Schneek-Peek!

Here are some of the images that Mary has taken/ edited for us -they're amazing. Mary, I love you so much -this is really becoming quite the talent.

Chaedon and Brina.

Me and Lance -my favorite shot.
Me and Mia-Babes.

The baby!

My Ella.

Milly-Kisses.

HALLOWEEN 2009

Oh my goodness was it ever a BUSY and awesome Halloween this year!! The festivities started with the "parade" spiel that the PM Kindergarten (the whole school had another one at 9:30, but these PM'ers got one all to themselves (thank goodness)) put on. Above is my darling Ella-Boo with the costume that MY MOTHER made for me in 1st grade! Holy schnozz-BLAST FROM THE 80'S BAYBEE.

Here is the hair masterpiece. Yes, I got nervous because time was running out. Why, you might ask? Because Lance had some CRAZY idea in his head that we should do her hair like a pumpkin stem. Now, after quite a lot of convincing, I went for it, but by a miracle (and last-minute poor planning) there was no hair-spray paint to be found in the stores we looked in. Sorry, Ella! She kept saying "I want to go with Daddy's plan!". OUCH.

Here she is lined up with the parade kiddos. Good times.

The next day (Halloween day) my sister Mary had come up to town to take our family pictures for the Christmas card. I'll give you a sneak peak on my next blog entry (they look amazing, Mary!!!). We took some random shots with our camera while Mary worked her magic with her own much more expensive and luxurious camera. :) Above, the Lancenator.

Here's my baby boy Chaedon and Ella -his worshipper!

Here's Mia, Chaedon, and Ella. It was next to IMPOSSIBLE to get Mia to hold still- as this WAS prime nap time, and the leaves were beckoning to her like candy.

Sabrina and Lance. CUTE picture!

Here I am trying to hold my crazy Mia down from jumping into the leaves again. BTW: HUGE SHOUT OUT TO MOM FOR MAKING THE SUPER CUTE FLOWERS FOR THE GIRLZ HAIR! LOVE YOU, MOM!!!

Me and Chaedon. :)

We went straight to Lance's parent's home for home-made pizza and donuts/ hot chocolate. Here is Lance's sister's family (left to right): Scotty-Too-Snotty (as Wolverine), Chazzy-Bear (firefighter), Aneesa (Witch), and a VERY pregnant Candace as a garden gnome. ...KUDOS for the absolute best preggo costume I've EVER seen! She rocked it.

The kids all went trick-o-treating around the neighborhood. I skivvied off to the "Trunk-O-Treat" that my mom's ward was doing with Sabrina... to spend some more time with Mary. Sabrina and I came back and hung out with my in-laws for a few (Mia stayed too) until everyone came back. Here she is trying to eat her pumpkin costume.

Here's Lance and myself at Debbie and Donny's. SHOUT OUT TO THE IN-LAWS FOR A FANTASTICAL HALLOWEEN EVENT -THANKS FOR THE GRUB AND THE FUN!

After all that hooplah, we went home. Lance had gotten the night off and sent me away with my friend Erin to hang out. We had SO much fun!! She was a devil, and I borrowed some of her angel garb to dawn for the event. This is us -just precious. ...See my halo? :) Notice the little red bow between Erin's horns? We thought it was particularly fitting -so she swiped it from my girl's collection! Heh heh.

Halloween is a good time. My mom has ALWAYS hated the idea -doesn't like the idea that people turn into other people and give themselves more freedom to do things they might otherwise not do, etc. I don't agree, but that's okay mom. It's nice to be someone else for a night. It's fun for kiddos to do something out of the ordinary (imagine how boring life would be?!) and look forward to. It doesn't have to be about super gross and scary things (bleh, not my fav -notice my 3 lil' pumpkins?), but can be what we make of it. I'm grateful for a reason to gather -a mile-marker and memory-maker for those who embrace it. Happy Halloween, everyone. ON TO CHRISTMAS!

Watching...

Lance is adorable with the girls. He's so sweet when he holds them and gets them to smile and laugh. Here he is with Sabrina. ...So cute.He had a big ole' cheeze for me when I took the picture!

Sabrina was pretty entertained too.

Sometimes I stand back and watch. There's a lot to take in. A girl's relationship with her dad is SO crucial in her development -how she'll interact with all men in her own life. Today isn't the day I go into depth on my relationship with my own father, but I wish and hope for these girls that they have more than what I did. ...That they'll feel his approval, his love, and always have the special bond that they seem to have even now.

Mi Familia

My sister put this photo on Facebook, and she did such a lovely job with editing it, I thought I'd post it here. This was taken when I was a junior in highschool. It's my immediate family -and yes- we all played those instruments! From left to right: Dave, Me, John, Mom, Dad, Sarah, Mary, Rachael. Aaaah, memories. *Fun to share!

I love this baby

"I love this baby" is what I whisper in my little baby's ear all the time. I did it with Ella and Mia as well. There is nothing more precious in this world. My children will never question their mommy's love.

Pumpkin Walk!

In efforts to get the girls out of the house and doing fun stuff, we hit the North Logan Annual Pumpkin Walk!

This looks like a lovey picture of Ella and Mia, but really, Mia pushes Ella away when she gets too close. She has a bit of a personal "bubble"...

Ella has a bit of an obsession with Ariel from "The Little Mermaid" -She heard "Part of your world" and loves the song. I'll take it! It's the ONLY Disney princess she'll have anything to do with!

Mia fights me for her personal space too. :)

Sabrina just tried to stay warm!

More pushing. Nice kid! Ella brought her pirate patch from a birthday party she'd been to. It's SO typical Ella.

Afterward, we went to my Mom's house for some lunch. Mom was blowing some leaves, so the girls had an absolute BLAST playing in them!

*Token self portrait.

*Love this shot. Great day!

Halloween Party Part 2

The Halloween party was so much fun -and there were SO many super cute photos, I had to post more! Here's my adorable Mia!

Here's Ella! *Thanks to Lexie for the face painting -SO fun!

Yes, some of the pix are stolen from my sisters (who edited them and made them all kinds o' cute) -thanks, girls!

Me and beebee.

Here's Mia against Nanny -while decorating yummy sugar cookies!

Sabrina and Nanny.

M'girls!

Here's all the kiddos before Benji made a mad dash and got away. Left to right: Tessa, Lily, Phoebe, Benny (back), Noah, Ella, Sabrina, Mia.

Ella has the sweetest smile EVER.

The kids went for a walk collecting fall leaves, etc. Here's Ella and Nanny.

Here's Phoebe and Sabrina -the two are only a few months apart. I'm sure they'll be good friends!

Update:

I'm doing much better. I was released from the hospital on Wednesday and have been recovering quite well. *Thanks again to all of you for your love, your support, and your help. :)