Littlest Pet Shops Go Trick-or-Treating

Eden woke up Sunday morning telling me she had a "great idea". She said she wanted to make Halloween costumes and candy bags for her Littlest Pet Shop animals. Grandma supplied the fabric and pipe cleaners and sewed up the candy bags. Then Eden and I worked on the costumes after school today. Here is a photo Eden set up showing our runway designs!

Halloween Party

The kids and I went to our annual church Halloween party. Every year Eden and Kai try to convince me to dress up and every year by the time I've put time and money into their costumes I forget about myself. I decided this year I would make my kids happy by dressing up. Eden especially loved the fact that she and I were both cats...she wanted me to put on my costume as soon as she got home from school! I had forgotten just how much fun it is to dress up for Halloween!!!

Happy Birthday My Sister!

We celebrated Emily's birthday at kid-friendly Chili's restaurant. It was fun being together with family. I'm so blessed to have a sister that is also my best friend. Oh, what would I do without my Emily?! I love you Pookie!! Happy Birthday!

Life...is good!!!

Life...is tough and beautiful all at the same time. As much as I've been experiencing the tough part a lot lately I have also seen much of the beauty. That's how life works--we go through hard times but we are never alone. And it is the difficult trials that show us how strong we are and how much we are loved. Below are some captured moments of beauty that have taken place in the past month of my life.


Boy in the Bubbles

I think this is such a cool picture of Kai in the tub!





















"I'm Strong to the Finish, Cuz I Eat my Spinach"

We met Emily at Fletcher Cove for lunch where she gave Zeke this adorable "Popeye" onesie. I'm so blessed to have a sister that I can also call my best friend. I love you, Emily. I'm so thankful we were both birthed by mom! Everything is more enjoyable with you.




















Ezekiel is 10 Months Old!

It's hard to believe that Zekie will be a year old in two months. He is growing so fast and so big--he is the size of most 18 month olds! He is such a joy!! Oh how I love him!!!





















Time with Papa

My dad is one of the greatest people I know! He is and always has been such a great example of honesty, integrity, strength and kindness. And he knows how to laugh his way through life with his incredibly positive attitude and sense of humor. I love you more than words can express, Dad. Thank you for your constant love and support. Like we always tell eachother: I couldn't get through this without you. I love you.























The Beach

The beach is one of my favorite places to be in this life. I love seeing my children enjoy the beach. This was Zeke's first time in the ocean and he loved it! Life is good!!!

Back to School

Summer flew by this year. I can't believe another school year is beginning. I also can't believe that Eden is in 2nd grade and Kai is in Kindergarten...oh how quickly time has passed. Sending children off to school brings back memories of my school days. I absolutely love the song, "We're Going To Be Friends" by The White Stripes....

Fall is here, hear the yell. Back to school, ring the bell. Brand new shoes, walking blues. Climb the fence, books and pens. I can tell that we're going to be friends

Walk with me, Suzy Lee through the park and by the tree. We will rest upon the ground and look at all the bugs we found. Then safely walk to school without a sound.

Well here we are, no one else. We walked to school all by ourselves. There's dirt on our uniforms from chasing all the ants and worms. We clean up and now its time to learn.

Numbers, letters, learn to spell. Nouns, and books, and show and tell. At playtime we will throw the ball. Back to class, through the hall. Teacher marks our height against the wall.

And we don't notice any time pass. We don't notice anything. We sit side by side in every class. Teacher thinks that I sound funny but she likes the way you sing.

Tonight I'll dream while in my bed when silly thoughts go through my head about the bugs and alphabet and when I wake tomorrow I'll bet that you and I will walk together again. Cause I can tell that we're going to be friends.

Canada, Eh?

The kids and I spent 10 days in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. We stayed with my best friend, Amanda and her family. We had such a fun time!!

It was the first flight for Kai and Zeke and my first flight alone with three children. It was tough but went as smoothly as possible. Kai and Eden loved flying. Kai especially liked taking off and landing.

While in Canada we visited a Saskatoon berry farm and picked Saskatoons. Canadian bears love to eat this type of berry. They are similar to blueberries. We also went to the Calgary Zoo.

We spent two days on a ranch where we rode a horse and a quad, lit fireworks and smores, jumped on a trampoline, and the kids slept in a tent. It was so peaceful out there--rolling hills and no one around for miles. The kids just ran free and loved every minute of it.

We also spent about four days in a cabin in the mountains of Waterton. It was breathtakingly beautiful there. We hiked to the lake and took quick dips in the water (the water is fed by a glacier and needless to say it is absolutely freezing cold). And the highlight for me was hiking through the water at Red Rock to slide down natural rock water slides and seeing a wild grizzly bear close enough that we could hear it eating the saskatoon berries (luckily we were in our car). The kids again ran free, jumped on the trampoline and fed wild deer. We also got an ice cream cone from the ice cream shop each night.

Thank you to Amanda and Jared for their hospitality! We had such a great time!

Breaking Dawn

Those of you who have read Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series of books will understand why Emily and I went to Barnes & Noble at midnight to buy a copy of the fourth and final book in the series, Breaking Dawn. Friday night was the book release party and minus feeling like we were some of the oldest people there we had a lot of fun. We even got bit (notice really bad red paint job on necks). If only the bite was from Edward himself--hehehe, but then again I'm kinda partial to Jacob Black. Who would you choose if you were Bella? Well...I gotta go read!