Happy Halloween!!

THE FASHION WITCH

THE QUEEN OF HALLOWEEN

THE NOBLE KNIGHT

This year Lauren was a witch. She saw her fun hat at the party store and new instantly that she had to be a witch. Micaela was a Queen. She acted like she truly thought she was royalty. And AJ was a knight. He finally realized that knights don't beat up the queen/princess, but they protect them. He felt like he had a special job as Micaela's very tough knight . They had a very fun day. I hope these memories last forever. It was a very busy day for me. Making sure everyone has every part of their costume, hair, make-up done. Plus Halloween school parade, and I'm Micaela's homeroom mother, so was in charge of her class party, and then helped with Lauren's class party afterwards. AJ came with me. So I was all day at the school. But I wouldn't change it for the world. These are the things the children will remember for a lifetime. And I'm glad I get to be their mother and spend this type of time with them.
Her royal highness during the halloween costume parade.
Lauren's classroom party. Of course little sis/best friend was there. Lauren with one of her favorite friends, Haley.

Micaela's Kindergarten party. The BYU cheerleader is one of her best friends, Janessa. Another friend, Hannah, and her teacher, Richelle, who is so fun and cute.

Trick or treating with friends Hunter and Halle

Life Can Change in an Instant!

On Friday night I was enjoying a girls night out. Two friends and I took our girls to see High School Musical 3. Little did I know that while we were enjoying the end of the movie, a tragedy was occurring just a few miles down the road on I-15.

Shortly after arriving home, I heard on the news that there had been a "fatal" car accident involving a Honda and a Semi. The news detailed the back-up on I-15 and the freeway being shutdown so that life-flight could take a victim to the hospital. Little did we realize that we would soon find out that we knew the two girls in the Honda.

The next morning my husband received a phone call from our bishop that gave details of the accident. It was such a shock as reality of this tragic accident from the night before that we heard on the news suddenly hit close to home. In fact, very close to our 'home'. The victims were two teenage sisters ..... our neighbors. Unfortunately the younger of the two sisters was killed on impact (the cute little blonde wearing red in the above pic). The other sister was flown to U of U. She is doing alright, and considering the accident, it's a miracle that she only has minor injuries.

This family is an awesome, fun, neat, family. The ones whose home is always the gathering place for fun summer/neighborhood parties. The neighbors who are always so kind, fun, and very thoughtful. Our family has been the recipient of many of their acts of kindness. I remember a couple of years ago that on a Sunday morning AJ burned his hand badly. Later that afternoon one of the girls was thoughtful enough to make cookies for us and deliver them. Both sisters are very kind. They have so many friends in this ward. Not only the youth of this ward, but also adults, and young children. My girls really look up to these two girls. They loved seeing them wear their formal dresses to church the day after a formal dance at their school. My girls would always comment how pretty they looked, and noticed that they were modest. They're both girls that you are happy for your young children to look up to and exemplify.

As we worshiped at church yesterday, I think everybody just felt numb. We all love this family. We can't imagine what they are going through. My cute Lauren said, "Mom, L must have been so special and Heavenly Father must have missed her so much, that he needed her to go home to heaven."

I know our Bishop told all of us to go home and hug our children. And hug them often. You never know what life will bring. It's important to cherish each moment with our loved ones.

(We love you....'S' family!)

Sunday Dinners at Our House

Sunday dinner is one of my most favorite times of the week. Probably because this is the only day of the week where all 5 of us can sit down for a meal together. Matt isn't home at all during the weekdays to eat with us. And also, Matt cooks every Sunday. It's the best, and he's become really good at it. The kids will easily admit they enjoy Matt's cooking to mine. So every Sunday there is always great aromas in our kitchen from Matt's yummy cooking.
I also enjoy the conversation between all of us. Even Anthon gets in on it. Yesterday we were sitting at the table enjoying steaks, baked potatoes with all the fixings, and salad (later Matt made homemade soft pretzels) when Anthon announced that he learned a new song in his Nursery/Primary class. Before we could ask him what it was he broke into song: "The rains came down and the frogs came up....the rains came down and the frogs came up!" The rest of us instantly burst out laughing, especially Lauren. (For those of you who don't know the song it goes.....The Rains Came down and the floods came up.) I believe it was on a Sunday we heard his other version of a famous Primary Song. "Jesus Wants Me for a Sun-BEEP!) (instead of Sunbeam). One time during dinner too, there was a lull in conversation and so Anthon asked, "So, what do you want to talk about next.........Heavenly Father or Monsters,Inc." Don't know where that one came from. Gotta love a 3 year old's mind.
We have fun at our house. There's nothing greater than sitting down with all the ones you love and having great conversation, some laughs and great food made my someone who loves you.

Happy 6th Birthday to our Cutie!

(sleeping little newborn Micaela)
(first Christmas. Getting kisses from Nana)
(Sisters. Lauren 20 months. Micaela one week)

(Pre-school Halloween party. 4 years old)Micaela celebrated her 6th birthday a couple of weeks ago. We love our Micaela girl so much, and feel so blessed to have her in our home.

I had a couple very special experiences when pregnant with her and with her arrival. When it comes to spiritual matters, she seems wise beyond her years.

I realized I was pregnant with her the weekend of Lauren's first birthday. So they are 20 months apart. There was instantly a close bond between them, and they're still best friends. (Some days when Lauren gets home from school, she's disappointed that Micaela is off at a friends house, because she wants to play with her sister.)

THINGS WE LOVE ABOUT OUR MICAELA:

* Her funny, carefree personality

* That she doesn't let anyone boss her around

* Her intelligence and love for books (As soon as she could crawl, she's crawl up the stairs to her bookcase and begin pulling out books one at a time and use baby-talk as if she were reading, and then turn the page. She'd do that for an hour.)

* That she remembers almost everything she reads and hears. This can make for some good comedic moments, when she throws out a line of a movie, or something she heard on a TV commercial. At lunch the other day I had prepared her lunch on a paper plate. She got excited, "Yeah, we're making it a Dixie day!!"

* Her blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and long eyelashes. Her cousins are convinced she's a Fairy. "Because she has fairy hair, and a fairy voice."

* The way she freely expresses her emotion and love to those around her.

* She gets so excited about everything in life.

* Her love for dance and her innate ability. That she loves to stand on 'pointe' without ballet shoes on. (Don't know how she does that one).

We love our Micaela with all of our hearts. We're glad she arrived 6 years ago!

Birthday Celebrating!

QUEEN OF THE PARTY!

For Micaela's Birthday we had a "Boo Birthday Bash", a Halloween costume party. We did a couple crafts, games, had a Scavenger Hunt with all the lights turned off and they all had their own flashlight. We made witches brew complete with bats blood (fruit punch concentrate), swamp water (limeade concentrate) toad hearts (strawberries), and some other interesting stuff. They liked all the smoke from the dry ice, and I had an ingredient for each child to put in the witches cauldron. Then we had a costume fashion show down our back staircase with a strobe light. Micaela had so much fun and said, "Thank you mom, this was the best birthday ever". We're so glad Micaela is surrounded by so many great and fun friends.

Then the next day (her actual birthday) we went bowling as a family, and then had my parents to lunch. Micaela wanted an American Girl doll, which she got, but I warned that would be all that she'd get (cause they're so dang expensive). So she got the Elizabeth Am. Girl Doll (her fave because she read in the catalog that she was learning how to be a proper lady) and an extra outfit and accessories. Oh, and yes, I bought another rodent (we had a guinea pig already)! She got a baby teddy bear hamster the week prior. She's large, with orange/brown fur and very sweet. She named her "Cupcake". I bought her from an individual a couple weeks before her birthday. AJ spilled the secret, so it wond up being an early present.

Thank you to everyone for the cards, gifts, and especially for loving Micaela and being apart of her life.

Gotta Love Fall Weather!!!!!

So this is what we were doing just a couple of week ago.........

One day after school, I packed up my three children and a couple extra friends, and took them to a nearby park. There's a really fun playground, but who can resist wading in the irrigation ditch that runs through the park.

And this is two days ago......................

Yep, it snowed!!! In October. I guess not totally unusual for where we live. But it's always a shock when you go from warm weather, to freezing winter weather. These pics were taken after church. I had been out the day before to buy warm coats (everyone had outgrown theirs). They don't quite go with church clothes, but they liked them so much they wanted to wear them. There's was a lot more snow when we woke up. Part of it had melted when we got out of church. The kids were bummed because they wanted to go make snow angels. After we took these pictures Micaela spyed snow on the trampoline and thought it's be a great idea to make snow angels there. I told her not in her church dress!

Candid Self Portrait!!!

So I was sitting at a stop light on my way to taking Micaela to dance, and had the other 2 in the car with me. I looked over and saw the camera sitting in the middle console (there from taking pictures at a school event a couple of days earlier) and thought........what the heck. And I snapped a picture of myself. I'm sure the cars next to me thought I was a little strange. But heck, it seems like I am never in any pictures. And I never post anything on by blog just about ME. It's always about someone else in my family. So here is Shirlene, doing her thing. What I look like most days. You can see AJ in the back seat chillin' watching Shrek2. Even if it seems a little wierd, hey, I'm glad I included myself on my own blog!