A Spooktacular Halloween!

Yep, you saw that right! Our entire family dressed up for Halloween this year!? Not sure what got into my husband. Last year he lost a bet with me and 'had' to dress up, I even had his costume ready, and he still didn't. This year, he did of his own free will and choice. So we were vikings and dragons - yes inspired by the cutest movie, "How to Train Your Dragon".

We've been having good fun all month. Like when we decorated at the beginning of the month - my most favorite (maybe only) holiday to decorate for. Kate wasn't so sure when the spiders and webs and mice first came out. Then she started pointing at them with a little gibberish but still didn't want to have anything to do with them. And soon enough she started having fun with it all. After avoiding these rubber mice for a while she finally decided they were fun to play with and would come at you with them while making a funny sound...

:) Very cute. Another thing she wasn't so sure about?... Daddy's costume. One day when he got home from work I needed him to try some things on. When he came around the corner she stopped in her tracks and stared...
Then turned and screamed...And then ran away crying...And for the next hour she was on the look out...She wouldn't go anywhere near him even though the costume had come off long ago. She had to be forced upon him later. It was interesting the next few times he put it on but in the end she was fine with it all once again.
And while we definitely had a fun month this week was the culmination of it all. Wednesday night we went to the Hartmans church for their dinner and trunk or treat:

And Saturday they came to our church for ours:

(above: Josh with his Bo Peep & sheep and Clark Morgan hiding in his car and Kate & Gramma doing the cake walk)

Kate and I even won a prize in the costume contest for being a cute dragon duo. Although I was embarrassed by that for two reasons - first, obviously my costumes weren't great enough that people realized us dragons also went with those vikings running around :( And second, because I was in charge of the activity and didn't want people to think I rigged things. A little more info on that... so, yes, I was in charge of our Wards activity. And PJ has decided that I am a micromanager who needs to learn to delegate - which means that, while I did turn over certain items such as contests and judges and whatnot to my very handy helper and while I did ask people to help with food prep and stuff, I was also very busy all month and especially Saturday (which he wasn't a fan of). But it was a great turn out and I think everyone had a good time. One of those things I'm very glad is over though.
Then Monday, I somehow became room mom for Brynn's class, and had to do her classroom party. Thankfully several mothers showed up to be helpers that day. And the kids had a great time with activities such as making bats out of their handprints, creating spiders out of lollypops and pipe cleaners, putting together a "monster snack mix", winning estimation jars, creating sticker scenes and playing GHOST (aka Bingo).

Then that night we had Kara and kids over for our traditional Halloween dinner (Clark is TDY out of town)...

And we went trick or treating (while daddy stayed home and passed out the candy)!...

My mom's most favortie party of the night was this black guy thingy (above). He scared the bageebers out of Brynn and Tyler - he sat there still as could be until they got up to the door then he moved. They thought it was so cool and brought the little ones up to see him. But of course they wouldn't go anywhere near him.

Kara's favorite part of the night was when my dragon tail (wings were abandoned before we started cause they got in the way) knocked over some outside lights in their yard :{ oops! I'm not used to carrying a tail around you know.

Ahh.... all the fun. My mom was able to be here this weekend and besides the kids loving it, she was a HUGE helper for all the stuff I had going on. My house now needs this next week to recover from all the tricks and treating.

Fall Time Visit

We got to have a visit from PJ's mom this past weekend!...

OK, so the kids wouldn't cooperate for a good picture but they sure did love having her here!

She spent a lot of time helping me get Halloween projects and costumes done. And we took her to watch the kids at gymnastics. And she got to run the flight line with PJ. We also ventured out for some errands/shopping and a trip to McDonalds for their Halloween Happy Meal buckets which the kids loved...

And we've been saving our pumpkins to carve with her because we know how much she loves that and her pumpkin seeds! Tyler had a hard time waiting and being patient and over the last few weeks was constantly asking us if he could carve yet. But when it finally came time to do it he was suaded by Brynn's cries and screams of how yucky it was to clean out the pumpkins so he was a little hesitant...

But he soon got over that and we moved on and got the job done...

She was also very sweet and brought the kids each a surprise - of which they continued to fight over the rest of the weekend - very embarrassing. And Brynn loved her one on one special grandma date and girl time where she got her nails painted :)

And as always it was too short but very sweet...

Par for the course

So Brynn just finished up her second session of golf class through The First Tee. When she originally decided to start taking classes it was because she said she wanted to learn so she could golf with daddy. And so over the last few months she's been going to class while daddy golfs. Well one night PJ couldn't make it cause he was working late so I had all of the kids with me. And Tyler was giddy - he couldn't get enough of the golf carts and clubs and greens and who knows what else. So I mentioned to PJ after that night that maybe the next week he could take Tyler to ride along in the cart. And he actually took him. And Tyler loved it. The next day he came home from school and saw PJ's clubs out and he blurted out, "What?! He went golfing without his buddy!!!" And so it became a regular thing for PJ to take Tyler with him. And apparently they were having golf classes of their own.
This first video is just a fun shout out to Clay ;)

According to PJ, Tyler loves to work on his game, running around chasing his ball, for about the first 4 holes. And then he is ready to mess around and drive the cart and all that fun stuff.
And while Tyler is still working on his concentration and form he's actually not all that bad:

The sad thing... it took her a few weeks but Brynn finally figured out what was going on - while she was going to class to learn so she could eventually golf with daddy, Tyler was actually golfing with daddy. So then she got grumpy and said she didn't like golf anymore. Can't blame her. It was kinda unfair. Here's hoping PJ gets a chance to take her out golfing for the first time before its too cold here - the weather hasn't been quite so beautiful lately. Either way, I like that my kids are learning to golf.

The Greatest Challenge

After recent contemplation I have decided that there is no greater challenge than to challenge yourself. We think we know ourselves. But to challenge what we think we know, what we think we are capable of, and to prove ourselves wrong... how great is that! Its kind of what life is all about. We are all born with certain strengths and weaknesses. That's the plan - to live, to learn, to grow, to become something. So weaknesses and opposition are an important part of that plan. We can't be perfect because we need things to work on and overcome. Life, the plan, is centered around self-mastery; becoming masters over ourselves. Then, and only then, can our weak things become strong. I understand and believe these things.
I also believe that everyone has been blessed with certain talents. And I've spent a good deal of my life so far figuring out what talents I have that I can share with people; because I wasn't given any of the more obvious talents. For example:

• While a lot of people say they can't sing, I really can't. My voice is not lovely, and it doesn't know how to hit notes. It just doesn't. And that is after I took voice lessons as a little one. Ask my husband or my mom, they aren't afraid to admit that I am rarely on pitch, or in the right key, or able to carry the tune.
• Also, along those same lines I'm not musical. I tried piano lessons and they didn't go far. I spent years of my life trying to figure out the violin but couldn't even stand to hear the missed notes I was making so I spent most of my practice time doing bow exercises in thin air.
  
• Or, I can't dance. My sister Katy got all that talent. And while she was a dance major at BYU she tried to give me a small, background part of her senior recital and I even had to get cut from that.
  
• Athletically I'm an uncoordinated disaster. I tried field hockey with Lyndsay and couldn't keep up. Swimming lessons stopped when I couldn't figure out how to dive. And the family joke has always been that I even went out for volleyball until I learned I'd actually have to run after the ball.

I'm not trying to rag on myself here. Obviously I spent a chunk of my growing up years trying my hand in different areas. And I do recognize I'm talented in other areas but I'm trying to make a point here. So moving on...
My point is this - no one has reached their full potential yet. I know I haven't reached mine. So lately I've been trying a little harder to humble myself, find those weaknesses, and make them strengths.
So I stepped out, way out, of my comfort zone recently and challenge myself to participate in a 5K run. I hate to run (anyone who knows me knows that) and I'm not good at it. I only do it because I know its important to my husband. Its a means to an end. But I heard a great quote from Tim Tebow (Bronco's Quarterback) while watching the Biggest Loser. He said that hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. Yes, there would be people who would be faster or better or more talented than me (especially in this particular area) but no one was going to work harder than me. And so I've been working very hard lately at getting in shape. And I admit that my hard work is paying off.
I hadn't told PJ about my little challenge until a few weeks ago when I actually sat down to register for the 5K run that was coming up through the YMCA. I wanted/expected him to be mostly surprised and partly proud at my announcement. But instead he looked at me ever so plainly and said, "You can already run a 5K. How about you actually challenge yourself and go for the 10K?" My response... oh I was mad, really mad. He got me all riled up. But it is said that when someone is pushing you you can always do more than you thought. And so while I was mad I went out and signed up for the stinking 10K. And I was dreading it. I found out the course was hilly - which is not how I normally run. So I made PJ go do a trial run of the course with me. And I jogged it - with him silently (by demand) trailing behind me. And when we were done he said I did just fine and wasn't even breathing that hard and that I should do the 15K. (!!?!?) I must have made it look easier than it really was for me and knew that wasn't going to happen. Anyway... this morning was the big day, the 10K run that I really wasn't looking forward to. But I did it. I did something that a lot of people, including myself, never thought I would or could do. And I'm proud of myself for that. It may have taken me 1 hour 11 minutes and 22 seconds but I completed it without stopping or walking - although some may consider a 11 1/2 minute mile walking ;) its not to me and my stubby legs.
There is a motivational poster on the wall at my Y that I always stare at while working out. I made my own version of it...
So I can now say, that in my experience, while slow and steady may not actually win the race... she is most definitely going to finish!

Busy Busy Girl

I've always loved the ages of 12 to 18 months. Babies go through the funnest stages at this time. It is so neat to see their personalities develop and have them learn all sorts of new 'tricks'.
Kate is really into bags and babies lately. She loves to carry around bags that are way to big for her and give her baby dolls cuddles.

She's become very independent and gets herself into some tight situations - like when she got her foot stuck in the shoe box the other day...
We had to send that picture to daddy at work because we knew it would put a smile on his face.
And kinda surprisingly Kate has become my climber...

Her favorite place to climb right now is on top of the kids computer desk. I try to block it in so many ways and she always makes it on top anyway. Not cool. Oh and she likes to dance and sing to music... (I'm sure you'll notice Tyler's awesome dance moves at the top of the screen - sorry its sideways...)

And she's pretty strong and mighty...

However, along with this new found independence comes a lot of frustration; for her and for me. On this particular afternoon she wanted to get her shoe on by herself. She did not want me to help. But she couldn't do it. So she just lied down and threw a fit about it instead...
And sometimes, when she throws these fits that she's been throwing lately, she cries hard enough that she stops breathing for a few seconds. And on occasion, I commented to PJ, her lips turn purple when she does this. Not sure he believed me. Well, the other night Kate was getting angry with one of our kid sized chairs. She wanted to get in it and it kept falling over when she tried. So after a while of this she threw herself on the floor and started to scream-cry. And I noticed she was doing the stop breathing thingy so I quickly pointed it out to PJ so he could see that her lips really turn purple. But just as we both turned to watch her, her whole body was purple and her head hit the floor. This wasn't normal so I ran and scooped her up to find that she was limp and her eyes were rolled back in her head and she still wasn't breathing. I tossed her at PJ and got even more worried when I saw the look in his eye. He jumped up with her and I'm not exactly sure what he did but he got her to start breathing again. Very scary. She was a little weird after that - she wobbled around on her purple legs and wouldn't open her mouth or make sounds for a few minutes. But he watched her and she was fine (besides the small bruise on her eyebrow). Yep, she passed out from throwing a fit about a chair. We maybe laughed about that a little later on. Mostly I'm glad PJ was there... not just to handle the situation but also because if I had just told him about what had happened he would have thought I was exaggerating and making a big deal out of nothing. But he experienced it first hand instead. When I asked him about the look on his face he admitted that he wasn't so much as scared as he was thinking to himself, 'Oh crap. I haven't had infant resuscitation or cpr in years!" Lovely...
***And apparently I do have my limits - obviously there are no pictures from this experience because I was too wrapped up in what was going on. I needed to be able to say that no babies were injured for the sake of this post.