New Moon

In my house you cannot go 24 hours without seeing or hearing something about "Twilight" anyone that does not know what "Twilight" is - must not have a teenage girl and her mom! I had heard about this great book and decided to read it myself, after I read the first book I begged Rachel to read it. She had never read a whole book for fun, it was 2 weeks before Twilight came out in the movies and she still hadn't read the book so I gave her a challenge. If she read the whole book before the movie came out, I would take her out of school the day the movie came out and take her to see it. The challenge worked - she read the whole book. From then on Rachel has loved Vampires - she now has a whole collection of Vampire books and she reads all the time. Kaitlyn being the opposite of Rachel has chosen to love wolves (since Rachel loves vampires - that only makes sense).

Several weeks ago I got a crazy idea from Rachel and Kaitlyn and ran with it. I bought "New Moon" tickets for the midnight opening show! We went with Paige and Maria Torbit. Maria and I are not night owls - thankfully we had each other to keep us awake. We all loved the movie! There were some "cheesy" parts to it, but compared to the 1st movie it was so much better. There was more humor and the movie wasn't slow, the wolves were amazingly real. It was great - Rachel has a count down already for the next movie in the series "Eclipse". Although, I do not wish to go to another midnight movie - I was so tired the next day it was unreal!

Rylee turns 6

It is very scary to realize that my baby has turned 6... I have to stop and realize I am getting older too! There is so much I can say about this girl, she has the best smile and everyone notices her huge blue eyes - she has brown curly hair that she loves to have styled. She is a great friend to everyone she sees. She is silly and funny and you never know what she is going to say next. I am very thankful for this sweet spirit that I have been given to raise. I love you Rylee!

Very Busy

It seems the busier I get the better organized I am and lately its been very busy. I am not complaining actually I am enjoying every minute of it! I had Friday off of work due to a class for work that I had to take on Saturday (more on the class in a few). My friend Tambra was in Austin visiting her daughter so I was very bad and took Rylee and Ashley to Austin with me. We had a great time going for a long walk along a river and park, watching the kids play while we were able to talk. Tambra is so smart and amazing - she always has such great advice that I feel like I come a little short when she needs advice. She made an amazing salad that I promise when I get the recipe from her I will be posting the "how to".

Around 3pm we took off and ran back to Houston - the YM & YW had a Drive in theatre night - we had a really great time. They saw "forever strong" and we had an amazing concession stand. The goal was to have everyone bring a friend and for entertainment we asked them to make their own cars for the drive in. The creativity in our ward is amazing! Rylee and Ashley had fun serving the popcorn, Kaitlyn wanted me to make her box car (of course I refused) so she just had an invisible one. John went to Rachels first basketball game - which her team won - she got to the church there late but just in time to say hi to everyone! I promise to be at the very next game!

Saturday, John and I sat thru at Continuing Ed Class for our Plumbing Inspectors License. I keep a running time frame of how much longer we had. But in all fairness the instructor was really good. Then we had a "girls night out" we went to a place I had never been called "9ers" they had really good hamburgers and they were huge! Thank-fully I had Sister Orten share with me so I only spent $3.00 which was perfect for my budget! I needed that time away talking to other moms with the same issues and concerns I have with the kids, school, teenagers, housework and working.

I gotta run today is ward conference at church, Rylee and Ashley are already fighting this morning, I hear Kaitlyn looking for breakfast and I can't wake up Rachel, as always very busy!


I guess instead of eating the candy - Kaitlyn decided to be creative

Way to go Rachel!

Kaitlyn driving in reverse in her invisible car

Ashley and Rylee serving the popcorn

I Love Turkey

Decorating Fun

The girls and I have a lot of fun when we get to decorate. My mom gave me some flowers with fall colors and we had a really great time working on a wreath together - they were so excited to get started they refused to get dressed. The SunFlower is a cake that I made for a friend of mine at work - the best part of decorating cakes is my girls - they love to stand on the kitchen chairs and offer up advice - and they do a lot of taste testing! They are always so positive and reassuring even when I am not happy with the results. I always find things that I could have done better. Not them - they think each one is the best cake I've ever done! (Looking at these pics I realize that they all need haircuts)

I found this poem - I just needed it

More Than A Day

As Thanksgiving Day rolls around,
It brings up some facts, quite profound.
We may think that we're poor,
Feel like bums, insecure,
But in truth, our riches astound.
We have friends and family we love;
We have guidance from heaven above.
We have so much more
Than they sell in a store,
We're wealthy, when push comes to shove.
So add up your blessings, I say;
Make Thanksgiving last more than a day.
Enjoy what you've got;
Realize it's a lot,
And you'll make all your cares go away.
By Karl Fuchs

Halloween Fun!

I love Halloween - it is a time for kids and adults to play dress up and get to pretend. This year we went to the church for a full evening - starting with the chili cookoff, then a carnival and trunk & treating. We had a great time!



Kaitlyn as a punk rocker



Rachel and her friend Lizethe as themselves



Rylee, John & Ashley (Rylee as candy corn and Ashley as Selena Gomez)



My Ghost Cake