Pumpkin Carving & Coloring

Tonight we carved pumpkins. Or more so, Mom carved pumpkins. Hailey and Ethan seemed to be excited by it up until I cut the tops off and they looked in to see the slimy guts. But Ethan did help draw on the faces of the 4 that I carved. The older the kids get, the more fun holidays are because they start to get into it!

Is this white trash enough for you? Gotta love the kids in the diaper and underwear.
(We had messy food for dinner and stripped the kids down.)

I have such a great husband. Cody has been attending a mandatory training class for work and he had a ton of homework when he got home yesterday. But the kids were so interested in coloring and wanted Dad to color too. I asked Cody if he wanted me to entertain the kids some other way to he could get work done, but he said "No, coloring with them is way more important than work. I'll just stay up late tonight to do it." He does that all the time and is always reminding me how important it is to not sweat all the little things and just enjoy spending time together as a family. Like the dishes can wait while we build a fort in the living room. Anyway, I love it that he stopped to color with the kids. I remember loving it when my own daddy would color with me. Those are some of the best memories I have as a kid.

Halloween at Gymnastics

Today Ethan got to wear his costume to Gym. They had it all set up for Halloween and it was really fun for the kids. I love the pic of him holding his crotch!

Trunk or Treat 'n Stuff

Our ward had their annual trunk or treat party on Saturday. And thus begins Mom's fat fest. Way too much candy around these parts already! Don't you just love their happy faces?

Just a funny pic of Hailey right after her nap today. No matter how her hair looks before she goes down, this is ALWAYS how it ends up!

Lauren is growing up too fast and I'm realizing I'm not taking nearly enough pics of her! She is getting so big...mainly in her cheeks.

Never Ending Piles

Does it ever seem to end? No. Laundry is everywhere in our house, almost all of the time. I can never seem to be caught up, especially now. Before the baby was born I was pretty good about doing at LEAST one load a day...but even then it was hard to stay on top of it. Lately laundry is around every corner in our house. And it's not just the laundry, it's all housework. I wish I could get caught up but it seems that whenever I have one job done, another one is waiting for me and the one that I just finished needs to be done over again! Am I alone in feeling this way? Hopefully I'm not the only mom who fantasizes about having a housekeeper. Sometimes I get so discouraged that things aren't cleaner and that my life isn't as organized as it once was. Sometimes I ask, "What's it all for anyway? What's the point?" And then this reminds me...

Let's Go Swimming!

This morning after Hailey was dressed she came toddling in to me with Ethan's Nemo swim suit in tow. She said "Me swim! Me swim!" Then she brought them to me to put on her. It was so funny. These kids are already going cabin crazy and it's not even November! We are in for a long winter :(

Lauren 1 Month Old

Can you believe it has been one month already? It has flown by, but also seems like just yesterday that she was born. And it also feels like it was years ago. Does that make sense? She is still doing just great. Except last night she and I had a terrible time. I ate a LOT of chili at the Cook-Off and didn't take into account that all that spice and beans would get into my milk. To say the least, Lauren was up with terrible refulx all night. She would nurse and then throw up ten minutes later and start crying. So today I have been eating the most bland food in hopes to "purify" my milk supply. The poor baby. But she is half Texan and she has to get used to that kind of eatin'!!!

Lucky 13

The number 13 is usually unlucky, but tonight it proved differently. Our ward at church had a chili cook off tonight and of course Cody wanted to pull out his culinary skills and make a pot, so he surfed the web and found a few recipes. I think he ended up compiling a few together to make one that he liked. Well when it was all said and done, it was pretty spicy...way spicier than he liked. And it was a very "unique" chili made with zucchini, bratwurst sausage, and grilled steak. We knew it was a long shot taking the chili to be judged. We honestly didn't think it would get eaten. Well, not only did it get eaten it won first place!! We were both blown away. Oh, and his number was 13. Hence the title of this post.


I also signed up to take corn bread. Normally I'm not crazy about corn bread because it is so dry and bland. But my mom makes this AWESOME kind that is sooooo good. So I decided to take it and see if it would get eaten. I was very sceptical that it would because it (again) was very different and unique. But the whole pan was devoured! So many people came up to me and wanted the recipe, so here it is. I will just call it "Texas Corn Bread":


Texas Corn Bread
4 eggs
1 C sugar
1 C softened butter
1 C grated cheddar cheese
1 16 oz can cream of corn
1 C flour
1 C corn meal
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 oz can diced green chilies

Preheat oven to 350. Cream together eggs, sugar and butter. Mix in everything else. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. VERY IMPORTANT!!! TURN OVEN DOWN TO 300 WHEN YOU PUT PAN INTO OVEN!!! Bake 1 hour.

The Pumpkin Patch

Today I felt like a real "soccer mom". Just substitute the soccer part for preschool. Ethan's class had a field trip to the pumpkin patch and I felt super ambitious and volunteered to drive and help with kids. Our 8 passenger van came in handy today. I took 3 extra kids in the van and I saw a new side of Ethan, the side that interacts with his peers in his life beyond Mommy. He was a real little boy as he goofed around with his friends. They had their own little jokes, little games, little sayings that I will never understand. It was fun to watch from the rear view mirror. Oh, and the premium sound system in the van really shined through as we blasted tunes from "The Wiggles" on the way there and back.

Like I said, this was an ambitious venture for me. I packed Lauren in the Snugli and wore my backpack-type diaper bag. I really looked the part. Hailey had so much fun running around and she just had to pick up every pumpkin she could. She even tried to pick up the gigantic ones that were as big as her. Sorry for the picture overload. I just couldn't help myself.

Halloween Preview

I absolutely love Halloween. The sounds, the smells, the decorations...I love it all. I ordered the kids' costumes last week and have been anxious to get them. Ethan is getting old enough to actually have a say in what he will be for Halloween. This is the year of Mr. Incredible. I still have complete control over Hailey's costume and I fell in love with this little lady bug dress. Ignore her disheveled hair and pouty expression. I am going to make her some fabulous hair bows and somehow intertwine sparkly antena into them and put her hair in pig tails. She is going to be so cute! And what would the holiday be with out a precious pumpkin? Lauren's first Halloween couldn't go unmarked so she's getting dressed up too. I love the jack-o-lantern face on her tushy.

Very Rough Night

Last night was pretty dang bad. We had a terrible thunder/lightening storm that kept waking the kids up. Ethan was very scared by the whole thing. Then at 2:30 I woke up to feed Lauren and noticed that my left side was very sore. In my groggy state of mind I thought maybe I'd slept on it in a bad position. Then within a few minutes the pain intensified to an all too familiar pain that stabbed through my lower back, through my left hip, and around into my abdomen. It could only mean one thing. A kidney stone.

I got up to empty my bladder thinking maybe that would help (it rarely does) and I ended up throwing up. Cody was sleeping downstairs because he can't sleep with me getting up 2 and 3 times a night to feed the baby. I debated getting him up, but I decided to let him sleep for at least 2 more hours before waking him to help me. Misery does love company, but it would have been dumb to have both parents useless today due to lack of sleep. One of us needed rest.

So I suffered through an hour of the pain, then I remembered that I had a ton of Percocet left over. It wouldn't help a lot, but I would take any ounce of relief I could get. So I popped two of those (it's kind of the equivalent of taking an aspirin for a migraine headache, very weak). I got back into bed and actually started doing Lamaze breathing! I didn't remember much of it from when Ethan was born, but what I did do seemed to help a little. Passing a kidney stone is very similar to the pain of unmediated labor. Ask any women who has done both.

Well sometime around 5:30 I guess I fell asleep. Ironically when I woke back up for the next feeding, the pain had subsided immensely. I don't think I'm in the clear though because it typically takes a full 24 hours to pass one of those nasty suckers. It hurts the worst when it is on the move, so I think that right now it is sitting still in my left ureter. I'm on pins and needles waiting for it to move again. I've had the pleasure of giving birth to several kidney stones in the last five years. I can thank both of my parents for that because they each suffer from them too and the tendency to produce them is hereditary. Anyway, time will tell when this sucker finally ends it's journey. In the meantime it is pure hell.

This is what the little devils look like for anyone who hasn't had the joy of experiencing this kind of pain. They literally cut and tear the ureter wall while passing through. Then imagine pouring acid (urine) into the open wound. Ouch. Seriously, ouch!

Ethan Love

Ethan is a good brother. Last night he and Hailey were having a hard time falling asleep. I guess they were scared or something. When Cody and I went in to check on them this is what we found. I just think it would be a shame not to have a sibling to be little with like this, someone to cuddle with when things got scary.

He's so sweet to BOTH of his sisters.

Lauren's First Tub Bath

Lauren's cord fell of a few days ago. In a strange way it made me sad when it fell off; I guess because in some way it symbolized an ending to our 9 month journey together. That was really the last thing that connected me to her. I know it sounds crazy. Anyway, it was high time to give her a bath in the real tub. Enough of sponge bathing. She really seemed to enjoy the bath. Maybe it reminded her of a "happier" time and place.

This afternoon Hailey was snacking on a bowl of dry cereal and Lauren was on the floor. Hailey was trying to share her cereal with her, and didn't understand when I explained to her that babies don't eat that, only big girls do. Then she laid on the blanket with her and gave her loves. So sweet!

Ethan crashed on the couch this afternoon. It's rare that he does this and I think he looks so sweet when he's sleeping. Too bad he's a bear to wake up!

Happy Birthday Cody!!!

Cody is getting old. He turned 34 on Wednesday. For some reason our internet has been acting up and Blogger wouldn't let me on until today, hence the late post. Anyway, I just wanted to send a shout out to my wonderful husband. I love him more than life itself! He ain't perfect by any means, but he's my best friend and is such a wonderful daddy. I feel so lucky to have found him! For his b-day we just laid low at home. I made his favorite dinner of grilled steak, baked potatoes, broccoli with cheese sauce, and green beans with sauted mushrooms. (YUCK! I hate mushrooms, but that just shows how much I love him!) Then I made his favorite jello and berries cake. His mom always made that for him and I've continued the tradition. Well here's to another happy, healthy, and crazy year!

Catching Up From A Busy Week

This week has been a little crazy but a lot of fun. This post will be a bunch of random stuff that I haven't had time to post in a few days.

Last Thursday Ethan had the "show and tell" assignment for school. He wanted to take pictures of his newest sister to show off. When he got home from school that day, I found him in the living room showing Lauren the pictures of her and telling her about them. It was one of the cutest things I'd ever seen!

My neighbor Val gave me this diaper cake. In case you can't tell, it's a bunch of rolled up diapers that over lap each other to form the cake layers. I thought it was a pretty funny idea!

On Friday we said good bye to an old friend. This is Cody's 1986 Toyota 4-Runner that he has had since he got back from his mission. It took him through college and beyond, and this is the car we went on our first date in. The car still technically belongs to his parents, and since we have the van and the sedan now, we don't need the third car. So Cody's dad went back home to Idaho this weekend and drove the 4-Runner. We were both sad to see it go. Cody cleaned it all out on Thursday night and was torn up about it leaving. It's been a huge part of his life! He found his old student ID from Utah State in it and I laughed so hard when I saw the picture. He has gotten so old! We will miss you, Silver Bullet.

On Friday morning my mommy flew in from Texas!! I am so glad she was able to come up for the weekend. She hasn't seen General Conference live in 34 years and she got tickets to go. Leighann also came up for the weekend and the two of them got to go together. I am jealous that I couldn't go. I had to be home nursing a baby instead! They got to see the Saturday morning session and the Sunday afternoon session. So cool that Henry B. Erying got called to be in the First Presidency. He is my favorite apostle! Mom is coming back up for almost 3 weeks in November and we will bless Lauren at church during that time. I am so anxious to see her, and Dad and Philip are coming up for part of that time too! And of course Leighann will be here. She's always hanging around :)

Me and the Wee One catching some zzzz between conference sessions.