Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to everyone! We have two excited little girls over here, who can't wait for tonight. Haley was our wake up call at 5:45 this morning, she wanted to go trick-or-treating first thing, then daddy can go to work. Hey, it is dark outside, I can understand her thinking!

Haley already had a dress rehearsal yesterday for her costume. All the kids came dressed up at her Preschool. I even curled her hair! She stood very patiently while I did it...I know, very surprising since she never can stand still for anything! And sure enough, as I was walking her in the building a lady coming out says, "Oh, what a pretty princess you are!". Haley immediately replies back, "No, I'm not a princess, I'm Fancy Nancy.". Good job Haley! I'm sure she'll be saying that phrase a lot tonight!

I also want to give a shout out to my mom. After five weeks, today is her last and final day of radiation!!! She's had to drive into LA everyday (with the help of my grandparents...thanks, you both are wonderful!). And if anyone knows S. CA freeways, you know that they're no fun, especially when you are feeling at your worst. It's very exciting that this stage is over! She has been enduring so much these last several months, and I'm just so proud of her, and inspired by her strength. She still has a few months left of chemo, but she's at the half way mark now!!

Tag...I'm It!

I've been tagged by a fellow blogger!

Eight Various Things About Me

My eight favorite TV shows:

Well, we spend most nights flipping through channels, the never ending search for a good show. But if I had to choose I would say, in no particular order:

1. Dr. 90210, however I don't actually watch the surgery part...that grosses me out!

2. Jon and Kate plus Eight. It makes my day not seem so bad.

3. House Hunters. Ryan hates this show, but I love seeing inside other houses, and what you can get all over the country.

4. Oprah. Say what you want about being a stereotypical housewife, but I love her show.

5. Any cooking show on the Food Network by Paula Dean, Giada, or Rachel Ray.


Okay, eight is really hard...that's all I've got.


Eight things I did yesterday:

1. Took Haley to preschool

2. Costco run

3. Laundry

4. Fold laundry

5. More laundry

6. Folded more laundry (I know this is very exciting to you)

7. Made butternut squash ravioli for dinner, but no one liked it. It did have kind of a funny flavor...too sweet I think.

8. Blogged...of course.

Eight things I look forward to:

1. Having a family dinner conversation without children spilling a drink, dropping food on the floor, interrupting, getting up and down from the table, screaming...yadda, yadda, yadda.

2. Going skiing and sledding.

3. The day Etta is trained and is a perfectly behaved dog.

4. The day Haley and Morgan are trained and are perfectly behaved children.

5. The day Ryan is trained and is a perfectly behaved husband.

6. Thanksgiving and Christmas

7. Holiday food

8. Warm weather again.

Eight favorite restaurants:

1. Burger Supreme, you can't beat having the family eat for under 12 dollars!!

2. Great Harvest. The Cinnamon Burst bread makes the best French Toast!!

3. Blackboard Bistro in Seal Beach, CA. They have the best breakfast!

4. Pizza Picasso's in Sedona...we look forward to it every year!

5. Einstein's Bagels. This time of the year they make the pumpkin bagel with pumpkin smear...YUM!

6. BYU Creamery...hands down, the best ice cream on the PLANET!!

7. California Pizza Kitchen.

8. PF Chang's

Eight things on my wish list:

1. Side-by-side refrigerator with a ice and drink dispenser...ahhh, so lovely!

2. Soft fluffy carpet for our living room.

3. A pair of jeans that fit properly! I'm tired of the dreaded flat butt! Give me curves!!!

4. Shoes, shoes and more shoes!

5. A weekend getaway...just Ryan and me!

6. Boob job...hey, a girl can dream! Although that would go nicely with our weekend getaway!

7. Big SUV

8. Big Home

Eight people to tag:

1. Ryan...might as well.

2. Beth

3. and 4. Jrad and Sleevie...maybe they will finally post something!!

5. Megan

6. The Mop...I just wanted to see if he'd actually do it.

7. Jill

8. The two Jennifers

Whew...I'm glad that was done! That was harder then I thought it was going to be!

Road Rage!

It's a good thing I don't have to commute to a job everyday, I may just loose my mind if I did. And yes Ryan, I know you spend nearly two hours of commute time everyday...you handle it well! I had to drive North, up to Lindon to the Animal Shelter to get Etta's licence. When I got there I found out I had to get it at the Spanish Fork Shelter because I live in Provo...great. Back on the freeway and go all the way South, past my house, to Spanish Fork. Good thing gas prices are going down!

Pet Peeves while driving:

-Huge 18 wheelers in the left lane...I can't stand that! Plus, they are always going about 85 mph. In CA all 18 wheelers and trucks with trailers HAD to stay in the right lane and they have a 55mph speed limit. I know CA has its issues, but that is one law I agree with!

-What's up with people not obeying work zone speed limits?!! Maybe I'm extra cautious since I just got a speeding ticket, who knows. But people are going like 90 mph through a 55!!

-Tailgaters...No matter how close you get to my bumper, I will not speed up! In fact, I'm more compelled to slow down just to irritate you.

-Stopping at traffic circles, when no cars are coming. You YIELD!!!

-People that don't get out of the right lane when you are trying to merge onto a freeway. You end up having a near drag race fighting for the lane! MOVE OVER! I'll fight you, and I will win!

-People that break (for no apparent reason) when they are changing lanes. Don't do that...that just makes everyone else have to break and then result in a traffic jam.

OK, I better stop. I can complain about everyone elses driving because I'm a perfect driver! Ryan, be quite!

Fancy Nancy

Not sure if anyone is familiar with this picture book series, or if anyone cares, but if you have daughters or nieces you should totally get these books for them...they are way cute! My mom got me hooked on them...she always finds the cutest things for my girls! Anyway, both Haley and Morgan are going to be Fancy Nancy for Halloween. They have to be the same thing because Morgan would freak out if she isn't wearing the same thing as Haley (she wants to do everything Haley does, wears, says...EVERYTHING). So in any case, I've been slowly gathering things for their costume, it's really not that difficult since Fancy Nancy basically wears anything that has ruffles, sparkles, pink in it, flowers or butterflies on it...you get the idea. The girls already had the real Fancy Nancy skirt, complete with ribbons and flowers already on it! Very cute! And the last several weeks I've been buying anything that Fancy Nancy would wear...meaning very girly, girly stuff! So we'll see how all this comes together on Halloween. I'm sure everyone that sees them are going to be like..."And you're supposed to be....hmmm, a princess? a diva? a pop star?...". Then I'll shout at them, "FANCY NANCY...don't you know anything?!!!!". Okay, not really...but it'll be funny watching people trying to figure out what they are. But I guess I let the cat out of the bag since I'm blogging about it, but whatever!

Weekend Wrap-up

We have been so spoiled with the weather this Fall, temps have been in the 60's and it's sunny and beautiful! But I'm bracing myself everyday for "the storm" that ends it all. I know it's coming...I just need to stop being a Winter hater and just go with it. But anyway, we'll enjoy the nice weather while we can.

Saturday was the Alan Butler Memorial ride up Emigration Canyon. For those who don't know Alan, he was a cyclist here in Utah. Ryan raced with him for a couple of years and we're good friends with his family. He was tragically killed a few years ago when he got hit by a car in Vegas during the Interbike show. Ryan pulled the trailer with the girls up the Canyon...very impressive if you ask me! The girls were not at their best unfortunately. Morgan cried the entire way up and Haley was yelling, "My ears are hurting!!! Tell Morgan to be quite!!!!!", the whole way up. Yes, good times!

The girls made it up to us Sunday morning...they hiked like champs up Rock Canyon.


They insisted on bringing their stuffed animals...here they are giving them shoulder rides.

No, I'm not strangling Etta in this photo, although it does look like it. She hiked like a champ too, until she jumped all over some family...oops. I am working on that with her, I promise!

OK, this photo cracks me up! Every time we try to get Haley to pose for a photo, this is what she does. She reminds me of Chandler, from the show Friends. There was this one episode that Chandler and Monica were trying to take engagement photos and Chandler could not do a fake smile. Every time he tried to smile for the camera it came out all goofy. Anyway, that's totally Haley. She'll be smiling away, and then you face a camera at her and this is how it comes out. She's so weird.

So she gave up trying to smile, and kissed her daddy instead. Works for me!

Haley doesn't know how to smile and Morgan gives grumpy face when a camera is pulled out...what's up with my kids?!!

I have to take a ton of photos to get one good shot...thank goodness for digital!!

Una and the American Doll

Let me introduce Haley's prized possession...Una, a lovely purple unicorn. She takes this thing with her everywhere!! Una has been her show-and-tell item at school for the last several weeks. When we are out running errands she introduces Una to EVERYONE! "Hi! This is my unicorn Una...she likes to be called Una...she's a purple unicorn named Una!". Luckily, everyone that she introduces Una to has been very pleasant and humors her. One day some cranky person is going to shout back at her, "Get that mangy thing out of my face!". (Haley does have a tendency to hold it close to people when talking to them.) And if you knew where this horse has been you wouldn't want it very close to you. It's been in the mucky river water, Etta's water bucket (that's how Haley gives her a bath), the mud, in the gutter, dragged behind her tricycle, it's been Etta's play toy (that's was on accident), it's gone with us on several road trips, and most likely drooled on when Haley sleeps with her. Yes, I've washed it several times. In fact, Una used to have long flowy hair, but it shriveled to nothing once it went through the dryer. Oops! Haley was pretty upset, but she has since forgotten all about it. The funny part about this whole thing is that it was given to us by the hostess at the Red Robin about 1 1/2 ago. It was sitting by the hostess table, and Haley noticed it immediately as soon as we walked in. So the hostess ended up letting Haley have it...they have been inseparable ever since!

It seems that the toys that parents go crazy about and can't wait to give to their children, or spend loads of money for, are the toys that are kicked aside and nearly forgotten about. But the cheap toys (or free in this case) are the toys they can't live without! This leads me to the next photo.




Yesterday, we got the American Girl doll catalog!! Yes, very exciting...as I had one as a child, still have her for that matter, packed away safe in my closet. (Mine is the Samantha doll, in case anyone was wondering.) Haley and Morgan went crazy for this catalog, looking at every page in detail! And of course my immediate thought was "I can't wait to get this for them!!". Just to let you know, the average price for a doll is around $100, and that's not including all the accessories you can get!! But, I have to tell myself to slow down (I'm kind of excited since Christmas is right around the corner). Because I know that if I bought this doll for Christmas morning, it would entertain them for about 5 minutes, and then they would toss it aside and play with the wind-up toy that cost about a dollar they got in their stocking. And of course that would make me go crazy, "Girls, play with these dolls! Look at how nice these dolls are, why don't you want to play with them?!!". We've all been there! So I'll be patient, and wait to buy a doll like this until they are old enough to appreciate it...even though I'm dying to buy one!!

I needed a break...

...and I got one! What a fabulous weekend!!

We started it off with a mountain bike ride (just Ryan and I) up South Fork area. It was absolutely beautiful, and the weather could not have been better! A perfect Fall Day! My brother and his wife watched the girls for us...Thank you guys, we needed that break! I wish I could mountain bike more, I just love it! And I certainly could use more practice, that's for sure!


We also went to the World Cup Short Track Speedskating Championships (wow, that's a mouth full) this weekend. It made for a great family outing!

I'm not sure what was going on that night, but the girls were so good (I know, that rarely happens!). This lady sitting near us commented on how well behaved my children were. Yeah, you heard me right...a STRANGER (not my mom, not my friend) a STRANGER said MY children were well behaved! I nearly choked on my drink! I get comments like, "Your girls are so cute!" Or my favorite from a pharmacist at a grocery store, "Oh, your daughter's hair is so beautiful! I've seen your hair color before, but HERS, hers is so pretty!". But anyway, rarely do people comment on how well behaved they are, so that lady made my day!! It's the little things that make moms feel good. So if you see someone frazzled looking mom with her kids, tell her they are well behaved...she'll be talking about that for a week!!

The girls had fun showing off their dancing skills during intermission. Pure entertainment!

Aaahhhhh, don't we look refreshed after such a great weekend!! (You better say yes!)

They were giving away these cool ear warmer bands, the girls loved them! Haley even wore hers today at Walmart, with her awesome cheerleader jersey over a long sleeve shirt and jean skirt (she was looking pretty sweet).

OK, I tried to get some speedskating action shots, but it's nearly impossible. They go so fast, the pictures came out blurry every time, but you get the idea.

I know this picture is crummy too, but that's Apolo in third. He may not have won, but it's was a great race to watch!