4 Years Ago We Were Doing This...

...and I'm eternally grateful that we did!!!

Dear Readers...

Sorry I haven't posted. I'm not in the mood, I'm too tired, I have other things to do...blah blah blah. And upon further inspection, I have come to the conclusion that I despise Christmas and I don't wish to bring my readers down with my anti-holiday attitude at this current time.

So to all of you proponents of Christmas for whatever reason, Bah Humbug.

Besides, Christ was born in April.

Google it.

Dear Aunt Bethany...

Dear Aunt Bethany,

We sure love you. And we feel like we have to apologize because our mom is a super-slacker. We know she promised you that she would update our Christmas/Hanukkah wish lists online, but she hasn't. So we decided to do a blog post in her behalf. We have to start out by saying that we really don't need anything. But we know your retort to that would be somewhere along the lines of "Well what kind of favorite non-aunt aunt would I be if I didn't get you Christmas/Hanukkah gifts?" and we, as small children, appreciate that. So, here's the deal: Books are always good. Mom loves for us to have educational toys. Logan is a fan of drawing and artsy-things (but not finger-painting or anything else that gets his hands messy). Animated movies are nothing to sneeze at. Logan wears 3T with size 6-7 shoes and Kaylee is fitting well into the 6 month size clothes. And having you come visit us for a few days would also be a ton of fun. So there are some ideas. We aren't picky. Hope it helps. We love you SOOOO much!!!

Love always,

Logan and Kaylee

Trying To Win Another Giveaway...

Check it out. It would make for a fun present for the kiddos!!!

Sunday Snapshots...

Busy day today...

First, we decided to give Kaylee her first taste of baby cereal.


She LOVED IT!!! I had to make her a second bowl because she wouldn't stop freaking out. She just wanted more.


also, her 4 month doctor's appointment is tomorrow. My guess is that she is still chubby and tall-ish with an averaged-sized head.

In other news, we started decorating for Christmas. The outside lights went up on Saturday (I don't know why the picture is tiny...sorry) and so did the tree. But we saved decorating for today. Logan did a great job. However now that he is in bed, I am going to spread out the ornaments a little better :-)

Happy Thanksgiving...

I know it's not the same, but it's just not Thanksgiving without it.

Sunday Snapshots...

Some Sunday Snapshots from Skaneateles. How about that for alliteration?

Sunday Snapshots...

The Palmyra Stake had Stake Conference today and since we were already in Palmyra, we decided to visit the Sacred Grove.



Basically, my kids are adorable. And I'm really loving being home to show them off :-)

A Hometown Halloween...

It was nice to be back in Bloomfield with my kids to trick-or-treat this year. I've learned a few things:

1. It doesn't matter how much time you spend making your kid's costume...it's just going to be covered up by a sweater.
2. The words "please" and "thank you" don't exist on Halloween. Nor do they matter. You get the candy anyways.


3. You should only plan on hitting up a few houses close together that you KNOW will have good candy instead of trying to get to as many as possible...you end up carrying your kid after 15 minutes, regardless.
4. Halloween is the best opportunity to see 55% of the people from your hometown in one fell swoop when you've been gone a while.
5. Stick close by to the firehouse. They have donuts, cider, candy, games, and the other 45% of the town that wasn't giving out candy at their own houses.

And then the costumes. Kaylee gets the Mommy award for cutest Pink Leopard EVER. (Even though she doesn't look happy in any of the pictures we got of her in it.)



Logan wins the Mommy award for best "Dash" Incredibles costume made by his mommy.



And Madison wins the "Seriously Best costume EVER" award. She was an iPod that actually played music. It cost her nothing, she (and her mom) made it practically the day of Halloween, and she came up with the concept all on her own:



In other, non-related news, I seem to be winning things from the blogosphere left and right. Remember how I won that copy of "The Dark Divine" in June? Well, I also won a spot on the author's "Street Team" to shamelessly promote the book. Which mainly means I get swag. Which I am VERY excited about. (More on this later.) And then tonight I found out that I won a $50 off $100 purchase coupon for Old Navy from Thrifty NW Mom!!!! (See post below!!!) HOW GREAT IS THAT?!?!?!?!?!

Old Navy Weekly...

I'm obsessed with this site. Just about every Thursday, my life goes on hold while I wait for ONW to update. But this week, I was too busy. You know, packing and all. So I'm trying my luck at a giveaway on Thrifty Northwest Mom, a blog I am also obsessed with. Go. Read. Enjoy.

I'm off to finish some last-minute packing. See y'all in New York!!!!

Things I Did Today...

All of a sudden, my trip to New York snuck up on me. (And yes, I know "snuck" isn't a word and that it's actually "sneaked," but that sounds absurd.) Knowing that I leave Friday and that I have a TON of stuff to get done, I kind of started stressing. So I texted Liz to find out if she could maybe take the kids for a few hours and, amazing woman that she is, said no problem and to bring them right over. And do you know what I was able to accomplish in about 4 hours with no children? Let me enlighten you:

FIVE loads of laundry (thanks to the laundromat!), including towels and sheets. AND FOLDED IT ALL.

Did about 3 days worth of dirty dishes and put them away.

Repaired a suitcase zipper.

Washed the front outside window of my AND my neighbor's house. (That wasn't on my to-do list, but they were bugging me.)

Found my Halloween Shirt.

Went grocery shopping.

Solved my "I can't take juice through security at the airport and I WILL NOT pay $4.50 for a Gatorade at the gate" predicament. (Kool-Aid singles...which were on sale!)

Waxed my eyebrows and did a quick microderm abrasion facial.

Paid the gas, electric, and internet bills.

Made dinner.

Took dinner to Zac on campus.

Looked for my iPod and Logan's birth certificate. And though I didn't find them, I know a few places where they aren't now.



Sure I still have a few things to do, but all in all, it was a productive afternoon! And I feel like I owe my sister-in-law my life :-)

BYU Homecoming Parade 2009

Oh how times have changed... (this one is '07 with Dani and James)



And this year:



Logan made bank in the candy department...I think we could even skip trick-or-treating next week!!!! Of course we won't, but we could :-)

Punkin' Carvin'

The quality of these pictures is...well...horrendous. But I have nothing other than my camera phone (which was dirty, apparently) since our camera is pretty much shot, so at least I am capturing the moments in some form.

Logan dictated the shapes he wanted ("Square eyes. Heart. Scary.") and that's what he got. And Kaylee just got a tiny pumpkin, so I painted it and gave it a skull and crossbones with a sparkly bow. Kind of precious if you ask me. Zac just did a 5-minute face carving on his (which surprised me since he usually goes all out) and I will probably do mine after I'm done with this post. Guess you'll have to stay tuned for pictures of all of them out on our porch to see mine :-)

And yes, that is Matt DiPerri. He is at our house. In Utah. And it makes us happy!!!!

Sunday Snapshots...

We went to the pumpkin patch yesterday and got Aunt Liz to tag along so we got some cute pictures. I only have access to a few so far, but they are blog-worthy:




We got the kids' pumpkins there and grabbed 2 for Zac and myself at the grocery store on the way home. We'll probably carve them tonight since this next week and a half will be busy. I have 2 baby blankets, a Halloween costume, and a scrapbook to finish...not to mention Zac's best friend Matt is coming out from NY for a visit on Wednesday (until next Monday!!!), and then I have to gear up for my flight home with the kids. We leave on the 30th!!!!

All in all, I'm looking forward to the trip back to NY. Sure, the reason behind it sucks (you know, my dad's crappy heart), but I'm grateful for my wonderful family that decided it was important for me to be there and are flying me and the kids back. I'm also grateful that I don't have any responsibilities keeping me in Utah and that I am able to fly back for such an extended period of time.

Well, back to the sewing machine :-)

Follow-up: I did not touch my sewing machine tonight, nor did we carve pumpkins. But tomorrow is another day. For now, I'm trying to win blog giveaways and here is one of the newest ones: on Thrifty Northwest Mom. And, like I've said before, feel free to sign-up and if you win, send it to me :-)

Sunday-ish Snapshot...

It was taken on Sunday, at least. On our way back from Vegas. Where we had a lot of fun.

Today? Not so fun. Kaylee had her 2-month immunizations. 3 shots and then an oral rotovirus one. And Logan also got himself 3 shots...one that was due at 18 months (oops...), one that they were out of last time we were there, and then the first of 2 flu shots. He gets the second one next month. To make up for causing him pain, Zac took him to the store and got him a 5 pound bag of gummy bears. So I guess it all worked out in the end :-)