A Full and Fun Trip

We had a great time this weekend up north. It was a short trip. But it was worth the drive. We arrived to my parents home on Thursday night. Friday morning we met my mom, Jason and his girlfriend Hannah at Gardener Village. Of course it was full of people. But a lot of people and their kids were in costume and it was a lot of fun. Jakob wore his ghost costume and loved to hide behind the "photo shoot" spots and then jump out and scare us. He also loved dancing on a large platform of stones. He was the center of attention for much of the day.

That afternoon we went to lunch and then took the kids home for naps. While they napped all of us adults opened my parents costume closets and went crazy trying on costumes. By the time we had decided what we wanted to wear my parents bed was covered in a stack of costumes. I wore a mystic witch costume. But Leif was the most creative:) He went with a Dracula costume with a twist to it. He was going for the look of the guy on Labyrinth. He wore a blond curly haired wig. The guy on Labyrinth had straight hair, but it was still hilarious!

That evening Leif and I took Jakob and Caleb to the mall for some trick or treating. Jakob had a good time. We enjoyed it because it was inside, concentrated, yet not too busy. After that we went further up town to the Marriott hotel. We went to the murder mystery dinner show that my brother and parents produced. It was AMAZING! The singing and dancing was awesome and they kept us entertained the whole night. The kids even enjoyed it. Jakob participated in the dance contest. He was a bit overwhelmed during the contest. But after the show he went up on stage and danced the night away. Leif and I joined him and it was a fun family memory. A great Halloween! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Hunt!!

The next day we headed further north to Brigham City. We went to a birthday lunch for Leif's grandpa. Good company and good food! From there we went to his grandpa's house and played in the leaves. That was only the second time in my life that I've played in leaves. It was again, a lot of fun and good memories. After we played for a while we walked over to the cemetery. We took some time at the girls grave. I brought two little stones that said Peace and Love to set on their headstone. Leif surprised me with a rose for me and a bouquet of flowers for the girls. It was very sweet! We of course took pictures and talked a bit about the journey with the twins. Jakob is becoming a lot more aware of the fact that he has sisters. Sometimes he will randomly mention them and talk about how he misses them. Family ties are an eternal bond that we can't really comprehend in this realm of life.

On our way home from Brigham City we stopped at Deseret Book. I am so excited about my purchases! I bought a new set of scriptures. But I also bought a replica version of the original Book of Mormon. It reads like a story rather then verse by verse. I LOVE It!!! I am able to just sit down and read as if I am reading a novel. Love It!!

Sunday morning we had a brunch with my family (those of us who are around.) My mom made taco soup in a bread bowl, MMM! We then ate huge ice cream sundays, Delicious!! We drew names for Christmas (as siblings.) (Everyone call mom to find out who you have:)

We headed out after lunch and drove home in a down pour of rain until Fillmore. I bought the book on CD Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites. We had a good time listening to that on the drive. Good series! We got home that evening and immediately, it was Back to Reality! Our fridge went out while we were gone.:( So we lost some of the food in it and now we need a new one. Luckily, there's an extra one down stairs until we can get one that is the right size for our family.

Right now I'm working on catching up with homework and putting my house together. Wish me luck!

ROAD TRIP!

Well, Thursday is Finally Here! Jakob has his preschool Halloween parade and then we're off to G&G Hunt's home for a great Halloween weekend! We'll spend the day at Gardener Village window shopping. Then we'll take Jakob trick or treating at the mall. Then that night we get to go to the Halloween Murder Mystery Dinner that my brother and parents have produced this year. We'll all go in costume and it should be really fun! Jakob and Caleb will both wear their little ghost costumes I made.

So that's the plan for the weekend. The events of the last week are not too eventful. Actually, They have been! Leif has been considered a resident at Northern Arizona University. He hasn't been admitted yet. But we're hopeful. Leif was also offered another job (to go along with his current job.) He will be a recruiter for the community college in our county. He will recruit new students and teachers, help everyone with Student Aid applications, and run entrance tests as needed. It's 12 hours per week at double the pay that he's making at the elementary school. It will be busy! But all in all, I think it will work out. We're happy about it!

My update is that I'm feeling better for the most part. I did go in and get back on my anti-depressant. It helped right away. I need to remember to just accept that they help and stay on them... However, the Paxil started making me gain weight quickly. This is NOT acceptable! So the Dr. added Wellbutrin to counteract that side effect. We'll see how it goes. The last couple of days have been hard. Caleb is really sick again. He doesn't sleep well. When I finally get him to sleep for a long stince, I'm so awake I can't go back to sleep. So I'm a bit of a zombie. I had a huge youth activity last night too. I was in charge of the food. Last night was the first time in a long time that I was overcome with the emotions of not fitting in in a small town. I just do things differently (it didn't help that my emotions we're already on high alert.) I ordered food platters for the 100 people coming to the event. For the most part that went over fine. But some people did murmur about the cost (even though the leadership okayed it). I just made life easier for everyone. There were other things too that just stood out to me that reminded me that I grew up in a TOTALLY DIFFERENT World! I've been trying to stop bringing that up so I can try to blend in. But sometimes it becomes too apparent.

Anyway, we're doing good! I'm REALLY looking forward to this trip!! I need to get out for a few days. We'll also head over to the cemetery to visit the girls. I am going to try and find some stones that say Faith and Hope to put on their headstone. Flowers just get thrown away... The girls would be two years old today... I still miss them. I find myself hugging and cuddling my boys more around this time...

Halloween Welcome: Decorations, Food, and Fun!

Today has been quite the Fun Filled Day! It started this morning with a high school homecoming parade down our street. This is another fun part of living in a very small town. Last night we went to their tailgate party for the community.

After Leif and I finished our homework and my Young Women's meeting, we got to work finishing projects around the house. After nap time we all went to the HS volley ball game. They asked Leif to keep the score and I was glad to go and cheer for my YW girls on the team.

When we came out of the school it was COLD! We started bringing holiday boxes upstairs just as it started SNOWING! Snowing in Arizona? In October? That does not happen! But it did today. Only for a minute of course. Luckily we were planning a fun evening inside.

We hung all of our Halloween decorations. It's fun for me because some of the decorations are some of the ones we hung in my house growing up. So I feel like I'm carrying on a fun tradition. For dinner we started the tradition of taco salad for dinner and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for dessert on the night we decorate for Halloween. I made my own rendition of taco salad. MMM, it was GOOD! I do the normal chips, meat, cheese, etc. But I also add black beans and a special homemade southwestern sauce. Yummy! I will post all of the recipes on my Healthy Mama's blog. My pumpkin bars taste WAY too good to be good for you! As we sat and ate Leif and I talked to Jakob about the fun Halloween memories that we have of growing up. Jakob pretended he had some fun memories too.

As I was making the cookies Leif turned on a computer game with Jakob that was a Halloween themed bowling game. They had a lot of fun playing together. We had a great day and a great evening celebrating the fun that Halloween brings!