what a beautiful mess

It was a really great Halloween. Even though it's not our favorite holiday...in fact it's way worse than our worst holiday. We don't like it. But we had a good time tonight. Costumes: Emily: Dead Bride Annabelle: lazy person Stephen: Dracula Joshua: Ninja Sarah: Sarah Trevor: Trevor Tonight I realized how fast our kids are growing up. They no longer need us to walk them around to the houses. We could sit in the truck and follow them from street to street. They actually didn't even want us to walk with them. how rude ...It was nice to sit in the truck and be able to talk if we wanted to and not be interrupted but it was also sad for me. Que sera, sera. After trick or treating, we came home to white chicken chili and maple bars. And the kids ate only 2 pieces of candy the whole night! I read scriptures while everyone else ate their doughnuts. I thought it'd be a really great idea to eat mine after the kids were in bed, and while watching Jessica Simpson...

Happy Anniversary to us!  It was a really great evening.  We didn't have a long time but we still had a good time.  We went out to eat and then drove around Rigby for awhile, definitely deciding that we are  so glad we live in Rexburg and not in Rigby.... After, we headed over to Kings (a small town all-purpose store)  and read anniversary cards to each other.  We then picked up the kids, came home and enjoyed the rest of the night together.  Each year, as cliche as it sounds, I love Trevor more and more.  And it's a better, deeper, truer love than it has ever been before.  And they lived happily ever after....

It was a tougher Sunday than we're use to. Stephen stayed home sick (he wasn't but I was). There was arguing, very little patience, cold weather (we have snow and have had snow since Wednesday) and an annoying (but lovable) dog. And we watched The Princess Bride. And played Face the Cookie. AND Tomorrow is our Anniversary! Have I not mentioned that yet? It's snuck up on us so fast this year. It's been a busy and stressful year. We have some friends taking our kids for the evening and we will spend hours of time together. Alone...in Rigby!?! What in the heck is there to do in Rigby? (I'm sure we'll find something to do...) We cannot wait. There has never been a day go by that I have not been thankful for Trevor. He really is the best husband. Ever. In all the world. Did you know that we've had 4,749 days together? And I absolutely cannot wait for day  googolplexian.

I have such a kind husband. He did the dishes last night while I was at Young Womens. It seems to be in my DNA however, that I redo them the next day. I absolutely love that he did them though. Seriously love it.  Kids were showered, house was cleaned up and I came home to them all playing Nintendo. I found this picture of the kids tonight. I don't know how in the world I forgot about it cause I love it so much. Tonight while eating, we went around and asked each kid how their day went and what their favorite part was. We got the typical responses: recess, lunch, orchestra, art, and they all had great days. Trevor said his favorite time of the day was walking through the door at the end of the work day. My favorite was 11:00, 2:45, 4:10 and 5:55; the times when each of them got home. And then 8:30 when everyone would be in bed. (I had to add that last one so as not to be too sentimental. cause lets be honest, bedtime is a great time.)

Sometimes we have some funny conversations around our house. Unfortunately, I missed one of those tonight since I was at YW's. But Trevor retold it perfectly. I won't be able to do that since I heard it secondhand but here's the jist: Stephen must have learned about temperatures today at school because while he was in the shower he called each girl back to give them a quiz. They learned what temperature Fahrenheit it needs to be to freeze, to boil, the most comfortable temp for a shower, and what temperature your body is. He then quizzed Trevor. And so Trevor quizzed him back. It was one of those nights where I would have much rather have been at home than out freezing my tushie (Stephens word) off at a straw maze. And I hate straw mazes.

I love Sundays. I really, really do. I have especially loved this Sunday because it was the Primary Program and it was wonderful. The spirit is always so strong when the kids do their yearly program. I think it would probably be the best time for an investigator to come to the church since I myself feel freshly converted each year I watch it. Especially when my kids are participators. Today Trevor and I took a nap together. In our bed. And it was so nice. Trevor is like a big oven and I'm always so grateful to have such a warm man...Actually I'm always grateful for him because of much more important things than how warm his body is. But it's still great. We had dinner at Scott and Jenee's house tonight. Jenee made one of Trevor's favorites: lasagna. He loves it so much and I never make it. I torture him with meals like sloppy sams and veggie burgers. I always love the Sundays we get together with the Haslem's. It doesn't seem to happen nearly enough. T...

Last night I took Emily and her favorite friend to The Haunted Mill- Idaho's best and scariest haunted house.  Just one minute into it and both girls were begging to go back.  Secretly, in my own head, I wanted to go back also.  So we turned around and instead decided to just tag along with  the nice couple behind us.  She was British, he was not.  They were great.  They were so understanding of the screaming eleven year old's (and sometimes...me). Thirty minutes later, we were done and happy to be so.  It was the scariest haunted house that I've ever been too.   BUT It was so. much. fun.  I want to go back but this time with my Trevor so I can hold onto him... We're having a friend photoshop our family pictures.  He say's he's really good at it but I'm not so sure... It's funny cause I was thinking of getting some stars tattooed on my face... And of course, I always love Trevor with som...

I woke up this morning with two extra boys in our bed. Both Stephen and Josh had bad dreams last night. I thought that they'd be grown out of sleeping with us but apparently, not yet.  I also woke up to both Emily and Annabelle in the kitchen, all ready for school, making breakfast for everyone. Anna is always up at six a.m. sharp but it was a big surprise to have Emily up and ready before 7:30. She's a lot like me.  Lately while I've been on the treadmill, I've been watching movies. It definitely takes the boredom out of running in place. I've watched Fraiser episodes, some Arrested Development, The Notebook, Downton Abbey and others that I just can't remember right now. I can go for miles and miles while watching something besides the wall.  It's just too bad that I have to turn the TV up all the way, scoot it out away from the wall, and have the treadmill at an angle...(all worth it, by the way...) It would be really nice to have a portabl...

This first picture is low resolution because I can't flip the other one.  I feel as if we're in the garden of Eden or something.  It's BYU-I gardens which is close enough, I guess. Honestly though, they're pretty good, right?  We had a really great photographer...

My monkey: And my gangster: Aren't they adorable?  Yes, they most definitely are.  We had to give our talks today in Sacrament.  It was great. The girls did a really, really great job.  Then I took about 25 minutes and left Trevor with 7 minutes to finish up.  I feel guilty about that although he tells me not to.  This week, I've watched the third season of Downton Abbey and it is so good.  Just as good as expected! The fifth episode just played tonight so I'm really looking forward to watching that this week! I can already tell that it's going to be a great week...

The weekend went by too fast. Trevor and I were texting today and I asked how his day was going and he had the answer for both of us "work always sucks after a great weekend." That's just so true. Although I do seem to be more productive. That's probably because I do almost nothing during our weekends that can be considered work. Conference was really great. We had our traditional conference packets (made by Trevor) which are becoming more like books, (emily's face is cracking me up in this picture...that looks like an arguing face.) our Candy Master with lots of candy and an annoying dog made less annoying by having a large bone to chew on: See how happy we were?:

The funniest thing happened to Emily tonight. We didn't laugh too hard about it at the time but now whenever we think about it, Trevor and I both laugh. After the second conference session, we went to some friends house for dinner (which was delicious). They have kids similar in ages to our own. So us adults were sitting outside eating dinner and talking while the kids were playing nearby us and the clothes line. There were a pair of undies hanging up drying and one of the kids thought it'd be great fun to pull them down and throw them around. Unfortunately, Josh also thought it would be fun to take those undies and put them over Emily's head. And the undies belong to their boy that is her age. She just about cried, she was so embarrassed. And we thought it was the funniest thing and will of course continue to torture her with it for many years to come. However luck was just not in her favor tonight. As if the underwear incident wasn't enough, Trevor got a call ...

I think it's obvious to the world who won the debate last night. However Trevor was pretty nervous and excited leading up to it so I decided to make it a party for the whole family! We ate Chex Lemon Buddies (or I'm referring to them as "Mitt Buddies") and Chex Muddy Buddies (or "Barack Buddies"). They were delicious. We all like Muddy Buddies better but that in no way infers our political stance. We're team Lemon all the way. To be honest though, it wasn't until late last night that I realized that our snack choices coincided perfectly with our presidential candidates... And last night was awesome. (was that whole "buddies" thing totally politically incorrect...?) After just a few minutes, we could both tell that Romney was pummeling Pres. Obama. It was super awesome. We were super excited. The kids watched the whole thing along with us, pretended to not be bored, and sat confused the whole time. It was important for us to h...

A friend of mine took family pictures of us tonight. I'm excited to show them to you all but until then here's a sneak peek of some pictures that were taken: Okay, not really. I just had Emily and Annabelle take some pictures of me and Trevor posing like Tim and Faith. It's soooo romantic. However, I don't think we pulled it off as well as the country duo did. But we did get a kind-of good picture. I'm super excited to see the "real" family pictures. (FYI we were just being silly...the "good" picture was just a fluke. I think one of the girls accidentally took that picture...)