Make a Smilebox scrapbook

The school costume parade, trick or treating, spook alley and our annual family Halloween Party filled with yummy goulish food, games and prizes were highlights of the holiday. The hunting by flashlight for monster eggs in the dark, the coffin dig, the clothespin "no" game and the race to gather the most spiders was a hit not only with the kids but the adults as well. Hannah found the back widow spider and received the Coldstone gift certificate and Jaren found the most spiders, (as in 60+) and was rewarded with an i-tunes card. Sweet! The kids were loaded with prizes and candy and opened up their own trading store were they exchanged their loot with their siblings and cousins.

Costumes
Since last year we hit our ten year anniversary dressing up together as a family, we decided this year we would do whatever. Funny thing is, three of the kids ended up in some type of wings...butterfly, ladybug, and fairy....so we still had a little bit of a theme going on after all. I felt a little lost without an actual costume this year but I just pretended, due to my current physical state, to be Mother Earth. lol

Making Halloween Goodies

My sister in law and I made these dipped pretzels.... "Witch Wands" we call them, to give to family and friends. They are so easy and fun to make.
Happy Halloween!

What's On My Happy List?

My baby turned FIVE!
I've always loved that Brie was born in October. There are several reasons why I love a fall baby..one being she can receive dolls like this for her birthday. This is Madame Alexander's "Boo-rific Wendy". Her hat with the poofy orange bow made of tulle kills me as well as her ringlets, orange and black striped tights and witch shoes. I tell ya, she is too cute for words. We will gladly add her to our collection that grandma C. has graciously built for us over the years.

First snow storm of the season fell on Brie's birthday. We thought that was pretty darn cool! She got to try out her new pink polka-dot rubber boots.

Pink, Pink, Pink...It was pretty much pink all around, pink tu-tu for dance, pink Barbie and the Three Musketeers stuff and pink lemonade cupcakes...

If I could have made the remote control dog pink I would have....

Brie loves Swiss Rolls, or ho-ho's, (whatever you want to call them). She is not a huge cake lover, so I knew she wasn't going to appreciate the pink cupcakes I made as much as this special treat made of Swiss Rolls and whip cream, (which she also loves)....especially when squirted right into her mouth! This took the place of her so called birthday cake. You learn to be creative when it comes to substituting b-day cakes when 3 out of your 4 kids don't care for just plain cake! In fact one year, I made Hannah's so called "Care Bear rainbow cake" strictly out of candy because candy is what she loved. One year it was an ice-cream princess castle...that was a challenge, but I love doing whatever it takes to make THEIR day special.
Here is Brie, five years ago, coming home from the hospital in her Halloween outfit. Her bib says... "Here Comes Trouble". Too bad you can't see the Halloween clips on her hat, they were adorable!
Happy Birthday to our sweet Brielle Olivia, my loverbug and sunshine....WE LOVE YOU!

What's On My Happy List?

HALLOWEEN CAKE MAK'IN

The Stake held a good old-fashioned family hoe down this weekend. I had a good time making this spider cake for the cake walk. The fabulous cake below is the one Emma won from Schmidt's Bakery. She scored big time!

FIELD TRIP TO ENGH GARDENS

Oh, to be 4 again! I got to go with Brie on the funnest field trip this week. Her preschool class went to the pumpkin patch at Engh Gardens. The place is decked out with the cutest Halloween decor. Brie loved the maze! They went on a treasure hunt and listened to a pirate's tale. There was even a pirate ship for the kids to play on. I surprisingly liked it enough to venture back the very next day to take my older girls and my nieces.

What's On Our Happy List?

Completed school projects....

I do not remember having so many school projects as a kid but obviously times have changed. 6th grade here is full of projects projects and more projects! The sixth grade classes have been studying the Energy, Sound and Light Unit this past month and have had several projects to do....Just in the last few weeks Emma has had to make a solar cooker, an insulator, sound instruments, and a very detailed book about light...showing their understanding of reflection, refraction and who knows what else. Unfortunately its just a bunch of blah blah blah to me. That course of study is no interest to their mother whatsoever. Thank goodness for Dad! THEN, in the midst of all this Science curriculum, they start their Egypt Unit and with that comes one of the bigger assignments of the year, the making of the Egyptian Sarcophagus! THIS I can handle. Designing, painting, ribbon, foil, glue, glitter, gems... what is not to love? I so enjoy helping with this project and this year it was double bliss as I had to assist in making two...Emma's and my niece's. They are due on Thursday but we finished them both last night, feeling quite pleased with ourselves AND relieved after days and hours and hours of working on them. Here is a glimpse at our finished materpieces. Pictured above is actually Kyleigh's that we made two years ago...

Below is Emma's ....Ankhesanamum..King Tut's wife

and my niece's....Cleopatra

There is nothing better than working on a replica of a funeral receptacle for a corpse/royal mummy to get you in the Halloween spirit! LOL

Now on to the next project...the cleaning up of my kitchen table! It's a disaster....

What's On My Happy List?

A little Christmas music in October....
I've been known to start playing the Christmas music a tad bit early.... YES, even in October! Pretty pathetic I know, but this year will be no exception especially with David's Christmas album released just yesterday.... it's BeAuTiFuL!

What's On My Happy List?

Just a few random things that I'm flipping out over
These cute Halloween magnets....


Awesome deals at the grocery store...
getting 10 boxes of cereal, 10 Duncan Hines brownie mixes, 3 bags of Goldfish crackers and 3 bags of chocolate chips all for $20.98. Who knew you could get so excited over your grocery bill?!?!

New hospital regulations...This one I'm not 'flipping' out about in a good way...
We found out last week that beginning immediately, all Utah hospitals will not allow anyone under the age of 14 to be permitted on the maternity floor due to the threat of swine flu. Although I'm grateful for the precautions the hospitals are taking to lower the risk of spreading the H1N1 virus, this news kinda bursts your bubble when you are expecting a baby and have younger kids who will want to come to the hospital to see their new sibling. Patients are only allowed two visitors(as long as they are 14 yrs or older) at a time, and if your husband or significant other is in the room that counts as one. Prior to this news we had talked of having the older two girls present in the delivery room for the birth of the baby but with the new regulations Kyleigh would be the only one that qualifies come March time. Happy for her but sad for everyone else. We found out today that the hospitals will be heightening the regulations.... As starting next Monday, no one under the age of 14 will even be allowed in the hospitals. period. Unless of course they are sick and need to be hospitalized themselves or in special cases where those under 14 need to say goodbye to a dying loved one.
Kinda scary when you think about it.

Sequel to the Phantom of the Opera
Today was the global launch event for Andrew Lloyd Weber's long awaited new production..."LOVE NEVER DIES". The World Premiere will be in London in March of 2010 and New York later next year.

LOVE NEVER DIES” continues the story of ‘The Phantom’, who has moved from his lair in the Paris Opera House to haunt the fairgrounds of Coney Island, far across the Atlantic. Set 10 years after the mysterious disappearance of ‘The Phantom’ from Paris, this show is a rollercoaster ride of obsession and intrigue...in which music and memory can play cruel tricks...and ‘The Phantom’ sets out to prove that, indeed, “LOVE NEVER DIES”. http://www.loveneverdies.com/
When Jaren and I were dating back in '92 we flew to L.A. to see the Phantom together. Quite the memory! Hoping we can make some more memories with this sequel. I hear London calling!

What's On Our Happy List?

UEA and Conference Weekend

{Brie on the farm with her piggy's and braids}

{two days off of school..HoOrAy!}

{shopping at my friend's quaint neighborhood boutique for Halloween goodies}

{meeting Jaren after my doctor's appt. for a quiet lunch at a little hidden restaurant up in the Avenues}

{taking the girls and three nieces to see Ice Age III with neighbor friends}

{pumpkin ice-cream}

{pizza night and sleepover with the cousins x 2}

{grandma's squash soup and Jaren's sausage, Havarti cheese with caramelized onion sandwiches}

{shoe shopping for super comfy moccasins with soft furry lining}

{Jaren's fly fishing excursion}

{Friday night Football}

{pumpkin streusel muffins for Saturday morning breakfast}

{girl's night out while the men were at the Priesthood session...dinner at Mimi's, gelato stop, movie night}

{listening to the thunderous rainstorm Sunday morning}

{reading Junie B. Jone's hilarious Halloween book with the girls}

{getting a grip on the laundry over the long weekend}

{NO CHURCH!}

{watching Conference}

{molasses cookies}

{shopping for faux fur fabric for grandma to make us a new cozy blanket}

{taking the girls out to lunch and to the farm}

{stuck in the chicken coop?}

{Our weekend boarding house for girls}

What a fun fun time these past four days have been!