Halloween Party

On Saturday we hosted a Halloween party - nothing huge, just a bunch of friends, some food, and lots of visiting! I was too busy playing hostess and chatting with everyone to take many pictures, but here are some of the very few that we took:

With Chelsea, a great old friend from high school:

JR said he was dressed up as a "bachelor." Ha ha.
Playin' some ping pong. JR worked so hard to get our garage organized and cleaned up so we'd have room to play!

Our friend Jon dressed up as Oscar the Grouch. As you can imagine, he was very

popular with the little ones. Chloe's been talking about Oscar ever since.

That's her pointing to Slimy the worm .

Thanks to everyone who joined us: Andy & Holly, the Ards, Julie, the Cropps, and the Rileys (whose house went to for dinner last week - I didn't get a chance to blog about it, but it was great! I could hang with you for hours, Jen!). We also had a sort of Party 2.0 when we had a second wave of friends show up after everyone else had left. It was great to see the Hammonds and the Reiners, both from our old ward here in Vancouver. The Reiners (Chris and Tali) are expecting their first baby in a few months, so it was fun to see Tali's belly. And Chris recently returned from studying abroad in Egypt, so he arrived in authentic Egyptian garb as his costume.

Rejuvenated

What a fabulous couple of days. The weather's been so nice the last few days that the kids have been wearing capris and short sleeve shirts during the warmest part of the day. Yesterday we strapped the kids into the bike trailer (thanks Mom & Dad!) and took a family bike ride around town. Mapped it out today and it looks like we rode about 8 miles! We stopped by a park near the end that we'd never visited before and let the kids play, just enjoying the beautiful weather. What a fun and relaxing time! Bike riding is one of the very few things that our entire family really enjoys doing together, and it was great to be able to do it so late in the season. We didn't take pictures yesterday, but here's one of us on our bikes at Yellowstone 2 years ago. Chloe was only 8 months old!

Then today, my little 7-year-old cousin, Kylie, came over to play with the girls, and when her mom (my Aunt Kathy) came to pick her up, she took the girls with her to play at their house. JR was at doctor appts all day, so I actually had some time TO MYSELF! I worked like mad to get all my work done before the kids left so I could do something fun during this rare opportunity. So, naturally, I went clothes shopping. I haven't been enjoying clothes shopping quite as much lately because I've gained weight over the last few months and most things look hideous on me (plus I get pickier and pickier as time rolls on), but this was much needed (because of the unfortunate weight gain), and much appreciated since I was alone. I tried on dozens of things, but only came home with 2 pairs of pants and a skirt - good news financially, but pathetic because a lot of cute stuff just looked horrible on me. Sad. Anyway, the last couple of days have been really rejuvenating, and the timing couldn't be better since I was having a hard time last week.

Since when . . .

. . . did Value Village become a ripoff? I hadn't been in a couple years, but decided to head in today with the kids to check it out, since it's not far from my house. The prices weren't that much cheaper than I'd pay at a really nice consignment shop or even Ross, but the clothes are definitely worse quality and there were scary Halloween costumes everywhere. The good news: I got some super cute stuff for the kids, which is saying a lot because I really don't spend much time and money on their clothes. 90% of Chloe's clothes are Maddie's hand-me-downs, and most of those were used too. I like it that way, but sometimes it's just fun to get cute stuff for my girls. My ($5) splurge was an adorable jacket for Chloe. Here's a (crappy) picture I took:Here are a couple of cute pix of the girls in their new clothes:

Sweetest husband ever

I posted on Facebook today that I have the sweetest husband ever. Then I got several friends asking what he did that was so fantastic. So, although his gestures are small and simple, they mean the world to me, so I figured I'd post it on my blog for everyone to see. (In other words, indulge me so I can brag for a minute about my guy.)

Last night I had a mini breakdown, just feeling like the weight of the world is on my shoulders. I cried to JR and we had a long and effective talk about everything that's going on right now (nothing anybody else needs to be worried about, just stuff).

Rewind to several weeks ago; I went into my favorite radio station (94.7 fm) to do a half hour with the DJ and play 5 songs of my choosing. For going in, I received a prize, which was tickets to a show for a very cool artist named Santogold. I was excited until I realized the show was on Sunday and we couldn't go. No biggie, I had a blast on the air with a DJ I've been listening to since middle school. But then, today JR surprised me by telling me he got in touch with the radio station and told them we hadn't been able to make it, and they are giving us tickets to a new show (a band called Wild Sweet Orange - listen to them on my playlist to the right). Fun! Then to top it off, he made a big yummy dinner for us! What a guy!

Pumpkin Patch

Today went to my niece Mary's 5th birthday party. There were lots of friends and family there to show Mary our love, and of course play games and eat treats! The kids wore costumes, so it was good Halloween practice - I still have some things to square away for their costumes! Chloe is going as a cowgirl and Madison as a jaguar.

Chloe was soaking up the camera every chance she got . . .
whereas Madison was a little camera shy.
Chloe loves her cousin Leah!

After the party, we took a trip to the pumpkin patch. The weather was beautiful - Maddie didn't even wear a coat! And we were joined by my parents and grandparents, a few of my siblings, and two of my sister's kids. Such a fun time of year!

On the hayride:
I encouraged the girls to get small pumpkins (easier to lug around), and thankfully, they obliged!

(Madison had whiskers left over from being in costume earlier)

Our Chloe

Look at that face! I've been loving watching our little Chloe's personality come through, even as she imitates her big sister at every turn. She is very physical: she will jump on me from behind without warning, almost knocking the wind out of me! She constantly has bruises and cuts on her face from jumping off the bed, the chair, the couch. She's also very loving and nurturing. She loves playing with her baby dolls, and pretending that I'm her baby so she can take care of me. I could stare at her beautiful face forever! I don't want her to grow up. Although most people (including her daddy) think of her as strong-willed, I've found that she's actually very willing to obey, as long as I calmly explain and occassionally distract her (with exceptions, of course, especially if she hasn't had a nap!). I love my Chloers.

The Flood

Madison said the cutest thing yesterday. We were going outside to get in the car, and I reminded her to get her coat on. "Because it's stormy outside," I said. "But Mom," she said, "He promised he would never flood the earth again." We haven't talked about Noah and the flood in a long time! So cute! I assured her that just because it was rainy outside didn't mean it was going to flood, and that God would keep his promise and never flood the whole earth again. What a great feeling, to know that everything we teach and try to instill in our children's minds actually sinks in!

General Conference

Conference was like a breath of fresh air this weekend. I loved just sitting in my jammies, cross stitching, and listening to the words of our Prophet and general authorities (with the kids playing in the background). Truly food for the soul.