SlowTraditions.... I Think I Like Them Better!

I love this time of year! I even love the crazy fun that Halloween creates. But what I don't love, is the unnecessary busyness that takes away from focusing on what really matters.

I found that I really had to hunker down this month before POOF, all my time was spent doing fun things, but of lesser importance.

I was Guilty.

I realized this early October and came to a screeching halt. I re-evaluated the rest of the month and then started dumping out everything extra that I could. And it felt really good.

It is my job to make magic for these boys, Justin included:), and that comes first.

We stayed in our jammies for most of the day and ate ghost pancakes. A few nights, after the boys got out of the bath tub, I lit the candles and we read Halloween stories by candlelight. Pumpkin shaped sandwiches were eaten and hot apple cider sipped.

There is nothing better than ghost stories told by a 4 year old and games spread out all over the living room floor. Time was there to actually enjoy a meal together and visit about what we did that day. My stress was disappearing and I found myself noticing the giggling more.

We carved pumpkins and spent nights "in". The bat cave was glowing at full force and soft music played in the background.

I've learned a big lesson. Slow down. Get rid of anything extra that pulls you down. And I'm grateful to learn this before Christmas.

Halloween Helper

Whenever preschool sign ups go around, I always make sure I sign up to be the helper for the Halloween party at school. It's one of my favorite things to see all the little kids costumes and Miss Melody for that matter.

I love that she has always carves a pumpkin for the kids exactly the way they tell her to. I love playing the game, "Don't Eat the Pumpkin," and "Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin." I love all her old fashioned Halloween pictures on the wall and her decorations.

I love helping trace feet on white paper and gluing googly eyes to help them each child make a ghost to take home. I love singing all the silly Halloween songs and watching the flannel board stories.

I love watching the kids trick or treat each other and getting so excited when they give their special treat away. I love helping them decorate their sugar cookie and watching them only able to eat half of it because it is so sugared up just looking at it makes you sick.

I love Halloween but strongly dislike all the sugar:).

Pumpkins!

Kendall picked out a Ghost pattern and for the first time, Nathan, actually carved his very own scary ghost pumpkin.

While Justin and Nathan concentrated, Kendall and I finished up our pumpkin and Kendall fished all the seeds out of the pumpkin yucka.

Pumpkin carving is a lot more fun when you have volunteers that are ready and willing to do "goo" duty.

We roasted and ate the seeds while watching the jack-o-lanterns flicker in the dark. Then we realized it was WAY past bedtime. Time flies....

Major Costume Malfunction!

Let me first start by saying, Don't judge Nathan's costume. It could have been MUCH worse.

You see, Kendall and I arrived at his school a few minutes before his class was going to start parading around the whole school in full gear.

I walked in the classroom and most all of the kids were dressed and ready to go. Their faces had on full makeup and gowns, jewels, and sparkly shoes adorned the girls. Most of the boys were in elaborate pirate costumes and homemade goodies made by their mothers.

I scan the room unable to find Nathan. He is the tallest in his class and easily spotted, most of the time. I finally find him crouched down, unable to stand up straight, wobbling as he walked. His under shirt was wadded on his neck and he looks at me as if in pain. I run over to him.

I immediately know what is wrong. He has tried to pour his body into KENDALL'S costume! I panicked, then said a quick prayer. He pleads with me to run home and grab his costume, but with only minutes to spare I knew I would never make it back in time.

That improvising talent that mom's sometimes are blessed with begins to take over. His ninja wedgie is all the way up his back and I look in the front and start to fear he will never be able to have children. I start yanking the costume from his upper body to provide relief. It's instant.

When I got the costume down his legs, the arms were at the perfect length to be tied around his waste. I let his best friends mom in on our dilemma and she started helping me roll up his sleeves, making him look even tougher, wink.

I then notice some of Justin's Japanese flash cards on the floor. I pick them up and on my way to return them to Nathan's backpack he informs me, "WAIT! Those are to go on my belt, as I am not just any solider, I'm a Japanese soldier and that is the only way my friends will be able to tell!"

So that is the story of how Nathan's costume was salvaged. It had a very good ending indeed. His parade was wonderful and the party was fabulous. He was comfortable and able to move about freely. Many complements were made on his flash cards making him beam with pride on his rigged improvements.

Good job Napoleon Dynamite. I mean Nathan.

Every time I look at this cookie, I laugh. Then I go throw up.

Interesting...

WARNING: This post contains some vivid, but cool images of a snake eating a rat.

Kendall's preschool class had a field trip to go and see Ranger Jodi and learn all about bats. In a weird way, she got us all excited about Halloween! We learned about all kinds of bat species and in the end, bats are pretty neat. Not at all as creepy as I thought. Interesting fact: One bat eats 1,000 mosquitoes every hour... who knew?

The kids got to touch all the animals in the visitor center. My favorite was the little bear cub and its mama and the most darling porcupine you ever laid eyes on.

Ranger Jodi had a special treat for the kids. She had waited for the kids so that they could watch the six foot snake eat a 8 inch rat. It was pretty amazing. The whole process took 5 minutes from start to finish. I thought the kids would be scared but instead they were fascinated.

After that we walked over to the beach to eat at the playground. I wasn't all that hungry:).

Starts

These October skies are one of the reasons I love my morning walks. The other is being with my mom.

I love starting out in pitch black dark, layered in jackets, hats and gloves. I love walking out the door and seeing our breath, knowing that by the time we finish we will be toasty warm maybe borderline hot.

I love our uplifting conversations and never wanting them to be over. I love how I feel so much better when we are done. Physically our muscles ache (we try to do some rolling hills huffin' it and if we feel the need add lunges or jogging). It's a good pain that sets you up for the rest of the day and you know if you do any manual labor it will just be a bonus to your calorie burnage.

I love that mentally and spiritually I feel clean and calm. I learn so much from my mom and we tease each other about our "morning devotionals". Our therapy chats get me through each day and fill me up with positivity and happiness.

And then there is always the bonus of those fairy tale skies. The sunrise has been hitting just about the time we finish climbing our toughest hill. The reward is priceless. Flamingo pink clouds as far as the eye can see. As you go lower to the horizon, it looks like the sky is on fire. Oranges and golds outline the trees. The bright yellow shines against the azure blue. It comes together and hits you with a wave of gratitude.

Weekend Away

Time Out for Women came to Denver and we took advantage. We stayed at an old fashioned bed and breakfast, had pillow talk and enjoyed a spiritual high provided by the best speakers I've heard in a long time. The queens have arrived!

Friday: We started the weekend by getting pedicures. Mom had a contact malfunction during her Chinese leg rub and of course started us off...laughing! The one-eyed pirate drove us downtown where we ate Lunch at the Brown Palace. It was there that our love for the Mayo jar grew and quickly became part of our trip and a major inside joke. We walked up and down 16th street mall and shared a Pinkberry dessert. It was time to check in at Capitol Hill and have a "favorite things" swap. I'm on a favorite things kick right now- wink, wink. We took a cat nap and got ready for TOFW. Got great seats, listened, and learned. Then got serenaded by Dallyn Vail Bayless. Enough said.

Saturday: Woke up and got ready. Ate white chocolate graham cracker pancakes with bacon, fruit and juice. Packed lunch and headed over to TOFW. Amazing speakers with story after story. Did lots of mental journaling and shopping at Deseret Book store. Loved being in the middle of Gram and mom sharing little insights during the talks. Power outage. My favorite part. The speaker came to the middle of us and in pure darkness spoke with one flashlight that shone on her. Two thousand women were silent as she finished her talk. There was a great feeling that accompanied the day. As TOFW ended we decided on The Market for Dinner and inhaled our curry chicken sandwich and spring fling cake. More window shopping and back to the B&B for pillow talk and a movie in our room. The three of us fell fast asleep in the bed.

Sunday: Woke up so excited to see Justin and the boys. Got ready and ate an egg souffle, coffee cake and fruit with cranberry juice. Loaded up our stuff and drove home. Came home to hugs and cute signs on the door from the boys and a sparkly clean house from Justin. Journaled my weekend and went to church with the family.

Relax!

One evening Gram and I started talking about facials. We started describing them to one another and pretty soon we both turned to putty and melted into our chairs. Mom had never had one and by the time our discussion was over, we each had appointments at the spa.

I was looking forward to this evening ALL week. Justin came home early to take the kids and we were off. No looking back.

We changed into our robes, took a gander at the sauna that would later become of use, and ended up in our personal room of Heaven. Magazines, soft music, water fountains, infused orange and cucumber water, teas, and stands of goodies.

We made our way onto the marshmallow chairs and waited one by one for each to return from our facials.

Mom and I were taking in everything about the experience while Gramma was having her turn and were in deep conversation when in walks THE FURRY CHICKEN.

Gramma's eyes looked drunk and her body swayed back and forth like she was going to drop over from relaxation but her hair said otherwise.

Mom and I couldn't hold back any longer and we let loose. In hysterics and pretty soon we had some of the gals all the way from the front desk back there joining us. Tears were streaming down our cheeks and as we got ourselves in control, we would look at Gram and start over again.

Her hair stuck straight up off her head and you could tell she went for it!

The esthetician and the other girls didn't want to leave so after a while we had them take a picture.

Why does laughing HARD feel SO good? The evening was WAY better than I ever thought it could be.

Blankets and Tea.

I loved this week. I really loved it. My Gramma came up for a visit and it was FUN-understatement! She is my only grandparent that I have left and I'm going to enjoy getting to know her. I'm going to pick her brain and try to spoil her rotten, (even though she always ends up doing most of the spoiling).

She had brought us tons of projects to do and I, being hungry to get over my aversion to the bobbin tried to learn some of her amazing sewing skills. We set up the quilt frames on the deck and went to work. In the end we had made both the boys a soft fluffy blanket and I will forever think of her when I see those two wrapped up in them. Even though those blankets ended up being my favorite blankets I had ever laid eyes on, it was not the highlight. It was a close second.

The process of making them was the actual highlight. As we tied the quilts she told me stories and we laughed and we laughed. Then I flew through the closed screen door and we...laughed. Then we laughed more and I felt my stomach turn into a firm flat object that I actually wanted Justin to touch cuz' it got a workout all week. A good workout.

Those blankets make me feel good. They are attached to amazing memories and I love them.

When Gramma comes to visit we like to do things we don't do in an ordinary day. The boys make her signs and artwork all week. They smoother her with hugs and smooches. She is the only other woman I let my husband kiss:).

When we are driving and see a place off the road we stop the car and check it out. She is always up for a hamburger from the last great hamburger stand and is always up for errand running. We play games and make grape juice and toast with avocados and tomatoes.

This last time we went to go have afternoon tea. Herbal winter mint tea with Cinnamon crunchies to dip. It was hot and delicious. I felt like we were having dessert. Kendall quietly colored and ate a pumpkin cookie and I fell in love with the little store decorated for fall, with teas that went up to the ceiling and the only way to get to some of them was a rolling library ladder. The pastries and petit fours looked so elegant in the case. There was a quiet hum and we stayed cozy while we talked and watched the leaves swirl outside in the freezing cold. A major drop in temperature that day.

For some reason when I drink a cup of hot tea it equals Gramma.

The Grasshopper Whisperer

Nathan has this habit of whistling ALL day right now. You can hear him coming. You can hear him going. He whistles every song he knows and then starts over. He even whistles to insects to tame them.

Evening

Evening sunsets faded into moonlight reflecting off the pond. Curled up in blankets and watching the flames dance off the charcoals we roasted brats and marshmallows. The fact that we forgot the chocolate didn't stop us from going into marshmallow roast overload.

All I Want For Christmas....

...is my two front teeth!

Intermission

In between the morning and afternoon session of General Conference, we loaded up the car and headed to one of our favorite spots on this earth. After a little hike that we were hoping GG could make, (and she did!) we stood on some rocks that overlooked this beautiful valley.

My Grandpa taught me that because of the way the Earth is tilted on its axis this time of year, the colors appear much more vibrant. The sky is almost a turquoise blue and the mountains are purple. The grass is a lush green and the leaves are beginning to look like a patchwork quilt. As far as the eye can see, it looks like a painting. This should not be real.


These pictures are looking to the right and then to the left. A drastic change. A green golf course progressing into scrub oak obeying the commands of autumn.

I am in awe of the details that go into anything created in nature.




We pulled over and got out of the car to observe some buffalo slowly eating and enjoying their Sunday afternoon as they rolled around in the dirt and tended to their babies.

Fill er' Up!

What I love about most this time of year is by the time October has rolled around I usually feel drained and empty and often, not this year, but often, I crash. I can't say how grateful and how much I look forward to General Conference to fill me back up.

I can literally feel my body and mind being invigorated. My faculties are enlarged and expanding. There is something healing that happens. It cultivates goodness and peace. I feel rejuvenated, rested and at the same time I have energy to go about my daily routine happily and cheerfully.

This conference was full of so many things I needed to hear. I love President Monson.

To help the boys try to focus and listen we had some buckets set up full of yummy snacks to eat. In front of each bucket we had a word. Every time the boys heard the "word" they got to eat a goodie from the bucket. Everyone paid close attention and loved when a "word" popped up.

We had our traditional fall breakfast before conference started. Pumpkin pancakes with buttermilk syrup and a pitcher full of milk. I loved sitting out on the deck and listening to the yellow and orange leaves rustle around in the trees. I'm grateful it is still warm and I'm grateful GG came to visit.

Sleeping Boy

I can't explain why I get so mesmerized when I watch my littles sleep, or Justin for that matter.

I love how Kendall can plop into a pile of clean laundry with a good book and fall fast asleep. I love how he gets tired in the car and always asks permission to take a little rest. I love how easily he transfers and how he wiggles to get extra comfy when I put his blanket over him. I love how he smiles and still has his eyes shut when you come a lay by him. I love when he wakes up and is happy with his mass of bed head flopping all over the place. I love that he still wants Justin and I to hold him while he tries to wake completely up. I love that he will still take a nap with me.

Another Tooth

It's the BIG one. Front and center and I'm sure that wiggly one next to it will pop out any day now.

I get twinge in my heart every time one of these babies come out. Just means they are growing up and there's nothing I can do to stop it.