A letter to my ENEMY....

Dear H1N1 Virus,

I would like to write you to let you know how much I hate you. :) You took away 2 weeks of our lives. I missed out on helping a friend when she needed me (twice), watching my nephew for a weekend, a date with friends, my daughter's Halloween Party at school, a girls night out and LOTS of day to day activities for the past 10 days. As if that wasn't enough, you decided to bother ALL 3 of my precious babies! You cost us over $100 in medications to fight you off, took away a Halloween Party at Aunt Suzie's, Shayla's Halloween party at school, a week of Kaleigh's 3 week break, 2 days of school, my sanity and LOTS of energy and strength. You were, by far, the worst sickness we have ever experienced.
On the other hand, I would like to THANK you. I never realized how productive and strong I am until you took my ability to be so away from me. You made me fall deeper in love with my husband as he carried us all through this. You made me thankful for everyday health and gave me a deeper appreciation for my energetic kids. You showed me how WONDERFUL my husband and kids are and how lucky I am to have them. You may have taken a lot from me, but in the end I BEAT YOU! So "oink oink" right back at you. Stay away. You are never welcome here again.

Sincerely,
Me :)

Words to live by

I have been going through a lot, emotionally, in the past 5 months. I have struggled with a lot of issues and had to fight a lot of battles. I bought a plaque of few years ago with words written by Mother Teresa and haven't re-read it in probably a year. It hangs on our family room wall. Today I glanced over and decided to re-read it. Wow! Never in my life have I experienced EVERY single statement she gives. It immediately brought tears to my eyes and peace to my soul. Thank you Mother Teresa!

People are often unreasonable and self-centered.

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives.

Be kind anyway.

If you are honest, people may cheat you.

Be honest anyway.

The good that you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be good enough.

Give your best anyway.

For you see, in the end, it is between you and God.

It never was between you and them anyway.

Funday

Sunday was a great day! After getting home from Stake Conference, we all got comfortable and then went and had a picnic at the park. The weather was PERFECT and we all had a blast playing together. I LOVE and ADORE my little family and spending quality time with them is the exact place I love to be. The girls found this really cool log and wanted a picture on it. They're adorable! Peyton loved exploring all the cool little hide-out spots. She's a doll!

I thought this was a cool plaque and had to get a picture of my wonderful hubby and kids next to it. :)

Peyton was TERRIFIED of this huge slide and grasped on to me for dear life.

After getting worn out there we came home and decided to break in our new fire pit with this cute couple...

We had mac n' cheese and BBQ'D hot dogs. The girls loved it!

So did I! I felt right at home again . Like it was one of our many bonfires at the beach... (minus the yucky sand and crashing waves :))

We all agreed that Scott did a great job on the pit. He's awesome! Notice that Sarah is standing on a HUGE log and still isn't as tall as her man?! Too funny!!!

Then we all played a few games of tether ball. One in which Kyle hit Kaleigh in the face. Hey, accidents happen! LOL

And then, of coarse, we made Smore's. YUUUUUMMY!!!

It was so beautiful to sit outside and watch and listen to the crackling of the fire. It smelt amazing too! I am so thankful to a husband that takes time from his insanely busy schedule to make life enjoyable for his family. He doesn't just say we're his #1. He SHOWS it! We adore and love him!!!

Double the Trouble

Sarah was in town for the weekend so Me, Scott, Sarah and Kyle went on a double date. I thought it would be strange for me double-dating with my baby sister, but it wasn't at all. I still can't believe she's getting married! In a good way, of coarse. Anyways, we went to Cafe Rio for dinner and then went to the Nightmare on 13th. Because it was a Saturday night it was SUPER packed, which ruined the scare factor of it all, but we had fun anyways. Here are some creepy pictures from the night.

We look forward to the day when Sarah is living here and double dates are a common practice! :)

Time for SMORES!

Months and months ago Scott and I decided we wanted to build a fire pit in our backyard. We often had bonfires at the beach when we lived in California and miss them very much. We also get a lot of use out of our fireplace in the backyard. So, last weekend Scott made it happen. It still isn't quite finished, but you'll get the idea. He still has a couple more layers of brick to add and we will be sanding and sealing the natural logs (seats) and constructing a bench. Scott worked SO hard and did a great job! I am so proud of him. Here it is, start to (almost) finish...
Great job honey! Thanks!!!

Randomness

I love my girls for SO many reasons. One of the biggest? THEY CRACK ME UP!!! Here are a few random reasons why.....
*They are true DIVA'S who enjoying having breakfast in bed on Saturdays*
*They love to have picnics at the park even when the wind is blowing so hard it knocks Peyton over!*

*Peyton recently threw away all her bottles so she could be a big girl. First, she completely covered her face with strawberry chap stick! (hence the reason she is SO shiny!)

*While going potty one day she accidentally dropped her cell phone in the toilet while talking to "Minnie Mouse". She was devastated. (she's also holding the chap stick mentioned above)*

*The girls love telling elaborate stories at dinner time that usually almost choke us.*

*And they love cracking each other up!*

*Peyton has A LOT of funny quirks and qualities. One is this: she has to have her elephant doll right beside her when watching Wiggle Bay.*

*And the girls can most often be found wearing these fun toys around their necks. They are "PeekaBoo Barbies" and they are OBSESSED! They want to collect all 50. Sheesh!*

*Peyton also insists on wearing her crown while going potty. Aunt Sarah says it's because "she's the queen on her throne". LOL. That she is!*

*And this funny little girl can most often be seen with multiple necklaces around her neck. She clearly has a jewelry obsession. Lately she even goes so far as to wear a giant clock around her neck. Her new nickname? Flava Flav!*

I'm so thankful for my sweet little girls who always find a way to make me smile and laugh. It's these "little" details about them that I know will one day bring a tear to my eye. I will miss it when they're all grown up.

Fall

Every Fall we take a drive up the canyon to see the leaves changing. We went earlier than normal this year so that we can go next month to compare the changes. I love this time of year because it's SO beautiful and it looks like God took a paintbrush to all the trees. I love this tradition and the respect it gives us all for the seasons.

Cornbelly's

*ATTENTION VIEWERS! YOU ARE ABOUT TO EXPERIENCE PICTURE OVERLOAD. SORRY. *
OK, now that I got that out of the way....Friday night was AWESOME! We started a yearly tradition. We met up with Danny, Megan and Axton, had dinner at JCW's (yum!) and then headed to the ever-so-famous "Cornbelly's". Talk about a SERIOUSLY cool place. I would move to Utah JUST for that, but since I already live here....well, anyways, it was a blast. It completely oozes all things Fall, which I have learned to LOVE since moving here. Here's a little of what we did. (keep in mind that I left a lot out) We played in wooden trains...
Chatted with "The Pumpkin Princess"....(who was gorgeous)

Had GREAT cousin time...

Got hung up...(as you can see Peyton was concerned)

Went down giant slides...

Roped some bulls...(OK, fine, they were fake)

But I roped one anyways!....

Held Axton's hand...

Went through a super fun, and scary, giant maze inside a HUGE Iguana...

Rode a mini cow train....(the scenery of the corn field against the mountain while the sun was setting was BREATHTAKING!)

Stopped for photo-ops....(did I mention that Griffin baby #2 is a BOY? Woo-hoo!)

Had a blast getting lost in the giant corn maze....

LOVE this picture! Not quite sure why the babies look like ghosts though. Maybe it's because they're ANGELS! (that was lame, sorry!)...

Tried to eat corn....

No, seriously, she tried to eat the corn.

Laughed our butts off!....

Went swimming in corn.....(it was thigh high)

Watched the Chicken Show.....

Raced on....whatever you call these things.......

Took a train ride while the sun set....

It was SO beautiful!.....

Re-lived our childhood while playing a game of Tether ball with my brother....(he kicked my butt!)

Took another family picture....(if you enlarge this picture you can see the sun setting behind the mountain. it was amazing. the whole sky was bright orange)

Sat around the campfire for story time while cooking smores.....

And to top of the night, I rocked with my honey! :)

I realized a lot of things that night. Well, I already knew them. They just hit home big time. First of all, I FREAKING LOVE my husband and girls. Second, I SERIOUSLY LOVE my brother, sister-in-law and nephew! Third, I absolutely LOVE FALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!