Jack-O-Lanterns

This past Wednesday we went to Eliza, Sadie and Levi's house to decorate pumpkins! We had SO much fun! They have a playhouse set up INSIDE that the girls think is the COOLEST thing in the world. This time they had a television set up in there with a movie playing... needless to say, the girls were in heaven! Eliza, Sadie and Levi's grandma (Linda) is visiting for a few weeks and she went to Michael's craft store and bought all of the girls a paper mache pumpkin to carve and paint to make Jack-o-Lanterns. She is so crafty! The girls had a blast AND we came away with 2 VERY cute decorations! She even had battery-operated candle to light them with! Thanks for all of the fun, Linda! My girls are still talking about how cool you are!

Our cuties

These are some cute pictures from the past couple of days. The first one is of the girls ready to go to Melissa's ballet class and the last two are just some of their cuteness!

General Conference

The girls and I read in "The Friend" magazine about some children who made a tent and pretended that they were Nephites listening to the prophet speak. The girls thought that was an amazing idea so we set up our tent in the living room so that our little "Nephites" could listen to the Prophet speak. They had SO much fun! Melissa even took it one step further and asked if they could eat "loaves and fishes" and pretend that they were listening to Jesus speak! Sometime during conference she told me that they didn't need to PRETEND that they were listening to Jesus because President Monson was telling us everything that Jesus wanted us to know! This girl is too smart! Melissa and Kayla with their "loaves and fishes" Conference was WONDERFUL! For the first time we were able to watch it in our home instead of listen to it on the internet. The girls and I had such a wonderful experience watching and listening to the speakers on Saturday afternoon. The primary choir really brought a sweet spirit into our home and it was as if the speakers were speaking directly to us. I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have that the Lord has given us a prophet on the earth today... just as He did back in the times of Moses, Lehi and King Benjamin. I am thankful that Ray and I are raising our daughters in a church that teaches the Lord's Gospel. We are truly blessed!

And I thought she was crazy!

It is happening. I am becoming my mother. My siblings and I have ALWAYS given my mom a hard time about some of the absent minded things that she has done in the past... Things like putting the milk in the laundry room, forgetting to pick us up from school, things like that. It wasn't until about 4 years ago that I realized why she was so "out of it" sometimes. No, she wasn't on drugs, she was simply tired!! She raised (is still raising) 6 children who are now between the ages of 32 and 17.. All of those years of mindless actions were a result of her EXTREME exhaustion! A few weeks after I had Melissa I put the ice cream in the pantry and did not find it until the next day! Ray made me call my mother immediately to apologize for teasing her for so many years. Since that first incident, things have just gone "down hill" for my mind. I have had a lot of "mindless" moments. I have put the bills in the fridge, opened the DRYER to find the laundry detergent, forgotten my young women's bag for church, really, the list goes on and on. The final straw in helping me see that I am truly my mother came 2 days ago when I was trying to figure out how old my sister Jenny is. For a split second I HONESTLY forgot how old I am! My mind immediately went back SEVERAL years to a conversation that I had with my mom. I asked her how old she was and she took the longest time answering. I asked her what she was doing and she said that I needed to give her a minute while she did some calculations because she couldn't remember how old she was! I remember thinking, Oh man, my mom has really lost it! She finally answered and guess what her answer was! 32. Yes, the same age I am now! It wasn't until this moment that I realized that I am as "far gone" as I thought my mother was so many years ago... It is funny, I don't FEEL crazy! I love you mom! Thanks for your patience with us!

The State Fair

We went to the State Fair with Grandma and Grandpa this past Monday and had SO much fun. Here are a few pictures from our day. The girls LOVED all of the Fish! Watching the duck race... Kayla and Daddy were contestants! Waiting to watch the pig races... Kayla riding a pony. Melissa riding a pony.

Melissa's Birthday 2008

This is the video from Melissa's Birthday party and her Birthday. We had SO much fun! Thanks for the fun times!

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Sad Day

Monday morning was a sad, sad time. After looking at the calendar Sunday night Ray and I realized that Monday morning would be the only time that we had to "close up" the garden for the year before the weather turns "frosty"... so, we did. We picked ALL of the green tomatoes, the rest of the green beans, peppers and watermelon and then took down the posts, rope, stakes, etc. We had so much fun with the garden this year and were SO blessed by the amount of food that it produced... it really was sad for us to take everything down. I am looking forward to next year. This is what we ended up with: 10 quarts of 10 bean soup, 10 quarts of Vegetable soup, 2 quarts and 35 pints of green beans, 8 quarts and 27 pints of tomatoes, 24 jars of Red Hot Pepper Jelly, 10 pints of salsa (we had more...we eat this stuff like crazy!), 12 jars of Hot Sugar Peppers, 8 pints of peaches (more, but again... we eat these A LOT!), and we have 4 remaining pints of the plum jelly that mom taught Ree and me to make at the beginning of the summer. Not too bad. I am pleased. Now, does anyone know what I can do with all of these green tomatoes??

Invisible Fence

Funny story... Last night Ray told the girls that we put an invisible fence up in our doorway so that they could not come in to get in bed with us. Sometime in the night (I didn't look at the clock) we woke up to Melissa standing just outside the door calling to us to come and get her because she couldn't come in because of the invisible fence! Ray took her back to bed and she stayed there until 7am!!! Around 5:30 this morning I woke up to Kayla calling for "Daddy-O" to come and get her. I thought this was strange until I spoke with Ray later in the day and found out he told her that she was wearing "magic" pj's and when she had them on she couldn't leave her bed until mommy or daddy came to get her!!! These girls are a riot! He may have lied to them, but we both slept really well last night...I can live with the consequences of his dishonesty! These pictures are from the reward that I have had for MONTHS waiting for them to sleep in their room through the night. The tent is the perfect size for them. The "hats" were their idea!

Smiley Face Cake

Funny story... I made this cake for one of the Young Women at church and my girls LOVED it. All day they tried to sneak pieces for themselves. (I FINALLY put it on top of the fridge about 2 hours before it was time to leave!) They were SO distraught when it was time for me to take it to YW's that we worked out a plan for me to take a picture of it and put it on the blog so that they could "visit" the cake anytime they want. Weird, but true. So, here is the smiley face cake. :)

Playing with Eliza and Sadie

Last Friday we had the opportunity to play with our good friends Eliza and Sadie while their mommy and daddy were at the hospital having Levi, their baby brother. We had SO much fun! We went over around 5:30 in the morning and played and played ALL day long! We played dress-up (I even "dressed up"), we colored, we played outside, we danced and sang silly songs... you know, all of the typical preschool/toddler activities. Ray took our girls home for a daddy-daughter slumber party and I stayed with Eliza and Sadie for our "slumber party". They are such good girls. I really enjoyed spending time with them. Now, I just need to meet that baby!