A.I.M. Halloween Carnival

My Rockin Staff!!
Ok, I know they don't look too professional in this pic...but they are awesome!
We put together a fun afternoon for a hundred+ kids AND we were all smiling in the end :)

Hanna and her good friend Ella. They loved letting Alexie dress them up and do their makeup!

Beck and Piper. Beck was anti-Halloween and wouldn't dress-up. And Piper was at one point seen stripping her costume also...

Alizah was a bunny fairy turned princess fairy. My favorite is her "super-fast" tennis shoes that had to go with her outfit. She also enjoyed Alexie and her make-up. Now, every time Alexie comes over, Alizah asks if she can bring her make-up!


We had a fun afternoon for the first party of many for this Halloween season. We've carved pumpkins twice already and have a Stake Halloween carnival on Thursday and this is all before Halloween! We'll be traveling on Halloween day and arriving in Burley hopefully in time for trick-or-treating. The kids will all miss their school Halloween parties, just like last year. What's with family planning things on such a major holiday...just kidding! There is plenty of candy to go around and my kids DON"T need anymore sugar. Piper's newest thing is to take the entire pantry sugar container and hide in the living room and eat it by the spoonful. Why haven't I found a new place for the container yet? I guess she takes after me. My aunt still teases me becasue my favorite food at one time when I was a kid was butter and sugar sandwiches!!!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Something must be shocking to Alizah!

Alizah loved the leaves and loved to be chased around the "forest" of trees.

Piper hung in there for a few of the field trips this week and picked a pumpkin every time.

Hanna and Paisley (this outfit and picture is funny to see cuz I took Piper's picture the exact same way a few years ago in the same outfit!)

ALizah loved the GREEN pumpkins-they were actually easier to carve!


Ok, all my fonts/color is messed up and I couldn't figure it out in the above lines....
So we went to every one of my school's pumpkin patch field trips (six times in all). We were the drivers for the hay ride down to my neighbor's patch, so my kids definately got their fill of field trips this week. We also only lost two pair of gloves through the whole week! Hanna got to skip school and come to one of the trips. She's having a hard time with the amount of second grade work so it was kindof nice to give her a little break and let her do another type of learning! The school kids rode the hay ride, did the pumpkin thing, played in the leaves, gathered pinecones, then played in the backyard. My favorite time was when one of the classes, Alizah included, played pirate ship in our backyard swingset/fort. They were "heaving" up the anchor (a wrapped up volleyball net) and yelling at each other pirate style. It was so fun to see their imagination. You just don't see very much of that anymore with all the academic push so young. I won't get on my soap box today, but it's just fun to see their minds at work without a pencil in their hand...We had a busy week. We'll post pictures of the pumpkins we carved and the Halloween carnival that was today-as soon as Korbi emails them to me:)

I also have a story that I wanted to post, but I don't know if it is very appropriate, but I figure this is like our family's history-so I'll just say this much. My seven year old and I just had the "talk" today. I figured she was WAY TOO YOUNG!! But a neigbor girl has been telling her things and she was asking way too many questions, so I figured I better be the one to be giving the answers instead of an 8 year old. So I just wondered where my little baby has gone??? She has grown up and I'm just counting my blessings she came to me and I pray we keep this relationship for at least a few more years!!!!!

Thoughtful gift

I got a package and a card in the mail today from my Grandmother. It was a thoughtful card with a nice treat in it! And the package had three black wooden letters in it....A.I.M. This stands for my business and will look great in my new office!! I promise pictures will follow soon when I get the room put together. I just had to post quickly and tell her thank-you for the thoughtful gift and it was nice to know she was thinking of me. I rarely get a chance to talk on the phone and do anything in person, usually because people are asleep by the time I slow down for the night! :) It's sure fun to get mail and i appreciate all the nice thoughts for our family lately and the kind gestures of cards, lunches,and packages. It's been a good day!

Olympic Superstar Tour

Our Future Superstars!! The girls were so excited to see the gymnasts. Our two little ones, Laney and Alizah even wore their leos and everyone got a kick out of them!

WOW!! Nastia Liuken and Hanna!! We were talking about Alizah's birthday and having a princess come and Hanna pipes up and says I want Nastia and Shawn to come to my b-day. I hate to break the news to her that this is the closest she'll ever get even though it was only for a few seconds. I couldn't believe how fast the security rushed you through. The girls wouldn't even talk to the Olympians and they were just really busy signing things.

Shawn Johnson and Hanna and Victoria-a teammate.

So this was a once in a lifetime opportunity for our girls. We had great seats and when the gymnasts ran by to change events or move formations, they would run along the side and give out High Fives...Hanna got to give Nastia a high five! I had two backstage passes for the autograph session so Hanna and Victoria got to be with only about 30 other people that got to go meet the gymnasts, but I had been e-mailing one of the head ticket guys and he actually let me slip in with them, so I got to take pictures and got a shirt signed along with a few posters for the gym. Hanna had her leo signed along with the other Olympians from Woodward Camp this summer. Hanna was actually pretty sick with a high fever and wasn't too energetic the whole night. I felt so bad that she wasn't enjoying it as much as she could have. She was a trooper and I guess she'll remember it in the end. Alizah had so much fun. She kept asking if they were real and all she wanted to do was touch them. I was so grateful to be able to take them. When I was in high school, I took my sister Jake to one of these and still remember meeting my idols and getting their autographs. I'm thankful to be able to give my kids these memories.

Hanna's School's Fundraiser

Hanna had so much fun at Longview's Jog-A-Thon. I didn't help her get too many sponsors (Mom and Korbi:)), but her grandparents did sponsor the back of the school's shirts-so thanks!! I got to see a few laps, but was not able to stay for the whole thing. Hanna's school is really great. Her principal, teachers, secretaries, counselors are so nice to work with. She likes school and told me one of the boys likes her "like a boyfriend". OK, WHOA....when did this start happening in the second grade? I took a deep breath then asked "what a boyfriend" meant. And she said he just chases her. So I asked her if she liked him chasing her. She said no and she tells the teacher all the time. I guess I better tell her to stop being so cute and nice!! Speaking of funny things, Alizah was smelling something outside of the car today and said to me, "Mom, you didn't shower today and you stink." Let's hope they let me shower tomorrow!

Another comment, there are sure some nice people out there. Unfortunatley, I missed one of them today or even possibly yesterday. One of my friends stopped by to give me lunch, and all i got was the note and I don't even know what day it was written. I sure appreciate people that go out of their way to make me smile! thanks....

Dead Mouse

One down, I don't know how many more to go.....it was so exciting!??

I had two meetings in my new office today...I actually used the words "step into my office". It was great! I can't wait to decorate more. Hanna had her Jog-A-Thon today. I borrowed a friend's camera so we'll post pics soon. She ran 20 laps for her school and after 3 hours of gymnastics-she's asleep earlier than ever! Alizah's even down before 10 and Piper is on her way. Wow, my show's even recorded and I might get to relax and eat my "Triple Chocolate Nirvana" rice krispie treat that my friend dropped off to me today!! What a name for a treat though...I haven't been able to do my morning workouts lately and I'm definitely missing them, so I better only eat 1/2...anyone want to take bets to see if it's gone before morning? We're looking forward to a quiet weekend and hope that the weather cooperates to play outside. Our grass still looks so green and nicely mowed that it's hard to believe it's getting too cold to play outside. I guess I better start digging out coats and making sure we have the right sizes..We also are going to take a walk down to our neighbor's pumpkin patch and check the progress.. We go with my school and we usually have to "transplant" a few because we have so many kids. It's also a fun trip with a hay ride and games at my house. We look forward to it coming soon!

Murdered mouse?

I have not murdered my mouse house guest yet, although the thought consumes me....I tip toe around doing the dishes and know that he/she is not going to run out while I'm watching, he'll/she'll wait until my guard is down and scare me then. Just when I think it might be gone (after a few days of no signs), it will make an appearance. I know the process, but can't seem to get it out of my mind. Besides a wanna be mouse killer, I'm also a liar to my children. According to them, the traps are still set "just in case" because we've caught the mouse. To my defense, the lie was necessary for their health. Poor Hanna ate her cereal on the stairs today for fear of going downstairs. If anyone is close to Hanna, they know her EXTREME fear of rats because of Ratatouie-the movie. We can't even say rats in our hair-we have to say snarls. She has nightmares, etc. So you can only imagine what one living in our house does to her. I hope to see a dead mouse tomorrow-I'd even take two or three (because Korbi says if there's one-you know there's more. She tells me this why????)

Besides setting my own mouse traps last night, I also went out of my comfort zone and attended a Chamber of Commerce social as we are now a part of the "commerce". It sounds so official. I was completely out of my eliment. It's a good thing I took Jasmine-my other teacher because I seemed to be tongue tied the whole time. I'm very comfortable around 5 year olds, but men and women in business attire intimidate me. It will be very good for our business as we are trying to up the level of professionalism. I also am enjoying the peace and quiet of my new office. I'm needed a few more pieces of office furniture, but anyone that is around here, I'm inviting you to "step into" my office and let me just pretend to do real business for a few minutes! Maybe I should make Korbi come take pictures to post for everyone when it's done!

I Just NEED One Break!!

So cute, huh??!!@@#$#@ This is a picture of something I want to die. He/She currently is living behind my dishwasher. My children and I are moving upstairs and will be eating out until this creature is gone. I will be calling in reinforcements tomorrow. I'm sending a message to any of it's friends/relatives that I mean business this time and I will not play games. All of the appliances are coming out and I'm calling in Kellee. She was your associate's destruction last time-SO BEWARE!!

Great-Grandma Mimi

We were so blessed to have family here this weekend. Great-Grandma Mimi came to visit with Uncle Tim, Aunt Debbie, Cousins-Kaela, Jordyn, and Justin, and Grandma Maimi Dawn. The kids were very excited to show off their gym, their rooms and their toys. We swam at the motel, painted me a new office at work, and played with the cousins. It was a much needed break and it is hard to have to go back to normal today. Korbi posted me some pics last night to show everyone my fish that love to swim! We watched conference as much as we could with all the kids and recorded it for me with the tevo so I can watch when they go to sleep! My friend Melanie and I actually hooked up the satellite a few days ago. We've had a broken satellite for a few weeks and I've missed all the premiers to my shows and the kids were going into a serious relaspe from missing Maggie and the Ferocious Beast. We're (maybe me the most :) ) are so excited to have it back!! Did anyone notice the smiley face I made? I'm also catching up on my texting skills!!