Halloween

Halloween Night

Kendall dressed up like a flapper for an institute party. She actually made this dress herself a few months ago for a murder mystery dinner that she was a part of.

Tara as Snow White. I didn't finish making Tara's dress until 5 minutes before she was supposed to leave -- thus, my title of Queen of Procrastination remains!

Halloween for YW

The girls were having a Halloween party for YW tonight, so they all dressed up with whatever they found in the Halloween box.

Tara and Sarah -- a pirate and his (her) wench. Aaarrgh. Saaaavy.

Whitney and Tiana -- We had to tie down Tiana to put freckles on her face. (Not really -- but we almost did!)

Pumpkins, Jack-O-Lanterns, Bob Marley, and Domo

Last night for FHE, we carved our pumpkins. Where's Kendall? you may ask. Well, she's too cool for the family's FHE and goes to her singles branch FHE, so instead of carving very cool jack-o-lanterns, she went to a Halloween party and haunted corn maze -- okay, that sounds really fun, too!

Tara, Whitney, and Chase's finished products. (Tara's is Bob Marley -- see the dreadlocks? Chase's is Domo -- some Japanese cartoon?? I'm so out of it.) Whitney hates this picture of her, but I think it's hilarious.

Chase cleaned his pumpkin out very thoroughly, even rinsing it in the sink a couple of times to make sure it was as clean as possible!

Don't you think Tara looks like Violet from The Incredibles? If she could only get the invisible thing down...


Whitney is pretending she doesn't see me as she works meticulously on her pumpkin.

I'm Sorry...Sort of

So, a while back, I really layed into the federal government for not catching my married name change 22 years ago, and waiting until there was some money on the line to make a big deal about it. I since have attempted to go into the Social Security Administration to change my name, but the lines are always so long that I don't stay to take care of it. After all, I've waiting this long, right? What's another week or so (or month) when they've already told me that I'm not going to get my stimulus check until next year. Period. Funny thing happened last week, though. I received a letter from the IRS stating that my stimulus check would be in my hot little hand on Friday, November 24th. I was shocked, but hopeful that the letter wasn't a mistake like everything else was. Naturally, Friday came and left with no check. So did Saturday. (I mean, we are talking about the federal government.) But guess what happened today? I received my stimulus check!!! Hurray!!! I was completely shocked! Rick even kissed the check. So, to the federal government, I'm sorry I layed into you and complained about your incompetence -- sort of. After all, you are four months late!

Good Friends, Good Fun, and BOO!

Friday night, Tami and Leslie H. had a Halloween party at Tami's house. We ate a lot of good food, played a couple of fun games (girls ruled!!!), and had a lot of great laughs (the tears were rolling). Even Adam's perfect 16 score and Ken's hilarious "gallop" in Guesstures couldn't stop the girls. (That was a gallop, wasn't it, Chipenken?) Rick and I dressed like dorky tourists -- yeah, we totally nailed that one!

Would you believe me if I told you we always dress like this when we travel?

We had a great time! Thanks Tami and Leslie!

Phantom of the Opera

I took the girls to Spokane over the weekend to go watch Phantom of the Opera at the INB Performing Arts Center. It was an INCREDIBLE performance and we all loved, loved, loved it! Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any pictures inside the theater, so we have very few photos to record our fun weekend. The next morning, we went to the mall and went shopping, shopping, shopping -- of course.

In our hotel room, ready to go.

First order of business -- dinner. We just went to Taco Time because we were already running late. (BTW, we were trying to be pigs for this picture.)

Tara, Whitney, and Kendall outside the theater doors - tickets in hand. They look excited...

This is the markee outside the theater. It was the best we could do.

Twilight Detox

I'm starting to think Twilight is a drug -- and I'M ADDICTED! I just finished the second book yesterday morning, and found myself having "Twilight fits" (like nicotine fits) wanting the third book. I was reading at every possible moment -- in the bathroom, waiting for something to load on my computer, waiting for Chase at soccer, waiting for something to cook -- the book was always with me. When Tara came home from school, I asked her where the third book was and she said it was in her locker at school [breathe, breathe, breathe]. She smiled at me and said, "Do you want to go back and get it? Can I drive?" A wave of rationality came over me and I told her that I would wait until Monday afternoon to get it. I realized I needed some detox from Twilight before I delve back into it. Before I started reading, no one told me that it would consume me -- from my thoughts to my actions. Whew! I'm doing okay right now [hyperventilating] and I can wait [Monday, Monday, Monday] until Monday. [I wonder if Barnes and Noble has any in stock?]

A New Twilight Fan is Born!

Never say never, I always say! So after over a year of hearing nothing but Twilight this, Twilight that, Edward this, Edward that, I caved. I mean TOTALLY caved! I finally succumbed after hearing so much about Twilight at our scrapbooking weekend in Meacham and hearing my daughters constantly trying to coax me. I picked up Twilight on Saturday after the afternoon conference session and couldn't put it down except when I absolutely had to. I finally finished it this morning and searched frantically for the second book in the series -- New Moon. I even texted Tara's friend at school to find its whereabouts. Talk about withdrawals! Finally when Tara came home, she told me the book was in her locker at school, so I promptly drove her back to school to secure the book for me! I thought everyone was exaggerating when they said how good this book was -- and to all of you, I apologize. I love, love, love the book! To Stefani, you're the last one who hasn't read it now. Come to the dark side with me! You'll love it!

We Have a Winner!

After 5 separate photo shoots, over 300 pictures, 10+ locations, we finally have a senior picture of Whitney that we love, love, love. Of course, this was one of the last pictures we took on the last day, and just in the knick of time -- senior pictures are due tomorrow. The second picture is our second favorite.

Aaron's Life in the Philippines

If you know Aaron, these pictures are so typical of him. If you don't know Aaron yet, these pictures should speak volumes about him. He's a very fun-loving person that finds humor in almost everything around him.

I can only imagine what he decided to teach this pig. I wonder if the pig speaks Tagalog, too? This pig is only a couple of days old. He belongs to a less active member that Aaron was visiting.

This is a hanging bridge at Biak na Bato (Split Rock) National Park. Aaron also went caving here.

Aaron always tried to explain to me that there is ALWAYS standing water during the wet season, but I just couldn't picture it. I can picture it now. It looks like what we get maybe once a year after a huge rain storm here, but it quickly drains away within a day. It doesn't drain away for months there. This particular picture is flooding in the streets of Baliuag.