Jenson/Jackson Carve Off

Kristy and James had us over tonight for a yummy dinner and fun pumpkin carving!

Marissa barely fits in Ethan's high chair to sit with the grown ups at the table; Ethan thought it was hilarious to have his foot on the table; and Kristy bringing in a pumpkin as big as she is!

The kids weren't sure what to think about getting the inside goop from the pumpkin (Krystal's surprised look ... then she said, "huh? I found a nut!") Nonetheless, they got down to business and emptied the whole thing on their own!


I only got this one picture of Miss Hanna - but she could be heard throughout the night saying, "I can do it by myself, Daddy! Let me do it!" :) She's a doll. Hopefully Kristy posts the pictures she got of their pumpkin carving experience.

Aaron drew the eyes. Krystal drew the nose. Marissa drew the mouth.

Great family effort! Can you tell the difference between the eyes, nose, and mouth? :)

So fun!

Annual Taylor Halloween Bash

We had a great time (as usual) at Grandma Taylor's Halloween Party. Fun costumes, good food and treats, tons of games for the kids = lotsa smiles. I took a kazillion pictures - so here are a few for everyone's enjoyment! Thank You Gma T!

The kids played noisy charades (Sammy popping a balloon to find his clue), played crazy prize ring toss (a huge hit - thanks Mom - grandpa liked the prizes ... hence, the crazy glasses look), had a mini-donut eating contest, went "haunted house trick or treating" [Uncle Ron made the bathroom extra haunted :)], and of course the spooky white elephants (my camera ran out of batteries - so, I got no pics of that)!

I didn't get many pictures of Kryssie-Krys, because she was being kind of grumpy. She wasn't real fond of her costume (a hula girl) ... and, apparantly she told Kendra that she was dressed up as a "hula-hoop" :) - no wonder she wasn't happy! Miss Hanna changed her costume 3 times throughout the party - :D - QT pie. We all had a blast!

Happy Halloween All!

Somewhere Out There ...

Somewhere out there ... beneath the pale moon light. This is what I saw this morning at 7:45 when I was dropping Aaron off at school. My pictures don't do it justice. The moon was so bright and beautiful - even with the sun starting to peek up over the mountain. I don't know what the smoke is - I wish that wasn't there. But, gorgeousness, huh?

Somewhere out there - are toys, toys, and more toys (say like, uh, in our storage unit!) Krystal had a Christmas morning smile on her face today when we pulled her McDonald's out of storage. We should be pretty much finished with people looking at and inspecting our condo - so we thought we could get out some of the big toys again (you know, the ones that there is no room to store - and just need to pushed in a corner). Anyway - she enlisted every single one of us to take turns ordering food ... she played the "cooker" all day.

Speed Cleaning

This could perhaps be the best book ever written. I know it looks and sounds cheesy -- but, I have read MANY books on cleaning. And - I keep coming back to this one. She offers SO many helpful tips ... and walks the reader through speed cleaning each room in the house. She also offers a "Quick Fix" for each room and many household trouble areas. One downfall (in my opinion) - she is a very strong advocate for bed making. Of course, since we've had our condo up for sale, bed making has become a priority ---> and, to be honest, I like how it looks now ... so, it'll will probably be a practice I'll continue.

Oh, and for those of you that didn't know - our condo has sold! :) Hooray and a half! We are so excited! We have been very blessed. Once everything is final (mid-November) - we have agreed to rent from our buyers (who will then be our landlords) until mid-January ... or a little longer if we need to. The arrangements couldn't have worked out better or more smoothly.

So, anyway - Speed Cleaning 101 ... Cut YOUR Cleaning Time in Half! :) Give it a whirl - hope you enjoy it and find it useful as much as I have.

UEA Weekend

Here are the highlights of our fun UEA weekend:

We went to the school playground (much less crowded than the park) to play and hang out with Plonnie, Kev, and Kyle. The love is pretty obvious when you see these pics, huh? We sure love you, Jers and Plonns - and cute fam! We always have the best time together ... no matter what we do. Fun .... fun .... fun!

Our visit to Classic Skate turned out pretty lame. Aaron cried the whole time. Krystal wanted to scooter non-stop - and it was CROWOWOWOWDED! Here are some of the pictures of the first few fun minutes (we only stayed 30 minutes). :) Krystal's outfit coordinating skills are as advanced as ever. Hence, the inside out striped shorts - "it matches!" striped shirt - and knee high pink socks. Nice.

The kids had a sleep over with Annie Pie on Friday night.

Always a treat! We love her to pieces! She and Marissa

play so well together - and enjoy playing a variety of things.

They let Aaron and Krystal join them in everything too, so

all 4 of them have fun together.

We went to Cascade Springs with the Mendonsa's on Saturday and had a blast! It was cold and rainy when we set off ... so we were in for an adventure. When we first arrived - it was FREEZING. But, after getting on coats and hats - the rain stopped and we had a beautiful hike and lots of fun. Good friends = good times!





We hung out with the Jensons for the BYU game that night. Very fun ... as usual.

Sunday, we hung out with the Millers like we do every week - and very much so appreciate a yummy dinner, good company, and lots of varieties of fun. Thank you Mom and Dad! I really oughta get pictures of that tradition, huh?

Today, Kristy and I went crazy. I can't believe I didn't get any pictures. We took the kids to McDonalds (play land of course) for breakfast .... ToysRUs just for kicks and giggles .... back to Kristy's to play and eat dinner .... and then BACK to McDonalds (play land of course) for ice cream. EVERY time we left one of those places - at least one child was screaming and crying. :) But, it was a great day. The kids enjoyed those random activities ... and I always enjoy hanging out with my sis.

WHEW!

The "Many, Many Things" List

1. I finished "Goose Girl". It was one of the best books I've ever read. I really enjoyed it ... highly recommend it!

2. Grandma Taylor informed me that (according to Studio 5 - a show she watches daily) Utah women have the biggest hair in all of the United States. WOW!

3. Making cookies for FHE this week was a big (and yummy) hit!

4. A glimpse of our most recent awesome Tuesday lunch. I love Tuesdays!

5. Marissa's basketball debut ... she NEVER stops smilin'!! Whew!

Take 1
Take 5

Take 9

TAKE 14 - The Winner

Our Missy Dee ... ya gotta love her! We sure do!!!

6. The END! UEA pics coming soon ...

Our Fun Day at Pumkin Land

We had the whole place to ourselves! That makes for a REALLY good time, because the mom's don't stress out about where the kids are ... and believe me, they were ALL over! I canNOT get over how so dang cute Mr. Ethan is!!!!! He is ALWAYS smiling. Well, he gets really serious sometimes too. But, it doesn't ever take much to see that cute dimple of his.

Also - conference today was amazing, huh? I REALLY needed to hear a lot of what was said. We are so blessed to be Latter-day-Saints and have the gospel in our lives. I'm sure grateful for my family ... where would I be without you guys?!

What Do You Say?

Every Monday I meet with my supervisor and discuss many things pertaining to my job. Yesterday we were talking about a theory of human behavior that is based solely on observable behavior. One of the criticisms of this theory is it denies any human emotion (what does Love look like?). I began telling my supervisor that I did not buy into this theory and said: "This theory might work if I were a rock or a single celled orgasm.... I mean organism." I wished at that moment I WAS a single celled organism hiding underneath a rock... I still had 30 minutes to go until I could leave his office.

Now, me -- Michelle -- the other day, I was early picking Aaron up from school. So, I let Krystal come sit up in the front seat with me while we waited for the bell to ring. When the bell rang, I told her to climb back into her carseat. She said, "NOO, Mommy! My sit with you in the FRONT!" I said, "No, you have to be 12 years old to sit in the front seat. You're 2. You'll be safer in your car seat." She said, "Well (yes, she said 'well') -- me 5 like Aaron! My sit in THE FRONT SEAT! My big!" Needless to say, I ended up putting a kicking and screaming toddler back in her car seat before we could go.

So, what do you say when someone slips and says 'orgasm' instead of 'organism' .... or your 2 year old argues with a VERY (in her opinion) reasonable explanation? What DO you say?