Halloween is not just trick or treating anymore...it is ward fall festivals, kindergarten parties, preschool parties, block parties...

Fall Festival...

Cotton Candy

Jack Sparrow

Little Red Riding Hood & Belle

School Party...

Pumpkin pinata
Teeter-totter fun
dodging dounuts
songs and fun

mummyfied

Jones' Pumpkin Carving party...

Grandma Jones & Addi

yummy dounut
Annie
Blake & Blake's mustache
Me!

pizza
Master carver

Trick or Treating...

Me, Jack Sparrow, & Frankenstein

roasting marshmallows
pumpkins
passing out candy

the end

Tender Mercies

I don't know what is wrong with me right now, but I am just so overwhelmed with gratitude that I am crying as I write this. It all started last night as Tyler and I were watching Biggest Loser, and Abby, one of the contestants, was sharing her "story" and what she's been thru. Two years ago her husband, five year old, and newborn were killed in a car accident as someone going 100+ crashed into them. I cannot even imagine what it would be like to lose everything I love and live for in one flash moment. But as you watch the show and you hear her share her feelings, you can see the Atonement working in her life. She has so much faith and hope. She knows that God has a plan for her and a purpose. She says, "There is a reason I wasn't in that car with them." It is so inspiring. Tender Mercy.

Then as I was reading my scriptures I was reading about Alma going and teaching the Zoramites, and how they thought if they followed the traditions of their fathers they were bound. And even though they would pray to God with their mouths, their hearts were full of pride. (Alma 31) This hit me really hard. How many times do I pray to Heavenly Father just going thru the motions? But then when I really need something I expect Him to answer me? I know this happens, but He knows I'm learning, and He always answers. Tender Mercy.

On top of all of this, I was a little stressed about how today was going to go. We have our Ward Fall Festival tonight that I needed to help set up for. The kids have gymnastics, my visiting teachers are coming, we have no milk, the house is dirty, and I had a tanning client scheduled to come in the middle of the day (the busiest time of the day) (but i didn't want to change it because that's money to pay for Buster's doggy training). But guess what? My client called this morning and asked if she could change to tomorrow? An answer to my prayers! I should have known that everything would work out. It always does. Another tender mercy.

I'm so grateful for these learning experiences...

Always be grateful.

Always pray with a purpose.

Always remember that Heavenly Father knows me and knows my needs.

Can't get enough of the zoo!

Saturday came and the kids really wanted to take Tyler to the zoo. I go with the kids almost once a week to the zoo (I love my zoo pass!), but Tyler hasn't been in a really long time. So we packed up the car and once again made our journey to the Phoenix Zoo. The thing I love about going to the zoo is since we have our zoo pass we don't have to rush around trying to see every single animal - you can take your time and really enjoy everything. Also, it's fun to go at different times of the day because you'll see different animals.

All of our kids have been climbers, but Addison seems to do it the most. Everywhere we went she found something to climb.

Friday and Saturday was Halloween at the zoo. So all the animals had carved pumpkins to play with and eat. The sea otters were the most fun to watch with their pumpkins. They would put it on their head and swim around with it.

Yo-ho, Yo-ho...

...a pirate's life for me!

My Aunt Bev and Uncle Chris had a Pirate themed Halloween Party at their house this past Friday, and it was so much fun! Everyone dressed up as pirates and the activities included a treasure hunt, pirate feast, and pirate talk. Anyone that knows my Aunt Bev knows that she is amazingly creative and always goes above and beyond.

Aunt Bev always has a "holiday" tree that she decorates according to the current season or holiday. It always looks so beautiful with every detail remembered.

Table settings

Party favors

Aunt Bev & Uncle Chris

Captain Bev and the Black Pearl crew

Thank you Chris and Bev for a FABULOUS evening! It was so fun to see everyone, the food was great, the games super fun, and our experience shopping at Savers for our costumes...priceless! :-) We love you guys!

I hate feeling yucky.

Cooper and I are both home feeling a little yucky. It is the worst seeing your kids not feeling well. I'm not worried that we have the flu or anything. It's just little tummy aches. But what is better than lounging for a day with your little buddy, catching up on blogging, and doing laundry...when you're feeling a little yucky?

Awesome Battle Wound

Call me insensitive, mean, or rough, but when one of my kids gets a big scrape, black eye, or big bruise I try to make it a "cool" thing instead of babying them and making it "seem" to hurt 10x more than it really does. You'd think I had all brothers? :-) And in my defense, I really have to act this way because Ella cannot go a day without getting hurt. Trust me, I'm NOT exaggerating!

The Catmull Family invited us over for family home evening last night. I went over early with the kids so that Evy could teach me how to make sticky buns. YUM!!! Leah taught her how to make them, and then she taught me for one of her YW Personal Progress 10 projects. What a great idea! And it was a lot of fun! Thank you Evy! Then we had dinner with them and family home evening. While we were getting the finishing touches on the sticky buns the kids were outside playing on the swing set.

Ella was on one of these:

And Cooper was running to show me how he could do "skin the cat" (it's a gymnastics move) on this:

Well, he ran right in front of Ella and BOOM! He took a swing right to the face. He was super brave and hardly cried. We came home and took a picture right away so he could see what he looked like. Today the kids in his class thought it was cool, and he had fun telling them what happened.

On another note...

Bishop Catmull gave the FHE lesson last night and talked about how our testimonies are like a seed, and the things you to need to give your seed/testimony so that it can grow. Then he helped the kids pot some seeds in their family room (brave man). Cooper and Ella have been very excited watching their seeds grow, and it's a great reminder to me of the things I need to do daily to help my testimony grow.

Thank you so much Catmull Family for a wonderful, fun, exciting evening! We really appreciate you inviting us into your home for dinner and family home evening. We love your family! You are so great!

Terrific Tuesday!

The kids had "Fall Break" this last week and I wanted to make sure that they weren't sitting at home just watching t.v. and movies all week. So we went to the library, went to the park, played outside with neighbors, rode bikes, and maybe watched a little T.V. :-) But if you ask the kids which day was their favorite? They will tell you that Tuesday was Terrific! We went to the Phoenix Zoo the first half of the day. In the afternoon while the kids were playing with the neighbors, Caitlin taught me and Jessica how to make yo-yo's. Then when Tyler got home we packed up the car, picked up some pizza, and headed to the drive-ins! Our friends Caitlin, Jessica, and Lindsie came with us, Tyler's parents and sister came, and a lot of families from our ward were there too! It was a lot of fun! And let me tell you...since it was "Family Night" it only cost our family $9 for a double-feature! We didn't stay for the second movie, but it is on our list of "fun & cheap date nights"! Overall, it was a fun week!

The Phoenix Zoo...

Yo-yo's...

The Drive-Ins...

Tyler's sister Annie & Amanda

Caitlin & Jessica

Terrific Tuesday!