Happy 49th Anniversary!!

This is Jon and I, with his parents, the day we got married. Today is their 49th wedding anniversary. I am so grateful to be part of their family and appreciate their example of commitment to an eternal marriage. They have a lot to be proud of, 4 exceptional kids, 3 super-fabulous daughter-in-laws, and 15 wonderful grandkids (including Greg). Congratulations! We love you!

Movie Night

On Veteran's Day I took Addison, Tate, and Bradan to see Madagascar 2. Jon's parents watched Jace, Jon was at work, and Nathan was at his mom's. This was Addison's very first movie theater experience. In our family, this is a big deal. Jon and the boys LOVE to go to movies and are hoping to pass along the tradition to Addison.

Lesson #1-Must have large bag of greasy popcorn! Lesson #2-Must have huge giant cups filled with sugary, sweet soda!

Lesson #3-Sit back and enjoy the show!

She did really well! About half way through she decided it would be fun to climb up and down the stairs, so we took a bathroom break to regroup. After that she was fine and we made it to the end of the show.

Flag Football

As I have mentioned, Tate and Bradan have been playing flag football. Saturday was their last game for the Fall season. They both scored touchdowns! Woohoo! They had lots of fun and are wanting to sign up for the winter season.
"The spectators"-excuse obscene gesture, she learned this from her dad.

Fall Festival

We took the kids and our neighbors to Nathan's school's Fall Festival. They had like 15 bouncy slides and things for the kids to play on and a big rock wall to climb. I think all of the boys made it to the very top. I didn't get any particularly good pictures. Santa, if you are listening-I need a new camera BAD!!! We ate some popcorn and cotton candy, can't go to a Fall Festival without eating plenty of junk.

Halloween

For Halloween we went to our ward's Trunk or Treat. Neither Addison or Jace were interested in Trick or Treating. Addison was all excited about the candy, but when it came time to go car to car she was too scared of everyone to participate. Jace just wanted to run crazy through the parking lot and play with the tires on all the cars. So we didn't stay very long. Afterwards, Tate and Bradan went around the neighborhood with their friends Joshua and Casey and their dad. Jon, the babies, and I went to pick up Nathan from his mom's. Then the boys stayed up and watched a scary movie on the Disney channel, "Mostly Ghostly", ate popcorn, and drank some root beer.

The Turtle Man

Coupon $ense

I subscribe to this online program that tells you what is on sale and what coupons to match with the sales to get the best deals. I get 5 Sunday papers, so when there is a good deal I can stock up. Frys is having some really good sales, plus they are tripling coupons. So I have had some awesome shopping trips! This was last nights-

5 boxes of Toaster Strudels
5 18oz Quaker Oats
4 boxes Zatarains Rice
3 Dial liquid hand soap
2 3-pack Dial bar soap
5 boxes Hefty Ziploc bags
5 boxes Betty Crocker potatoes-scalloped, mashed etc.
1 box SwissMiss hot chocolate

ALL OF THIS FOR A GRAND TOTAL OF:

$6.15 WooHoo!!

Schnepf Farm

We went to Schnepf Farm the Thursday before Halloween. It was half price for Queen Creek residents and it wasn't crowded at all. Last year we went on a Saturday and it was SO packed. All the rides had enormous lines and very long waits. This year was perfect! I had the kids dress up-Addison-Aerial, she picked it out. We went to the Disney store and let her choose out of all the princesses. We then bought the costume at Target for 1/3 of the price. She had a crown, but it would not stay on. Jace-turtle, you can't see his little shell in this picture. He absolutely HATED his turtle hat! He would only keep it on for a few seconds at a time. Tate and Nathan-Vampires, and Bradan-was a special forces soldier, most of his costume you can't see. He picked it out online months ago and was so excited to wear it. We had such a good time at the farm. The babies were perfect, which was a little weird. No fits and Jace rode in the stroller most of the time. It was awesome! Some of the boys friends from our neighborhood came with their dad so the babies and I left about 8pm and Jon and the big boys stayed until closing and rode home with the neighbors, so they could see the fireworks. We ate some yummy corn, BBQ, and hot dogs. The boys rode on the little roller coaster over and over again. Addison rode the Bees with Bradan, the airplanes and carousel with Jon. Good Times!

Bradan, Nathan, Joshua, Tate, and Casey

Pumpkin Carving

We carved our pumpkins way too early this year. It is hard to try and work it in where everyone is home and we have the time to get it done. We were able to get 1 good night of Jack-o-Lanterns before they rotted. We even brought them inside during the day.
The big boys each designed a pumpkin and Jon carved them all. I supervised and cleaned up all the guts. Addison loved pumpkins this year and was so excited every time she saw one. Jace was in bed. He can join in the fun next year.

Blog Lazy

I wish I could report that I have not been blogging because I have been scrubbing and organizing my house, but that would be a big fat lie. My only excuse is laziness. October has been a busy, busy month. I like busy and I am a fan of passing time. It seems that there is always something better in the future...Jon finishing school, Jace outgrowing his "try to kill himself everyday" phase, cooler weather the list goes on and on. I am trying hard to focus on the counsel of Pres. Monson and "find joy in the journey". He was specifically talking to me when he said "piles of laundry", I don't see how I will ever miss that. So what have we been up to-

• Football practice and games(Tate and Bradan are playing flag football on a league organized by the YMCA in our neighborhood)
• Scouts-Tate and Nathan started 11 yr. old scouts. They have had 2 meetings and have played football both times. That is totally fine with them. Bradan is working on his Wolf.
• I have mutual every Wed. and miscellaneous meetings and firesides. Jon does great about watching the kids.
• Jon has had homework, tests, and clinicals. School takes a lot of time and effort on his part.
• He has also been busy at work, as the approaching holidays seem to bring out the crazy in us all.
• Jon helped his brothers Jim and Gary put some kind of shiny coat on his parent's driveway, I can't remember what it is called.
• Jon and I got to go see a movie together a few weeks ago-Eagle Eye, it was pretty good. We also went to the adult session of stake conference and out to eat. Thanks to his parents! Kid-free nights are priceless!
• Tate and Bradan went to KY to visit their dad for a few weeks. They always have a great time.
• Nathan also had fall break at the end of Sept., beginning of Oct. He got to go over and spend the night at his friend Randall's house from our old neighborhood.
• Because it has cooled off a teeny, tiny bit(it has still been in the 90s during the day) I try to take Addison and Jace on a walk to the park everyday. It helps break up the day and keeps us all sane. They are getting so big. I am going to have to break down and attempt to take the binky away from Addy Boo and teach her to use the potty. My goal is when she turns 3.

So that is the wonderful excitement that is our lives. We did some fun stuff this last week that I will post about later. I almost forgot the most exciting thing. We ran over a frog in our garage, going to a fireside last Sunday. We were unaware until Monday morning when it was still hopping around bleeding and suffering in our garage. I was totally freaked out of my mind and could barely pull the van back in for fear it would get near me. I left the door open all day hoping it would hop home to its family so they could at least get to say good-bye and have some closure. When Jon came home from work he couldn't find it anywhere so hopefully it has been laid to rest somewhere outside of our garage.