so tired...

I went to the temple today while Aunt Alison watched the boys. They had a lot of fun and she apparently wore them out. Jared didn't get a nap today. He gobbled down his spaghetti and peas and fell asleep shortly after...

going...

going...

going...

gone.

Halloween sweets

We had our church halloween activity this week. Jared was a frog, because I found the costume for $2 in a thrift shop, and Nathan was a train engineer/Thomas the train, of course...

Jared went nuts with the candy. He wandered around trying to steal candy out of other kids pumkins. He got chocolate all over his face...
And he absolutely loved suckers

Even when it was bathtime, he was still wandering around looking for candy!

Hi Thomas!


We had trouble keeping track of our little froggie. We kept looking for the big eyes...

I made Alex dress up as a beat-up OU fan. It was a last-minute idea- I called him at work and said he needed to come home a little early so I could beat him up... Go cowboys!

Halloween sweets!

Time-out for Women

Last weekend, I got to go to "Time-out for Women" in Denver, a conference with speakers and music. It was awesome! I definitely enjoyed the time away for the weekend. Kenneth Cope was the musician. I loved his songs. We loved the song about seasons of our life, beginning with summer and ending with...spring. Virginia Pearce, President Hinckley's daughter, was the hostess for the event. She was wonderful, just like her father. I could see so many similar qualities- she's got the Hinckley spunk. She talked about becoming, how our desires determine what we will become and we can educate our desires. The other speakers were excellent as well, talking about "being somebody"; measuring yourself by the Lord's standards, about finding personal solitude and counseling with the Lord and with your spouse. Pamela Hansen spoke as well. I read her book "Running with Angels" a couple months ago. She talked about the marathons in our lives and making time for ourselves. Another lady spoke about little things that can make a big difference in our homes. Clean up as you go, do today's work today, "selected neglect" sometimes (at times we have to pick and choose what we're going to skim over when we don't have time to clean everything), keeping house and not just cleaning, etc. I learned a lot and was touched by the Spirit.

Ashley, Audrey, Quin, Alison, me, and mom

(we missed Carrie! maybe we'll head out to California next time...)
me & mom
I finally met Quin, my fairly new aunt
my beautiful (single!) sisters
We got some pretty good snow Sunday morning- didn't know if

we'd be able to fly later that day, but it cleared up.

Alison and I flew together from Oklahoma. We got to the airport about 2 hours before everyone else, so we had a lot of time to waste... we didn't get our bags right away, so we surprised Audrey and Ashley by waiting right at their gate. They were happy to see us...
Hi Audrey and Ashley!
Hi mom! We really surprised our mom...she didn't know we'd be waiting for her either. We really got her good though. We hid in some phone booth-looking things until we saw her. When she headed to the bathroom after getting off the plane, we "mugged" her from behind. I think she nearly had a heart attack and the lady who saw us running towards her said she was about to "jump in and help the poor woman."
Alison and I made a sign out of paper towels and straws and colored pens- it said, "Party of 5- girls night out. No boys allowed." We were bored...
Our bags were still there waiting for us, after 2 1/2 hours.
Ah, the mountains!

just me and the boys

We took Alex to the airport yesterday so he could fly to Colorado for a GSA conference in Denver. He gets to stay at the fancy Hyatt for a few days. We miss him, but we were joking as we were on the way to the airport about that. He asked if we were going to miss him. When I hesitated, he said, "Probably not." I had to correct him, but did joke about how I wouldn't have to worry about an internet patrol, fixing dinner, showering and getting dressed for the day, the boys would watch videos all day, and we'd clean up the house a couple hours before he got home...
Some of that may not be far from the truth! But actually, today the boys only watched one short video, I took a shower (didn't worry about make-up though), we had pancakes for dinner, I cleaned the kitchen and vacuumed all the chip crumbs the boys trailed all over the house, and I am on the internet.
I do go in "survival mode" when it's just me and the boys. I think the term is "selected neglect." I learned that at Time-out for Women last weekend... but more about that in the next blog.
We do miss "da-da" though!

more camping pictures

Here's the rest of the pictures, since the program wouldn't let me add them in the last post...
Our 0.8 mile hike turned into a 2 1/2 hour hike. There were no trail markers and several forks in the trail. We just kept walking around and around, back and forth, and everywhere except where we wanted to go. We never made it to "Inspiration Point."

These were the NEW shoes we bought Nathan last week. He broke them in quite nicely in the dirt...

Checking out the teepees...you can rent them for $27.50. We didn't; just used our tents. There's a cement slab inside them and an electrical outlet. I guess you could bring your TV or something...

Dinner- hotdogs, green beans, and soup... The green beans went fast.

Nathan is quite the photographer...

Fall break

We went camping on Monday and Tuesday for fall break, to Roman Nose State Park, near Watonga Oklahoma. Nathan and Jared loved it. They love the outdoors.

rock!

I actually slept in this little tent with Nathan...won't do that again though. Jared slept with Alex in the big(ger) tent.




follow the leader...

storytime

I caught Nathan and Jared being good... Nathan was reading a book to Jared.

Jared has been following Nathan around, doing whatever he's doing.
Jared started folding his arms for prayer recently. He often does it before mealtime or just when he's hungry, because he knows we eat food after we pray...