Halloween Party

Last weekend Patrick and I went to a Halloween party at a friends house. We went back and forth if we were even going to go. But we finally decided to dress up and go and it was so much fun. We were glad we ended up going. There was good food, funny games, great costumes, and pumpkin carving.

I went as a Pumpkin...

Patrick went as Pi

Together we were PUMPKIN PIE!!

It was pretty funny! This pumpkin costume of mine I made back in the day when I was pregnant with Brayden and worked at a Dr.'s office. I was like 8 months pregnant, so the Jack-O-Lantern face was right on my prego belly. I won the costume contest with that beauty! It's been tucked away in our Halloween boxes ever since. Then we decided literally just hours before the party that we would go, so we had to come up with something and fast. I found this idea online and thought it was perfect since I already had a pumpkin outfit. So we ran to Michael's and got a white t-shirt and more sticky felt and made Patrick's costume. We just Googled Pi and printed off the symbol and then traced it onto the felt, cut it out, and stuck it on. We ran out of numbers (and time) or else the # pi would have gone on and on even farther. Stuck all the numbers on and found the biggest pillow we owned and shoved it under my shirt and we were off to party!

This is the super yummy Pumpkin Dip that I made to take to the party. I had never made it before, but it turned out so good! We will have to make this again!

Here is our awesome pumpkin we carved. The bad thing about Vegas is the once you carve your pumpkins, they don't last long.... it's too warm. This was carved on Friday night, and was moldy and had to be thrown in the trash by Tuesday morning. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted!

We played some fun games where we were to wrap our partner up like a mummy with TP, it was a race, so we were trying to go fast and the TP kept ripping. We totally lost! It was pretty funny though. Patrick was really dizzy by the end.

Then it was a race to roll a Tootsie Roll across the floor with their noses. It was quit the sight to see!

Seriously, that pillow got in the way all night long!  It was kinda annoying by the end of the night.

Everyone had such fun costumes! Mario and the Princess, a bird and bird watcher, black widow and a fly, Lois Lane and Clark Kent, Jailbirds, and a Spanish couple.

It was a fun night with a great group of friends!

First Dates & Swear Words

Ten years ago today, on October 22, 2000 Patrick and I went on our first date!!

Let's back up a bit first and I'll tell ya a little bit about how we met. Maybe one day when I get my blog book published and my kids or grandkids read about how we met and our first date they will think it's as funny and cheesy as we do! About a year ago, I found my old journals from college and I read about meeting/dating Patrick and read all the notes we wrote (yes I kept them ALL!) and I cried at them and Patrick laughed at them and said that he couldn't believe we were so cheesy and that I actually fell in love with him after those notes. They are a little cheesy, but romantic at the same time! At least to me they are... but they are pretty funny too!

In September of 2000, I had just started my 2nd year at the LDS Business College and had just turned 20. Patrick was 22 and had just gotten off his mission a few months earlier and had moved up to Provo and lived with some friends from his mission and was planning on going to LDS BC for just one semester until he was to attend BYU. His intent was to just get a few easy classes out of the way before moving onto BYU. Little did he know (or me either for that matter) and in Sister Aukshun's Book of Mormon class one day in September, both our lives and our future plans would get tweaked a bit. One day I happened to walk into my B of M class and sit down next to this guy I didn't know. We started chatting a little and soon found that we were both from Arizona. Class started, we stopped talking, and went about with class and the rest of our day. That was probably the last time in that class that I actually paid attention to anything that was being taught. The next time in class, we sat next to each other again and chatted and wrote notes to each other all through class. Sorry Sister Aukshun! I think she knew what was going on though, because I don't ever remember her once telling us to stop talking and listen or anything. Maybe she saw young love growing!

A few weeks went by with this going on every Monday and Wednesday in our B of M class. I was starting to think he was pretty cute and fun to be around and talk to. And his smile with those dimples was seared into my brain and it soon became all that I thought about!

One day in our infamous note writing, Patrick wrote me saying something to the effect that I was "the whole package" and guys were probably after me all the time. So not the case! He joked that I should make up a "business" card to hand out to guys proclaiming that I was indeed the whole package. I just laughed and was like "yeah, right!" and went on my way. The next Monday in class he comes in with this....

He had actually sat down over the weekend and made these up for me thinking it was so funny! I took it as he wanted my phone number, so I asked him if he wanted to be the first one to get one of my "cards" and he said sure. I think that was his hope/plan all along, but he denies that to this day! I gave him my number and he called me the next day and asked me out for that weekend.

Just FYI... he is the ONLY one I gave a "card" to!

In the mist of our notes back and forth durning class, one day he writes me and asks me if I know that song by Evan and Jaron called "Crazy for this Girl." I said yes, and he said that he thinks of me every time he hears it... especially the chorus because that is how he feels about me. I remember going to work that day and I heard it come on the radio while I was at my desk and it made me smile as I listened to it and tear up a little in disbelief at what was happening. He really felt that way about me?!?!

If you haven't heard the song, here's the music video.

(By the way... this is still "our song" and we still love it, and it still makes me smile every time I hear it. We even almost named a one of our boys Evan!) :)

So our first date....

Patrick picked me up and we headed over to Trolly Square in downtown Salt Lake City. His original plan was to take me to Rodizio's Brazilian Steakhouse, but there was a huge line and we were both really hungry, so we decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe instead. We just chit chatted while we ate and I remember him reaching across the table and holding my hand and thought that was just so sweet. We finished up dinner, walked around the mall a little, then headed back to the car. He wouldn't tell me where we were going next, he would only ask me if I was up for "anything". Wanting to impress him, I of course said yes, but was a little worried about what "anything" was that he was taking me to. We ended up at the Fun Dome. (does anyone remember the Fun Dome?? It was in Murray right on the freeway when I was in college, but has since closed. I went there a few times with my roomies/friends in college.) So as we pull up to the Fun Dome, which has mini golf, arcade, bowling, laser tag, etc. I think that this isn't too bad, I'm good with whatever is in there. But then we park and Patrick points to some HUGE slingshot contraption ride thing that is outside in the parking lot and says that we are going to ride on that! ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!?!?!??! No freaking way!!!! I HATE heights and things that fling you all around, up and down, back and forth, many many feet above the ground. But I didn't want to say no, I was still trying to impress him. I was so freaking nervous to get on. It was finally our turn to get on the ride, and I jokingly said that I was not to be held responsible if I swore while doing this... I mean who knows how one will react when certain death is staring at me in the face. So we get all belted in and the ride starts pulling us back... then it lets us go and we go SHOOTING back and forth over the buildings and cars in the parking lot. I remember nothing but screaming bloody murder and saying the *S-word* a few times and hearing Patrick laughing hysterically! We finally start to slow down, which is very good, because I'm pretty sure I was about to wet my pants, only to start getting pulled toward the ground so we can now go flying up and down now instead of back and forth. I will neither confirm nor deny that I swore a few more times in this stage of the ride. :) I had my eyes closed tight the whole time and my arms were gripping the bars that go over us for dear life. Patrick is still laughing his head off. When the ride finally is over, and I'm grateful to be alive AND to have clean/dry pants on, we get off and go sit in the car to warm up and so I can calm down a bit. We talked and watched other people ride on the Slingshot ride. Then we headed back to my apartment and watched some SNL for a little while. Then when he left, he kissed me for the first time, and it was over, we were inseparable after that. Well actually about a week later, I did kinda sorta try to break up with him, because I was kinda getting freaked out about how much we liked each other, but he used his "jedi mind tricks" (aka the missionary commitment pattern) to convince me to not break it off. We saw each other every Monday and Wednesday when he came up to SLC for school, and then I usually went down to Provo (where he was living... remember he was planning to go to BYU very soon!) and spend the weekends down there. We talked every day on the phone for hours and I thought about him constantly!

About 2 weeks after we had been dating, he was laying on my couch and I was sitting on the floor and we were doing our homework and we got talking and he told me he was falling in love with me and I told him I was falling in love with him too. About 2 more weeks later, we both went home to Arizona for Thanksgiving to meet each other's family and we told them that we had decided to get married!!!! Sure it was kinda fast, we only technically dated for a month before making the big decision, but when ya know it's right, there is no reason to drag things out... right?!?! We realized we didn't want to be apart and we wanted to spend our lives together and have a family.

He makes me happy! From the first time I met him and we started talking he has made me happy. And he didn't judge me for swearing on our first date! He must be a keeper!

Recently a friend of ours asked me if I ever regretted getting married so young. I didn't even have to think about it. There is not a single ounce of regret floating around anywhere.

We are the best thing that could've happened to each other. I needed him in my life and he needed me.

Life only got better after we were together.

It's been a great 10 years...

SURPRISE!!!!!!

There are very few people in this world that I would load up my kids for a 7 hour drive to surprise on their birthday and then load them all back up the very next day to drive 7 hours back home... and this girl is one of them!
 

Ok, so technically her birthday is on Thursday, but her awesome husband had been planning this surprise party for her for about a month and asked us to come up to surprise her for her 30th birthday bash! How can we pass up such a fun opportunity to hang out with some of our favorite people... The Griggs?!?!

It was a fun Hawaiian Luau! So the birthday girl was dressed appropriately for the occasion.

Why... yes... I AM knockin on her coconuts! We're tight like that!

 Ok, this is what we ate for dinner! Good ol' Mr. Griggs actually went to a pig farm and picked out the pig that we would all eat for dinner and had a friend of theirs roast it! This is how it came to the party! Looked pretty gross, but it was actually good. Conner was a little freaked out by it and came up to Patrick and I after he saw it with quite the concerned look on his face and said he didn't wanna eat any pig for dinner. we told him he didn't have to that he could have a hot dog, and apparently that was much better.... go figure!!

 Such a fun birthday cake!! A friend of hers made it for her. It looked amazing and tasted SO good too!

Here is the birthday girl blowing out her candles. That is her hubby behind her who did such a great job planning the whole thing. It turned out awesome!! Big points to him!

(As you can see, they are DIE HARD Ute fans... for this we forgive them ONLY because they are such wonderful people and that is what Y fans do!!!)  haha!!!

Melissa and I (yes her name is Melissa too, that is just one of the many reasons she rocks!) met about 5 years ago when we were neighbors in Taylorsville. We were both called to the Young Women's in our ward and given the assignment to put girls camp together.... in just 3 weeks time and a budget of only $200! Impossible you say?!?! We somehow pulled it off. Ok we did go over budget a bit, but our Bishop approved it. And ever since then we were bestest buds! We spent those 3 weeks together constantly coming up with ideas for shirts, camp cheers, camp banners, games to play, spiritual messages for the girls, skits, menus, and all the little details that go into girls camp. I don't think there was a single day in those 3 weeks that we didn't spend together. Our husbands were starting to wonder if they would ever see us again. I'm sure we were quite the sight to see with us both having 2 kids and going shopping for supplies and food. There was once in the Army Surplus store that was particularly disastrous and I never stepped foot in that store again! :) We ventured off to camp together and endured the horribly timed rain storms, slept together on my air mattress that had a small leak somewhere and every morning we woke up with our bums on the ground,  together we learned how to cook food outdoors, and she was my shoulder to cry on when I learned that while I was at camp that Conner had taken his first steps and I had missed it! She is amazing! Melis is one of my favorite people in the world! She is such a strong and positive person. Through all the trials and tough times I've seen her go through I'm always amazed at how positive she is and the amount of faith that she has. She is a great example! She is such a fun and funny person to be around... I never laugh as hard as I do when we are with the Griggs... like literally can't breath -sides hurt -tears running down your face kind of laughing. We always have fun crafting together and shopping together. I am so lucky to be able to call her my friend!!

It was so much fun to go up and surprise her! I just love a good surprise!

The mullet HAD to go!

It was high time for the mullet look to go! Landon's hair has gotten a little outta control over the past few months... growing in the back, but not as much in the front. It was getting pretty funny looking, so this weekend, we decided it was time for the mullet to GO!!

  

This was also our first attempt at cutting our own kids hair. Neither of the older boys needed their haircut this young. I seriously think that Brayden was over 2 years old when he got his first haircut (the kid was almost bald until well after his first birthday!) and Conner was 18 months, but we had a neighbor that did hair, so she cut it for me. I wasn't sure where to take a 1 year old, and didn't really wanna pay for it when it seems so easy to just even it all out ourselves. So we gave it a try.

I mean seriously!!! Look at all the hair back there!!!

He wasn't loving the process, but he did really good for his first time!

It turned out pretty good I think. It's unfortunately not finished yet, because we apparently didn't let the clippers charge long enough and it died before we could finish. So we let it charge overnight and we'll try again today to finish it up.

Not too bad... but I think I still have some practice to do! But his new non-mullet look is much better!!

...And Landon made 5

It was one year ago that our little family of 4 became an even better family of 5! (if you need a reminder or just wanna see his cute newborn pics click here!)  I still stand by the fact that it's just not fair how fast time flies when they are this little. It seems impossible that Landon is already a year old. BUT it is also so fun and exciting to watch your little babies learn, grow, develop their little personalities, and discover their little world around them. It's a very bittersweet thing for a mom.

 "WhooHoo!!!! I'm 1!"

Landon is just about the sweetest little boy ever! He has started walking and is getting pretty good at it. He wanders around from room to room, walking and exploring... and getting into everything he can. He doesn't like it when you tell him "No" (what baby does?) and gets the funniest scrunched up face when you say no, and he has a funny fake cry that goes along with it. It's really pretty hard NOT to laugh at it.  He loves to walk his brothers to school in the mornings and enjoys watching everything as we go by. He still doesn't say any words, but has his own version of "talking" and does it all the time as he plays and walks around. Its pretty cute. When you ask him something like "what are you doing?" he'll answer you with his gibberish and show you what he has in his hands. His favorite foods are Cinnamon Graham Goldfish, apple juice, mac and cheese, pizza, diced peaches, and Strawberry Yogurt Melts. His favorite pass time is opening all the drawers and cupboards and playing with the tupperware lids and the bag clips. He is a big boy now, so that means that he gets to face forward in the car, and most the time he likes it, he just doesn't like the sun in his face. With his baby carrier, his brothers made sure the shade on it covered him if the sun was in his face. Guess he got used to that! Maybe one day we'll finally get our car windows tinted. :)

 Apparently your toes still taste pretty good even when you are facing forward in the car! Good to know!

Today we made him some fun little monkey cupcakes for his big day. The boys even helped a little and put some of the noses, eyes, and ears on. I think they turned out pretty cute. We made some "big" cupcakes and some are just regular size. The birthday boy got this big one to eat!

We tried to open presents before dinner, but Landon decided he was too hungry for such things, so we all ate some good ol' Papa Murphy's pizza, then it was time for presents.... take 2!

 I think this is his "Really mom?? Seriously... enough with the pictures!" look.

 But oh, look, forget the toys, look at this packing paper and used wrapping paper, lets play with this!

After we had opened all the presents, unpackaged toys, played with the wrapping paper and empty boxes it was time for the very anticipated monkey cupcakes.

I guess holding a huge cupcake in front of a little boy and forcing him to listen to your surly-out-of-tune version of "Happy Birthday" as you hold aforementioned cupcake just far enough away so he can't reach it is just cruel. I mean I know I'm no professional singer or anything but wow.... he wasn't havin' it, and he was letting us know it!

FINALLY!!!

I think he enjoyed it just a bit.

I mean really... what does a little boy have to do around here to get to eat his birthday cupcake?!?!?

I love birthdays... especially for my kids.... especially their first.

Happy Birthday little dude!! You sure make a great caboose to our crazy train!

And he's off!

Landon started walking last week. He's still not a pro, but he's getting better and braver every day!

As you can tell by the big smiles and his excited noises he's making, he thinks he's pretty hot stuff walking around here now.

Our most recent AZ trip

Over Labor Day Weekend, Patrick and I loaded up the kids and headed down to Arizona to visit my family.  We did lots of fun things like.... 

.... going to visit the houses that Patrick and I grew up in.  Mine was in Prescott

and Patrick's is in Chandler.

The boys thought it was so fun to see where we lived when we were their age. We drove by our old homes and pointed out which window was our old bedrooms and drove by our elementary schools. The boys really thought that was cool since they are in elementary school too. By the way... my elementary school has really changed! Half the playground is gone and has a new building on it. Our houses have changed a little too. I showed the boys where I used to ride my bike with my friends and where "Killer Hill" was that we used to race our bikes down. They thought that was pretty cool!

....We went to go see my grandparents in Mesa. I somehow forgot to take pictures with them, but it was the first time they have met Landon. It was good to see them. It has been a few years since we have made it down to their house. My Grandpa just turned 90 years old!  We just love him and my grandma.

....after visiting my grandparents, we went in search of Arizona Cardinals gear for the boys. We found them some T-shirts and footballs that came in handy while playing at my parents house in their back yard.

Love this picture of Conner throwing the ball... look close up top, you can see the ball.

....the boys also wanted to go and see the Temple that we were married in. They have never been to the Mesa Temple before, so we stopped really fast (it was SUPER HOT that day) and took a few pictures. We were telling the boys that this is where we were married and those were the doors we came out of and all our family and friends were there waiting for us. Then Brayden pipes up and says, "So this is where it all began!" haha!! It made Patrick and I laugh. 

Conner took this picture of us, not bad for a 5 year old!

Brayden really wanted to go swimming in the Reflection Pool. It was so hot, it probably would have felt good. We explained to the boys that it is only like 6 inches deep so you can see the reflection of the temple in it.

No one was ever looking at the camera at the same time, and Landon didn't want anything to do with pictures, he was ready for a nap! But it was still fun to stop and see the Mesa Temple. I love that Temple! So Beautiful!! I guess it really is where our Eternal Family began.
I can't wait to go back to Mesa at Thanksgiving time to go see all the Christmas Lights, the boys have never seen them before and I think they will love it!

It was a fun trip. We enjoyed the nice Prescott weather and some yummy home made Rocky Road Ice Cream my dad made for me as a late birthday present! Thanks Dad!! I love home made ice cream!!!!!

It was a fun trip to AZ and fun to take a little trip down memory lane while we were there.

Spaghetti anyone??

Landon had Spaghetti for dinner for the first time the other night. 

I think he is a fan!