October Festivities

October has been a busy month. Here is a little look at what we have been up to this month.

Of course, we carved pumpkins with Jeff and Melea. I scooped out the seeds, and Noel did the carving. Nice work. I do have to say that Noel's pumpkin carving skills have come a long way since the first year we did this with the Birds. It's a skull and cross bones, just in case you couldn't tell.

I was so excited to dress Greg up for Halloween this year. Since I am lacking in craft/sewing abilities and didn't want to spend too much on a costume, I went with our friend Kristen to Kid-2-Kid and found this adorable elephant costume for $7. I thought that Greg would be all for it. Wrong. He was quite distraught about having the elephant head on his head (he has never been a fan of wearing hats).

"Dad, why is she doing this to me?!?!"

Of course his life in an elephant costume got much better with a graham cracker.

Greg and I went to our ward's annual trunk-or-treat activity. It was very fun to see all the cute costumes and decorated trunks.

Our friends, the Willburs (aka Harry Potter, Hermoine Granger, Luigi, and Toad). Blurry, but such cute costumes...nice work, Joy!

Greg and I again. It sure did take a lot of graham crackers to keep that kid happy.

This is how a guy in our ward dressed up. It was so cool. He is a tall guy to begin with, then he was standing on these stilt things that made him probably 10 feet tall. He also had paper mache hands and head. Very spooky!

Last but not least, the kids in Fayette County schools had their fall break for 2 days this month. One afternoon that she had off, Grace came over to play with Greg. He loves her!!! It was so fun to watch him play with her; he was so happy and excited.

I hope that everyone had a wonderfully spooky Halloween and that you got tons of candy! :)

Call me lucky!

Several months ago, I was brushing my teeth to get ready for bed, and I notice that my wedding ring looked funny in the mirror. After my double take, I saw that the center diamond was missing! Horror! I was so panicky because we had been to an amusement park with friends the day before. I was pretty sure that it was there the night before, but my state of mind was such that I kept imagining that it flying out on a roller coaster laying on the ground with the cell phones, gum and sunglasses that had fallen out of other riders' possessions. I told Noel and started searching around the house. I had just gotten out of the shower, so that was the first place I looked. Nope. Then I proceeded to crawl around the house looking through our fairly high pile carpet. Nope again. I was so mad, and I had resigned myself to the fact that we would be going to get a cubic zirconia to put in there.

Well...the next morning, Noel got up to get ready for meetings before church. He stepped into the shower and felt something under his foot. Yep, it was the diamond! Talk about lucky! Noel has tried to convince me that luck has nothing to do with it, he found it because he was fulfilling his calling. :)

I finally took it to Kay Jewelers to have the stone put back in. I though that it was going to cost at least $100. Nope...$27. And I think that they did a great job. I think that they must have also re-plated the white gold on my ring because the scratches and worn spots are no longer there. I looks fabulous! I feel like I'm newly engaged again because I'm not used to wearing it, and I keep looking down at the pretty ring that my husband gave me.

Moral of the story: fulfill your callings. :)

Lauralee's Personalized Art

I have a lovely friend in our ward who has started up a little at-home business making frames with phrases/names in them. Super cute stuff! It would be great for shower gifts. She is so creative and talented. Check out her new blog...http://lauraleespersonalart.blogspot.com/

On My Mind

The other day I was looking at my sister-in-law's friend's blog. I've met her only a couple of times, but I like to look at her blog every once in a while. Well, one of her recent posts was a list of things that she had been thinking about recently. I really liked that idea, and it was fun to read. Since I'm not a good journal person, this blog has become my substitute for a journal. So this is more of a journal post than anything else.

What I've been thinking about recently:

1. I have been wondering how much longer the Office will be running. I watch every week, but this season has been less entertaining that previous seasons. Last week was really funny though and back up to par. My favorite line was from Dwight, "R is a very menacing sound. That's why is called murder and not muckduck." I laughed so hard!

2. The most random people have made guest appearances in my dreams and have crossed my mind. People from high school that I just knew but wasn't friends with. Then that gets me thinking about other people from Burley. It's kind of a chain reaction. :) I hope life is treating them well.

3. Since the end of the school year and being at home, I have tried to cook more. I've tried bunches of new recipes. (Check out Adele's cooking blog...Simply Delicious. It's awesome!) It's been fun to experiment, but I get frustrated with my lack of cooking abilities. Hopefully by the time that Greg is old enough to know something tastes gross and be able to voice his opinion, I'll be able to cook more than pizza and spaghetti.

4. I'd forgotten how much fun it is to read for pleasure. I just didn't read very much while I was working. It's so relaxing and enjoyable. I've been reading the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. I'm on the third book, Specials. They are really great reads, and they get me thinking about the emphasis put on beauty and making choices in tough situations. I highly recommend the books.

5. I have felt so much joy! Being a mom has it's trying moments, but at the end of the day, I have so much happiness because of Greg. He is so cute. He is really into trucks right now and drives his trucks all over the house. Really simple, but I love it! I feel really lucky to have such a wonderful husband and such a beautiful son. I didn't know that this is what a mother's love felt like. It's the best feeling ever!

6. I've also felt really lucky to live in Lexington. We have a great ward and have made some really dear friends here. I miss Idaho (I've especially been missing mountains recently) and really miss being around my family. But it's good to be surrounded by loving brothers and sisters in the Gospel.

7. In June, our Bishop gave our ward a challenge to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year (like Pres. Hinckley did back in 2005). I'm so grateful for that challenge. I'm over 60% finished, and I have felt such strength from consistently reading the scriptures. One of my New Year's resolutions was to read the scriptures at least 6 out of 7 days a week, and I am happy to say that I have kept that resolution. But with this challenge I have been making sure that I read a little bit more each day. I have also felt strength in knowing that we are doing this as a ward and that there are others around me that are also being blessed for being obedient. It gives me a greater resolve to keep going.

Well...there you have it. The complex workings of my mind. :)

I just read this quote in the September Ensign and love it!

"The principal reason the Church was organized is to make life sweet today, to give contentment to the heart today, to bring salvation today...

"Some of us look forward to a time in the future--salvation and exaltation in the world to come--but today is part of eternity."

-David O. McKay

Mr. Mischief

Noel had his road cycle on the trainer in the office for a couple of weeks because it had been raining quite a bit, and he still wanted to be able to ride his bike. Greg really found the bike quite interesting and would grab the tires and spin them around. Well, he grabbed the chain one day and...the pictures speak for themselves.

It was pretty hard to get him clean.

Greg loves shoes. Here he is trying on Noel's shoes. If there was a picture after this one, it would have been of him falling and crying. Oops.

Greg has been switching from 2 naps to just one. I could tell he was tired, but he just kept playing and whining in his crib for awhile. Then I didn't hear him anymore, but I could hear the jingle of his bear every once in awhile. I went in to check on him and this is what I found...

poor kid fell asleep sitting up in the corner of his crib. What a cutie!

White Coat Weekend Continued

While Noel's parents were here for his White Coat Ceremony, we definitely put them to work. Gordie mowed the lawn, sprayed weeds, pulled out bushes, and spray painted the awesome patio set from a garage sale (good find Lynne). The seats looked really dingy, but with some spray paint, they look as good as new! It's been fun having dinner outside. Greg likes it too because once he eats, he can get down and play in the yard.

We also kept Lynne very busy. She made us a new bedspread, shams, pillows, and curtains for our bedroom. All in one day! She said that she felt like she was on a speed-decorating TV show! She did such an awesome job! When we moved into this house, the people before us left these red curtains in our room. I'm sure they looked fine with their decorations, but I didn't like them, and they looked pretty bad with our furniture. Our room looks so much better!