While Dad is Away, Mom and Children will PLAY!

What a super fun Deer Widow's weekend we've had. Dave left thursday, and I'll admit I was feeling pretty sorry for myself, but I didn't let that get me down. Instead, I made the best out of it. I started off with treating myself to shopping and lunch with my sister on Thursday. Got some super cute stuff at Nordstroms. I hardly ever shop at Nordstroms, but when I heard they had a New Moon line of clothing, I had to go take a look. Really, I went because one of my YW (Kristen) is on the teen fashion board and got entered into a drawing for every card with her name that was turned in. I think we got 6 or 7 turned in for her. Hope she wins something fabulous! To shop at Nordstroms you have to have ALOT of money. Holy Cow - The boots I want are only $297. I'm sure Dave won't mind if I get those in brown and black. Haha!

Friday I watched my friend Denza's cute little girls, Kylee and Alexa. Wow, I forgot how crazy it is having little kids running around the house. My house isn't baby proof anymore, funny how things change. Friday afternoon Jessy and Cody both went to friends houses while Kassy, her friend Brianna, and I went back to Nordstroms to see Kristen in the New Moon Fashion Show. Kristen looked great in her "New Moon" clothes. After that I picked up kids and headed home to wash the car. It took me a really long time to wash my car though, because friends kept stopping by - not complaining, it was so good to see Scarlett, Stacey, Connie, and Jeanette. I love chatting with friends, just ask Dave or my kids. Later that night Denza and her girls came over and we picked up dinner and brought it back to the house so the kids could play, or in Kassy's case, "hang-out". It gave me another chance to chat with a friend. Sleep overs, late nights, and movies, perfect for a Friday Night.

Saturday brought more fun as well as work. We got up in the morning and went to watch our friend Mikayla's last soccer game of the season (which by the way if you read my previous post you know Cody had his last soccer game - Not as succesful as the others. Played a super hard time. Final Score was 6 - 2. Not in our favor. You win some you lose some.) Once the soccer game was over the work began, we headed home to do some chores. Good news - the house looks clean and the lawn is mowed. Reward for all our hard work, we went to the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point. It was a blast and we only had one small issue over a chair. Below are some pictures to show you how much fun we had. All in all, it was a pretty great weekend. Enjoy - we sure did!

Kassy, Cody, Karey and Jessy - Thanksgiving Point "Scarecrow Festival"

Mikayla, Jessy and Cody. Cody won't ever let me take his picture when I want to, but when I am trying to take someone elses picture he always seems to pop in! Jessy is so Bendy - Flexy!

Kassy and Kylee - Notice Cody trying to sneek in - AGAIN! Jessy in the background.

Alexa was such a trooper.

Karey and Denza.

End to a fantasic weekend. Would have been better if our dad's would have been there with us, but we made due without.

One more quick thing....On Thursday night when Jessy was saying her prayers she said, "Please bless my dad that he won't see a deer so he won't be able to shot it." Busted me up!! As of 9:00 tonight Jessy's prayer still was answered, no Deer for Dave. We will see what tomorow brings!

A Little Bit of This and a Whole Lot of That

HALLOWEEN SEASON
I love this time of year, it's my favorite. I love the changing leaves, the end of the harvest, the yummy smells of the season, the clothes that you wear this time of year (t-shirts, jeans, flip flops and a sweat shirt as needed), the excitement of Halloween, picking pumpkins, and going to see the witches at Gardner Village. It's the best time of the year!!!

Here are a few pictures from some of our recent Halloween adventures!

Picking pumpkins for family home evening.
The girls

The Boys

Kassy

Jessy

Cody

Gardner Village - The Witches
Dave - looking thrilled, as always!

Kassy, Cody and Jessy

WEEKEND AT THE CABIN

Thanks to Brian and Michele and their family for inviting us to spend the weekend at Michele's parents cabin. We had such a great time. The kids loved being with their cousins and Dave and I loved getting away. The best part about the weekend was that we didn't do a whole lot of anything. We lounged around ALOT, took a MUDDY ride, and played games (Michele, do you think our version of Apples to Apples would be as funny if we had played it earlier in the day?). What a fabulous way to spend a weekend!

Jessy, creating a masterpiece!

Nap time!

Jessy, Dave and Brody

Muddiest Ride EVER!!

I think we might need to get one of these - super fun!

SOCCER
The soccer season is quickly coming to a close. Cody's last game is Wednesday night. I have to admit I am going to miss watching him play soccer, but I won't miss the 2 games a week plus a practice.

When soccer season began I was a bit worried about Cody's "skills" or shall I say lack of. He ran really hard and alot, but usually he was running away from the ball, not to it. The first few games were almost painful to watch. I remember yelling at him several times to run to the ball. We almost had to ban Dave from coming because he would get so frustrated. As for his team, hmmm, not the greatest players. This was the first time playing for a few of them and some of them seem to live in lala land (Not a bad place to visit at the right time). The first few games we lost. Finally on the Saturday pictures were being taken, the team got their first win. It was a big one at that. 11 to 1. WOW! It did something to our team and all of a sudden they began playing!!! The next game was more of the same, not as high scoring, but still an impressive improvement over the first part of the season. Cody had 4 shots that night. 2 of them were just short and the other 2 blocked. He was happy about the win, but a bit sad that he hadn't gotten a goal. We reminded him that he played an important part by being a great defender and getting the ball to those who had scored. I yelled less at him to run to the ball and more at him to take it all the way!! He was EVERYWHERE!

On the way to last Saturday's game, Cody told Dave and I that he was going to get a goal. We said that would be great, but the most important thing was to just do his BEST. His best was AWESOME! He was unstopable! If he wasn't running down the field with the ball, he was taking it away from someone, passing it to someone else, blocking it, or making a goal - 3 goals to be exact. It was fun to see his face beam with pride each time he made a goal. Each time he got a goal he would hold up that many fingers to show us. At the end of the game he held up 3 fingers and kept those fingers up pretty much the rest of the day. As he ran down the field to give the other team five, I had to laugh when I noticed he wasn't giving 5's but 3's. Way to go Cody!!! 3 might be his new favorite number.

So, like I said, one game left. We are hoping for another win, and a few more goals. As for now HIGH "3's" to you all!

Cody is on the Dark Blue Team. There team name is Blue Fire Breathing Monsters. We call them Blue Fire for short!

Give me 3! Seriously he kept his fingers like that most of the day!

Whew! The end!

Tribute to my sister

God made us sisters, but we chose to be friends! Love to sisters everywhere!
Kassy and Jessy - sisters and friends!

You know that one person who's always there no matter what, loves you because of your faults and insecurities, doesn't care if you don't call everyday, but loves it when you do, is willing to do anything for you, you can disagree with and it doesn't matter because each of you are unique with your own unique style. We all should have at least one of those people in our lives, if not more. For me one of those people is my sister. I would be lost without her!! She is not only my sister, she is my best friend. The crazy thing about that is, I think back to our younger years and think, "hated her", the feeling was mutual. To put it mildly, we did NOT GET ALONG! She was way to cool to associate with the likes of me. LOL! I'm not sure exactly when that all changed, but I am so glad she came to her senses and realized just how cool I am - hehehe. She has been my "life savor" over and over and I can't even begin to express my apprecaitation, love and grattitude to her. Jen - Thanks for all you do for me. You are the best sister ever!

Hawaii
Yellowstone

Being silly

As to the rest of you who maybe reading my blog, I just want you to know how much I love and appreciate you. We may not be sisters through blood, but we are definatley sisters through love. Thanks to all of you for being their for me as well. I couldn't ask for better "sistas".