitive attitude kicked in during the games and that ended her shyness and Raia fell asleep in my mother-in-law's arms. By the end of the night I was ready for Halloween to be over, and let me remind
you, it was only Thursday night.

Pictures from the party:

Staheli Farm in St. George is most definitely an event that must be on your October family to do list. Between corn mazes, home-made carnival rides, pig races and s'mores made by campfire, this place is packed full of fun! My kids had an absolute blast! We can't wait to go back next year.

Bubba loved that we were pulled out to the corn maze on a big wagon pulled by a tractor. Oh, and Kai was just a little sleepy:) There are lots of eyes closed in this post.

In the corn field maze:

I forgot to take mu sunglasses off!

My cute little pumpkin!
And low and behold, who should we run into while coming out of the maze, my cousin Kellie and her cute little family that I haven't seen for more than a year.It was so random and so fun! Our kids had such a great tme together. I am sure it added to the specialness of the event!

The day before Halloween the City of Mesquite was out in full force Trick or Treat mode. I didn't see but one person out and about on Sunday night. We went trunk or treating at the church, attempted to attend the police man hosted trunk or treat, but it was way to crowded, and then went to a neighborhood very famous for it's trick or treat fun!

The end!

I love the smell of October!

What has the power to cause a raging, wall shaking tantrum in our home? This little tiny fruit. Yes, A mandarin orange. I promised I would not name the child who had the major melt down. It was my picky one- I will say no more.

WE had a super fun visit with the Mc Intyre family who we miss so much! We are ready for them to move back to Mesquite! Here are Donovan and Raia

Bubba and Abagail- This is the girl I had to sing a song about to Bubba every night for two months before he went to sleep.

All the kids together . . .Toshia and I have kids all about the same age.

Kiera and Cambria were very supportive of my birthday. They gave an enthusiastic two thumbs up. We spent the day in St. George and Kai constantly reminded me how patient he was being for birthday. I got a few things from Tai Pan, Kai got me a book and I made myself an ice cream cake! I got lots of well wishes via phone, mail and email and I thank you all for making my 29th birthday as good as the last!

This is the after of the bookshelf I showed in the last post. I was going to put a coat of varnish and then sand it, but I ran out of energy:) The flowers and the sign in between the wreath were gifts from my momma! Thanks mom!

My cake!

We had a fun visit from my cousin Candi and her 4 month old Benjamin. She stayed with us for 4 days. This is Bubba who snuck into Benjamin's toy after Candi told him that he was too big for it!

Little Ben-German! You're welcome Candi!

We tried to take pictures of Raia and Benjamin together (they are less than 2 months apart- notice the size difference!) and this is pretty much how their photo shoot went . . .

Yeah, it was fun . . .

This is Cambria's costume. Kiera didn't want to be in the picture so Cambria is showing her Ariel costume off for her.

This was Bubba's costume before he talked me into buying him a batman costume. Whenever he puts either costume on his testosterone levels rise and he is instantly ready for battle.

The Pumpkin Run this year was much better than last year. That one ended in tears, but this one was all success and pumpkins for both of my girls!

Raia and Kai and Bubba and I were sheering our hearts out on the sidelines!

Kiera actually came in third place out of all the kindergarten girls! I was so surprised because she constantly tells me how she hates to run. I guess her competitive spirit outweighs her disgust for running!

Totally out of breath and totally proud!

I am not sure what place Cambria got because she crossed the finish line with a pack of girls. She thinks in t was tenth place. Than goodness the top twenty get pumpkins!

She was very happy to have won a pumpkin this year! So was I!

Kiera thought it was cool that they have the same shirt.

Thanks for reading!