{ Obama vs. McCain }...

My 7 year old daughter has a political opinion. She told me so as soon as she got off the bus today. She went on to give me multiple reasons why one is clearly better than the other. HMMMMMMM....I wonder where she's getting her information from? I guess it should be me...

Well, my top priority (one of the tops) is going to be dragging my little behind over to the library for early voting registration. Casey already has. This will be on my "To Do" for tomorrow.

{ Our little ghosties }...

I admire all of you sugar cookie momma's out there. I'm usually a sugar cookie momma...but I was feeling the need for speed yesterday and decided to simplify our FHE treat/activity. I got an e-mail from a friend with a fun idea attached and decided to give it a try. (thanks Stephanie) You get a bag of white chocolate chips, melt them in the microwave, frost the front and sides of El Fudge cookies and then stick two chocolate chips on the front for the eyes. Easy and fun! Here they are:

WE ALL enjoyed this activity and they tasted good! Here's a side note: They no longer sell El Fudge cookies...did you know that!?! I did not and I was very shocked! I sent Casey on a "honey-do" for me yesterday during his lunch break to grab the needed items and bring them home with him. I expected a phone call from him while at the store (never fails, there's always something in some mysterious place...hmmmmm). He calls looking for the El Fudge cookies. I tell him where they are. He tells me he can't find them. I tell him to ask an employee. He does. The employee can't find them. They ask the manager. The manager says they no longer make them....O.K., WHAT??? When did this happen? What were they thinking to take this item off the market? I really don't buy them very often (I promise) but sometimes you just need an El Fudge! At first I thought maybe it was just a lazy manager and he really doesn't know what he's talking about, but this grocery store is THE grocery store around here and if they don't have something than no one does. Here's another side note: Do you remember those cute little frosted animal cookies? The ones with the little round sprinkles on them? They don't make those anymore either! They took the Mothers brand off the market. I guess they went out of business. We hardly ever have these in our house either (seriously, only around the holidays) but these cookies and all of the Mothers brand cookies brought back childhood memories for me. What is going on with the cookie market? Maybe they are just going to MAKE us all become healthier a little here and a little there.

So, Casey ended up getting the white Snack Wells cookies and they did the trick...and they still taste good!

They're too cute to be spooky! With the leftover white chocolate, we dipped pretzels in them (Casey's idea). The pictures aren't the prettiest, but does everything have to be pretty to taste good?

{ Halloween's a comin' }...

Casey and I were kids again this past Saturday night. Our friends (John and Melissa) had a Halloween party. We took the dive and got a babysitter...this is the first time we have had one since we moved here, over a year ago! I don't know what I was so nervous about. Before we moved we were REALLY good at getting babysitters. Now we have no excuses and we will be doing this much more often. The kids had tons of fun. I was even told by our babysitter that they were good...YAY!!! We had a lot of fun too. We got all dressed up (in costume) and enjoyed adult conversations.

The makeup was a killer...yuck! I couldn't wait to wash it off and it doesn't even look like I had that much on. The best part was seeing Casey in black nail polish...that he painted himself! I should have taken a picture of that. :0

We made spooky gingerbread houses. Isn't it scary? The kids loved waking up and finding this sitting on the kitchen counter in the morning. They thought we had way too much fun!

P.S. Blogger - please fix the edits so we can make our pictures bigger again!

{ Can you believe it? }

Yes, it's true! This weekend we were driving around and stumbled across gas for UNDER $2.00! This just happened to be only about 6 miles from our house, but we hardly EVER go down this street. Casey and I spotted it at the same time, did a double take and then thought the store owner had to have been mistaken. He wasn't...that really is the price, but only at this one spot. The rest is around $2.12 - $2.30 or so. When we had that huge gas spike a couple of months ago, we both bet that we would never see gas for under $2.00 again. We might have even said we would be shocked to see it go back under $3.00. Anyway, this was worth a picture. It made us play the "remember when" game...reminiscing about what price gas was when turned 16 and started driving. In California, mine was at .98, Casey's was under .95. I'm sure down the road, when our kids start driving, they will be amazed that we had gas for $1.99!

Helping Hands ...

As many of you vigilant Bloggers know I have recently, and somewhat hesitantly been added to the sidebar--to be a contributor to our family's blog. I promise I won't embarrass Krysta too badly with a "crazy or inappropriate" post, but here is my first attempt at "Posting".

Last Saturday I was invited to a Mormon Helping Hands "work party" 2 and 1/2 hours away in Sabine Pass, TX. (This is a clean-up effort in an area that was heavily damaged--this time from Hurricane IKE and still in great need of help and service.)

Five weeks after Hurricane IKE, Sabine Pass was still as bad off as many of the photos you saw from Galveston Island on the news right after the hurricane hit. Sabine Pass is also a coastal area, still without power in many areas, few if any businesses open, blue tarps lined the roof tops of houses and buildings. Mounds of mud still along much of the roads--including the highway in and out of the town and debris caught in trees marking the high storm surge as high as 12 feet above ground. In general--DEVASTATION like you cannot imagine.

The assignment that we received was to help out a gentleman (not a member of our church) whose property consisted of 4 lots--heavily devastated. Four lots, however, only one house was standing on the 4 lots. The other three--totally destroyed . . . . . Exploded . . . . . gone!

We cut and hauled huge trees that had fallen down; raked up parts of broken glass, shingles and sheet rock; (found several Cotton-mouth snakes in the debris) and gathered up mounds of moldly things--all to toss out on the side of the road. In the house that was still standing, four feet of sheet rock had to be pulled off the entire bottom portion of the house as the storm surge had entered and molded the boards behind it. And the floors still had wet mud in several rooms. The grossest thing by far was the wet clothes that sat in the dryer for 5 weeks. As I loaded the dryer on the dolly and opened the dryer door to get a better grip, I discovered several inches of the worst smelling mold I have ever witnessed. It made me dry heave once over!

Among all of the gloom and destruction, one of the most comforting things to see was literally HUNDREDS of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints wearing their yellow Mormon Helping Hands t-shirts. It is comforting to know that even when tragedy hits, we can both GIVE and RECEIVE many blessings from the kindness and service of those around us. Amazing. Truly Amazing!

{ The Good }...

Yesterday was not a good day. I felt the heavy burdens of life's everyday responsibilities and I let it get to me...A LOT!

BUT, as I was laying in bed last night, all I could think about were the small things that had made me smile.

*Hearing Drew tell Kaylee how much he missed her while she was at school.

*Drinking hot chocolate with my kids for their after school snack.

*Drew had broken one of Jake's toys while he was at school. He told me that he felt bad about it because Jake is his friend.

*Coming home from running errands with the kids to find my husband mowing the lawn.

*Melissa bringing my family dinner because I had a breakdown with her on the phone that day.

*Casey taking all of the kids to wash the car so that I could have some time ALL BY MYSELF (even if it was just a half an hour).

*Family and friends calling me just to say hi. Me pouring my heart out and then having the chance to listen to words of wisdom.

*Kaylee holding my hand while we were shopping.

*Drew wanting to hold Jake's hand (this caused a big fight because Jake didn't want to hold his hand), but I still loved hearing Drew say that he wanted to hold his big brothers hand.

*Spending a little extra time with Kaylee after the other kids were in bed.

*Casey sacrificing his workout time last night to spend time with me while we finished the kids Halloween costumes.

*Drew reminding me to help him say his bedtime prayers. I had forgotten with the hustle and bustle.

As I was laying there thinking about all of these things, I realized that I see the Lord's hand in my life like that everyday. Sometimes I'm just to busy to notice it. I'm always wishing that I had more time in my day (don't we all?) But I realized that it's how we spend our time that matters, not how much time we have because we'll never have enough.

I ran across this quote again last night:

In all of living have much fun and laughter, life is to be enjoyed not just endured. -President Gordon B. Hinckley

I can't let myself get so caught up in the everyday responsibilities that I forget to enjoy the good things in my day. Everything has a way of working itself out. Life is to short not to focus on the good.

What do I really have to complain about?

{ My streak is over }...

I am 30 years old (yes, I really just admitted that, WOW!) and I have always been proud to say that I have never, ever had a cavity before. My dentists in the past are always amazed that my teeth are straight without having had braces and that I have healthy teeth without having work done to them, besides normal cleanings. Well today, my streak of good luck with my teeth is over! I can no longer say that I have zero cavities. So sad... I got my first filling done this morning. YUCK! I now understand what people mean when they say how much they hate going to the dentist. I totally agree! There really wasn't anything fun about it at all. I love going to get my teeth cleaned, but having work done, is completely different. It stinks when they use the drill and it tastes disgusting! I hated having my mouth numbed, I felt ridiculous. I would go to my girly checkup any day over going to the dentist! I'm glad that the first cavity is over because now I know what to expect and I can relate to all of you with your feelings of dread over the dentist. I do realize that there is a lot worse than a cavity and I am sooooo glad that's all I had to do!

{ A day out with my littlest boy }...

Last week Drew and I enjoyed a day out. Our ward has a playgroup that gets together every now and then and last week we took a drive about 30 minutes away to this farm/pumpkin patch. The weather was so nice. We had fun enjoying a change of pace and different scenery. It made it feel a little like fall around here.

Isn't it such a cute place? I loved the red barn and the windmill.

Drew took a ride on the horse (with much coaxing from me). I never know when he's going to be timid. It's not usually part of his character. He is our little dare devil, so it always takes me by surprise when I have to bribe him to do something I know he will enjoy. He was glad he went on the horse. He wore a proud smile the whole ride.

This sheep wasn't going to leave Drew alone. As soon as Drew came by, he stuck his head out like that and said "Baaaaah". It scared Drew at first and he hid behind my leg. Then he started to laugh and said "It burped mom". What?!?! It did sound a little funny, but I don't know where he got that from. This sheep didn't leave Drew alone until he finally got close enough to pet him.

That was as good as it was going to get!

We went on a train ride, which was one of his favorite things (of course). That is an awful picture of me, but I'm hardly ever in pictures, so I just take what I can get! :0

They got to pick out one free pumpkin at the end. This one is now sitting as part of the centerpiece on our kitchen table. He loves it!

And he made a girlfriend! How cute is that!?! This is my friends daughter that we drove with. They were sharing each others lunches and snacks on our drive home.

It was fun to have a little feel for fall. Now I'm on a hunt to find a serious pumpkin patch around here to take the whole family too. Until next time...

{ We had a little mishap this weekend }...

This mishap included our neighborhood playground and Jake.

I snapped this picture of him on his way out the door to catch the bus this morning.

On Saturday afternoon, Casey and the kids rode their bikes to the park while I left to run some errands. They were at the park for only 10 minutes or so when Jake fell off the monkey bars (which he is normally a pro at) and landed right on his elbow, breaking it. My cell phone battery died on me while I was at Sam's Club printing pictures. I decided to call Casey and check in before I left the store. While I was at the customer service desk, the man working the photo department came over to tell me that my husband called looking for me and to call him A.S.A.P. So I did and Casey quickly told me to meet him at the emergency room. We spent the rest of the evening there trying to keep 3 kids entertained, which is so fun! :( Jake was so funny though! At first, you could tell that he was pretty miserable and in a lot of pain, but I think he just became numb to the situation. We are all so used to this scenario that we really don't even blink about it anymore. It wears us out and drains us of energy, but we know the drill and what to expect.

Back to Jake...there was a bed in his curtained off room and a chair but he refused to sit on either one. So he stood pretty much the whole time and played "Simon Says" with us. We had lots of laughs, which took up a small portion of the 4 hours spent in the emergency room. After some x-rays, they wrapped up his VERY, VERY swollen elbow, put him in a sling and sent us on our way. Monday morning, we spent many more hours at the Dr. office getting more x-rays and then getting his arm casted. He picked a blue one which is now completely covered with signatures. It's a long arm cast that goes from right below his shoulder all the way down to his hand. It's water proof, which is nice. We are so glad it's cooling off here. This would have been miserable in the summer! He's having a hard time at school, since it's his right hand and he has pain in the evenings from being busy all day, but we are working on all of that. We LOVE Tylenol with Codeine! So very thankful for it! Overall, he is doing great. He's a tough little boy! BOYS!!! So far this boy of ours, who is only 5, has had two sets of stitches on his head, a broken wrist (left hand, luckily) and now a broken elbow! Some of you aren't surprised at all to see him in a cast! We always have some sort of medical bills around here. Now that we have met our deductible, we might as well load it up for the rest of the year!

{ Stories In Hand }...

It's true. I am a blog stalker. I will admit it. I subscribe to read Jessica Sprague's Blog, so I always know when there's a new post. For those of you that aren't aware of her...she is a digital scrapbooker and teaches seminars all over the place, writes for magazines and is always offering a class on line. She has great suggestions for Photoshop and all sorts of things. But she also does more than just digital stuff. This morning, I could see that she had a new post, so I HAD to go check it out. Below is the class she's been preparing for. Take a look...it's pretty awesome.

She's offering this class for FREE. And it isn't JUST for scrapbookers. It's about story telling and how EVERYONE has stories to tell, but we don't always have time to write them up. So many times, they get lost in our minds and forgotten about. You have to go here and read about it for yourself. I really like how she says not all of our stories need to have a picture. Or that sometimes (for the scrapbooking girls) we get a picture, but it doesn't turn out remotely decent , so then we get discouraged and just forget the story all together. Blogging has really helped me with all of the story telling, but I think this can add even more. I'm so excited about it, I can hardly wait! Not that I need ANYTHING else to do right now, or another project to start, but I feel like this can be beneficial in so many ways! Go check it out. She explains it so much better than me.

Just thought I would spread the word and let everyone have an opportunity! Have a great weekend...

{ This Time of Year }...

...is just the beginning of much holiday decorating. Which is a lot of fun, but it can bring on the headaches too! Last week I pulled out my fall box and got my house decorated. I realized that I didn't have as much as I remembered having. (I think I got rid of a lot before I moved). So I kept it simple. I did a lot with the mini real pumpkins. I like this because I can have it out in October through Halloween and still keep it out in November. (I don't like to put things out and take them down over and over again through the holidays). Here are a couple pictures of some of the things I did.

The piece above, usually has greenery in it. I wanted to switch it out for fall, so I went on a walk and gathered some twigs for my house (free). What's more fallish than twigs? I thought it could use a little color so I went to Hobby Lobby and got two stems of these berries. They just happened to be on sale. I got them for $1.00 each.

When I was in Arkansas, Andrea had found this (below) on clearance at Target. I had to run on over and get one for myself! Then I just filled it with gords and a little pumpkin

Once I put my fall wreath up outside, my summer flowers were seriously clashing next to it, so I planted a fall version. I did this same arrangement in a couple of my other pots in the front yard.
I don't usually do too much as far as Halloween decorating goes. But I decided I wanted some touches of Halloween in my house, just for fun (my kids like it).
This wreath is hanging on my pantry door in my kitchen. I was at Walmart one day and grabbed a plain wreath, and some spider web and little spiders. I had extra black spray paint outside and Casey was nice enough to spray it for me. It only cost me about $4.oo to do this. Here is where I got the idea from.

Sometime in the next couple of days I'm going to do this while Drew does this. Mine is going to say BOO. I have all of my supplies sitting out on my counter right now, ready to go. I have to do serious talking to myself before I start a craft. I enjoy it, once it's done and I have found just the right spot for it. It's the "doing it" that is sometimes hard for me.

Lots of linking in this post, but I have to give credit to the blogs that bring me inspiration! And now, I am going to cut off my right pointer finger so I will QUIT pushing the post button on my blog! I have SOOOO many more things I need and should be doing...don't we all??? It's just so addicting!

{ Today }...

I edited probably 50 photos. I am very slow at this, so it took up just about all of my free time. I had promised my mom, weeks and weeks ago, that I would e-mail her some pictures to choose from. A couple of months ago, I took my kids to this trail by our house and did a very amateur photo shoot with them. I wasn't super happy with how they turned out and just let them sit on my computer...until today. I opened Photoshop up and dragged them in there and brought them to life. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Photoshop! These photos of Kaylee were fun to play with. I have such a hard time getting a nice picture of her for some reason. I was really happy to look at these with new eyes and realize that they weren't so bad after all. I saw this girl who is growing up before my very eyes! I love my little princess and dread her having to grow up! I couldn't help but share a little bit of what I was able to stare at for a majority of my day. Oh...they are doubles of color and not color. I couldn't decide.
She is also an amazing big sister. Tonight she crawled in bed with Jake and decided she was going to teach him how to read. I know that's not the only thing she's going to teach her little brothers.

There were some fun ones of the boys too, but I don't want your finger to go numb from scrolling down forever! Thanks for looking. I love looking at things like this on other people's blogs, so I thought I would share the love!

{ Win a Free Handbag }...

I got this from Eileen's blog. Who doesn't want a chance to win a free handbag? There are many to choose from. Go to this site and enter. It's easy!

{ Family Journal }...

A couple of years ago, I was reading in my Family Fun magazine about a tradition one family had. They would gather their kids together one night a month and ask a couple of questions and write them down in their Family Journal. Sometimes they were silly questions to make the kids laugh and sometimes they were serious ones to get them to think. Then they would curl up together and read some favorite books. I loved this idea and decided to start doing this with my family. We do ours every first Monday of the month for Family Home Evening. After we are done asking our questions and writing down every ones responses, we set individual goals for the month. We write these down in our family journal too, but I also type them up and hang them on our fridge as a reminder. After that, we pick out a scrapbook and reminisce about all the fun we've had together. This has been a great way for us to look through pictures, instead of forgetting about them. Then we have a treat. This is what you would find us doing tonight and this is what our treat is going to be.

{ Remembering When }...

This past week was a great week. Probably because I was actually able to spend time with my husband! They are trying something new at his work, where they give each person a week off, but then they are on call at night and on the weekend. It was his week to have off. I was so excited about this when he first told me several months ago, but towards the end of last weekend I wasn't so excited anymore and neither was he. We were picking on each other and getting into marital disputes one after the other. I think we were both dreading what the week might turn out like. I wasn't looking forward to having someone else to entertain and keep happy while the kids were at school and he was thinking he was going to be bored. Soooo... we had a little chat last Sunday night before our week started. I asked him about the things he WANTED to do and I told him about the things I HAD to do. After all...I wasn't the one on vacation, life still must go on. So, we compromised with each other and planned our week together. We also agreed to be VERY patient with one another and cut each other some slack!!!

It turned out to be an awesome week. One filled with reflection for me. I was reminded about the many reasons I fell in love with him and WANTED to marry him in the first place. We enjoyed each others company, laughed a lot and worked together. He went grocery shopping with me and helped me get my chores done. We went to the temple (thanks Mel for watching Drew), went on bike rides, and watched movies. Casey even made dinner for us several nights and helped the kids with their homework. HUGE HELP!!!

What I reflected on most, was what life used to be like for us. I was able to remember the times we had fun like that everyday and what it was like before we had 3 kids...before, when we could actually HEAR the other person talk. When we had time to remember what it was we were going to tell each other, before the thought slipped away or we got interrupted. And most of all, just how important time with your spouse is and how it can heal so many things...just spending time together. Casey already knew this though and had been trying to let me in on this clue for awhile. Sometimes it just takes me a little bit to catch on! Until the day comes that our kids are all grown :( and our house is quiet again, we will enjoy our crazy days together with our very loud kids and remember to sneak quiet time in for each other.

{ Go Take a Look }...

I was asked to do a spotlight about myself on The Errand of Angels blog a long time ago and I am just now doing it. I just got done posting it, so if for some crazy reason you want to read even more about me (about all of the things you already know) then go check it out!