Halloween 2011

 Here they are: Anakin Skywalker and Queen Amadala!  What can I say the Star Wars is running strong around here.  Such a fun holiday with kids.  We trick or treated for 2 whole hours and most of the time they would have ran the entire time had I not been reigning them back in to keep up with the other neighborhood kids.   

 We spent the day carving pumpkins and painting angry birds, then Neal and Britlyn came over to see the kids and gave them each a big candy bar.  We cooked pumpkin seeds just like my mom used to do and then, as is tradition for us, we got pappa murphy's pizza shaped like a jack-o-lantern and stayed up eating all the peanut candy Seth can't.  This is one of my favorite holidays.  

SUU football game

Cordelle got free tickets to go to a SUU football game and a private tailgate party so we thought, ahh why not?  Turns out it was the MOST perfect day for it! Especially for the last few days of October.  We had a very yummy lunch of pulled pork sponsored by the people who gave the Leavitt Group the tickets and then we watched the game with the kids and they were great and loved it!  They spent most of the time looking for Thor the thunderbird which was fine by me cause they weren't whining.  Jaq even laid down at half time with her blankets and fell asleep right there on the bleachers.  Maybe that's why it seemed like such a well mannered outing?  I even got to sneak over while she was sleeping and watch the last half of the SUU girls soccer team play their last game (SUU football was winning and it started to get boring).  Right when I got there a girl kicked a long ball from the half and scored!  It was really cool.  They were actually really good.  It was a lot of fun watching them.  Made me miss soccer.  I've really got to start playing more than just once a year at summer games.  Even then though, there's nothing like playing on a big field where you can shoot on a real size goal or cross a ball over the field.  Just the sound of them kicking the ball solidly made me nostalgic.  Isn't that weird?

 Every year we go to the Haag's for their infamous halloween party!  Here were some of our friends.

The Walkers...Tain- Happy Camper

                        Ann- The golf of mexico

 Krista and Dayne as Edward and Bella at the prom from the end of Twilight.  She even made him get gold contacts and of course the wig (he's naturally bald.).  She is so funny.

Lisa and Rick Haag as Marge and Homer Simpson.   It was the joke all night that her hair needed some hair viagra cause it was falling over all night.

Matt and Tawna Marriott as The Russian Roulette couple

and us. As Wendy and Dave Thomas.

Witches night out!

 Angela (you would never guess what this girl really looks like from this!!  Fantastic witch costume)

First of all I have to say, I have the funnest friends ever!  My friend Angela decided to throw a witches party and man alive, it was a partay!.  She is SO fun!  Everyone dressed up like witches and they had this whole dinner and treats where all the food was named some ghoulish name.  We had a cackling contest, made up spells etc.  It was funny.  Angela and her sister were the only ones that talked like witches the WHOLE evening but just listening to them was a riot.  I was so glad I went, they seriously went over board with the decor but it was fantastic!  So fun to kick off halloween that way. 

The secret campaign

Cordelle's famous.

Well kind of.

So the company Cordelle works for decided to make some commercials for their personal lines insurance.  Only when Cordelle and the marketing department did the mock ups for the commercials the big wigs decided they did a great job and they didn't need to hire professional actors they could just use the marketing department.  So Cordelle had to quickly discover his inner actor.  You can see the commercials here.  They are mostly playing on the radio and before the movies at the theatres in Cedar City and St. George. People are always commenting on it and telling him they saw him in it....its funny.  He loves it!  They call it the "Secret Campaign." (as you will see from the commercials and is evident from this picture).  He sent this still shot to me one day from the campaign and it made me laugh so I thought I'd share it.

Love these kids

We are doing away with naps because bed time is just not happening with them....needless to say this is how we find her come 6:00 at night.  Poor girl.  How is she even staying on that chair?

 Can you say dear in the headlights look? or CAUGHT!

Our pumpkin lot for the year!

Miss Jaq turns 3!!

My little princess is three years old! Jaq, right now is so fun, I really try all the time to get into serious conversations with her because her face expressions are HILLARIOUS.  She loves her brother and is his little shadow.  Hence she probably knows more about Star Wars than most boys her age.  But she is fine as long as she gets to be princess Leia or Queen Amadalla.  Jaq loves hugs and kisses and gives them out freely by walking up to you and saying "hugs" while motioning you toward her.   She is constantly complimenting me and says things like, "Mom your shirt is really cute" or "Your hair is so pretty." She is all about matching her outfits and I usually can convince her to wear a weather appropriate outfit if I can convince her it matches and it would look REALLY cute.  I honestly don't know where she gets this. But it is very important that she looks pretty or cute every day and she does.  Her hair is SO long right now and probably goes to the middle of her back.  But she thinks she looks like Rapunzel so any hope for me cutting it to make life easier for me is out of the question.  When I do take the time to do up her massive amounts of hair for a 3 year old, she usually  chooses a princess she wants to look like for the day and I am under strict orders to do her hair accordingly.  But honestly, I have to pay her a nickel every time she lets me do it cause its usually tears and screaming! She does love to see herself in the mirror all dolled up though and once I even saw her kissing herself in the mirror?  :)  She loves most girly things like dolls and dress-ups.  But she's well balanced with a brother so she spends a lot of time playing soccer and riding her bike as well. When she's not letting the 3 year old scream demons out, we really do enjoy her sweet company.  What a darling little girl!   We Love you Jaquelle!

The Rapunzel Bike....formally known as the spiderman bike.  But with a new coat of paint and a seat cover made out of a broken "Tangled" umbrella, I saved myself about 40 buckaroos.   Turned out okay....(because you can't see an up close detailed pic) but Jaq was ecstatic to get her own bike! 

 Birthday Cheese ball

 The "very homemade" princess cake (minus the princesses which were a steal from the dollar store)

I love this smug little face!

love it.

Cedar Express Relay Go KISS MY FAST!

Last year at this time, I was pouting because all my close running friends were running the first Cedar Relay and I couldn't run cause I had just messed up my IT band. But this year....I was ready and pumped! Unfortunately Krista was missing this year due to medical issues so maybe next year the whole running gang will all be on the team. This race is small short runs. Everyone ran about 3-4 miles for each of their 2 legs. This was fun because you knew that because it was short distances, you could run, and run fast. We did phenomenally well. We were trying to keep our title from last year, as Women's division first place team. The whole race we were neck to neck with 2 other women teams who were really just great runners. Then even though we had the lead, right at the end we were passed and beat by 2 minutes. Sad!! But we still got second place which entitled us to a bag full of goodies and $25 each! Pretty much paid for the entrance fee! I think we came in 7th overall out of 37 teams, so not bad. But it was so fun! Gotta say it again, I love relays! I wish this one was a little longer, it seemed like it ended right when it had just begun being fun! I did pretty well on my legs, getting first (time wise) on one of them out of all the women. The other one was only 3 miles but was probably one of the hardest legs of my life! I had forgotten my water and it was super hot, so I'm sure I was WAY dehydrated because I had NO energy and I felt like dying. My leg was one steady uphill climb. It was torture. There was a girl I eyed the entire leg and didn't think I'd ever catch her. Luckily, she started walking and as much as I felt like I was going to die, with one foot in front of the other, I passed her and it felt AMAZING! Ah racing. Anyways here's the pics!

Up at the "C" before the race.
Tawna, Lisa, Melanie, Teresa, Wendy

by the portas.


There really are hershey's kisses taped all over her car. It kind of was convenient though if you needed a quick sugar surge, just grab one off the car and go to town. The ones one the hood didn't last long and ended up just looking like poo.

Hadn't seen a slap bracelet in years!

The Exchange

Me, fist crushing to my car as they drive by, indicating my intense desire to catch the girl about 20 yards ahead of me.

Medal pictures

Tuachhan's The Little Mermaid

Okay, my sister Krista and I planned this far in advance because we were so excited to take our kids to see this and it was SOO worth it! Krista and her family (all but little Zack) came down Monday, had dinner with us and then we all headed down to St. George to go Tuachan to see the Little Mermaid. The show didn't start till 8:30 and ended at 11:30 so it was tricky keeping our kids awake but they were SO great during the entire show, which was ironic cause Jaquelle cant even make it through the movie without getting side tracked. Everything about it had my kids glued to the stage, it made them laugh and it scared them till they jumped....it really was so entertaining to watch our kids watch it. The effects were amazing and even Cordelle and I really enjoyed ourselves. I don't know why we haven't taken them to a play sooner. It definitely will become a more regular tradition. And what could be better than sharing the night with Seth's favorite people in the world (his cousins)? We were so glad the Pace's came down and went with us. This was a blast!

Happy birthday SETHERS!

Seth turned 5 on August 15! And man, did he count down every day to his birthday for the last month. We found this bike for him on KSL and even though he saw it, we tried to convince him it might not be for him (cause we wanted it to be a surprise). But I think he secretly wasn't buying it. Cause on his birthday he said, "see I knew that was MY new bike." The kid is way into Star Wars...okay obsessed with star wars, so it really wasn't difficult to shop for him this year. He sat down in one sitting and memorized how to play both the Darth Vader and Luke song on the piano (I dont know their real names but thats what we call them). He is constantly asking me questions about the storyline (cause of course he hasn't seen the movies) and I had no idea, so I finally had to borrow all the movies from my parents and Cordelle and I have been watching them to fill him in. And he is all for this game plan. Its hillarious to us. He totally understands they are parent movies and not kids movies but he still wants to know what happens. Matter of fact the other night he said, "Mom, I have an idea. When Jaq and me go to bed, you and Dad go downstairs and watch Star Wars. Then when I wake up, tell me what happened." He's just so cool like that. I overheard him tell Jaquelle, "Jaq when we watch Star Wars if there is a scary part or Darth Maul, then we have to go out cause only Mom can watch it. Okay Jaquelle? We dont want to watch Darth Maul cause he is scary and only Mom's can watch it." But he knows the storyline now and we are graced by the constant hum of Darth Vaders march everywhere we go (not excluding Sacrament meetings or other quiet places). Love that kid! Happy Birthday Seth!