Weekend Update

Friday: Short Day! I love having the girls come home early from school. They helped me do laundry and decorate for the Halloween Movie Night. Guests started arriving around 6:00. Chloe the Genie, Jessi the Black Cat, and Ashley the Princess greeted our guests. Oma was Mother Goose, Opa was Tyrolean, Heidi was a Scarecrow, Jacque was "Banana Pants" (awesome), Lucy was a little witch, Chelsea was Snow White, Liza and Jill were pink princesses. I, of course, dressed up like a witch and Sco was a golfer. Great costumes, great treats, and Halloween cartoons made for a fun family party.



Saturday: Jessica had two birthday parties. Sco took the other two girls to Arctic Circle and then to the Discovery Gateway Museum. That night ended at the Dansies' home for baby Benji's blessing. Marta and the other Dansie women really know how to throw a shindig. At the door there was a large bowl of gummy "Benji" bears and small cellophane bags so that you could help yourself. Tons of family, tons of friends, tons of kids and one darling baby boy. You could feel the love in the room and Dan's words in the blessing were quite poetic. The food was delicious and the food presentation was beautiful. My girls got to play with their cousins until the sun went down. The old tree house was a hit and continues to conjure up adventures to act out next time.

Sunday: Ashley is sick with a fever. Ever since school has started there is at least one person sick on the weekends. Some might think the Elders Quorum President has gone AWOL, but really he is a great caretaker for our sick girlies. Now, with Monsters Inc. playing in the background, I'm using some nice quite time to update.

As you can see by my little runner, I've only lost 2 pounds this month. No need to fret, though. I've regrouped. I will do better this next month.

Marta and Opa asked me to help layout the second edition of the Conference Center Book. This is my favorite creative outlet and I'm excited to be a part of it. However, I will need to pray everyday that I have the self-discipline to stop designing when it's time to be the mom.

Scott surprised me with a short trip to Washington D.C. in November. He's going for training, I'm going for fun! I can't wait to spend the entire time exploring some of my favorite museums. Thanks to Oma & Grandma for being willing to tend the girlies while we're away.

I Wish It Was Saturday. . .

Go to your happy place, Amy, just go to your happy place. That's all I could think when Matt noticed there was a mouse in my house Sunday night. Thank goodness my manly husband, our expert hunter Matt and brave, brave Ronda were at our house when the mouse manifested its evil little self. How could such a little thing as a mouse drive me from my house? Because after setting four traps and having a restless night sleep the varmint was STILL at large! I calmly fled to Heidi's house for the whole day yesterday. Baby Benji, Marta, Oma, Jill, Liza, Lucy, Chelsea, Ashley, Chloe and Jess were all great distractions, but I couldn't help thinking my home was being invaded! Hopeful that the pest would have met the trap, I waited for Sco to call with the all-clear. No such luck! Is it bad to pray for a small, helpless animal to die? What I thought would be another restless night ended early when we heard a SNAP and a tiny SQUEAK while in bed last night. My prayers were answered, but now I felt sorry for the creature! He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, that feeling of guilt fell away while I slept and I awoke this morning happy that the nightmare was over.

A Day To Remember. . .

Saturday was such a fun day! Thanks to our friends who invited all three of our girls to a party at Bouncin' Off the Walls, we were all able to get out a lot of energy in the morning. After pizza and birthday cake (thanks again for taking care of us, Dunns), we ventured over to the Pumpkin Patch.



The sun was shining so we were surprised at how cold the air was. After finding a Daddy Pumpkin, a Mommy Pumpkin and three Girly Pumpkins, I ran with the kids back to the warm car. Daddy Pumpkin stood in the line to pay. When he got to the car his amount of pumpkins multiplied! Four pie pumpkins and a dozen Jack-Be-Littles were added to the cart.



The girls were all behaving so well that we decided it wasn't quite time to go home! We announced that we'd be heading to their favorite place. Purchasing a family pass to the Discovery Gateway was one of the best things we've ever done. It gives us the excuse and the freedom to go there as often as our girlies want. They never get tired of that place. It's always fun to see what craft the museum has for the day. Saturday we made witch puppets. Don't bother me kids, I'm coloring! I don't think I'll ever get too old to color. We ended our museum visit abruptly when Ashley didn't make it to the bathroom.



That's ok though, because we ended up having Chef Sco cook us up some burgers and steaks with ice cream sundaes for dessert! After baths we watched a few choice Huey, Duey, and Luey cartoons while hair was prepared for Sunday morning. Bedtime was a dream since the girls were so tuckered out. Catching up on Pushing Daisies and then planning a last minute trip to Las Vegas over UEA was a great end to this day.

Days like this don't happen very often, but when they do, I wish I could live in slow motion. It was a fantastic day.

General Conference October 2008

While the storms raged outside, our little family sat cozy inside listening to General Conference this weekend.


Illustration by Melissa Sweet from the book Moonlight, The Halloween Cat by Cynthia Rylant

Although the spirit was strong in our home because of the messages we heard from our leaders, the scene of our little family wasn't as peaceful as it sounds. There was sitting, on the floor playing Little People with Ashley and stringing beads for necklaces with Jess & Chloe. It was cozy, sometimes a little too cozy. While listening to Conference there was a lot of "hopping on pop", and too much touching your neighbor going on.



Thank goodness for Oma & Opa! Watching the last session at their place gave us the much needed change of scenery. Complete with trail mix, coloring pages, uncles and aunts and birthday cake, the last session was a true party. Happy birthday to Opa. We loved the amount of candles on your glowing cake.



Amazing that with three squirmy kids, I was still able to tune into the messages of General Conference. I felt the spirit throughout the four sessions. And I came away with a renewed testimony that Thomas S. Monson is our prophet and a feeling that I can and want to do better as a wife and mother.

Photo Friday