Halloween Pt. 2

After the school festival and the ward's Halloween party, what was left? Trick-or-treating of course! Grayson had been looking forward to trick-or-treating all month long. Well, the night finally arrived. We loaded him and Hartley in the car to take them. When we reached the trick-or-treating destination, this is what we found in the backseat.

Yes, they were asleep. But that didn't stop us from trick-or-treating. We put them on wheels and pressed forward.

Finally, they woke up and had a wonderful time and scored lots of candy. It was the perfect Halloween night...great weather, great candy, great company!

Besides being able to go trick-or-treating with my nephews, seeing mama dress up for the first time ever was this Halloween's highlight.

Halloween Pt. 1

I love the fall! One of the highlights of fall is Halloween. I know that it's a holiday for kids but I still love it. I love going to the pumpkin patch with the kindergartners at my school. I love fall festivals, pumpkin bread, dressing up, and trick or treaters. This Halloween was a busy but fun one. First, I coordinated the fall festival activities for the kindergartners and first graders at my school. They seemed to have had a great time.

Then, Laura and I took a few days to construct our famous crawl maze that we do annually. It's usually a hit. This year was no exception. We did have a few mishaps during construction but all turned out well in the end.

After that, it was time for the ward Halloween party. Tons of people showed up. I even captured the cutest little lion.

His equally cute tamer was a little busy.

It was a well planned and fun evening for all of the kids, little and big.

Earrings!

I'm ashamed that I have become one of those people who never update their blogs. Alot has happened the past two months. The first being that I turned the big 3-0. It looks so old when I type it. Anyways, I had a fabulous "surprise" birthday at the awesome Pump it Up. I'm so blessed to have family and friends that love me and love to party with me. One of my goals was to get my ears pierced for my 30th bday. After chickening out a couple of times, I finally did it!

And I couldn't have done it without my first class support team!

And here is a close up....

Ode to Grayson

My little man turned 3 Tuesday. We went up to see him and had a little family party for him. He is such a cute little guy. It's hard to believe that he's already 3! It seems like he was born just yesterday.

8/11/06

He has done alot of changing and growing over the years. There was a time when he used to let me hold, hug, and kiss him.

Now,it's a bit of a struggle.

I guess 3 year olds are too busy to snuggle. Because he loves me(...and because of a little bribery) he usually allows one hug without protest.

What a great little person he has turned out to be. He's smart (he can write and recognize many letters), talented (he can draw and sing), and athletic (gymnast, basketballer, footballer).

He's going to make one heck of a catch in a few years. Happy Birthday booda!

Home At Last

For the first time ever, I had the opportunity and the means to go out west to visit old friends. I conquered my fear of flying alone. It went smoothly except for the missed connection in Dallas. I got on the next plane, so no harm done. I stayed with wonderful people who opened their homes to me. Sarah, Janene, and Candi were nice enough to let me crash in on their family time. They also gave me tours of their areas. The coolest thing would have to be all of the temples and LDS church steeples that dot the landscape. I was also floored by the beauty of the mountains...real mountains.
















The west is a beautiful place but after 2.5 weeks, I was longing for sweet home Alabama, humidity and all. Below are a few pics of my time there.


Salt Lake City Temple







Draper Temple









Idaho Falls Temple...Who knew that there were actually falls in Idaho Falls?!?


Somewhere in Idaho...

...there is a scary bridge.

Fun in the Sun

I love the summer. I love being off of work, swimming, beach trips, and even camping. This past week I was able to take a day trip to the beach with a couple of my favorite people and spend a week at girls camp as a level 4 leader with some awesome young women. I was in charge of the 15 year old girls. I was able to work with 2 other ladies from Prattville who I now consider my friends. I love girls camp because of the bonds you form both with the youth and other adult leaders, bonds that you would probably never have formed otherwise. I had alot of fun and was able to conquer a fear of heights on the high ropes course. I was even trained to work it and performed my first rescue. I felt pretty awesome. Below are some pics of the week.

Saturday @ the beach

Girls camp pics

B.O.O.T Camp

B.O.O.T camp has come and gone and I'm surprised to say that I'm a little sad that it is over. The last couple of months we have been meeting, planning, shopping, planning, shopping, etc. all for BOOT camp. B.O.O.T (Building Our Own Testimonies) camp is a 3 day activity that we put on for the primary children (ages 3-11). This year's theme was "Putting on The Armour of God". We had 3 classes each day: Spiritual Training, Physical Training, and Craft Detail. The activities included:

a scavenger hunt(...and yes, they are looking for a clue in trash cans.);

...an armor relay race and archery practice (Lesson: Aim for the right goals);

...a timed obstacle course, complete with a tire run, army crawl, and tunnel ( a.k.a refridgerator box);

...and crafts, which we made out of clay.

The third day was a water day .... complete with a good old fashioned tug-o-war.

The kids had so much fun and we hope to be able to keep BOOT camp as an annual event.

It was well staffed by wonderful youth (teen) and adult volunteers, without whom we would have never been able to pull off this activity. They were platoon leaders, teachers, a nursery worker, and kitchen helpers.

Of course none of this would have been possible without my amazing counselors, one of which worked on her part from Russia, and other who went above and beyond while suffering with a broken....err cracked rib, and secretary, who had a health crisis of her own. I am so grateful for Candi, Abby, and Rachel who spent countless hours preparing for and carrying out our activity. As Candi put it, it truly was a "labor of love". The kids will hopefully remember it and the things that they learned there, but most of all (wait for it...more cheese is coming...) that we love them.

Now that it's over, what else am I going to think about?

The price of beauty

We women go through alot to be beautiful. We spend hours at a salon, stuff our feet into cute but uncomfortable shoes, and wax (ouch!). Though pouring hot wax just above your eye, putting paper on top, and ripping off eyebrow hair may sound barbaric, meet threading.

Yes, this lady may look all peaceful and relaxed but don't let this pic fool you. Inside she's thinking, "I wanna curse!" At least that's what I was thinking. Would I do this again? You betcha! Because after the pain faded, I was left with a beautiful and clean eyebrow shape. The pain was totally worth it.

Free Summer Movies

The Rave will have free family movies every Tuesday and Wednesday for 8 weeks starting June 9th. Seating is on a first come basis. I've taken kids there before and we've always had a great time. The best thing is that you don't have to worry about your kids disturbing others since the others are a theater full of kids.

June 9 & 10 Kung Fu Panda PG 92 minutes
June 16 & 17 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa PG 89 minutes
June 23 & 24 Surf's Up PG 85 minutes
June 30 & July 1 The Tale of Despereaux G 90 minutes
July 7 & 8 Horton Hears A Who! G 86 minutes
July 14 & 15 Space Chimps G 81 minutes
July 21 & 22 Igor PG 87 minutes
July 28 & 29 Shrek the Third PG 93 minutes

Class of '09

Congrats to my little sister, Melissa, on her graduation. Tab, the boys, and I went to watch her walk across the stage a week ago. It wasn't too long ago we were babysitting her as a little girl. Now, she's grown into a beautiful young woman. Congrats, Melissa! You are beautiful, smart, talented, and have your whole life in front of you. I know that you will accomplish great things.

Wasn't this just yesterday?

5/23/09~ Graduation Day

Childhood Memories

Do you remember your childhood best friend, the one with whom you spent almost every waking moment? Mine was Malinda. I met her in the 4th grade. We were in the same class and were delighted to find out that we were both LDS (Mormon). This meant we would attend the same ward (congregation). The legend of how we met is that she was singing "I am a child of God" while swinging on the playground and I asked if she were Mormon. I don't really know if that's a true story or just something I created in my mind. In any event, we were immediately friends. We became even closer when my family moved to her neighborhood during my 5th grade year. We then were in walking distance of each other. We would meet each day at this grassy area, which we called "the prairie". It was called this because it reminded us of the area Laura Ingalls runs through on the opening credits of "Little House on the Prairie". As an aside, I love that show. I have the pilot episode and seasons 1-4. OK back on subject- Malinda and I pretty much lived at each others houses from 5th through the 12th grade. We even convinced people that we were sisters. Scroll down and see if you can spot the resemblance. We were as close as sisters and my she was my very BEST friend. Life has happened and we have gone in separate directions. Though I don't speak to her everyday and we can no longer finish each other's sentences, she will always be my BEST friend. I know that I can count on her to be there if I really needed her just as I would be there for her. We were able to hang out last week and I enjoyed every second of it. We reminisced about old times and I felt 10 again. I've missed her and was happy to be able to see her again. Hopefully we won't let too much time go by before seeing each other again.

Today I have a few BEST friends. I love and appreciate each of them. Each friendship is different and precious in its own way, but I'll always treasure my first and longest very BEST friend.

Then...

and now...