Neighborhood Halloween Party

Our neighborhood always has the funnest Halloween Party. Each street is assigned something to bring (soup, apple cider, rolls, etc.) and then we all meet in front of one house and talk and eat. They get two bounce houses for the kids, play scary music and have a scary movie going. It's so much fun to see everyone in their costumes and to let the kids play together.

After Ethan and Courtney bounced for a while, and had a little bit to eat, they were ready to go trick-or-treating. I went home to give out the candy...or pencils in our case (I am boycotting candy right now)...Bryan took Ethan and two of his friends while Courtney went with the mom and dad of one of the friends that was with Ethan (did that make sense?). Anyway. Bryan rode Ethan's scooter to try and keep up with Ethan and his friends. When they got back Bryan walked Carter home and saw Courtney coming up the street, so he went and finished up trick-or-treating with her and her friends. They had so much fun!!

When Ethan came home we watched a BYU volleyball game while he handed out candy when the trick-or-treaters came. He said that was more fun than going house to house because he was helpful. ;)

Here's some photos:

Ethan's Halloween Parade and Party

Ethan had his Halloween Parade and party today. He was Spiderman and loved it! Courtney and I met my parents at his school at 9:30 this morning and waited for the classes to come out. They did a parade through each classroom so they could see each other, so it took a bit of time for them to get outside, but it was cute. All the 1st grade teachers, but one, were dressed as ants with signs on their backs saying "Where's the picnic?" and the other teacher was dressed as the picnic. It was really cute. The Kindergarten teachers were dressed as the Three Little Pigs with someone else as the wolf. So it was a fun parade to watch. Here's the video:



After the parade, I went into Ethan classroom to help with the party (I'm one of the room moms) and my parents took Courtney back to our house to play. The party was so much fun. The kids played "Binghost" with M&Ms as their markers (although a lot of them needed more M&Ms before the game was over). They played that three times with the last time being "Blackout" but since they all had the same cards they all got blackout at the same time. It was cute to watch them all yell "Blackout" at the same time. Then we split them into three stations. One station did a craft, another station decorated cookies (that was my responsibility) and another station played "Wrap the Mummy" with toilet paper. It was hilarious and the kids had a lot of fun. Here's the video of Ethan being wrapped as a mummy.



Here's the photos:

Courtney's Party!

Today was Courtney's preschool Halloween Party! Courtney wasn't too sure about going to the party. When I got her into her costume, she was a bit nervous about going and she actually cried all the way there. It took me about 15 minutes to finally get her calmed down to where I could go home. Then she had a great time!! The moms went the last 30 minutes to listen to their songs and trick or treat. It was so cute and Leanne Kemp (the mom of the week) did an awesome job.

The kids sang the days of the week song, itsy bitsy spider song, "What are you going to be on Halloween" song, and did a little skit of "Little Miss Muffet." It was great and the kids had so much fun. They even took a bow at the end. When we got home Courtney asked if she could switch her costume and be a BYU cheerleader "just like my best friend Hayley." I told her that she could be a BYU cheerleader next year and she seemed fine with it. But she kept cheering "BYU" all day long after that. Cute!

Here are some videos:

Best Teacher on the Planet!

A couple of weeks ago I was driving the kids home from Ethan's piano lesson and there wasn't anything good on the radio so I was channel surfing trying to find something to listen to (I had forgotten my Sansa). I stopped on a station called Planet 94.1 and they were announcing a contest called the "Best Teacher on the Planet." Ethan immediately perked up. It said that you had to get on their internet site and nominate your teacher for the award by telling why he/she is the Best Teacher on the Planet. When we got home Ethan instantly asked if I could get him on the radio station's site. So we did a search and found it. Then he asked if I would help him nominate his teacher for the award. I helped him fill out the form and he told me what to type in the essay part. He said that she was great because she didn't give them very much homework, was nice, made school fun and was a great teacher. It was sweet.

When we had submitted it, I made sure to tell Ethan that they probably had a lot of entries and that his may not be chosen so not to be too disappointed if we didn't hear anything back from them. He wanted to go to school and tell all his friends to get online and nominate his teacher also, but I think he probably forgot. He was so excited about it though. Then we forgot all about it.

I ran errands with Courtney today and when we got back the elementary school's name was on our caller ID. I was nervous that Ethan was sick or something, but they hadn't called my cell phone. I noticed there was a message and so I listened. It was Mrs. Feltwell, Ethan's teacher. She called to thank me for nominating her for the Best Teacher on the Planet. Ethan's entry had won!! The radio station gave Mrs. Feltwell a gift certificate for a pedicure and some other things (I think).

When Ethan got home he was so excited. He told me that they were doing worksheets in their classroom when some people walked in and asked if Ethan was there. He said he was a little nervous because he didn't know why they were there, but then they explained that his entry was the one that had won and that his teacher was the "Best Teacher on the Planet." Ethan got a gift certificate for a free meal at Ruby River Steak House, a coupon for Cinnasticks at Domino's Pizza and another gift card (I don't remember what for now). And the entire class got cookies...right before lunch! ;) He was so happy about it and said that his teacher was so excited and he felt so good making her happy.

His funniest comment was that he met "read people who are on the radio." That seemed to thrill him too. Mrs. Feltwell, in her message, said that this had made her year and I certainly hope so. She has really made school fun for Ethan and he just loves her so I'm glad we could give something to her that she will enjoy (who doesn't enjoy being pampered and told they are wonderful?!)! And I'm glad I have a considerate son who thinks of others!

Bedtime Stories

I think Courtney has to have the best big brother in the world! Ethan has books from school that he has to read each night and then I sign the paper saying he has read them and the next day he gets two different books to bring home. He loves reading these to me and calls them my "bedtime story by Ethan." Usually he reads to me while Bryan is putting Courtney to bed and it works out really well. But tonight Bryan was at Mutual and so I had to put Courtney to bed. Ethan wanted to be helpful (Sharing Time on Sunday was about Service Stars and Ethan has been really working on serving others since then) so he asked if he could read his take home library books to Courtney as her bedtime story. She loved the idea and then cuddled in her rocking chair while Ethan read her a story about a Dentist and a story about a hole in a yard. It was cute.

After he finished reading he put Courtney in her crib and sang her a song then gave her a big hug and told her he loved her. It was so sweet and she was in heaven with all the big brother attention she was getting. I hope, for Bryan's sake, that Courtney doesn't request this every night because Bryan loves his Courtney time.

The Haunted Gingerbread House

I bought a Wilton Haunted Gingerbread House to decorate with the kids. Last year we did Christmas Gingerbread Houses and I thought they would like the spooky version. But they take so long to do right and we lack patience in our family (at least the kids and I do). When you put the walls together you are supposed to wait 1 hour to let the icing set up before putting the roof on. When you do it correctly, it takes about 3-4 hours ot glueing and then waiting before you can put candy on. Anyway, Bryan helped me glue the house together Tuesday night and then tonight I let the kids decorate it. I didn't want to mix up the black frosting to decorate, so we did it all in orange, but I think it turned out cute. Ethan just wants to eat it, but Courtney got her fill of the candy while we were trying to decorate it. She really likes black licorice jelly beans. Now I have to keep Ethan away from it until Halloween so it doesn't eat it!

Carving Pumpkins

Bryan had mutual tonight and the kids have been begging to carve their pumpkins. We couldn't think of another night when we wouldn't be busy, so I helped them carve pumpkins. It actually wasn't so bad. We had the two pumpkins sitting outside on the porch for a couple of days and today they were right in the direct sun. When I cut the first one open, it was really warm inside. I think that made it easier for me to get all the seeds out because it wasn't as hard as I had remembered, or as messy. Then Ethan drew faces on the pumpkins and I cut them while Courtney cut up a piece of paper (I don't know why, don't ask!). On Ethan's pumpkin he drew a tooth hanging down and when I cut it the tooth ended up a bit loose. Ethan thought this was so cool because it's in the same place of the smile as his loose tooth! He told me he is going to pull his tooth on Halloween, and I think it's ready to come out!

When we finished, I got out my lilac scented tea lights (the only tea lights I could find in our house) and we went outside to light them. They looked great, although it was still light.

So now we have jack-o-lanterns!

Scriptures

Yesterday it clicked with Ethan that if he concentrates he can read the scriptures without too much of a problem. During Sacrament Meeting he was reading away and it kept him pretty quiet. Ethan loves to go home teaching with Bryan. After Church, Ethan sat down and read his scriptures, getting a verse ready to share with the family they would be visiting that night. It was so cute. Bryan said at the home of the family Ethan read 1 Nephi 3:7 to them and that was their lesson. He even marked it with red pen in his little missionary scriptures.

During Family Home Evening, he had to be the one to share the scripture. It was so neat to see it all click with him. Now he is so excited about reading that he reads while eating breakfast! I love it! The funny thing about it is that now Courtney thinks she can read scriptures too.

Last night she opened up the Book of Mormon (upside down) and began reading. There was an "and it came to pass" in there along with a "and the Lamanites were the bad guys" along with something about a mermaid. She always ends he scripture reading with the Pledge of Allegiance. It's pretty hilarious!!

Here's a video of Ethan reading. There's one of Courtney too, but she isn't speaking English (she has her own pretend language).

Crazy Party Saturday!

This was a crazy Saturday! Ethan had a soccer game at 9 a.m. We loaded up and went to Dixie State to the soccer field. We went to the field we thought we were supposed to be on and the boys started to warm up. Another team showed up and told us that we were on the wrong field. So we moved to the next field over, thinking we may have been mistaken. The game started and our boys were playing great. They scored 3 goals by the middle of the second quarter. Then another coach came up and told us that we were playing his team and that we needed to leave. (Forget the fact that he was 20 minutes late and only had 3 players ready to go.) So we took our boys onto an empty field and let them finish the game by playing with each other. They had a blast.

Then, while I went shopping, Bryan took the kids to the park and then to his office so they could change into their costumes. There was a Halloween pottery party at Brushfire Pottery. I took the kids to the party while Bryan went shopping. The kids got lunch, a piece to paint (Ethan did a shark and Courtney did a fish), and a tile each. They loved it!



When we were finished with the pottery, we went home for a couple of hours to hang out before we went to a dance party at the Ivins City Recreation building. Courtney's dance teacher was giving the party and she really wanted to go but she wanted Ethan to come to. It was hilarious! Ethan wasn't too into dancing (I think he was tired!) but he did do a few games with them. Courtney was all out. They did the hokey-pokey, macarena, the electric slide and some other dances. She partied hard for 1 1/2 hours!

Here are some photos!

Big Scoop

Last night was Santa Clara Elementary night at Big Scoop. St. George is home to Blue Bunny ice cream. There is a factory that makes it just outside of town. A few years ago, they opened a large ice cream parlor and called it Blue Bunny. The kids loved to go there, but not enough because last year the parlor had to shut down because of lack of funds. A few of the employees took matters into their own hands and opened a smaller ice cream shop/deli/pizza place down the street and are selling Blue Bunny ice cream and calling it Big Scoop. In order to get the word out that they are there, they partnered up with the schools to do a fund raising night. The teachers sign up for a time to be the waiters/waitresses and the school gets 100% of tips made and 10% of all sales during the fund raiser. Last night was our school's night so we went to support it.

We went at 6 p.m. (right when it started) because Ethan's teacher would be serving during that time. There were only a few other families there when we arrived. My parents also showed up to help support his school. Ethan had birthday cake ice cream (his all time favorite) and so did Courtney. I had some vanilla and Bryan attempted to order mint chocolate chip...it was out...so he tried chocolate chip...it was out...so he tried Bunny Tracks...and they had it! By the time we had eaten, paid and were leaving, the place was PACKED. There is outdoor seating and that was completely filled also. It was great to see Ethan greet all of his school friends and see how excited he was to see his teacher. And it's great that so much money comes back to the school. I'm sure everyone was generous with their tips because that was 100% return.

Anyway, here are some photos of the ice cream bonanza!

Cool Park

I took Ethan and Courtney to the coolest park today. It has been UEA/Fall Break this past Thursday and Friday so we have been playing around. Yesterday we painted pottery and today we went to a park and then out to lunch (bribery to get Courtney to go to the Kids Care at the gym).

Courtney and I found the park a few weeks ago and we couldn't wait to take Ethan. Everything is a little off, but in a really cool way. I should have taken video of it to show what I mean, but I'll try to explain it.

It's built with a huge retaining wall on one side that has been made to look like a rock wall. The kids can climb that, get to the top and take the stairs back down into the pit (I heard more than one parent saying that was a lawsuit waiting to happen because there isn't a fence to stop someone at the top from falling into the pit). There's a little kids play area that has climbing things and slides. It also has a teeter-totter that's normal. But then you get into the big kids stuff. The swing is just a big teeter-totter that flies you up in the air. I put pictures of Ethan and Courtney on it. It's the most fun if the weights are balanced between the two people. The swing doesn't just go back and forth, but it goes up and down too depending on how the other person shifts their weight. It was great.

There's also a twisty pole that has a seat on it. Courtney liked this one and it was hilarious because she got REALLY dizzy and tried to run when she jumped off it. She fell flat on her face and kept trying to get up and run. She was giggling pretty hard (we had to make a bathroom run after that one). What you do is sit on the seat that straddles the bar and then you twist yourself around. It's pretty fun.

There's a lot of other fun things to do at the park and it was crowded with people today. The last time we went, Courtney and I had the place to ourselves, so this was a big change. Ethan said this is the only park he ever wants to go to again. It was pretty fun and I even climbed on some of the contraptions.

Eagle Ethan

Ever since Andrew's Court of Honor on Saturday, Ethan has been anxious to be an Eagle Scout. When we returned home from Denver, we were cleaning up and putting things away when Ethan saw the invitation to the Court of Honor. He promptly grabbed scissors and cut out the badge on the front. Then he asked me to find him a pin so he could pin it on. I love how he looks up to his uncles and aunts and what great examples they are to him. Now, if we can only keep him that excited until he gets to be a Cub Scout, then we'll be in business!

Poor Fish

I went into Ethan's room this morning to get his laundry to wash and decided to check on his fish. This has been a great fish, basically because it's still alive. We don't give it a lot of attention. Well, the poor little thing was jumping by the side of the tank when I checked on it. And it got STUCK on th eside of the tank, just above the water line. I watched it for a little bit to see if it would wiggle itself down, but it didn't even try. Was our fish trying to commit suicide? I didn't think we were that negligent when it came to feeding it or cleaning out its tank. So I pulled off the top of the tank, grabbed the net and tried to get it off the side back into the water. It worked and then it sat on the bottom of the tank for a few minutes, probably recovering. I think I'll clean out its tank today and make sure it feels at home.

Crazy Weekend

We had a crazy weekend! David, Bryan's younger brother, returned from his mission in Mexico on Monday. We planned to drive to Denver for his welcome home. Ethan and Courtney asked everyday if it was time to go to Denver. Each Friday is a minimal day at Ethan's school, so I took him out at lunch time, picked up Bryan and we were off.

This is the best way for Courtney to travel:



We drove to Grand Junction, Colorado, and stayed the night in a KOA cabin. The kids LOVED it because there were bunk beds. We had pizza and then turned in for the night. It was really windy, but we all slept well.

The next morning we drove to Denver and got there just in time to his the last 5 minutes of Lisa's baby shower. Courtney had picked out some toys for the baby and I got him some clothes.

After we said hello and hung around for a little while, it was time to go to Andrew's Eagle Court of Honor. Ethan and Courtney loved helping Grandma set up the Primary room. I had never been to a Court of Honor so it was a neat experience. Ethan is old hat at them, so he told me to just sit there and watch. It was really neat to see how excited Ethan is to follow in his uncle's foot steps.

Want to motivate men to help clean up? Schedule a Court of Honor to end only a few minutes before a BYU game begins and then tell them that they can't watch the game until they have helped clean up. We had the Church cleaned and were back to the house in time to watch the game. Lisa and Andrew watched upstairs, while Julie, David, Bryan, Mike and I watched it downstairs. It was a good game.

Sunday morning over breakfast, David answered questions about his mission and we all just sat around talking. Sacrament Meeting began at 1:00 p.m. so we had decided to leave right after the meeting. Well, it went a bit long and wasn't over until 2:30. We said goodbye and took off.

We drove to Richfield, Utah, and spent the night in a hotel. Monday morning, Bryan claims that he woke up early and asked me if we should wake the kids up and go or if we should let them sleep in. I don't remember the conversation AT ALL but he claims that I said we should let them sleep. We finally woke up at 7:15 and I panicked. Ethan had school at 9 a.m. and we were still 2 hours from home. So we got ready and took off for home.

We arrived in St. George around 10 a.m. We dropped Bryan off at work and then Ethan off at school. He was a bit nervous to be 1 1/2 hours late to school, but we got him there just in time for his morning recess, so everything was fine. Then Courtney and I went home to unpack the van and clean up.

What a whirlwind trip, but it was great to see everyone. Julie flew down from Seattle, Washington, and Lisa, Mike and Andrew were there from Provo. We missed Jeff and Andrea, but we'll see them at Christmas.

Football Heaven

Ethan has always told us that he doesn't want to play football. He didn't even want to go to a BYU football game, much to Bryan's dismay. The tackling just seemed to mean to him and he didn't want to get hurt. He wanted to stick with basketball and soccer. But the other day in PE they played flag tag. They put on flag belts and then ran around trying to take flags off each others belts. He loved it.

Later in the day we were driving past a park in St. George where the flag football teams play. Ethan was fascinated by what they were doing and asked what was going on. I told him it was flag football, kind of like the tag game they played, but it was football. The minute he realized that there wasn't any tackling involved, he wanted me to sign him up. I told him that he would have to wait because the season already started and he was doing soccer. But that he could watch football with Dad any time he wanted and that Dad would be happy to explain the game to him.

Friday night was the BYU football game. We normally going swimming Friday night and the kids really wanted to, so Bryan came home early from work and we went swimming early so we would have plenty of time to get home to watch the game. Bryan was in heaven. Ethan couldn't wait to have everything explained to him and he even kept a tally score on a notepad. Bryan sat with Ethan and Courtney explaining what was going on and even let Ethan stay up late to watch the game into the third quarter. It was a good turning point for the two of them. ;) Now Ethan can't wait for the next BYU game.

I got it!!

After months and months of working my way through red tape, I finally got a business license to make cakes in my house. The process started last March when we filed my Articles of Organization with the State of Utah. I then sent a copy of all of my recipes (12 in all) to the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food to be tested to make sure they were not "toxic." That was supposed to take 2 to 3 weeks, but took 4 months. When that was finished, I had to get my food handler's permit and some other supplies I was required to have in my home. I then had to have an inspection by the Health Inspector for the Southern Utah area and the woman over the Cottage Food Industry from the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food. Once that was finished, I had my license from the Department of Agriculture to be a "Cottage Food" producer. Then the City of Ivins came into play. I took my paperwork to them, paid my money for a license and waited. They had a committee meeting, which was attended by the City Attorney who is our neighbor and the Head of Zoning who is in our ward, and decided that I could proceed. I then had to get my fire extinguisher "tagged," i.e. pay more moey to have a buy put a tag on it saying it was tested and pay more money to schedule a fire inspection. The fire inspector showed up in an ambulance which greatly worried Courtney. After I passed the fire inspection, letters were sent out to all my neighbors within 400 feet telling them that I was starting a business so they could publicly object if they wanted to. I (Or, rather Bryan, because it was during Ethan's piano lessons) then had to attend another committee meeting where public objections are heard, if any (there weren't any!). They decided that I would be granted a license. I got it in the mail a few days ago and was so excited that it's all finally finished...until I have to pay my renewal fees and have another health inspection.

Stahli Family Farm

For a little girl who screams when a dog gets near her and freaks out when a bug is within 100 feet, it was a bit traumatic to take a field trip to a farm. But Courtney did okay.

Ethan has been to the Stahli Family Farm in Washington City before, so he gave Courtney a run down of what would happen when she went. She was actually pretty excited to go when she woke up this morning. We carpooled out to Washington with the other neighborhood moms. The minute I stopped the car in the "parking field" Courtney knew she was in trouble. Chickens were running around, cows were mooing in the next field over and there were flies all over. Needless to say, Courtney had to be carried. (Now, I have to say that I'm not a big fan of chickens either, it's a long story, but I did really well at hiding my intense dislike of the things so Courtney wouldn't freak out even worse.)

The first thing we did was sit on some hay bails while the nice lady told us the rules. Then we went to a row of pens where the woman told us all about the various animals. You will see in the slide show that Courtney is huge and the animals are small behind her. It's because I was holding her the entire time and had to put her at arms length to try and get a photo. Except the sheep picture where my arm was just too tired to carry her any longer so I put her down, took a photo and then switched arms. They had a huge pig, a cow that pooped while the kids were petting it (this freaked Courtney out pretty badly), some llamas, a dog, ducks, goats and a bunch of horses and cows. There were flies everywhere which made Courtney scream every few seconds. Courtney wouldn't pet anything but she looked at them, so that's progress.

When we were finished looking at the animals, we washed our hands and lined up to take a wagon ride behind a tractor. This was great fun. Courtney was one of the first in line to climb on and couldn't wait for us to start moving. We went by a bunch of cows on our way to a pumpkin patch. Courtney loved looking at the pumpkins and the woman who was showing us around really knew a lot about the farm so she was able to tell the kids all kinds of fun facts.

Then we went back to where we began and they loaded the kids into barrels with wheels and took them on a ride. At first, Courtney got in a barrel with her friend, Hayley. But then she decided that she didn't want to take the ride and got out before they started moving. She waited and watched all the kids have a lot of fun and decided she would try it. When it was time for another round of kids to go, she hopped in and got ready. She was still pretty nervous but you could tell that she wanted to try it. I was nervous for her because I was sure she would freak out because the dog seemed to really like running beside the barrel she happened to be in. But she did great. They did donuts and went all over the farm and by the cows. The lady driving the tractor kept a close eye on Courtney and said that she did wonderful!

Then it was time to play for a bit. They had a slide that ended in a vat of corn. Ethan had told me about this but I really didn't understand what it was until I saw it. Courtney loved going down the slide but hated having corn in her shoes!!

The kids then washed up and had donuts and juice for a snack before playing on the swings. Courtney then didn't want to leave, but we had some errands to run so we had to go. She asked if we could go back again tomorrow and play. I asked if she wanted to see the animals again and she said, "That's okay. I saw them already." I think it was a successful field trip once we got past the animals!

Bedtime Routine

The kids have a tradition each night of jumping on Bryan. The second "Amen" is said for family prayer, Ethan will jump up and tackle Bryan. Bryan is to the point now that he just sits there and lets him. But now Courtney is getting into the action. She will climb up on top of Ethan who is on top of Bryan and then hang on while Bryan gives them a double piggy back ride to the bathroom to brush their teeth. Usually I will hold on to Courtney to make sure she doesn't fall, but it's hilarious. Last night Ethan didn't want to be a "sandwich" so he let Courtney have the piggy back ride all to herself.

My Great Husband

Last Friday while the kids and I were at Jumpin' Jacks, Bryan snuck home early from work and cleaned the house and bought me a dozen red roses. It was so nice!! Last week was kind of crazy so it was nice to have him think of me. I'm so lucky!