Halloween 2013

 I wanted to be Lucille Ball for Halloween for a whole year. I bought a Lucy wig last year on clearance in preparation. Unfortunately, I never tried it on until Halloween Day and it was way too small. :( So I frantically did my best to fix my hair like hers and it turned out pretty well. It was a crazy day of rushing back and forth to Charlie's school then running over to John's work party then hitting a few houses for trick or treating and our neighbor's potluck dinner. We literally only stopped at five houses and had the kids in bed by 7- it felt so good.

Waahhh, Ricky!

John was a great sport to dress up like Ricky Ricardo all day at work. It is hard to guess that outfit without your Lucy by your side! He ended up modifying his work ID badge to say Ricky Ricardo, with a picture of Ricky on it with John's glasses added on top. Nice work. 

Ricky and Lucy, and two little dragons (one had already disrobed partially already)

Getting ready to trick or treat at Daddy's office. There were a few people there (who happened to be from Japan) who were dressed up like Mario, Luigi and Toad and Charlie was in heaven following them around!

My parents stopped by to see the kids and went trick or treating with us. It was so fun to see them, even though my kids were exhausted and half undressed by then. 

A few days before Halloween we had a pumpkin carving party with the Thorntons. The boys and I worked on the guts that afternoon in preparation. George didn't like it, and neither did Charlie. Charlie was clever enough to ask for a pair of gloves to wear! Then he was a great helper. 

Our neighbors have this scarecrow on a rod with pumpkin head that moves in the wind. It freaked both kids out, although by the end of October, Charlie had his courage up enough to run up to it and then run right back. 

What's in your mouth, Che?

Ah-ha!

Posing in his skeleton jammies from last year. He barely squeezed into them this year and he loved that they glow in the dark. :)

General Conference- October 2013

 General Conference this year was chaotic as usual, but we are learning more all the time. I have to have faith that these habits of watching together will pay off in the long run! There were some really special moments, especially Elder Holland's talk, "Like a Broken Vessel."We just bawled our eyes out during that one.

little coloring packets

We had some words we were listening for and each time we heard it (the boys heard it) we had a treat from that bowl. 

Premier Elite Retreat- September 2013

In September, I was invited to attend a training event for my job with doTERRA. It's organized and sponsored by the leaders on my team for their downline leaders to learn the skills to be successful and take their businesses to the next level. It's only for those who have reached the rank of Elite or Premier and still currently in that rank, and you can only attend once. So it's really for those who have proven themselves a little bit in this business but haven't really broken through to those larger ranks that start making pretty good money.

I went with Sue which was so fun, and even though it was a sacrifice to be there, most especially for my kids, I learned so much and I'm grateful I got to go. And it was such a fun getaway and break for me. I'm so grateful to Chelsea, my parents, our babysitter, Riley, and John, who all made it happen! We stayed at this incredible lodge called Timber Moose Lodge, which is the largest log cabin in America. It is massive! And it has an indoor pool! I want to go back there one day with all of my family and friends.

Representing our team! Heidi, Clara, me, Sue

Clara, Jared Winger, Teresa Harding

This cool American flag made of pennies. I had to take a picture of it because we were there over 9/11. 

Having a little rest in one of the multiple seating areas. 

our great uplines! Teresa Harding is the very top of our organization, Jared Winger is our next closest Blue Diamond, then all of our cute Premiers from Kari's team. 

Teresa and Roger (on the right) Harding and their higher leaders pay for the retreat and we just paid for our food! 

Jared and his brothers who also do doTERRA

The last night was a masquerade ball/talent show. We did a little number- a What a Wonderful World/5 foot 2, Eyes of Blue ukelele mash up. 

September 2013

We had a great, extended summer September!

I let George have a churro- and it looks like he's still got a bad sensitivity to cinnamon. Sorry, little buddy. 

Looks so horrible!

Playing in Rick and Sue's magical backyard

Homemade (it's a t-shirt) ninja costume

George went to town on some Nutella, but was pretty unhappy with the resulting mess

Still really hot in September! Look at those rosy cheeks!

On our way to John's cousin's wedding dinner party, we had to drive by the East High stadium and take a picture. It is the 100th anniversary of East this year and it was the Homecoming Game against Highland High (our rival) and we won! I dressed our whole family in red in honor of the event. :)

Later that same night at Jessica's wedding party. It was in the Bonneville Glen and cousin Joe, the magician, performed. George was mesmerized!

So was Jude!

I loved this picture of Georgie on Grandma Sue's lap watching the show. So cute!

My sweet, handsome, brave boy. He's growing up so much and sometimes that's hard work!

Charlie had some severe separation anxiety around preschool, and one of the things we tried for a while was making a visual chart of the days' activities so he could anticipate what we would do (including preschool) but hopefully not stress out too much about that one part of his day. It worked pretty well.

Charlie got a new speech therapist for the semester named Amy. We love Miss Amy! She's been really good with Charlie and high energy. For fall semester we worked on regular past tense verbs, he/she, and his /s/ sound at the beginning of words. And as always, in reciprocation and transitions.

Feeling on top of the outfit and pose on this particular day, even with my hurt wrist. I had one or both of my wrists in braces because I had some tendonitis flare-ups. Ouch. And super inconvenient.

We had a great family home evening outing to Sugarhouse park to play and explore the river.

Such boys- rocks, sticks, river, what else could you want?

A fun (kind of rare) moment of playing nicely and laughing together.

Charlie fell in love with these "smart links" from Wendy's kids' meals. For a while, they were discontinued, and I bought a few sets on eBay. Then I put out the call to my friends on Facebook for anyone's extras. The response was so overwhelming and sweet. People were gathering them and remembering to save them for Charlie for months! (Brooke S, Katy, Andrea M, Lindsey, Jamilyn, Jessica P. to name a few.) He's got quite a collection now and he plays with them all the time.

Just a sweet moment with Dad.

We bought Wreck-It Ralph and it was a fun one to watch when the days were long and hot and we needed some quiet time.

Ralph goes to "Bad Anon" meeting and they have a motto. Charlie calls it the Wreck-It Ralph prayer. :) We kind of love it because it ends with, "There's no one I'd rather be than me." Great message.

My mom, Aunt Barb and I went and saw Amy Grant at the State Fair and it was so fun! Great songs and fun environment. 

My dad and I went to a Utah game and it was such a fun time to be together. We killed the other team (Weber) and we were roasting in the sun, but it was still so much fun.

The sunburn afterward

Just a cute picture of Johnny/Daddy- love this man.