A "Spook"latular FHE!!!!

We had such a fun Haloween FHE on Monday! My mom is out of town (fishing with her brothers) ... so we had my dad, Travis, Steven, Kami over to join the party! Haylee gave a sweet lesson! She is painfully shy in front of anyone! but did a great job! Then......

We carved pumpkins...
the girls weren't so sure about getting the goo out, but they like the carving...

our pumpkin.. Haylee picked the castle!

Travis drew this scorpion by hand! He's amazing!

Steven and Kami's pumpkin.. Nice pose Max! (that's his middle name.. that's all I call him!)
My cute dad.. poor guy wasn't feeling so hot! Our next event...

We "booed" some families around town... (now the word is out for those of you that we did that are reading our blog!)

the girls didn't like the idea of knocking and running..

but after a couple of tries (if max and kami held them).. they loved it!

and to end the night perfectly....

Apples dipped in carmel and white chocolate!!

I love the holidays!! Happy Halloween!

Hay Hay

Haylee 1st grade picture

Haylee has been printing her name on her assignments at school as "Hay Hay"... She's so cute! Well my cute hubby is off to Mesa for a continuing education class.. so what else would I be doing besides blogging! (I hate when he is gone!) I have been meaning to write my feeling about my sweet Haylee. I remember when she was my first and only child. We had so much fun together, just the two of us. We were like best friends. I still love being with her and we still always talk, but those are sweet memories! I am so thankful to have Haylee in our family! I love her beautful hair and cute freckles! Our family wouldn't be the same without her. She is such a big help with her sisters. She is learning so fast and is so much like Wayne (no wonder I love her so much!) There have been a couple things lately that have happened with her that I want to remember...

The other day Hay came home from school and our routine was pretty normal coming back from the bus stop:

Me: "How was your day"

Hay: "Good"

Me: "Who did you play with" (a question I ask about every day"

Hay: Anna, Taylor, Kenon (I had her the first two names but not the 3rd)

Me: "Is Kenon a boy or girl"

Hay: "A boy"

Me: (curious) "What did you guys do?"

Hay: "Just walked around and played on the swings... Kenon is a boy in my class. His mom came in to class and told us he learned to read when he was little, but he can't talk very well. He is different, so I wanted to play with him!"

Ok.. I about cried! I was so proud. I know that might now seem like a big deal to anyone else, but I thought it was awesome! One thing I definately want to teach my kids is to be nice to EVERYONE and treat them all nice! It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks of you, as long as you are doing what's right!

Our other experience was a little different. It was right before bedtime, Hay had just finished brushing her teeth. She came in to talk to me and said:

Hay: "Mom, someone at school said I don't brush me teeth good enough"

Me: (trying not to be mad) "what? who said that? why?"

Hay: ____ (I won't write her name)

She tries to tell me more and then starts SOBBING!! I couldn't stand it! I just held her in my arms and got teary eyed and waited until she could talk. She has a cavity in middle of her two front teeth, so I thought maybe that was why they said something. So again I asked...

Me: "why did they say that?"

Hay: "because of my silver teeth. She said if her mom told her that if she doesn't brush good enough she will have to get these" (Haylee has been proud of her silver teeth up until this point. He dentist calls them her princess teeth)

I told Haylee that she is beautiful no matter what anyone else says and that her silver teeth are so cute! I tried to make her understand it doesn't matter what other people think. Again this might not seem like a big deal, but it was my first experience with some one making fun on my girl! My heart hurt in a whole new spot! I hated to see her so upset and heartbroken. I was so glad she would come talk to me. I told her to tell the girl if they ever say anything again to tell them that her mom would bust them up! (I know not the best idea, but that's what I felt like!) She felt better once we talked and hasn't had any problems since, but wow.. I am in for a wakeup call when I have 3 teenage girls!! I love them all and I'm lucky to be their mom!!

GRahAm COuNty FaIr!!

Who doesn't love a small town fair! It is the big thing in town here! Thatcher schools are even let out of Friday for "fair day"! I love it! It is always fun to have Haylee home from school! We started the morning off with the parade with our Palmer cousins. Then Wayne got off work early and came with us to ride some rides. The girls loved being there!.... (so do I) and Wayne is a great sport! Each of the girls rode a couple rides with either Wayne or I. Then Wayne is always so nice to let me go on a couple "big kid" rides! Since he doesn't love them, I found a couple people to go with me. My little brother Travis rode one ride with me and then I rode with Camille Daley Haymore on the other one! They were both so fun. I was screaming the whole time about how I hated it.. then when it was over I wanted to go again! I can't handle crazy spinning rides since I have had babies, but these two were so fun! The girls probably think their mom is crazy, but we had a great time!! After the rides, we went over to see the animals. The girls loved seeing all the birds their uncle Travis put in! He put their name on a pigeon and it got a blue ribbon! After the fair, we went to eat with my mom at La Casita!! YUM! Then my mom is the awesomest lady.. she took our kids to her house and let them have a sleep over since I had a garage sell early in the morning with my sister in laws and Wayne would be at work! She's the best! It was a WONDERFUL weekend!!

My three cuties!

Haylee by her prize winning pigeon!

and cute Hanna

Grandpa and Grandma with Maci

At the parade... my girls and Kemilee Maci's favorite ride
Haylee and Travis
One of my favorite rides.. the boat (cheesy smile I know!)

I think my girls were more excited about the cotton candy than any ride! Me and Camille on "cliffhanger"... so fun!

My girls and Layton going on the Farris Wheel!
Always a favorite...
Good times...

10 year reunion!!

I graduated from Thatcher High School 10 year ago! I can't believe how fast time has flown by!! Last weekend was my reunion. It was so much fun! I love any social event, but it was especially fun to get together with old friends and catch up! So many of the people I graduated with live here now. Lots of our kids go to school together. (I sound old saying that!) There were lots of people at the reunion that I get to see at ft. ball games, soccer, church events, etc, but it was fun to spend a couple of days with them and their families. I was sad because my BFF :) from Highschool, Camille Wright (Wakild), couldn't come. Her husband is in the airforce and they live in Oklahoma. We were inseperable in high school and did everything together. Most of the time when someone saw me, they saw Camille too! I really wish she could have been here! Here are some picture of our fun weekend! By the way, wayne wasn't looking forward to this event, being as social as he is! :) but he did SO great and was such a trooper! I was proud to show him off!

FRIDAY: We went to the assembly and rode in the parade on a firetruck. Then that night went to the ft. ball game and sat together. After the game we went to Jenni Bryce's family's party barn and hung out and ate and talked! It was such a great day, but I forgot my camera!!

SATURDAY: We had a lunch at the elementary school with all our families. The kids played and we all got to visit! That night we had a catered dinner from Casa (yum!) and then watched a video from our highschool days, and then visited and played rock band. Good times!
These were all the people in our class that attended the Saturday night part of our reunion! We only graduated with about 120 people, so this was a pretty good turn out!
After a catered dinner and a movie (made by a guy in our grade who now works in Hollywood on movies).. we played rock band! We had it projected onto a huge screen. I wasn't the best guitar player, but it was so fun!
Mark Farris, his wife Mandy, Andy Wright, and Erin Simmons (sorry, forgot her married name).. sucking helium out of the balloons after the party!

Standing around talking and catching up!

Tommy Nicholas has this awesome "train" and brought it to the Saturday get together at the park with our kids. It was a big hit! Even the adults got to ride!


This is my friend Karalee Lunt Malalea (i never spell it right!) We met at EA and she has been one of my closest friends. She married one of my best guy friends from high school. It was so fun to have her at the reunion with her cute baby and Aaron. They even spent the night at my house. It was an awesome weekend!

Find Joy in the Journey.. NOW

Can I just say I LOVE conference. We are so blessed! I used to hate conference as a teenager and I guess it's proof that I am maturing a little, because I seriously look forward to it now. I feel so relaxed (from sitting at home snuggling with my cute hubby and kiddos) and so uplifted by the awesome men and women who lead our church. We are learning more and more that Maci is quite the talker, and doesn't want to stop... but we were about to enjoy her little conversations and conference at the same time! I think President Monson is amazing. He is such a great speaker and my favorite talk of conference was given by him today in the morning sessions. I loved how he told us to find joy in the journey NOW... (I will be making that in vinyl to put in my house as a little reminder.) I know that my little cute girls won't stay little long and I just need to love every little moment with them. I am so lucky to be their mom and lucky to be a member of such a great church!! I loved all of conference and the RS broadcast last week! Hopefully I can remember how I feel and stick to my new goal of enjoying the journey!!

I have so much more to post about
-my 10 year reunion... so fun!
-some really proud and sad moments with Haylee
-bunko with my awesome college friends
-how Maci is getting so hillarious and thinks she really is a mom
-my projects i'm working on
-how Hanna is always writing me cute notes and playing polly pockets with me!

BUT FOR NOW.. I'm going to enjoy Layton while the girls are sleeping and we can talk with out anything else going on!

Instructions...

I have so much blogging to catch up on.. but for now, I am giving you a link to the intructions for the cute pumpkins I made. I hate to even give you this girls blog address, because her pumpkins are TONS cuter than mine. I don't know this girl personally, but I am obsessed with her blog!! Anyone who lives close, I would love to show you, or get together to make pumpkins!! I got all my material at good ol' WALMART! I won't keep you in suspence any longer... The link is: http://bloggingwithholly.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html Just scroll down until you see the pumpkins... Good luck and have fun!!

CrAzy bout PumKinS

I saw these cute pumpkins on my friend Krystal's blog and thought I would try to make them. Since then I have been crazy about them. It is so fun to put colors together and patterns and see what you come up with! One day I had 2 of my sister in laws, a couple of their kids, and my mom here helping. It was so much fun and we got a lot done! I think they turned out pretty cute! Today we worked on them again all day with 3 sister in laws and two friends. It was great fun with kids running wild (at least they were happy.. most of the time!) My cute hubby was so nice to deliver lunch to us so we didn't have to stop working!! I know he's the best!










My mom was so nice to help with the hand stiching! I hate that part!

Temple Print Garage Sale

I'm sure most of you have seen this picture of the Mesa Temple. I have been buying and selling from this photographer for about a year. He does amazing work. I just got an email from him saying he is having a garage sale with some of his prints. I'm sad I don't live close enough to go (he lives in Mesa), but thought I would spread the word! If you don't find what you want there, I sell the prints way cheaper than you can buy them at Deseret. I got one last year for Christmas with a thick black frame and I LOVE it! Anyway, here is the email he sent me:

Temple Print Garage Sale
I've become quite an art collector over the past few years. Unfortunately, about 98% of it is my work. It tends to take up a lot of room and it's not doing me any good in storage. I've decided to have a garage sale (in my garage, of all places) on Saturday, Sept. 20, starting at 8am. I'll be selling everything at wholesale (50% off retail). Before long I'll have a separate website that I'll sell from, and at that point I'll be selling at normal retail prices with free shipping. I've got a good selection of different temples, framed & unframed, in photographic prints and paper & canvas giclees. I've also got a decent batch of Arizona landscapes printed on Ilfochrome from my own projects and Arizona Highways magazine work over the past ten years. I'll take cash or checks, but I'm not set up to take credit cards yet. I'm located in north Mesa and can give you directions and more details if you email me.
richard@richardwebbtemples.com

Grandma's Farm

We love to spend time at my mom's house! She has a "zoo"... There are so many fun animals.. Right now there are some baby bunnies that my girl LOVE!!



2 WHEELS!!

We took the girls to the church parking lot the other day to learn to ride a 2 wheel bike. They did so good. Hanna is so funny... she gets distracted so easy.. When a bird flys by or her sisters are doing something interesting she would rather watch them than concentrate on riding.. We might need to work a little longer with her! I love how she loves to discover new things! :)

Haylee is a little older than some kids learning to ride, but we finally took the time and she caught on so fast! When she would fall down, she was ready to give up.. but we worked with her and she did so great! I'm such a proud mom!! I love little milestones being crossed!!

Maci enjoyed the fun too...

Of course we had to get it on video.. I don't know why he is filming me though!?
SLEEP OVER and STAKE TEMPLE DAY!

Saturday was our stake temple day, so all 3 of my brothers and their wives that live here and us all wanted to make a trip to the valley. My awesome parents offered to watch ALL of our kids (11).. Since we were leaving early in the morning, they spent the night on Friday and we left at 6:30 the next morning. The kids were so excited to have a sleepover with their cousins!

I didn't get a picture of the adults.. but it was a good time! Steven and Kami rode down with us. It was great get to talk! I love them. The temple was so wonderful as usual. I love to be in there with Wayne and other family members! Then after the temple, we went to eat at Pei Wei.. We miss the good food in the valley!! We split up after lunch and Wayne and I stayed until that evening to go to our nephews varsity game. It was so fun to talk to my sister in laws and watch my nephew play. Before the game I dropped off Wayne at his moms and went shopping with no kids! Rare occation, but it was fun to just stroll around. It was a great weekend! Can't wait to get a temple closer!

As our lives go on...

I'm sure most of you have read about or heard about Sephanie and Cristian Nielson who were involved in a plane crash last month. Since I came accross their story, I have been consumed by it! It is so amazing how fast life can change. As our lives are going on in a normal routine, I read about this couple who are in critical condition and will be recovering for months, and have 4 kids they won't see for awhile and I realize that I can not take one day for granted! I am so blessed to have an amazing husband and the best kids in the world and I want to cherish every second I have with them! To donate to this family, please click on the link on the right side of my blog! I know if you start reading about them.. you will be hooked! So before I spend anymore time on my computer.. I need to go kiss my sweet kids! Maci is yelling my name from her crib right now! :)

To read more about this family go to: http://blog.cjanerun.com/

Our lives...

SOCCER

I didn't know soccer players could be so cute!! Seriously Haylee is so adorable in her soccer outfit.. She is on the PURPLE BUTTERFLY team (sounds vicious hu?). She loves it and it getting better every game!

Here is her fan club + me!

MUD BOGGING

On Labor day (which was also our anniversary) we had a bbq at my mom's... then since it has been raining alot, there was a lot of mud and we went mud bogging on my brother's 4-wheelers. It was so fun to hang out with family and get all dirty!

Wayne and I both LOVE 4-wheelers, so my brother let us keep them for the rest of the day ... I thought it was a great anniversary present!

I took Maci for a ride (after we got all cleaned up) and she liked it enough to fall asleep! She's so cute!

ANNIVERSARY DATE

That night... Steven and Kami watched our girlies while we went out! It was a Monday night and normally we don't leave, but since it was our anniversary, Steven and Kami took over dinner, lesson, dessert, putting kids to bed.. don't you wish they were in your family!?? :)

Wayne and I went to eat the the Manor house.. It's a "fancy" resturant in Safford. Then we came back and changed and took the 4-wheelers out for a night ride. We went out on the dirt roads close to our house and turned off the lights and layed back on our 4-wheelers to watch the stars and talk. It was so beautiful out there. I have always loved the stars and it was great to spend the day with Layton! He is the greatest and I'm so thankful I have had him for the last 8 years and eternity to come...