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Happy Halloween...

BUSY, CRAZY week

We're back from our trip to Upstate New York and beautiful Niagara Falls....okay, beautiful and FREEZING Niagara Falls. We have been LOVING every second spent with our family here--(Brandon's brother and sister-in-law drove with their kids all the way from the great state of Texas) and we had a really fun time together on our couple day getaway. We actually got back last night, but we have been really busy today as well.

And THEN, this evening we got MORE exciting visitors! One of Brandon's OTHER brothers came with his wife for a med school interview...they flew in this afternoon from Idaho and we are SO excited to see them. We have been BEGGING them to come see us since we moved here, and they were finally able to. We have big plans for a FUN, FUN Halloween tomorrow and a great weekend ahead of us!

I am sure sometime soon I will be able to post all my pictures and recount all our exciting adventures...but for now I am loving ALL my company who are so kindly keeping my mind off of packing. And I am loving the nightly games and laughter, cooking for MANY, and the way our nightly song has turned into a beautiful choir instead of the solo/duet it usually is.

I love family. I love being surrounded by people who love you. I love belonging to something special...and this extended family is most certainly that!

And because I am DYING to post some new pics....
(here are a few from our trip)

Does this little guy not totally melt your heart????

(at the Smith Farm in Palmyra, NY)

Three of the kiddos playing together at a quick break during the drive up to New York.

(Transcripts from Joseph Smith.)
Be back soon....

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Decorations at a little girl's day activity we went to today...I LOVE this season and all the beautiful decor!

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Niagara Falls, NY.....bitter cold temps. I can't believe my hands even worked to TAKE this picture. :)

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At the Grandin Printing building in Palmyra, New York

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The leaves in Upstate New York.

One thing leads to another...

Where have I been the past few day? Well--it's an insane series of events, really. :)

Friday morning I started out going for a "quick" oil change. 2 hours later, and $570 MORE than I planned on spending, I walked out of the repair shop with new front brakes, 3 new tires, a new back break light, and a new rear wiper blade. Oh ya...I got my oil changed too. All the regular upkeep just happened to hit all at the same time...which I was REALLY bummed about! But we knew it would come someday...just hoped we could make it until next semester. Oh well...

Being bummed about the new financial pothole, I went to the bank to make a deposit. When asked to show my I.D., the teller typed my name in and then informed me I didn't have an account there. IMPOSSIBLE, since I have a debit card with my name right on it. :) He then does some more looking and then discovers that the reason that they can't FIND me in the bank is because he was spelling my name the same way it was spelled on my I.D....WRONG. Yep, after 3 1/2 months of having my Ohio license, it took a bank teller to tell me it was misspelled.

That resulted in a trip to the DMV to get it fixed, while trying to also get temporary tags for my already expired out of state plates. The gas light was on, but I have gone pretty far on empty before and didn't think anything of it. You can see where this is going, right??

Waiting in line at the DMV, I realized it was cash only. Paying my ridiculous $2.50 fee to take my money out of the ATM, I went back and paid for my temporary tags and shoved my debit card in my back pocket. I was told I had to go back to the original DMV I got my license at to get the replacement. Okay.

Saturday morning after trying frantically to get our house in order for company coming later that afternoon, I ventured out to make my "quick" trip to the DMV. My mind was wandering--and I made a mental note to look for a gas station along the way...and then I got distracted. Next thing I knew I was passing a gas station on my left when my car lost all power and died. I pulled over the best I could and walked to the gas station.

RAN OUT OF GAS....can't believe it.

This is getting so long...trust me, this weekend felt even LONGER. But the short of it is: because I had left my debit card in my pants from the day before, I had no money to BUY gas. Only a $4.37 prepaid Visa left over from a timeshare presentation we went to this summer...A kind man drove to his home and brought me back a gas can. Got it filled...well, $4.37 cents worth. :)

Ran like a madwoman to get my I.D. fixed, get back home, and get our house cleaned.

It's been crazy and hectic--and I think Brandon and I have both been through a million emotions this weekend.

But an emotion I feel now, looking back, is gratitude. Gratitude that I randomly FOUND the $4.37 cent visa in my car, grateful that a kind man was willing to drive home and help me out, grateful that the bank teller noticed the incorrect spelling so I could get it changed before our Trip to Canada, grateful that I didn't have to pay for my new license correction, and somehow grateful that we will start this road trip with new tires, new brakes, and a fresh oil change.

Another emotion I feel is HAPPY! Brandon's brother and his wife (and their kids) drove up from Texas to visit us. We are SO excited to have them here--big plans for this week! Tomorrow we head to Palmyra and then on to Niagara Falls, Canada.

Hooray!!!

{Oh, and here's a sneak peak at my CUTE nieces...they are SOOO gorgeous!}

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My beautiful niece Jessica...

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These are the little spider rolls my friend made for the Halloween party we went to. BIG HIT!! And SOO cute!

Just needing to say...

It is late, and I know I should make myself go to bed. But I just needed to write these feelings out...

I CANNOT begin to express how dang-diggy dang happy I am that tests are over tomorrow. The past 2 weeks have been so physically and emotionally draining. I don't know if it is just because the move stuff was thrown in on top of everything or if it is just ME, or if it is the lack of sleep we have all suffered around here, but just seeing the light at the end of the tunnel makes me want to jump for joy!

Brandon has been working so hard. Gone till all hours of the night and morning studying...I am SO proud of him. And what makes me even more proud is that when he IS home, he is still such a great dad. So many time when I would feel like I was falling apart, he picked the pieces right up and be amazing.

My kids have been troopers. Even though I have not been as good a mom as I could have been, and our house has been less than A+ in the cleanliness department, and my mind has been on all sorts of things, they still smiled big and hugged me tight at bedtime tonight.

I am so glad they are so forgiving....so loving. It makes all the craziness and rough times disappear and life seems so good again. Guess that's why God gives us children, who have the purest love and acceptance of all.

Just needing to say that tonight....

Stressing over dressing

Dressing up for Halloween, that is.

Tomorrow we have a fun party to go to. Costumes Required.

I have had my mind on so many other things that thinking of a costume somehow took a back seat.

I need a great low cost, last minute costume--couple or individual--for Brandon and I.

Ideas?? Ideas anyone??

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Random picture from summer? Nope. This would be from today. 54 degrees and sunny. Did I mention 54 degrees? He INSISTED on playing in the water, through his shivers and all. :)

@#$&%!!!!

It's been somewhat of a rated R week over here...

The other day when my sister and I were at the park with the kids, a teenage boy and his girlfriend walked by outside the park fence. The boy was screaming, throwing things, and swearing at this girl. After about 10 minutes of heated conversation, I watched as she walked away finally and he let her have some distance. Next thing I know, there they were, closer to the fence than before and he was shaking he by her arms. Fearing she was in trouble and getting irritated with all the bad language spewing from his mouth, I walked over to the fence and yelled to them. "HEY".

I was completely ignored.

He shook her again and my motherly instincts kicked in to gear. I took off walking around the fence and to where they were sitting. Even with me standing right there by them, they both were oblivious to my existence.

I finally spoke up saying (as nicely as possible) "I don't know who you are or what is going on, but you really need to calm down".

Much to my dismay, I was then acknowledged with words that I have never heard before. It was like scraping my insides with a bunch of needles...fingernails on a chalkboard...you know that terrible feeling? #$%#$&%^*&^%*$%^# blankety blank, blank, blank what the blank do you think you are doing?

Since I didn't have mace or any other self defense mechanism, I retorted saying that I was going to call the police. (sooooo lame, right?)

It was then that the girl chimed in. I apparently was wrong about their situation. Maybe she just LIKES being screamed at with profanities. Either way, she didn't want my help.

My Heroic act....deflated.

It was then that the teenager struck me with a low blow..."who the (bad word) do you think you are you LADY?" To be honest the whole LADY part was more offensive than the bad word part...Lady? It sounded so....demeaning. It sounded so OLD!

Dumbfounded at the situation I had suddenly found myself in, I turned and walked away. #$%$ and %^&%* filled the air...and more F words than I had heard over the last 3 years combined.

I will admit that most of my life I was raised in a fairly sheltered environment. While I am aware that life does go on outside "the bubble", I don't think I ever realized just HOW much ickiness exists.

My profanity filled afternoon continued with some teenage girls swinging at the park talking about unmentionable things. GEESH! PUH-LEASE don't tell me this kind of stuff is seriously going on among teens! My kids are headin' for trouble if so...

Even my own kids have picked up on this profanity pitfall, albeit unintentional. Kaden lets out the word "hit" beginning with the letter S everytime he tries to say SHOOT, SHOT, or SIT. And Jenna is really into rhyming nowadays.

Why is it that she thinks the FUNNIEST combo of words to say is WITCH, _ _ _ _ _???

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Potty training---early. And doing it all by himself! Spencer has picked up a new talent. One leg in, trying to copy Kaden and Jenna using the bathroom. I didn't take a picture the first 2 times he did this, but by the third time of seeing him I decided he could wait a minute for me to document this momentous occasion. I have a feeling things are going to get even busier around here...

My, how the time flies!

This weekend went SO fast! We stayed up way too late, played, ate, talked, and laughed. And those 3 days FLEW. Being Brandon's test week, it was SO nice to have someone else around to help keep my mind off of him being gone so much.

Yesterday the weather was GORGEOUS! A tad chilly, but overall BEAUTIFUL. We went to one of our favorite parks and played the afternoon away...

Here is my sweet niece Hannah. It was my first time meeting her, and the kids fell totally in love! I have to say though, that as cute as she is, I did NOT feel one tiny bit baby hungry. Nope. Not one bit. Not right now...but she sure was a cutie!

And my sister Esther carrying her little baby...

I think the strollers were the favorite item of the day. Jenna, Kaden, and Spencer all had to take a turn pushing the strollers. It was SO funny!

And Spencer is quite confident now, walking around. He still falls, but he definitely tries to walk more than crawl now. HOORAY!

After our park fun, we picked up Brandon (okay, we practically BEGGED him) to take 1 hour away from studying to eat out with us. Red Robin it was...

Okay, here we all are. It was nice to have a volunteer photographer to snap our family picture...And if the kids were smiling (or at least LOOKING), and we didn't have the awesome booth pattern behind us, I might actually just skip the formal pics and hang this on the wall. Sure would be easier that way! :)

Today we accomplished quite a bit...we were on a bow-making kick this whole weekend, and I think we both have a lot more than we did when we started! :)

But now my sister is gone again...the drive home from the airport was quiet. All the kids fell asleep in the car because we were heading close to bedtime. And when we got home, for my sanity's sake, I fought their crankies by sharing some of the DELICIOUS See's chocolates my sister brought me. Bedtime at 7 p.m. tonight, kids fast asleep almost immediately--and am now needing to face the piles of laundry and mountains of dishes that await me...and only me.

Thank you Esther for coming to see us! It was so much fun to not be alone so often! :)

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A picture of the little stream at the park today...the leaves are falling, water stunning, and weather changing...

My Kirtland Collection

Just wanted to share a couple more pictures from our Kirtland trip. I suppose it isn't really a "trip"...it's only half hour from here. That being said, it is a great place to visit on any family getaway, and we would WELCOME any of you who want to come visit!

New Perspective

I found a new recipe you will have to try!

Take 2 pints of icecream...


Add a couple pieces of pizza...
In a separate bowl, mix in 4 children under 4, 2 moms, 2 strollers, and 1 late night run to Children's place to check out their amazing sale...
Season with a dash of late night movie, a couple tasty snacks, and someone to talk to.

Let rest overnight.

Drizzle with an awesome trip to Kirtland...be sure to remove almost all children (letting them hang out with their dad) before serving. :)

There was something about this weekend that really changed my perspective about my moving situation. Taking a step back from things made me realize that most of you were right. Things will get packed. Somehow it will all get done. But stressing and obsessing isn't the way to go about it. And really, most of it DOESN'T need to be done "right this second". I loved the advice given to take one room at a time...and pack only a couple boxes a day. You all had such great ideas! I am definitely bookmarking my moving post for my many future moves!

I guess it's a lot like an eye chart if your vision isn't perfect. Looking at the whole chart in a dark room with imperfect eyes can seem overwhelming and impossible to read.

But if you sit back, take the help offered you by your friendly optometrist, and read one letter at a time, you are bound to make it through the mumbled mess.

This week, I am grateful for my sister, my awesome weekend, and a great new outlook...

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We had a wonderful trip to Kirtland today...it was so wonderful to finally get to sit and listen and take in all the sights {without kids}.

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Every chance I get I try to read about different techniques, settings, and other photography stuff...I decided to try my luck with water. FASCINATING. I am really going to focus on good ol' H2O so I will be ready to take some {hopefully} great shots on our trip to Niagara Falls in a week and a half!