Pumpkin Carving

For Family Night we got together with friends to carve pumpkins. We had a lot of carving to do and a limited amount of daylight so we had to get right to work.

Don doesn't like to carve pumpkins, but he sure worked hard anyway. What a good daddy!

Maleah chose a simple pumpkin face because she wanted to get done quickly so she could go play.

Here we all are hard at work.

Luckily my friend Sheri took over picture taking so we got a couple pictures of me. Brynna talked me into a cute pumpkin pattern with a mouth that said, "BOO!" See how happy Brynna is.

Joshua hard at work on the skull pumpkin pattern he picked.

After getting the pumpkins carved we had a delicious dinner of chili, ham chowder, and corn muffins. We then roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. Fall is the perfect time for roasting marshmallows. It was lots of fun. Thanks to everyone for their hard work so we could have a fun family night.

Fall Break, aaaaahhhh!

Notice I said, aaaahhh! That is the same aaaahhhh as when you sink into a warm bubble bath, not the screaming aaaahhhh like when you want to tear out your own hair or rip off your own arm and beat yourself with it. Yes, this fall break was like sinking into a warm bubble bath and not the kind where small children run in screaming, taking off their clothes and begging to get in with you either. It was a pleasant surprise to have such a fun and enjoyable fall break. I have a few people to thank for making it all possible. But first I will start with the events of the weekend. We did start the weekend with a little bit of fighting to get our chores done so we could go to the pumpkin patch, but chores wouldn't be chores without a little bit of resistance.

Heather and I took our kids to the Big Red Barn in Santaquin. Here is Jonah looking out at the fields and the hay wagon that we ride in to get to the pumpkin patch.


Josh, Garrett, Brynna, Hunter,Maleah, and Jonah all ready for their ride to pick out the perfect pumpkin. This was Jonah's first year to really get in on the fun. Note: I was not responsible for Josh's "faux" hawk or Brynna's gypsy attire. Those two definitely have fashion ideas of their own.


All of my kids happily posing with their pumpkins. This is possibly the longest amount of time Jonah held his pumpkin. He kept throwing it and saying "ball". Fortunately I was smart enough to get a very hard pumpkin. He has yet to break it even though he has thrown it many times. You might notice Brynna's legs are a little awkward because Brynna had her pose all set when Maleah sat down. Brynna was not changing her position for anyone.


This is how the pose was supposed to look, aaahhh Brynna.

After getting treats in the Red barn boutique and sending the girls to the cabin with Grammie and Grandfather the relaxing part of my weekend began. I was left with only two children and although the youngest is definitely the hardest he does nap and his older brother can do a limited amount of babysitting. I got to go to the scrapbook store and get a haircut.


On Friday the scrapbook weekend began,

many thanks to my good friend Brianna for inviting me. We scrapbooked, did a little shopping, went to dinner, scrapbooked some more, slept a little, went to the scrapbook store, and finished up with more scrapbooking. It was lots of fun and all I can say is, aaaahhhh. Thanks, I really needed that. Brianna is such a good little hostess, she gets everything all clean and ready for everyone to come. She even makes a big breakfast in the morning, which I am sorry to say I missed because of my getting out of bed issues, but she still saved me a plate. So, thanks Bri!

Special thanks also to my mom and dad for taking the girls, Josh for babysitting without much complaint and Don for always being so supportive of my girl time. He even brought me a dc while I scrapbooked.

OK, OK, I'm it!

I guess I have put this off long enough. I have been tagged twice now and the natives (my sister and cousins) are getting restless so I guess I can procrastinate no longer.

The first tag is from my favorite sister, Heather. Now that I look at her blog she tagged me a month ago, wow, time sure flies when you are having fun.

Now for the quirks...

1. I love to-do lists. I have to make one every night before bed. Every to-do list is dated and the first thing on my list is always Get up. I am afraid if I don't plan on it I won't do it, plus just by getting out of bed I get to cross something off my list. And if I do something that is not on the list I will write it down, just so I can cross it off.

2. When I eat I can only eat so much because I have a full lever. We call it the full shivers. Once I am full I can not eat or smell any food or I start to gag and shudder. Don thinks it is great fun to put food in my face and watch me gag. I recently found out that my brother, Spencer also gets the full shivers.

3. When I put on my deodorant I have to have the same number of strokes under each arm. I count and usually as high as 15-20 strokes.

4. I love salt. I put salt on everything. I salt my ketchup instead of my fries because it sticks better to the ketchup than the fries.

5. I have two cordless phones that are exactly the same, but one has a scratch on it. The scratched one has to go on the base in my bedroom and the other one in the kitchen. And I WILL go to the effort of switching them if I find the scratched one in the kitchen. This is a little OCD, I know.

6. I hate blogging. Don't get me wrong, I love reading others blogs, but the idea of others reading mine completely weirds me out, not just others I don't know either. Which is why I have invited very few people to read mine. I am trying to get more comfortable with the whole thing, but while I am writing this I am cringing about posting it.

And for a bonus quirk, I frequently say my prayers in the shower or while drying my hair. It is the only time when everyone will leave alone, but if I have my choice I prefer to pray in the pilates position, "a little piece of heaven".


Phew... Now for my second tag, thanks Kristin

8 things I did today...

1. Got up and resisted the urge to go back to bed.
2. Exercised.
3. Made phone calls for work.
4. Helped arrange childcare and meals for a sister in my ward who fell and hurt her back. More phone calls.
5. Took a friend to the store and went to get a dc.
6. Made the agenda and attended primary presidency meeting.
7. Picked up a neighbors kid from school and ran to another school to give a poor little girl with chapped lips some chapstick.
8. Blogged while helping kids do homework, get snacks and get along. (Oh I wish I would have finished while they were at school.)

8 Shows I Love...
1. Lost
2. Heroes
3. Medium
4. Survivor
And mostly a bunch of reruns...
5. Scrubs
6. King of Queens
7. Still Standing
8. Yes, Dear

8 Restaurants I Love...
1. Pizza Factory
2. Outback
3. PF Changs
4. Art City Trolley
5. Los Hermanos
6. Chick Fil A
7. Olive Garden
8. Training Table

8 Things I am Looking forward to...

1. My next dc (diet coke)

2. My husband coming home from golfing.

3. I am with my sister on this one...Spring!
4. Sleep, always!
5. Scrapbooking...this weekend
6. Girls Retreat...Oct. 24th & 25th
7. A haircut and a pedicure...I am due for both.
8. My basement being finished.

8 Things I am wishing for...
1. A decorated home.
2. More time to scrapbook.
3. A fence on the other half of my yard.
4. Financial Freedom
5. A scrapbook room, completely stocked and organized.
6. A chef that will feed me and my family delicious, healthy well balanced meals.
7. A new car, that is not a gas guzzler, is not a minivan and still fits all my kids and their stuff. (Let me know if you have any suggestions.)
8. A good presidential candidate, but while I'm wishing maybe I will just wish for the Savior to return so he can rule and rein.

And I almost forgot, since I don't let enough people read my blog to possibly tag 6 or 8 people I will just do one for each. I want to hear my sister-in-law Kristy's 6 quirks and my friend and neighbor Lindsey's 8 things.

My Grandpa Zobrist

My Grandpa Zobrist passed away early yesterday morning. He was 88 years old. Grandpa lived a good, full life and will be missed by many. He has 6 children, 34 grandchildren, over 100 great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren. A couple of my cousins, Larae and Melanie have written some beautiful tributes to Grandpa. They are older, wiser, and have a better memory than I do.
To me Grandpa was just who he was, no excuses. Sometimes when you went to visit you had to wait for him to get his pants on. Often times he didn't have a shirt on. I was so glad to find I had a picture of him with his shirt on, but I do remember him putting it on right before we took pictures. He was often watching T.V. in the other room when we were there and just when you thought he wasn't listening he would hollar in some comment from the other room. He always said things just how they were. I loved riding in style in the back of the Lincoln Towncar and listening to a few of the choice words he had for other drivers. He cracked me up! I also loved being in the temple with him because you never saw a sweeter guy than Grandpa in the temple. One other random thing I loved about Grandpa is how much he loved T.V. and how he recorded cartoons and mailed them to us. I will sure miss visiting him in Las Vegas and having him tell me good-bye before I'm quite ready to leave. Good-bye to you for now Grandpa! I look forward to the time when we will all be together again.

Family Night - Temple Marriage

We had our annual anniversary family night. Every year the Monday closest to our anniversary we have a family home evening lesson about temple marriage. I put on my wedding dress and talk to the kids about being an eternal family. We watch our wedding video and the kids love to see Mom & Dad smash each other with the cake. This year the girls found some old dresses of mine and put them on so they could be the bridesmaids. The girls love this! They each have to have a turn wearing the wedding dress also. Joshua isn't as into this as the girls are. We had a nice talk about marriage, the right time and place to get married. Joshua just sits there and grins when we talk about it. He is finally admitting he likes girls, but Maleah...well... she is not quite ready for the whole idea. She stated that she was making a note to herself about marriage and the answer is NO, she is not doing that! We shall see! We finished up our family night with cake of course. It is a fun tradition and only a little embarrassing when someone shows up at the house and your husband invites them in. I am truly thankful for my sweet husband, that we were married in the temple, and for the knowledge that I have that we can be together forever.