GIRLS WEEKEND

So, for those of you who have been to St. George, you know that there are not many places here to go shopping. No toy stores, a teeny-tiny mall, and not many surrounding cities to try out either. Last year my best friend, Linzee Hickman, another friend, also Lindsay, and I decided to head down to Las Vegas and get some of our Christmas shopping done there. We had an absolute blast, so we decided to make a yearly trip of it. Last year we just went down on a Saturday and spent the day there frantically trying to get everything done. This year we decided to go down on Friday night and get a good nights rest before the frenzy of the next day started. Our friend, Lindsay Sparti, had moved down there a few months previous and had offered to let us stay at her house. Linz and I were so excited to go. We looked forward to it for weeks. Anyway, when it came time to head out we were bursting at the seams.

It is amazing that when you find a good friend that you can talk for hours and never run out of things to say. Linz and I drove the whole way to Vegas, almost two hours by the time we got through traffic and down to the southwest end, and talked the whole time. We are so different, yet we have so much in common. I just love being around her. She is such an amazing person. I am so lucky to have found such a wonderful, life-long friend. Anyway, enough with the mushy stuff. After the drive we went to our friend Lindsay's, we call her Sparti to avoid confusion, and saw her new house. (Oh, how I am jealous of her fourth bedroom!!) She took us to a new bar and grill near her house. I got some wings, which didn't taste so well after driving for two hours on a pregnant stomach. Afterwards, we swung by the movie store and picked up "Hairspray" for our viewing pleasure. Chick flicks are so fun when you really get to watch them with a bunch of other girls!! We had a fun night and it was fun to see Sparti's family too. The next morning we got a slow start after our late evening the night before, but once we were ready we were off. A quick breakfast on the go and we shopped, shopped, shopped. A quick lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and we were off again. I wish that I would have taken a picture of the trunk of my car after the night was over. We were able to get a lot accomplished and we had such a great time. I love my friends. They make everything so much more enjoyable. After the shopping was done, or in all honesty, after the two of us tired and pregnant women were all shopped out we headed home early. I say early because the stores weren't closed yet, but we knew we had a big drive ahead and that we would lose an hour on the way back. We reached home a little after midnight and still had a little bit of energy to spare.

As you can tell, I am looking a LOT scraggly and very tired in the eyes, but we had a wonderful time. I can't wait until next year, or maybe we will try and make it to "Time Out for Women" in Vegas this year. We deserve it right?? A special thanks to the husbands for watching the kids for the weekend and allowing us to go and get a few things done kid-free. It was sorely needed and greatly appreciated. We love you guys!

My Crazy Little Man

I know it's been a while and I am way behind. In my defense, I have been super busy the past couple of months. With my flu clinics to run, preggo sickness to get over and Primary callings to submit I have been a little weighed down. Things have been sliding for a while now and I am sure that they will continue until all of the holiday madness blows over. I am not sure I even know where to start. Where did I leave off? I have taken a lot of pictures lately with the intent to blog, but I never got here. Here are a couple recent pictures of Porter. He constantly keeps me on my toes with his little antics.

If this smile doesn't SCREAM "Did you say MISCHIEF??

I am so there!!" I don't know what does.

Porter took it on himself the other day to make sure that he was dressed. If you can't quite tell, those are running pants, cowboy boots and his Sunday tie. He must get his sense of style from his father!

Again, loves the boots, but still doesn't know the best way to wear them.

It is so hard to keep Port away from a full bathtub. At least he jumped in with his clothes on before he had actually been bathed. The other day I had him all dried off and ready for lotion. The second I turned my head he took off for the tub and dove back in. What a goof!

Port seriously is the biggest stud ever!! He is at such a fun age, but also a frustrating one. He never listens, is constantly bugging his sisters, and gets into mischief at the drop of a hat. But, when he is good he is so cute. I love listening to the new phrases and words that he comes up with, his smile can just melt my heart, and I love to hear him laugh. My favorite of his lately is "You better watch out, better not cry, better not pout, I'm TELLING ON YOU!!" I can't believe how fast he has grown. Love you Portis!!!

Halloween!!!

The kids were so excited for Halloween to finally come. After debating for weeks what they would be we finally came up with a flapper, a witch, and a vampire. I usually try to make their costumes for Halloween, but this year I just didn't get it done. They are all store-bought, but not generic-looking like I feared. I went to Brinley's class during the day and helped out with her class party. I love to see her in her classroom setting and see how she interacts with the others kids and where she spends her time away from home. Her little parade was cute, but it was hot outside. They parade around their track outside. I remember parading around the classrooms when I was little, but here they do it a little differently.

Brinley picked out this costume as a last minute resort. I thought that she looked really cute in it. I think she was drawn to it because I was also a flapper this year. She didn't even know what one was, and neither did anyone else in her school class, but she wore it with pride. Well, she wasn't a big fan of the boa, she is very sensitive to things that itch, scratch, or tickle.

Addie was excited for weeks knowing that she was going to wear this costume. We pulled out our Halloween box early this year and the kids went through it faster than I remember doing it myself as a kid. Addie wore her costume for a while as a dress-up. I wouldn't let her wear it out of the house, for fear of tears and dirt, but she wore it around nonetheless. I put a little wart on her nose and I thought that she looked adorable in her black eyeliner and lipstick. What a cute witch.

Every Halloween I think of my dad when it comes time to paint faces and decide how to put the whole costume together. I know that my mom did a lot of the face-painting too, but my dad had a lot of great ideas of how to turn a good halloween costume into one that looked sensational. Addie just got a little bit of dark makeup and I don't think that Brin even got any makeup, but Port's was the best of all. He didn't even look like himself when I was finished with him. He looked so much older with all of his dark hair. I think that he got an extra piece of candy at some of the houses because he was so cute. He was very polite and always said "Trick-or-treat" and "Thank you". I think that he loved it. At the end of the night his little bucket was was so full and heavy, but he wouldn't let anyone even touch it to help him. He wanted to make sure that all of his candy was close by.

The kids made a haul with their candy. Port started in on his as soon as he got into the car. He had a piece of gum and two suckers in his mouth before we could even stop him. I don't know what we are going to do with all the candy, but they all had a fun time.

Carving Pumpkins

So, I figured that it was time to update my blog. It has been a while and there are many things to post. I guess that I will start with our family night of carving pumpkins. I am not big on doing stuff like that, but I figured that it was important to keep the tradition going and let the kids have a little fun. Addie and Brin had a great time cleaning out the pumpkins and deciding what faces to carve. Brinley even found a few sprouts in hers. She thought that it was pretty cool.

Porter, on-the-other-hand, didn't like the feel of the pumpkins one bit. We tried to get him to put his hand in, but after the first touch it was a no-go. He let us clean it out and carve it for him. He did like the end result though.

All-in-all, we had a great time and the kids made some great pumpkins. Brinley carved her own design, with a little help in the drafting process, and the others simply requested that their faces look nice, not scary. We tried our best, but these were the best that we could come up with. Enjoy!!

Casting Call!!!!

It is too bad that I have to use a generic-looking blog setup now. I guess that it is better than nothing. Hopefully I will figure out how to put up a decent blog. Well, my good friend Linzee told me that Gap is having their annual casting call. I don't usually enter things like that, but I figured that it sounded like fun. I thought that I would post the photos that I submitted so that you all can admire how beautiful my children are.

Beautiful Brinley

Adorable Addie

My Mischevious Porter

We Love Family!!

Well, we had a whirlwind weekend. Anthony, Tahnee, Corey, and Skyler came down to visit for fall break. Corey and Skyler wanted to visit one more time before they left on their missions. We were so happy that everyone was able to come down and visit. We don't get visitors very often, so the kids were extatic too. They came down late Thursday night, after the kids were already asleep. The next morning it was like Christmas. Porter woke me up fairly early as he screamed, "Skyler's here!!" right into my face. The kids spent the early part of the morning jumping on everybody's bed and enjoying their company. We went to feed the ducks later in the morning. I don't know who had a better time, the kids or the "big kids". Anthony and Corey and Skyler were throwing bread with the best of them. There were a couple of swans that were pretty vicious and that chased the other ducks away from the food. Of course, the big boys felt bad for the other ducks and spent their time trying to throw food directly to them. It was good to see their "softer sides".

Here is the really mean swan. See how its feathers are arched as it

chases away that other duck. Poor thing!!

We also went down to Las Vegas the next day. We had a late start on Saturday morning and didn't get down to Vegas until about 12:30. We spent about four hours shopping at the Premium Outlets and then went down to the south strip. We stopped at MGM and saw the lion and then went to our usual haunts...the M&M factory, the Coke factory...it was great.

On our way down the sidewalk a lady stopped Corey and me and wanted to know if we wanted a catalog. She make sure that we knew it wasn't porn, but Corey and I just looked at each other, not knowing what to say. The lady asked us if we spoke English and we just stood there. Anyway, long story short, she really was handing us a map that showed the locations of all the hotels on the strip and a list of when all the free shows were. We were actually really glad to have it after a while and used it frequently when we were deciding where to go next. After the strip we headed to our favorite (well, not Nate's - he didn't eat anything) fast food joint- In-n-Out burger. It was time to head home after that, the kids were tired. The others stayed in Vegas for a little bit and went on the Stratosphere. We had a great weekend and were glad to spend time with our family.

"Hairs to you!!"

This last weekend we went to visit my family and to be with my brothers, Corey and Skyler, as they went through the temple for the first time. Nate had a camping trip with his scouts so he wasn't able to come with us. On our way up I mentioned to Brinley that we should get her hair cut that weekend and surprise Daddy when we got home. Well, she asked to get her hair cut the whole weekend. I finally was so sick of her asking that I threatened to shave it all off myself if she mentioned it one more time. We have been growing her hair out for a while now and have just been waiting for the right time to get it cut. I have shown her the Locks of Love website and she is excited to be helping other children out. I think that she looks so cute with her new hair cut. Don't you?

Finally using technology

I guess that it is time we finally created a family blog. I am constantly saying, "I'll send you some pictures," but I never get around to doing it. I don't know much about blogs, but I do know that I can post it once and whoever wants to see the pictures can. Sounds good to me. We'll have to see how it goes.