Thanksgiving Eve

Last night we all graced, with our illustrious presence, the quarterly Stake Scout Court of Honor.

: )

All three big boys were awarded some type of . . . award. It was fun to take pictures, which of course will be posted shortly. These boys are growing up way too fast. . Sigh. . .

Currently, I am attempting to make pies. And rolls. And cheesecake. . . Well, not yet, but it's in the works!  : )

Earlier, it was fun, watching the girls rockin' out to the Hairspray soundtrack in the kitchen. Such a feel good, jazzy album! I'm making pies and going crazy, but we're having fun doing it! : ) Should be a good holiday tomorrow. . Charlie picked up my brothers Nathaniel and Benj from the airport last night about eleven. We're going to Hyrum's and Kim's, across town, tomorrow . . to hang out, chow down, and veg. Probably we'll play some cards, and break out the board games. . . Party animals, I know. Pretty low-key, but also pretty stress-free.  : )

This afternoon, Charlie drove Clint down south to meet his friend Morgan and Co. It's Morgan's birthday on Friday, and we have graciously consented to allow Clint to spend the holiday with M's family, the Burrs, who used to live 2 houses down, and recently moved.

Also this afternoon, Laena decided to 'get a gym membership' with a couple of her friends. . so now she's headed off to a Young Women's activity, and then an aerobics class with Clover. : ) We'll see how it goes. .

Personally, I'm ready for bed. Exhaustion has all but taken over. Sadly, we still have to run to the store to pick up a few last minute items. . . but I suppose that's par for the course. Big sigh. Mmmm . . .

That's right, Baby! Thanksgiving is here! Almost. . .

True Blue!

Following the aftermath, and in the wake of . . . last weekend's tragedy, I would just like everyone to know. . . that I am still a die hard, true BLUE fan! : )

HA! That's right, Baby! BYU all the way!

Rowr! GO COUGARS! Wahoo!

Mary, Did You Know?

Saturday!

Saturday I spent the morning with Eric, picking up donations for his food drive Eagle Scout project. Already exhausted, you can imagine how excited I was about spending the rest of the day at Charlie's brother's big anniversary party. It turned out okay, pretty cute actually, but man, it's a blinking chore to get all those kids all ready for a Sunday-caliber event. The renewing of the vows. Probably me and Charlie will run down to Vegas, if we ever get that bug, like we should have done in the first place. It was fun, don't get me wrong. . but it seems like an awful lot of time and money spent, and a lot of annoying relatives to have to deal with. Just kidding. .

Saturday night, being as I'd procrastinated again, something I'm just incredibly good at, I had to try to put together an activity, lesson, some sort of learning experience for 'singing time' on Sunday. Yiiiike. . .

Sigh.

Turned out pretty good, all things considered, but Mama didn't get enough sleep Friday, or Saturday, and was exhausted most of the weekend. This is why . . the Sunday afternoon NAP! : ) Yeah, Baby!

Thank Heaven the big kids had a get-together around seven. . .

Bella's Lullaby

Popcorn and Sesame Street!

Mmmm-hmmmm, Twilight! It was amazing, just like we expected! Sure, they tweaked the story a little bit, but hey. . . it's all good, ain't it?  : ) Yes, oh yes it was. Hee hee hee hee hee! Soooo much fun! Laena and company went right after school on Friday, and Charlie and I raced to the theatre right about four. . Literally raced, you need to understand, not because I love to drive my cop car fast, (Charlie was driving anyway), but because I had forgotten the blinking tickets! Left them on our headboard at home. . DANG it! Turns out the theatre wasn't as slam-packed as we'd thought, still being afternoon and all . . so we got pretty good seats anyway. Wow Mama, that show was good! We enjoyed it thoroughly. Probably me more than Charlie, but . . what are ya gonna do?  : ) Yowsa!

I had been running all day, actually, with early day at the school. . picking Jeffy up at 10:45, only to learn that today was the Birthday Table, and we had to stay for lunch. I thought I would never get Clover's cake done in time. . . Sigh. Then the baby wasn't feeling real great, and we had last minute shopping, and piano lessons. . . I barely got the birthday cake decorated in time. I was frantically poking M&M's into the blue and white frosting, when Charlie called and said "Be out front in 2 minutes!" Aah! I left the rest to Eric and Tommy, grabbed my coat and ran. . which scatterbrained rushing would obviously explain the forgotten tickets. . I guess. . .

Laena called later on, and handed the phone to Clover, who apparently loooooved her cake, and my Sesame Street approach to decorating. . . I had to chuckle and shake my head. We just threw it together. But now I'm getting requests!  : ) Who'da thunk.

Back to the movie. . . It was kinda funny. During the previews, I must admit, we talked too loudly and too much, busting out laughing at times, but my favorite part was the popcorn. I've always liked to eat it with my tongue, as weird as that may sound. . but it's great fun, after you've snatched your overpriced bucket of America's favorite move-time snack, to curl up in the flip down chair, and see how many kernals you can pick up with your tongue. That way, a person doesn't get their fingers all greasy!  : ) LOVE it! I tried to get Charlie to partake, just a little. . . (he's been on this no-carb kick for about a week now), even citing that . . "C'mon Charlie. . Popcorn isn't really carbs. . It's kinda like . . a vegetable!" Not very convincing, but he was nevertheless amused. . . Ha ha ha. We were getting a little out of hand, like a couple of kids.

"Hey. Aren't we supposed to be, like, mature, responsible adults. . ?" I queried tentatively.

"That's never stopped me!" he calmly remarked, with his usual sly grin. . .

HA ha ha ha ha!

Absolutely! : )

On a different, Thankgiving-ish type note, Aleia is putting on a little impromptu play, here in our living room. She's dressed Jefferson up as a turkey, by taping different colored socks to the back of his tee-shirt. . .

Lea is currently narrating. . .

"They ate so much food that they were enormously fat! It would take them a whole year to get skinny again. . ."

Jeffy was made to curl up in a ball on the couch, turkey-style.

"And that is the story of 'Gobble, Gobble', the Turkey! The. . End!" she yelled, reminding me of Imogene, and the classic play The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

And They Called It . . Puppy Loooove. . .

Saturday morning Lincoln woke up about 6:30. This was not authorized, or desired, especially considering the fact that I had been, of necessity, required to pick Eric up from work about 12:40 - MIDNIGHT. I've said before that I don't do well without sleep, and baby, that was no joke. Sadly, I've gotta have my 7 or 8 hours, or the ole brain just clean shuts down. . . I get dizzy, doze off while driving. . all sorts of fun things. Anyway, on the flip side, I got to spend an hour snuggling my Bink, who wanted to play 'puppy' more than sleep. . . It was so cute! He kept pretending to bark, something that he's never done before, (arf, arf, arf!) and then he'd pant, and lick my face with his tiny little tongue. : ) Adorable, yes. . but I had enough baby slobber all over my face to last me a while. . . My favorite part was when he'd break out in full giggle, thinking it was just soooo amusing that I thought he was a puppy-dog. : ) My little baby puppy! Puppy Love indeed. These are the moments, my friends. . .

School Clothes!

About a week ago, Jeffy decided that he needed new shoes. He wasn't kidding. I think that kid must've set some sort of a record for wearing them out. His favorite sneakers. Now we had to go pick up another pair. . .

He found some, naturally, in about 3 seconds flat, once we got to Target. .

"Hulk shoes! I'm gonna try 'em on!" he yelled. So, after 5 minutes of scrambling. . checking his shoe size on the rug, and stuffing his relatively small feet into the correct pair, Jefferson had scored himself some new green and white Hulk shoes. With shnazzy black laces, that he refuses to tie. (It's evidently 'not cool'.) How young do they worry about this type of thing anymore?! The boy is barely 6 years old!

Anyway, The Incredible Hulk! Yeah!

Last Saturday Laena took Aleia out to Jordan Landing for some much needed sister bonding, 'girl time', as it were. . Laena ended up buying her little compadre a couple of things, among them a new Hannah Montana shirt for school. Wahoo! Yay! Lea was in her element. The thing is, this particular Hannah Montana shirt . . has a little button on the left hand side, just above the hem, that a person can push. . and then the shirt will sing a little song. A 5 second clip of a Hannah Montana special. Monday Lea of course wore her new found 'best thing ever' to school. Sadly, the shirt kept 'singing', somehow, in class. . . perhaps with the help of some overly enthusiastic, if not mischievous, friends. . . which earned her an unheard of after-school detention.

In the 3rd grade.

Really?

I wasn't too happy. The next time my 8 year old daughter doesn't show up after school lets out, or they want to keep her after for some reason, the teacher . . had better call. .

That's all I can say . . .

Who ever thought of . . singing shirts . . anyway?

TWILIGHT Baby!

 

I . . cant' . . wait . . to see TWILIGHT this weekend. Mama Mia, it's gonna be good! Yee-hee!

 

Nay, Faith! Pirates. . .

The other day, I called Tommy upstairs, asked him if he was ready for school, ready to go. . . What came out of his mouth? Something I sure wasn't expecting to hear. . .

"Nay, faith!" he said, as he half walked, half stomped up the stairs.

I couldn't believe it. Guess he did actually pay attention during the 6th grade Shakespeare Play. . .

Who'd have thunk?  : )

Then, last night, I was playing taxi service to a truckload of kids of all ages. Laena made Anthony sit in the front seat for some reason. . We were talking about movies, blah blah blah. . . Jeffy said he'd like to watch a particular show on the computer.

CA boy in the front seat commented that he didn't think that one was 'out' yet. . I grinned and let him in on a little secret.

"Well, we sort of steal them from pirates."

The poor kid laughed out loud. I guess he thought I was kidding. . .

We had just pulled in to a parking spot in front of Game Crazy. The kids climbed out of the car. Just before the doors were closed, Jeffy yells out:

"Look! There's a pirate right next to our car!" He was excited.

Gyahh. . . Thankfully, the big kids ignored him, as they were almost safely to the store entrance. Because there was, in fact, a very large, rather well-built biker-guy, waiting to step up into his . . -also very large- Chevy pick-up, about a foot away from shotgun. Not that I have anything against pirates, but I suddenly felt the urge to slide my left hand up the driver's side door. . so as to click the lock button.

I know. Silliness, really. . And he did have a nice red bandanna tied around his head. . .

Festive!

But you never know with pirates these days. . . And you can't be too careful.

Kid Quotes!

Charlie and I walked in the door after our little trip up the canyon. I closed the door, we said hi to the kids. "How ya doin' Tommy?"

He looked up and grinned.

"Well, just as miserable as before. . . But I'm optimistic!"

Ha ha ha ha ha!

The other day, Clinton was picking on Eric, apparently trying to play Bart 'n Homer, only poor Eric was Bart. . "Why . . you . . little. . !"

Eric wasn't happy, and told me so. I was distracted.

"Be nice to your brother!" I yelled in Clint's direction. "Come here this second! You need to apologize right now. . and give him a smooch" I threw in/added for good measure. .

"I'd be okay with a hug, or a high five. ." Eric commented brusquely, while heading out the door. . .

Hee hee hee! Those boys are just hysterical.

Last night, at bedtime, Tommy last came out of the bathroom after brushing his teeth.

With a Frazier-esque air, he bellowed out "G'night Young'uns!" in his best 13 year old, recently deepened voice, before swaggering off to his room. Reading in bed, we were caught slightly off guard. . Couldn't help but chuckle.

Okay, we were Laughing Out Loud!

He's so dang funny! That boy makes me laugh. : )

addendum:

Just now, Charlie and I were smooching in the kitchen. The kids were/are busy making cookies on the other side of the room. Tommy noticed, and in the midst of his instruction to Jefferson, said, not really under his breath. .

"And hey Jeffy. Go stop that war over there. ."

: )

Same thing happened the other day at Laena's birthday party. Except this time Boogsie's little friend Stephanie commented matter-o-factly, on her way out of the room. .

"That's nice to see. . Usually married peoples don't show affection. . ."

Snicker snort. Ha ha ha ha ha!

The baby is now just over 2 years old. Thomas overheard us talking about potty training. .

"You need to get him a potty trainer. . ." he interjected, cutting me off. (Naturally, I was thinking potty chair. .) "Kind of like a . . personal trainer?"

Sure. : ) Then light dawned. . Is there some kind of a service, someone we could pay. . ?

Aftermath. . .

Amy is of the opinion that this synthetic spider web, cobweb lint-fluff stuff she’s still picking off of everything, is probably just about as annoying as Easter grass. Well, if not, it’s a close second. .

I must’ve thrown away about a dozen plastic toy spider rings. . . When will it end?

Thank Heaven the kids have almost finished off their pillowcases full of candy! The dentist is gonna love us tomorrow. . .

To Go, or Not To Go. . .

Charlie called earlier, from his cubicle at the office.

I mentioned that gasoline is now under 2 dollars a gallon! He said:

"Wow. No way. Where?"

"Somewhere. . ." I glanced at the baby, who'd just gotten into Aleia's Halloween candy stash, suckers in both hands. . thought I'd give it a whirl. "Hey Honey, I'm thinkin' Christmas. . . We hop in the Suburban and cruise back to the Heartland! Whadaya say?"

I could tell he was rolling his eyes.

"No. I'm thinkin' . . we take those water barrels, and fill them up with gas. . ."

I had to laugh out loud. : )

Charlie . . .

He always knows just what to say.

It’s Magical!

“Christmas, Christmas tiiime is here!  Time for joy and time for cheer. . .”

It’s all over the radio.

I am so disgusted to learn that Glenn Beck’s gonna be in town December 6th. Why, you ask? Aren’t I a fan? I’ll tell you why. Because December 6th also hosts Charlie’s Coca-Cola Christmas party, and Shawn and Michelle’s anniversary get-together. Unbelievable. Sigh. I suppose it’s typical . . for events to fall on the same day, for everything to happen at once. . . but how annoying!

Chuckle.

And the Holiday madness . . begins!

Charlie will inevitably turn into the Grinch sometime around Thanksgiving, or the week after. . . He’s kind of got this Holiday ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ thing goin’ on. . I’m pretty sure it’s the combined stress of yet another birthday, and having to pull off, again, the annual Christmas extravaganza for his family . . of NINE. : )

Wow. When you say it out loud, it does seem a little bit overwhelming. . .

But nah. . . It’s all good. Everything will be okay. Because the magic of the season, the magic of Christmas . . sort of overrides any challenges that we may encounter, be they large or small. It happens every year. Something will come up, we’ll be wondering how to pull things off . . and then a somehow, a small miracle will occur, and make everything all right again. . . Maybe a neighbor will lend ya a snow shovel when yours snaps in half. . whatever! Puts the sparkle back in your eye, the spring in your step. . or simply gratitude back in your heart.

Christmas!  : )

Flags

Charlie is out right now, ‘doing flags’ with the Scouts. Such amazing dedication that man has! When I think of the early hours, 2, 3, 4 o’clock in the morning for like 9 years, or something like that, the innumerable campouts with the boys. . . It’s blowing me away. He’s out there right now, out front, in the dark. . directing 3 different vehicles, and I’m not sure how many boys. His truck’s running out in the middle of the street. .  If I peak through the blinds, I can vaguely make out headlights. . Tommy walking toward the house, carrying 2 or 3 flags. . I can hear hear the action, muted though it is, from in here. Charlie gets it done. : ) He’s always been an early riser, unlike me. . Driving for Coke, prepping his 18-wheeler in the dead of winter. . down at Brick Oven in Provo, when he was a cook, food prep at 6am. . . Ever since the restaurant up in Idaho, that boy knows what it means to hop out of bed and make it happen. I guess we need to thank his Grandma Doris. He always said she was the one who taught him how to work.

Today they’re out there planting flags in all the neighbor’s yards. Many times, lying in bed, I can hear the tink, tink, tink of the rebar being pounded into the cold, hard ground. And then they’re on to the next house, and the metallic rhythm fades, becomes fainter, as they hurry off into the neighborhood. . .

On Veteran’s Day, the people here remember, when they awake and see the flags flying, billowing in their front yards, that patriotism and honor, and valor. . live on.

It’s truly awe-inspiring. . . to think about the gift that countless men, people, gave. . . so that we, in the here and now, might enjoy freedom. Freedom to live, to speak, to worship. . We are still free to think, free to hunt, free to act. . . free.

Veterans, now and in the past, have -and are- painting our future with their blood, sweat and tears, a future made brighter by their sacrifice.

Meatballs

Tommy wants to make spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. He's in the kitchen, playing with raw ground elk meat, making little . . sculptures.

"It's squishy." he remarked, semi-enthusiastically, with the gleam of new discovery. "It's so gross. Like walking through mud with bare feet." He looked up. "Ya know how the mud squishes between your toes. . ."

I made a face. 13 yr old boys sure know how to make conversation. . .

"I've never been . . so much into . . raw meat." I felt very slightly ill. "Ickety! You're like half-way up to your elbows in  meat goo. ."

"You have no sense of fun. . ."

Tommy scrunched up his nose.

"Ew, it's soo cool. ." He grinned wickedly, awestruck. "Nice and moist. . and . . yeah!"

I shuddered, and left the room.

He continued to squish and shape. "This is great!" I heard him yell. "I'm a genius! These will be the best meatballs ever!"

Yick. Yeah, if he'd ever quit playing with the stuff. . .

Birthday Week!

Thursday was Jefferson's birthday. Saturday was Laena's. Friday night we had about 80 kids running around over here, a full blown party downstairs and in the backyard, and I was surprisingly okay with all this. . They were mostly Choir kids after all, so what could go wrong. : ) Between perky serenades, marshmallow roasting, and impromptu acoustic guitar performances. . . Well, it was actually quite relaxing. Laena had set up some cast iron fire pits on the patio out back, and Charlie had built campfires. It was nice. Nice to sit there, nice to see the warm orange glow light up the kids' faces, nice to hear the gentle twang of the guitarra. . Laena's party was a lot of fun. : ) I just wish I'd recorded them all singing Happy Birthday! Talk about harmonious energy! Breathe it in, Baby. The strength of youth. Beautiful.

Wednesday, the four big kids, Laena, Clinton, Eric and Tommy, all drove downtown to participate in the taping of the big First Night Utah performances. . . Or tried to. . Laena's car got stuck in gridlock, her group didn't make it in time. . They went out for ice cream, I think. Thankfully, Eric took pictures.

I don't know. . . If that boy steals my camera one more time. . . Chuckle. .

Charlie and I visited Jeffy's Kindergarten class Thursday lunchtime. He had fun passing out suckers to the kiddies. .

We had Jeffy's little B-Day partay Saturday afternoon. We had asked our neighbors, Dan and Marcie, if they could let the kids ride horses over at their place for a bit. Friday Dan called and said it was too muddy. It had been snowing all week. A little later Marcie called back and said that it would be okay. At this point, we were prepared for anything. Jeffy was pretty excited! I popped him out of the tub just as the kidlets were starting to show up. Charlie made up some cute games for them to play, off the top of his head, while we were waiting for everybody to get there. Tried and true, the three legged race, which is always cute with 5 year-olds. . 'Let's see who can keep the hot wheels car on the top of your head the longest while racing' . . game. It was good fun. : ) Jeffy was having fun, and that's what counts.

I was a little annoyed to discover yet another dead bird on our front lawn. . undoubtedly a 'present' from our blinking cats. Feline fur balls, Eric calls them. But  seriously? For a birthday party?! I was thinking of maybe . . something a little less gory. Maybe with ribbon. . . Gyaahhh. . . Such carnage. Rolling my eyes, I scooped it up with a shovel, and tossed it in the trash.

After a bit, we all piled in the vehicles, and drove over to Marcie's. She was great about welcoming the little buggers, and instructing them in matters of safety. What a gal!  : ) Then, with Charlie's help, she led them around the corral several times each! We have sooo got to get that chickie some soda! At one point, Charlie was racing the babies around the lot in Marcie's double stroller. . So much fun! Red, their red heeler, lay down and let the kids pet her and scratch her tummy. : ) Does it get any better than this?

After the horsey adventure, Kaleb's mom Brendy and I were driving back. She noticed Charlie's Top of Utah Marathon sticker on the back of the Suburban.

"So who ran the TOU Marathon?" she asked.

I told her how Charlie's a runner. . filled her in on his St. George adventures. . . She apparently ran the crazy marathon up in Park City a few years back. We talked about how nutty it is. . to pay these people like 50 bucks to enter the race in the first place.

"And then when you're done, they give you a T-shirt, and like. . . some fruit." : ) she said. A wry chuckle. . 

Are they kidding?! 26 point 2 . . freaking . . miles. Sheeeaaahhhh!  Not me! I'd fall flat on my face. No joke.

Sigh. Well, to summarize, because it would take about 16 pages to really do in justice, this has been a full week indeed. Election Night fiasco, Parent Teacher Conferences on Wednesday. . . It's a wonder I ever get any sleep!  : )

I'm sure we'll recover eventually. . . Thank goodness Charlie was on vacation.

Birthday Girl!

High School Musical 3 Rocks!

Tonight Aleia and I caught a pretty cool flick. You may have heard of it. .

High School Musical 3! Wahoo! Sooooo good! We literally ran through the theatre so we could get good seats. Lea was so stoked, so exited! That girl is a performer, and lover of plays, if there ever was one. Sooooo jazzed about the show. Her preschool teacher told us we'd better get her into theatre at the first possible opportunity, because the girlie has talent! We heartily agreed. : )

She's also pretty good at planning parties. Inviting all her neighborhood friends over without telling us . . .

Anyway, the movie was fantastic! Loved every minute of it. Yeah Baby, yeah!

Aleia chatted all through the previews, antsy as she was to see the show. . Finally it began.

"Oooh, it's starting! Mama, we've gotta be quiet!" Bouncing in her seat.

I smiled a little, gave her a sideways glance. I was just munching popcorn, and hadn't said a word. : )

I love musicals! Jazzy dance numbers. . fun songs, tapping our toes to the music. . . Laced of course with plenty of high school drama. . .

It was fun to try to pick out Laena's friends out of the choir in the graduation scene at the end. : )

We were still pumped when we got home. Tommy asked how it was.

"Was there a musical in the movie?" he inquired with interest.

"Really?" I grinned. Was there a 'musical' in the show? In the musical, High School Musical, did they have a musical? A little play with songs and dances? Why ever would you think THAT? Ha ha ha ha ha!"

Okay, I can be a little obnoxious at times. . .

Tommy and I have a lot of fun joking around. : )

Winter

I love this time of day. . More specifically, I love it when it's been snowing, and then the storm subsides, the clouds break, blue sky appears, and the sun hits the snow covered mountains. : ) It's breathtaking. So beautiful. Gives you the idea that life is good, hope is alive, and many things are still possible. Gives you energy. A recharge, if you will. I love the mountains. They stand as a witness that solidarity, faith and unchanging principles govern the Universe.

Always.

I am so glad that we have the privilege of living here in the tops of the mountains, where joy abounds, optimism prevails, where tradition and faith remain strong. : )

The Holiday Season is upon us, and with Heaven's blessings, it will be a good one. The political angst past and gone, may we unite as a nation, and as a people, and look forward with bright anticipation to remembering Christ Jesus, our Savior and King.

Snow!

It snowed all day today. We woke up this morning, looked out the front window, and saw a whole lotta snow! It's amazing how the seasons change so quickly. . . Sigh. This weekend has been a blur. . .

Yesterday afternoon, we were out in the yard, just pulled in from running some errand. . . Charlie spotted Steve from across the street.

"Hey Steve! Didja vote?" Charlie yelled, grinning.

"Sure I did!" Steve responded, chuckling. Steve walked over, and they chatted for a minute or 2.

"Well, now you can complain!" Charlie grinned. I guess he meant because we didn't vote for the yayhoo who ended up winning.

That's right, Baby! When it all goes flying to h. . e. . double hockey sticks, we'll get to say 'We toldja so."

Pause.

Somehow, that just doesn't seem very comforting. . .

Monday

Okay, my brain has apparently reengaged. I now recall what we did on Monday! Yay!

Mon morning, Charlie and I drove out to WEST West Jordan, to a really nice, peaceful area, where Charlie got measured for his tux. Why does he need a tuxedo, you ask? His brother and sister-in-law are having a big anniversary party in a couple o' weeks, and they've decided to renew their vows! There's so much energy going on over there, I get tired just thinking about it. Anyway, C was lookin' pretty good there, in his black suit with royal blue vest, etc. .  : )

Monday afternoon, we took Clint up to Salt Lake to pick up his class ring. Sigh. That boy is a hoot. Instead of putting drums on the side of the ring, that he played in the symphonic band. . maybe the school mascot. . . he decided to engrave lions on either side. Why, you ask? Something to do with a VIDEO GAME. Seriously? If I had any extra cash, I'd get him a proper ring for Christmas or something. Silly boy.  : )

On the way home we stopped by Target to pick up a couple of things. You know how it goes. . You walk in there, thinking that you are only going to be a few minutes, and about an hour and a half later, you finally drag yourself, and 3 or 4 kids, out of there, the kids still whining about something they'd like to purchase. : ) I found some more fantastic snowflake Christmas plates! Wahoo! Clint filled out an application. We'll see what happens. . .

Monday night, Charlie got the cooking bug, thought he'd up and make meatloaf. Elk meatloaf, actually. . It was really, really good. Charlie used to be a cook down at Brick Oven restaurant in Provo. While there, he learned some skeels. . . : ) He's been talking about trying a new recipe for a couple of weeks now, and this was the night we finally got to experience the magic! Yum, yum, yum! Wow, he cooks, and knows how to swap out a transmission! What a man!  : )

Election Night

Tonight is Tuesday, November 4th, Election Day. We'd heard about the lines at the voting locations. . . Turns out there were none. Of course it was pouring down rain, but we breezed in and breezed out, chatted with some neighbors, visited the kids, and that was it! Pretty painless, actually. All in all, a rather pleasant experience. : ) Except that poor Aleia smashed her finger in the door of her 3rd grade class room. . .  Awww, my baby.

We'll see how it goes with the election. Several of the polls up and down the east coast are closing now. . I am so sick of all the hoop-la. All the silliness, all the fighting. . We're down to the wire, people. It's time to quit messing around, light a fire, get out there and vote! I don't plan to stay up till the wee hours of the morning to see who finally won. . I'm just too exhausted.

Charlie and I ran over to Toys 'R Us today and picked Jeffy up a Speed Racer Helmet. He's been wanting one for a while. . We also attempted to pass out birthday party invites at school, but somehow managed to miss half of the kids. . . We'll try again tomorrow. Laena, of course, has all that under control. . . She's had her invitations printed for weeks. What is it with those girls? 

Halloween!

Wow. It's been a crazy week! Absolutely nuts. So much going on, I could hardly take it all in. Thursday the elementary school had it's annual Halloween parade, where the kids, with their classes, get to walk between chairs set up in a serpentine pattern, showing off their costumes for their Moms and Dads.  : ) It's fun to see all the cute costumes! This year it's down to Aleia and Jefferson, our beautiful angel, and swarthy buccaneer. It's interesting how many of our adult friends have kids the same ages as those two. . 5 and 8. I love the Halloween Parade! It's such a fun tradition!  : )

While we were there, I was surprised to see our neighbor Eliane, a Brazilian gal from down the street, who just had a baby, and who's been in the hospital off and on for the past 4 or 5 months. The complications that gal had to deal with! Placentia previa, where it the placenta blocks the cervix, making it impossible for the baby to be born, then the placenta itself made it's way through her C-section scar and attacked her bladder. I'd never heard of this happening until just last year. And I've had a bit of experience with pregnancy and babies! Anyway, during and after delivery, she had to have a hysterectomy, and lost 8 to 10 pints of blood. Surgery went on for many 9 plus hours, and the doctors almost lost her, more than once. I was soooo glad to see her! She's one of the sweetest, most optimistic people I've ever met. Such energy, and such faith that woman has! She's amazing.

Friday, Halloween day, the kids were out of school. Teacher work day or some such nonsense. : ) But it was good. . The kidlets were way hyped up. They got to stay home from school and gear up for Halloween! Wahoo! Excitement was in the air, the weather was perfect, and we were ready to go! But of course we had to wait until nightfall. . . Friday morning, I took Eric, Clint, and Tommy over to Albertson's to work on collecting some more donations for Eric's food drive Eagle project. It went well. The manager guy was way nice, and some lady even dropped off an entire cartful of food, just her alone! : ) What a nice gal! Nick and Richard showed up for a while to help out and support Eric. . Such gorgeous weather I haven't seen on Halloween for several years! Cool, clear, and just slightly breezy. It was great!

Of course Lea had to throw a big neighborhood Halloween party Friday afternoon. . She'd made invitations weeks ago. It was a lot of fun. : ) Candy, pinatas, bobbing for apples. . (I think we've been watching a little too much Snoopy.) We had a dozen or so children running around in our yard all afternoon, in and out of the house. . Scary stories, fun little Halloween movies. . All-American holiday tradition! That's what it's all about, Baby! NOT the Hokey Pokey. ; )

Trick or Treating was great, largely because of the aforementioned weather. . Charlie, the bowling pin, led out, and thankfully dealt with our darling little Binky. That little bugger loves his Daddy, and will cooperate for him long before he'll work with me, so this made things a lot easier. We made our way up and down the street, waiting for the 2 yr old straggler, and calling out the the over eager middle sized kids who couldn't seem to keep from running. If only we could figure out how to harness that energy. . .

Later on, after Laena and Diego were had gotten back with Aleia, and Clint was home from work. . Tommy and Eric had wandered in with their spoils, and Charlie had convinced Jeffy to call it a night. . It was bedtime for the kids, and we were on our way! Wahoo! A night out on the town! Charlie picked up his Austrian work buddy Joeshi, (Josef) from his hotel, and we were off to the club. He picked an interesting one this year. . Normally we wouldn't indulge, but you have to keep in mind that Charlie used to be a dancer, and every once in a while he still gets 'the bug'. He went as a bowling ball, still wearing the costume that Cheryl had made for all the office workers. Well, all the office workers . . but one. : ) True to character, I was a cowgirl. Charlie's friend Anoop, from India, showed up after a bit. Charlie and I did a fair amount of dancing.

"I've never danced with a bowling pin before. . ." I commented. Or rather, yelled, because the 'music' was so dang loud.

"I've never danced as a bowling pin before!" He grinned, still shakin' it out on the floor. The place

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was packed.

Bustin' a move is just about Charlie's favorite thing to do. : ) He's pretty good, too. It's fun to watch. We had a good time. Joeshi is a lot of fun. He dressed as a jester. We now have a place to stay if we ever visit Vienna, and we are officially invited to Anoop's wedding in India on December 5th. Personally, I'm thinkin' that New York is gonna be about all we can handle this Holiday Season. The night ended on a good note. . I got to drive a brand new Mustang! Naturally we were the designated drivers. . . : )

I told Charlie that he was a cute bowling pin.

"I bet you say that to all the bowling pins!" was his snappy response. . What a fun guy! : )

Saturday Charlie was actually home. . We spent most of the day recovering, puttering around the house, playing with pictures. . trying to get in a cat-nap. . .

Aleia was gone half the day. . She had her Achievement/Activity Days activity with Sharon Masters, down the street. She's so amazing! All the girls love her! Then she ran off to Lisa Bullard's birthday party, over at Classic Skating, and was gone for the rest of the afternoon. Sunday was interesting. . Our last time in the 'other' building! They're finally done remodeling our normal meeting house. Wahoo! : ) And I actually got to congregate with grownups! The men took over the Primary, so that all us ladies could have a meeting together for once.

This week Charlie's on vacation. I don't really remember yesterday. . . We have another crazy week ahead of us. . . Jeffy's and Laena's birthdays, and then Wednesday night the 4 big kids, with all the Youth, are going downtown to the Conference Center to record the First Night New Year's Eve program, that'll be broadcast to all the LDS Youth, the world over, on December 31st. Pretty cool! : )

Earlier, Charlie walked into the kitchen and asked that age-old question.

"Who's killing bagels . . in the oven here?" He frowned and surveyed the damage.

"Oh! Those are miiiine!" Laena yelped from the other room.

"What'd that bagel ever do to you?" Charlie demanded, slightly annoyed. Laena's notorious for turning on the broiler in the oven, and then leaving and forgetting all about it. : )

And life rolls on. . .