HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Happy Halloween! Isn't Halloween a blast when you have kids. I had so much fun with my kids today. Kids make you feel like a kid again. Their excitement is contagious. Brynlee was a witch, Stockton was a ninga turtle and Becks was a baby turtle. They all had so much fun. They are all on a sugar high right now and I don't think they will be coming down from that any time soon. The thing that is so great about little kids is they love to trick or treat but they are done after like 5 houses. My kids only wanted to go to the houses of their babysitters, their friends and my girlfriends that they know in the neighborhood. I pulled Beckham in the wagon and he was screaming the entire time he was so excited. Bryns and Stock decided before we went trick or treating that if they got told they had to do a trick that Stock would whistle and Brynlee would do a kick. I took the kids over to see my grandma and grandpa Black and they were so thrilled. It makes their day to see the kids and the kids adore them. Brynlee had a mandatory dance practice today and Stock still had karate so it was a little crazy fitting that in to a fun day but it all worked out. Thanks kids for such a fun day! I love you!! The top pic is of the kids trick or treating. Aren't the faces they are pulling hilarious. In the second picture Becks is throwing a fit because he wants down and wants his hat off. The botton picture is of Beckham and Ander. Thanks for stopping by Suzi that was fun to see you guys.

STOCKTON'S HALLOWEEN PARADE AT SCHOOL

It was so much fun for me to go to Stocky's school and see the parade for Halloween. He is obsessed with Teenage Mutant Ninga Turtles. He has made it very clear to me for some time that he was going to be Leonardo. He loved his costume and he felt so cool in it. He has been doing ninga moves the entire day. He didn't want to walk alone for the parade so Beckham and I ended up doing the whole parade with him. The other two boys in the pictures are his friends David and Trace that are in our neighborhood. Boys are so much fun and I am so thrilled that I am lucky enough to have two.

CARVING PUMPKINS

For family night on Monday we carved out pumpkins. We did Beckhams a cat since he loves to say meow. Stockton is all of sudden into were wolves so we carved a were wolf on his. And Bryns drew on and carved her own face. I was pretty impressed. They had so much fun carving their pumpkins and loved baking the pumpkin seeds inside for a yummy treat later.

FRIGHTMARES AT LAGOON

On Saturday I was exhausted from the Hannah Montana Concert. I don't know what was wrong with me but I couldn't go to sleep until 2 in the morning. This made me realize that I am gettting old. But my mom really wanted to take the kids to frightmares at lagoon. So we went there on Saturday night and the kids had so much fun. They had so many fun rides for kids and their favorite was Puff the Magic Dragon. They had ear to ear grins because they said it was so fun and fast and they thought they were so brave. They had such a fun spook alley for kids that wasn't scarey but they could trick or treat. The kids loved it. Beckhams favorite ride was the merry go round. The train ride at Lagoon is actually way better than the zoos. Thanks mom for a fun night! Your the best grandma in the whole world!

When we were at Lagoon Stockton got sick and then when we got home Beckham started throwing up until four in the morning. I was so exhausted from the whole experience. I am glad that they are feeling better.

HANNAH MONTANA CONCERT

Well I can't sleep so I am posting pictures on my blog. Tonight Brynlee and I went to the Hannah Montana Concert. We went with a bunch of the girls that she dances with at The Dance Club and their moms. The girls were so excited! She has been asking me for a week everyday, "mom when are we going to the Hannah Montana Concert?" Today when she woke up she ran down stairs and said, "mom Hannah Montana today!" My friend Kathys husband got the tickets. They were great seats right in front of the stage in the lower bowl. We were lucky to get tickets they sold out in four minutes. The girls had a blast at dinner! We went to Little America to eat. Then we rode the trax over to the concert. The girls were dancing and having so much fun. Bryns was using her glow stick as a microphone. We sat by Kathy and Maddison. Maddison and Bryns love each other and have so much fun together. By 10:30 Brynlee and Maddison had fallen asleep for the last two songs. It was a late night for 5 year olds. But I'm sure the girls will never forget it!

MY LITTLE PUMPKIN

Today my brother Marcus was home from college. He is amazing with my kids. He loves to play with him and they absolutely adore him. I always say he will be the best dad. My mom saves basically everything so she has all of our old costumes from growing up. So Marcus and the kids dressed up for hours today. Beckham wore an old pumpkin costume for most of the day. Beckham is obsessed with golf balls. For the most part he has one in his hands at all times. In those pictures my brother Cam is trying to teach Becks to golf. He is on the golf team at Bingham and is a great golfer. He says he needs to start my boys learning early. I think one is really pushing it ha ha. My moms central vacuum system was broken so she had a guy come to fix it and he discovered that the problem was that Beckham had put several golf balls into the vacum holes all around the house. He loves balls of any kind. He loves footballs and always loves to stand up and hold them. All day long he is either saying, ball, meow, or moo.

"MOMMY SLOW DOWN"

Yesterday I was taking Stockton to soccer and I got pulled over by a cop. I was speeding and I got a ticket. Brynlee said, "mom why did the police pull you over?" I said, "because I was driving to fast." Bryns said, "mom why were you driving so fast." I said, "because we were late and I was trying to get Stockton to soccer on time." She said, "mom it just doesn't matter, you shouldn't drive fast." Then after soccer Stockton said to me, "mom the police said you shouldn't drive like this (and he waved his hand as fast as could back and forth.) They said that you should drive like this." Then he waved his hand really slowly back and forth. Isn't it amazing that these sweet kids are always teaching us lessons. I find myself always in a hurray when I need to get places. The lesson I learned from my kids yesterday was to just slow down. Does it really matter if I am 5 minutes late to soccer? No. It seems like our generation is always in a hurray and trying to fit as many things as possible into a day. I need to take more time to enjoy life, and not always be in such a rush. It was such a beautiful day yesterday so I took their advice and we went to the park. Then we came home and watched a movie and I finally got around to cuddling with Stockton for two hours while we took a nap. Then I took the kids to Wheeler's Farm and we saw all of the animals and milked the cow. They were thrilled about this and they keep telling everyone over and over that they milked a cow. It actually kind of sounds like a crazy day but it was relaxing and nice just to enjoy my kids!

CHOCOLATE CHIPS IN BED

This is a picture of Stockton flexing. He always says to me, "mom feel my muscles. I am so strong." The other night he was sleeping in my bed and at 4:30 in the morning I heard something crinkling in bed. I look over and Stockton is sitting in bed eating chocolate chips. I took them away and told him to go back to bed. Then twenty minutes later he was walking around the room and said, "mom where are those chocolate chips?" He found them and spent another 30 minutes eating chocolate chips. When 7:30 rolled around and he had to get ready for school he was so tired and he kept saying, "mom I don't want to go to chowanger (challenger) I just want to stay home and cuddle with you. Stockton is definately my sweet tooth boy. I guess he gets it from me because when there isn't any other chocolate in the house I get my chocolate fix by eating chocolate chips. I'm sure he has seen me do that plenty of times.

JOSH'S 27th BIRTHDAY

My brother Josh turned 27 last week. He is such a great brother ad has been such a help to me and my kids. He is an amazing uncle and all of the kids adore him. Beckham went and played at his house last week and he cried if Josh wasn't holding him or was out of his sight. He freaked out when Josh left to go to the bathroom.

I said to my mom so Josh is turning 25. She said no 27 you are 29. I think I am in denial that I am 29 I was really thinking I was 27. Even 27 sounds old to me. Where does the time go? Anyway happy birthday Josh. Thanks for being such a sweet brother and uncle. We love you!!

HANDS FULL NOW HEARTS FULL LATER

I loved Katie's post the other day about mothers. I agree with Katie that one it is the most important and sacred job that you can do to be a mother. And two it is the most challenging job that you can do and Satan does want to discourage us. The rewards don't come in the form of a pay check but I can't think of anything that has greater blessings. This is important to remember when you have those crazy mommy moments during the day. We had regional conference on Sunday and Boyd K. Packer gave a great talk. He said that his wife always had her hands full at church by herself while he was traveling on church callings and a widow in the ward said to her, "it looks like you have your hands full." Sister Packer said, "yes I do." Then the widow said, "hands full now heart full later." Isn't that a great thought to think about. These sweet kids and their kids (our posterity) will be the source of our greatest joy and blessings. I just want to thank my mom, my grandmas and all of my friends for the women they are and for their sweet examples. I learn from all of you on a daily basis. Isn't it nice to have other women to share you daily triumphs and failures. Like Katie said I know too that I am a work in progress and I have a long way to go. But we are truely blessed to be mothers and learn unconditional love and patience. I just read this poem and I love it. This is good for all of us to remember....

If I had my child to raise all over again,
I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.
I'dfinger paint more, and point the finger less.
I would do less correcting and more connecting.
I'd take my eyes off the watch, and watch with my eyes.
I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.
I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.
I'd do more hugging and less tugging.

Dian Lommas, from "If I Had My Child to Raise Over Again."

BECKHAM 13 MONTHS OLD

With babies there are so many things that they are constantly doing that it is hard to get everything down. I took some pictures of Beckham this morning so that I could capture of few of his latest things that he is into. This morning I was getting ready and Becks was yelling at me like a come and help me type talk. So I went to see what the problem was and if you look closely in the first pictue you can see his whole diaper was down in the foot of his pajama. How do things like this happen? It was driving him crazy and he was letting me know it. The next picture shows how he is into everything all of the time. He is such a busy boy. He helps me with the dishes (or helps me pull everything out once I get it in the dishwasher) and he loves to empty out every cupboard in the house. He is a huge helper!! The last picture is hime starting to take steps. He can stand up alone forever but he has been timid to take steps. In the last week he has started taking steps and it is so cute. It will be darling to see him toddling around the house.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELISE

Both of these pictures are the wrong way but I had to post and tell Elise that we wish her a happy sixth birthday. Elise is Brynlee's best friend from Las Vegas. They always have so much fun together and they are so much alike. A few months ago Elise came to our house and had a sleep over and the girls had so much fun. These are pictures from that sleepover. Happy Birthday Elise we love you so much and we miss you!! Elise's family will be moving to Colorado in a few months. When Bryns found this out she said, "Mom I want to move to Colorado with Elise." We miss you Gail, Corbin, Elise, Ella and Easton.

BRYN'S HALLOWEEN PARTY & OTHER RANDOM THOUGHTS

Brynlee had her halloween party at school today. She was so excited to be a witch and spray paint her hair. She said she was so excited to be the most beautiful witch in her class. I love how kids at this age just say what they are thinking and they are so confident. Her best friend in her class Elle was a witch too. Bryns was thrilled about that. Brynlee has been such a great helper lately. She has been so obedient and so sweet. When I ask her to do something she says, "yes ma ma." I should add most of the time. We still struggle with what to wear to school and how to do her hair. I am thankful she is off track so we will have a break from that for a few weeks. I am really proud of her.

I asked Stockton yesterday how he got so handsome. He said, "Mom, Jesus just made me that way." I can tell that he is just thinking about everything all of the time. The wheels are always turning in that cute little head. He has been so funny lately. He is always cracking jokes and making me laugh. He is taking karate now and he loves it. He asks me everyday mom do I have karate today? Yesterday he came to me and said ,"mom I did something terrible. Come and see." I went in the bathroom and he had smeared my mascara all over the bathroom cabinets. I didn't even get upset because he had broken two plates earlier in the day (not on purpose) and I just new that was how that day was going to go. Luckily it came off the baathroom cabinets. Needless to say my mascara is ruined.

Beckham has been so sweet and always wanting to snuggle lately. It is my favorite thing ever. He is so proud of himself because he can say several animal sounds. His favorites are a cat and and a cow. If we are ever laughing he always joins in and laughs with us even though he has no idea what is going on. His smile is contagious and I can't get enough of it.

I have been meaning to write about this for awhile because it is so sweet. There is this sweet older couple at the gym that I see every day. The man brings his wife who is severly handicapped and in a wheel chair everyday. She isn't able to do anything on her own and you can tell he does everything for her. He works out and has her right beside him the entire time. He is so sweet with her and gets her drinks, wipes her face and is always looking at her so lovingly. The first time my mom and I saw them my mom turned to me and said, "That's some kind of love!" It just touches me everytime I see them and it gives me hope that that kind of love exists. It reminds me of Elder Wirthlin's talk on love at conference. Wasn't that an amazing talk?

FAMILY NIGHT FUN

Today for family night we went and got our pumpkins at Maybe's pumpkin patch. The kids were in heaven. They got to take their own wagon out into the pumpkin patch and pick their pumpkins. They just kept filling the wagon with more and more pumpkins. My mom and I were secretly putting them back and then when Stockton found out he was so upset. I am reading the childrens book of mormon with my kids right now and they love it. They are so into the stories and they ask a million questions about the characters. I am so motivated to teach my kids all I can about the gospel. I loved sister Beck's talk on "mothers who knew" at conference. She said something to the effect of how wonderful it would be if mothers had taught their children everything they needed to know at home before they go to the MTC. I hope I will be able to teach my boys all they need to know so that I can make that come to pass.

NEW FAMILY PICTURES

Here are some pictures that I got taken with the kids about a month ago. I just got them today and I have been dying to see how they turned out. It is so hard to get pictures taken. I felt such an accomplishment that day!!