what a beautiful mess

I just can't be left out from every other blog posting Halloween pics.  So here's ours: Stephen is Iron Man.   Annabelle is Pippi Longstocking. Joshua is Bob the Builder with pajama pants cause it was cold. Emily is a Mad Scientist. And we are just your regular internet couple taking a self portrait and editing it to make us look better.  The kids got plenty of candy but ended up giving it all to me and Trevor. Cause that's just the kind of kids they are. We woke up this morning (sunday) to our children handing us candy, multiple times. They eventually got some sandwich baggies and wrote our names on them and filled them with candy. Before you start thinking what angel children they are, we got NO chocolate. Unless you count tootsie rolls as chocolate, which we don't. But seriously, what kid gives their candy away? My sweet, sweet children are the kind of kids to do that.

Our night being almost over, here we sit in our pajamas taking a couple of  self portraits to commemorate this special day. I look really tired (which I am) and trevor has a cold sore on his lip.  But we tried. And it's been a good day.  Not as good as it could have been. (What??? Sarah not being positive??? Unheard of...kidding)  The moving-depression has started for me.  I'm no longer busy packing and unpacking and  I'm without some of the people I love most. From experience, it should last about a month or so.  I usually try to hide it but I'm tired of doing that also.  So here I am being all candid and such and now you know  that for the next month, I will put on a happy face  when I walk out my front door  but mope around and be lame inside the protection of my home. But what is so lovely is that I have these 5 wonderful people here  who love me anyway.  And when Trevor comes home at night, even if it's late, ev...

Cause its like a totally important day!!! Here are what the four best things from the past 11 years are doing today: Annabelle is doing a puzzle but what I like best is her crazy hair.  Emily helped me make me some humongous chocolate chip pancakes.  The boys are wrestling on and with the couch.  I love that all you can see is legs. And there's no school today so who knows what else the day will bring.  Maybe a trip to the library? (I've already been 3 times and found that the book I got has cat hair in it. GROSS)  So now I am going to paint my nails and do my hair special and put on something smelly  (good smelly) cause i have a very important date tonight. There may or may not be a sitter yet, we're not sure, but no matter what,  we will do something , anything .  Our 11 year anniversary won't come around ever again.  I still can't believe it's been over a decade already.  Crazy how fast time goes by. A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY...

Today's the parade at school for Halloween. Annabelle wouldn't wear her hair sticking out like pippy longstocking ~but it was fun to do and I think she looks adorable...She says she will pull it out at the parade time. We'll see if she really does! Emily is a mad scientist. They can't wear makeup to school so she looks more like an 80's punk rocker. Cute either way! Offical pictures of their halloween costumes will be on Saturday but I had to add these today cause I love my girls....

You know how much we love Adams Peanut Butter, right? This amazing stuff in the picture above is like Adams but in a dessert-y/heavenly/marvelously/wonderfully kind of way. It is so, so good . And it has no hydrogenated oil or high fructose corn syrup and I can read all the ingredients in it which only makes up about six, surprisingly. You really need to get out to your local grocery store and buy this. Right. Now. I am in love with it. I just got done with a spoonful and am now contemplating going and getting another one only then my carbs would be exceeded for the day. But it would definitely be worth a slight belly ache. That's how good it is. Speaking of love , only 2 more days until our 11 year anniversary. We probably won't have a babysitter but we can think of plenty of great stuff  to do here at home to celebrate......... like eat a yummy dinner, play a game, eat dessert, massage each others feet..... well.... what did you think I was talking about????...

  We begin at the front door looking in: And now we are at the ugly vertical blinds looking at the front door: The kitchen from the windows: The kitchen table where we eat, do art, homework and play games: The computer area looking at it from the ugly vertical blinds: Looking down the hall from the computer table: Second door on your right, the bathroom, laundry room and linen closet room: First door on your left, our bedroom: Our bedroom from our bathroom: The girls bedroom: The boys bedroom: Looking down the hallway from the girls bedroom: There you have it. Since you can't be here you can now at least see what it looks like.  I know it's small but we really love it. And when our 9 month lease is up and we buy again,  we will look for something small and one story.  Everything is so much easier with one floor.  We (I mean "I") really miss Boise.  But we will be back. Soon. If only temporarily, like, for the birth of a baby! I can't wait.

It's been awhile. A long while, it feels like.   It's been a very long 5 days but its gone by fast.  If you know what I mean. We are officially all moved in, unpacked and back in school.  The kids love school, our home and have adjusted magically. I'm still getting used to a new town and not having anyone to put on the  "emergency contact" sheet at school. But we've done it before, we can do it again. By the way, it is DANG cold here.  Jacket, scarf, gloves and all~that kind of weather.  But we are nice and toasty (and squished) in our new home.  Our house in Boise should be up for sale by the beginning of next week, possibly the end of this one.  (Anyone in the market for a nice, well loved and taken care of home?  Anyone? Anyone?) But we really do like our apartment.  I love being all tight and close together.  Of course, half of our stuff is in a storage unit but there's less to clean which is GREAT! We h...

(old photo) And now life can resume back to normal. Well normal besides the moving 4 hours away from here, all the boxes everywhere, a big u-haul coming in the morning and everything and everyone we are going to miss. But normal in the really important way. It's safe to say that we missed each other a lot the past four days. By the way blogging, I've missed you too.

That's what Joshua calls the Verizon store.  A place we've never even set foot in until today.  And I did so reluctantly.  But we decided it was time to get with the 21st century and get some phones.  Not just any phone.  The feature phone.  I guess that's just a fancy way to say the "cheap phone".  But it works.  And here I am texting in my pajamas.  I was sweet and texted Trevor "I love you". Cause I do. It's starting to hit me now that we're moving. So  I drowned my sorrows today in a cookie. And then I was feeling more sorrowful and ate another one. (thank you Lizzy~they were delicious ) It was Trevor's cookie but he doesn't know there was one here for him so it's kinda our little secret. But the cookie(s) didn't make me feel any better. Cause now I just feel bloated and sad. It's time to call it a night. Later taters.

From three years ago?   This one here.   And so.... it begins again. This time Trevor is being transfered to Idaho Falls to manage a Columbia Paint Store (Sherwin owns Columbia). They're also going to be moving carpet into his store so these past 3 years have not been for nothing! They have taught him so much about what he likes in a job and what he doesn't. And for now, this is where he wants to be. I have loved Boise and am so sad to leave. Especially Candice. That is going to be really, really hard. There are not enough really's to express how hard it will be. We move on the 22nd. Our house will go up for sale and we can only hope it sells as quickly as our last one did! This will be our 8th move in 11 years. Not too bad. Well, actually, that's kind of a lot. This will be the girls 4th elementary school. WOW. Enough, already, right? I don't know what exactly the Lord has in store for us in the future but we are so excited for this new chapter in life. ...

This  has been on my mind a lot today. If you haven't read it, you should. For me, watching it was not enough. For me to more fully comprehend the message intended, I had to read it a couple of times. And each time I have, the spirit has confirmed to me the truthfulness of what  Elder Packer said. There is so much hope, love, and compassion in it. And it is so reassuring to know that the Church stands firm in the teachings of Jesus Christ. No flip flopping, no sugar coating (thank you jessica). Plain and simple truth. You really should read this talk.

and took a lot of pictures.  We went for a drive on Saturday to McCall thinking it would be about a 3 hour event. It ended up taking all day.  We had no idea how far McCall actually was until we got there and didn't get home till, oh,  about eight o'clock.  It was nice to be together though.  We really had a lot of fun.  A few examples: Stephen and Trevor played football the WHOLE time.  Meanwhile, these three picked out their favorite, special rocks that have now found a home in scattered places around the house.  Look at Emily's face: pure happiness.  Same here with Joshua.  Stephen looks a little.... umm I don't know the word.  Weird, maybe? He gets it from his dad. A great day and a great weekend.  And here's the kids before church.  I actually had time to take a picture before we left.  That's cause I was ready 45 minutes before church started.  That's right people,  you heard it here first.  I ...

Emily flops around like a fish when she plays air hockey.  It's really adorable.  And she giggles the whole time.  Music to my ears.  AND  get this folks: Trevor told Stephen I was his favorite wife.  Stephen said "That's cause she's your only wife." Trevor said if he had a hundred wives, I would still be his favorite.  Whew!  (is that the sound you make when you're wiping your brow?)  So if polygamy ever makes a comeback, I'm safe.  I think I was almost, kind of, a little worried.  But not really. 

So our evening plans were thwarted when we got a phone call during dinner: Trevor forgot about Roundtable and had to leave. Quickly.  me sitting at the computer a little pouty. Can you tell? :( I got lil'wienies, bacon and brown sugar to make a delicious treat to eat while watching the Office.  We'll now have to eat them while watching The Apprentice.  I swear we do not watch t.v. all the time. This will actually be the first time for us all week.  Pinky swear.                                       So while Trevor is at the church, the kids and I sat outside and watched the beautiful weather. And now it's time for baths and showers, and putting sheets back on our bed and putting away laundry and making our Apprentice treat and saying prayers and reading scriptures and giving kisses and hugs and calming the cries from (still) being scared and waiting for Trevor to ge...

That's what me and Candice do when we get together...  We just like to take pictures.  Especially of ourselves. In stores.  Did I just say that out loud, eerrr, type it and not delete it?  Oops.  We once got in trouble at the mall for taking pictures.  Not of ourselves that time but you get the idea.  We like pictures.   **** Doesn't Asa look adorable?  He better. That is one expensive hat.  I won't ever hold babies for any permanent amount of time ever again. Well, not until I have grandchildren which is at least 15 years away,  so when I do, I have to document it.  Asa seems to fall asleep while I'm holding him. A lot. I must put off a Lunesta scent or something.... It really makes me happy.  But so does being in a fabric store that has polka dots and I found lots of fabric that I LOVED.  I could look and look all day.  Not buy, mind you.  I still have a dress I need to finish that's being  pu...

2005 We laugh at this picture all the time.  Candice especially likes to make fun of it.  We couldn't afford professional pictures  so we thought we'd do the next best thing. We threw a sheet on the couch, sat in front of it  and set the timer. This is the result: It had been 6 years for us when we took this creative picture.  Trust me, it's only gotten better. (and me and Emily no longer have devil eyes)

I'm sitting here, my usual time to blog,  eating all the Jelly Belly's in the house.  (don't tell Trevor~ it's the last sweet thing in the cupboards).  Anyways, Jelly Belly's make me nostalgic  cause they remind me of Jessica.  Especially the butter/popcorn ones.  Do you still like those Jessica?  I love them more and more all the time.  And we can get them here for like 3.78 a pound,  which is a steal if you ask me... . *****  A day like today calls for laundry  and sitting at the computer eating Jelly Belly's: I didn't get it all folded but I'm pretty darn close. No matter that I started at 10:00 in the morning  and it's now 9:00 at night.  There's always tomorrow's what I always say! (Only two more jelly beans in the bowl) (  Now they're gone:( ) Do you remember Jessica, when you watched Annabelle over night for me once?  And I was so worried because I had never left her before?  She was in really good h...

"I consider charity—or “the pure love of Christ”—to be the opposite of criticism and judging. In speaking of charity, I do not at this moment have in mind the relief of the suffering through the giving of our substance. That, of course, is necessary and proper. Tonight, however, I have in mind the charity that manifests itself when we are tolerant of others and lenient toward their actions, the kind of charity that forgives, the kind of charity that is patient. I have in mind the charity that impels us to be sympathetic, compassionate, and merciful, not only in times of sickness and affliction and distress but also in times of weakness or error on the part of others. There is a serious need for the charity that gives attention to those who are unnoticed, hope to those who are discouraged, aid to those who are afflicted. True charity is love in action. The need for charity is everywhere. Needed is the charity which refuses to find satisfaction in hearing or in repeating the reports...

It's October 1st.  Only 29 days until it's been eleven years. The countdown has begun.