Halloween 2009

It's hard to believe that Halloween has come and gone. We had a great time this year. Bex had a party with some friends the week before Halloween. Blake made pumpkin-shaped pizza dough, and everyone had fun designing their own pizzas.

This one was kind of a flop, but fun to try. We made tomato soup and used Halloween cookie cutters on the cheese. I think the girls were too full from their pizzas to really enjoy the soup, but it sure looked cool.

They also had a costume contest. Bex was nice enough to let Emily and Kaleb participate, which they loved. Blake and I were the judges, and it was tough to decide.

Blake was working late the night we had time to carve the pumpkins, so for the first time ever the kids and I did it all ourselves. We got a $4 carving kit from Wal-mart, and the pumpkins turned out awesome! The problem with living here in California is that things get moldy very fast here. Next year we're going to wait and carve our pumpkins the night before Halloween, because they were all mush by trick-or-treat time!

Bex's is the one in front with the flaming eyes. Kaleb gave up on his pattern and made his own. He did the whole thing. Mine is in the back with the monster looking out the window. Unfortunately Emily didn't finish hers when we did, and by the time she did finish it, it was already pretty moldy. Blake helped her get it done, but it wasn't until we were ready to leave for trunk-or-treating, so I never got a picture. Someone told me they last longer if you put vaseline on them. I'll have to try that next year. We're learning!


The trunk-or-treat at our church was great this year. They sent fliers out to all the local schools and community churches. We had a good turn out. There were games, a costume parade, which my kids got to lead, and a pumpkin carving contest.


Blake had the great idea of decorating our Cherokee like a graveyard. The kids and I made the tombstones with names like Fester N. Rott, Will U. Joinme, Berry M. Deep, etc.


Blake got dry ice and had it in a container, surrounded by candy. Everybody loved it!

Here are the kids looking 'scary'. Bex and her friend Deanna had matching costumes that her Grandma made. They looked great! Emily was Elpheba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and Kaleb was a ghost. So fun.


Here are Bexy and Deanna with their costumes trying to look menacing, which looks a lot like sad. It's hard to look menacing when you're having a great time.

After the trunk-or-treat and hitting a few houses in our neighborhood, we headed to our friend's for a party. Another problem we found living here is no one sells rootbeer extract that we could find. Blake really wanted to make it with his leftover dry ice, but he had to make do with a cream soda instead. It still turned out yummy, and Emily loved stirring the 'witche's brew', but we missed the rootbeer. Needless to say when we visit Utah for Thanksgiving, we'll be picking some up. Our friends put in their order too. Overall it was a very nice Halloween, so I won't even mention the fact that Blake had to leave church early the next day and threw up on the way home, which continued every 30 minutes for about 12 hours; or the fact that Jenae had a similar problem, but it started a little later and involved the other end; or the fact that Emily started this whole stomach flu thing the Thursday before Halloween; but hey, at least we were all healthy the day of, right? Happy Halloween!!

BYU vs. SDSU

In the middle of October we all went to the BYU vs. SDSU football game in San Diego. It was so much fun! The alumni association put together a tailgate party before the game with food, games, face painting and prizes. Emily and Kaleb participated in the hula hoop contest and they each got a pom-pom. Here are each of their reactions to the prize:

Becky also got some pom-poms when they started giving them away at the end of the party. She didn't have a hat, but found a creative way to display them.

Our seats ended up being super close to the field. Blake was going to take a picture of me and the kids, but then a guy volunteered to take it so Blake could be with us. Unfortunately, Blake would have told me my shirt was up so I didn't look like a goof in the picture, but you still get to see how close we were.

It was awesome to see all the action, like this ball going through on a field goal.

Blake had a little too much fun taking pictures with our sports setting, and we ended up with over 800 pictures! If you scroll through them fast, you basically see most of the game, until our battery died. I don't have the patience to go through and pick the best ones, but here's the opening kick-off.

I'm so glad that we were able to go to the game. BYU ended up winning 38 to 28, so it was a great game. Too bad they couldn't keep up the winning at Homecoming, but I still say Go Cougars!!

Funny Kaleb

He isn't the only funny kid in the house, but I love how he mixes up words. He was talking to me tonight and said, "Mom, do you know what a love-a-by is? It's a song to put you to sleep. Can you sing me a love-a-by Mom?" So I sang him a part of My Little Buckaroo while his head was on my shoulder, then he jumps up and says, "Wait Mom, we're gonna carve pumpkins now!" So cute. Too bad he's not always so sweet, but I do love those moments. He was also telling me about how many days they've gone to school. He said, "Today was the Forty-twoth day of school. No wait, it was the Forty-oneth." Haha. Thank goodness for blogs to help me remember these fun times.

Too Funny

So the other night I was on the computer. I had just checked on the kids. Kaleb was sleeping soundly, so I turned his light off, then turned the girl's lights off and went back to the computer. About 15 minutes later someone ran by me. I looked over and Kaleb has raced over to the garbage can, and started to pee into the garbage. He stopped, looked around, then ran into the bathroom. When I stopped laughing I followed him to the bathroom. He was sitting on top of the toilet with his eyes almost closed. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "I don't know." I told him to finish and go back to bed. He did and fell instantly back to sleep. I was laughing so hard. I talked to him the next morning, and he didn't remember getting up. What makes it even funnier is he had to run past the bathroom to get to the kitchen. At least he didn't wet the bed, right?

House Projects

I have wanted a new table for a long time. I love the bar stool, square ones. I really want a black one, since our hutch is black. Well, a new table is nowhere in the near future, so I did the next best thing. $12 bucks at Wal-mart got me 4 cans of black spray paint, which ended up being almost enough. Luckily we had a can of black spray-on chalkboard, so I used that to finish up the leg of the table.

Kaleb loved helping and did a great job.

We got our table quite a few years ago from a yard sale somewhere by Shaunalei's house in Salt Lake for $10. This thing is solid wood, and very heavy! After trying several times to get it outside by myself, Kaleb looked at me and said, "Mom, we need a big guy." I started laughing and instantly agreed. I finally gave up and put lots of newspaper down and sprayed it in the kitchen when the girls got home from school. Becky and Emily took turns holding a newspaper to the side of where I was spraying to help keep the paint off of the floor and counters. They did a great job. Unfortunately spray paint puts off a lot of dust, so we ended up with a thick layer of it on the floor. I think I know how the people living in the Seam feel now from the book The Hunger Games. It cleaned up pretty good though.

I loved how it all turned out! We were all so excited about it, we tried to eat dinner on it that night. The bummer for us is that it wasn't totally dried, so we ended up with some peeling. Also, since I was not patient enough to sand it all, we got more peeling. My friend stopped by the next day and recommended lacquer. I took the table and chairs back outside yesterday. Luckily I had a big guy around to help with the table, so it actually made it outside too; touched up the paint, and sprayed it all down with lacquer. It is done, and I am happy. Who needs a new table when you can make your old one new, right?

Also yesterday I finally bought some curtain rods for the front room. Blake did a great job with installation, and I like how they turned out.

Since we took down the old white ones from the front room, I decided to put them in the kitchen and hang up some curtains I got a long time ago at an estate sale. Luckily there were already holes for the rods above the windows, so I was able to get them up pretty easily.

They're kind of hard to see since they're white, but Emily's helping to show them off. It's fun to be making our house a home, especially when we can do it so cheaply.

Great Conference Weekend

We had a great conference weekend. Starting with Friday, Emily, Kaleb and I were Blake's crew for his last sailboat race of the series. Becky missed out since she was at a birthday sleepover. As we were driving to the harbor Kaleb said, "how did the ocean get in the sky?" The clouds were amazing!

Before the race Emily and Kaleb helped Blake get the boat ready while I parked the car.

With the clouds there also came a rainbow. Too bad we didn't get any rain. We sure could use it.

I absolutely love this picture! Blake's look shows how much he enjoys his boat.

The sunset was gorgeous! We had plenty of time to enjoy it since the wind really died down after the race started.

Emily and Kaleb were quick to point out the "Halloween Moon" when it came out. The race organizers had chosen the longest race since the winds were pretty good earlier. Since we lost the wind, they ended the race early, but Blake still wanted to make the turn and finish the race. We did, but it took us a long time to get back to the harbor. We finally made it though, and even got there in time for the crew drawings and awards. Blake wrote down each of our names on a card, and both Emily and Kaleb's name were drawn; from the bottom of the deck; one right after the other; amazing! ;) Kaleb kept saying, "I can't believe me and Emily both won! We came in last and me and Emily still won!" It was very fun.

Saturday morning we enjoyed watching conference, once Blake got home from cleaning the church and got the computer hooked up to the tv. Inbetween sessions we took the wave runner out. It's the first time I've been on it since I broke my foot. I loved it!!

We had such a good system for changing drivers and kids. Across the harbor from the launch ramp there's a grassy area, picnic table, a dock for changing drivers and ... bathrooms! It's perfect! Plus you can park right there, so nobody has to walk very far. We even took the tube out. Blake shortened the rope since we were in the harbor, but unfortunately the wave runner shoots water up when it goes, and at the right speed the water would land right on the kid in the tube. I admit I laughed, and then slowed down.

Sunday was a very relaxing, stay in your pajamas kind of day. Emily decided to put together a party for all of us. She painted a stick the bat on the moon game, where you had to spin around 1 time for every year of your life. Blake and I cheated and started counting faster than that, but still ended up very dizzy!

We also bobbed for apples. Blake got it on his first try; Becky and I on our second, and Kaleb on his third or so. I think that is the first time I have ever bobbed for an apple.

Emily and Kaleb enjoyed one of the commercials from conference with the dad who misses his bowling night because his girls were playing with his hair. They decided to try that on Blake. It was entertaining.

I really enjoyed conference this year. Like most years it seemed like the speakers knew just what I needed to hear. Elder Holland's talk was so powerful. I also loved President Monson's talk about service. It made me want to do more for others. I am thankful for the gospel and the blessings it brings to my life.

Becky for President

Well, Becky decided to run for Student Body President again this year. It was so fun to see her give her speech with so much more confidence than last year. I am so proud of her! She finds out the results tomorrow, but like she said at the end of her speech, "even if I don't win, I'm still looking forward to a great last year here at Reynolds." Way to go for it Bex!