Addition

One thing I forgot to add about the Riverwoods Lighting (by the way, Angie, the parking was crazy. I didn't even try to get into the parking lot. I just drove north to those offices and parked in a parking lot there. It was about a 5 minute walk, so I was really grateful for the stroller!).

When we got home, Allie told me, "It was not really what I was expecting."

"Oh?," I asked. "Why not?"

"Well, I thought there would be lights there."

Laughing, I said, "There WERE lights there. Lots of lights."

"Well, I thought there would be music there."

"There WAS music there. We stopped and listened to that band play."

She paused, thinking. Finally she said, "I thought we would hold hands singing around the Christmas tree."

She had me there. We didn't do that. Because life isn't a touching scene from The Grinch. But it probably should be.

The Latest

After Time Out for Women, my fam got together for a pic for my mom's Christmas card. I love these people so much. And I can't wait until the next pic, the one with ALL of us in it! Jonny comes home in two months!

Jeff went to Arizona for his "Manstravagana," aka the U of A/ASU game, and the kids begged me to take them to the lighting of the Riverwoods. Five kids out in the cold with no help? Why not! We actually had a really good time. The kids were happy with their free cookies and glow sticks...

...and we'd warm up by the fires whenever we got cold.

There was plenty to see, although the lights didn't look nearly so cool in pictures as they did in person.

And lots of free stuff for the kids.Carter wasn't sure what to make of Kyla's Pooh mask.

McKay was fine as long as we were moving. I think he wasn't too thrilled to be cold, so we had to keep walking and avoid standing in any lines (the other kids were a bit sad to miss out on Santa and the face painting/balloon animals, but the lines were really long). Carter tried to keep McKay happy, but he wasn't often successful.

Thank goodness I had my "new" sit and stand stroller! I could fit four of the kids on it and Damon was the only one who had to walk. It was awesome!

I also wanted to put in these pics from FHE the other night. Our Monday nights are pretty much all the same. We have a quick lesson, where we sometimes feel the spirit, and then Jeff plays Tickle Monster with the kids. They really look forward to it, and Kyla has perfected the "Spread Eagle Choke" maneuver. Carter even likes it, but if Jeff tries to tickle me, he will go into protection mode and cry until Jeff leaves me alone.

McKay has been able to stay out of it so far, and would prefer to stay close to mommy. Can't blame him.

Celebrations

I want to write about Time Out for Women, but I need to steal some pics from my mom before I can do that. So, I'll put that on hold for now and talk about other other celebrations.

I turned 32 on Tuesday. It's fine. Another year, and the first time I haven't been pregnant on my birthday for a while. My big present was a new bed (another post to come soon), so I really wasn't expecting anything else. But I did get this...

(Cookie Dough Delirium cake from Coldstone), and these...

Even for a girl who doesn't HAVE to have fresh flowers, it is fun every now and then to be reminded that someone loves you.

The cake was so good (I may just go have another piece now) and I will probably ask for a Coldstone cake every year now! My mom wanted a pic of the inside so she could see how it was made. Two layers of yellow cake, two layers of sweet cream ice cream with cookie dough, and a cool-whippy kind of frosting on the outside with chocolate shavings and big chunks of cookie dough on top. Yep, my mouth is watering.

I went to dinner at Happy Sumo with my favorite Trapnell ladies (all but Julie, who is in New Mexico). The wait was long (it was Two-for-Tuesday), but so worth it! What a great time, and I was spoiled by my awesome MIL and SIL's.

Last night, Jeff and I went out with his staff to dinner and the preview of Breaking Dawn. I told him that could count for my date this year. It was fun, if not everything I hoped it would be. I just wish I loved the movies. Oh well, still fun.

McKay also turned 8 months (or 2/3rds) yesterday. 7 months came and went without a pic, so here's trying to make up for it.

He looks awfully sad in this pic. I'm not sure why. He loves that moose, though, and is often found in his bed playing with it and the other animal in there with him.

Here's a cuter one.

And here's one of him with his bestie, Carter. Two boys in diapers. Not the funnest, but we are surviving. Both boys have had the runs this week (runny noses that is), and Carter's cheeks sure are chapped. Still, I couldn't resist one of these two friends. They really do love each other, which is awesome to me.

Here are some things McKay is doing at eight months:

He is crawling fairly well, but still resorts to the army scoot when he really wants to get somewhere.
He still has no teeth, but does fairly well eating puffs, cheerios, bread crumbs and random other things he scavenges off the floor (well, that hunk of tortilla I pulled out of his mouth the other day was a different story).
Still has 32 oz of formula a day, plus eats solids twice a day. Hasn't refused anything, but is often too busy to finish the bottle unless I hold him.
Pulled himself up to standing in his crib the other day.
Fell down one flight of stairs twice so I finally put the gate up.
Takes two great naps during the day, but is still trying to figure out how to make it from 3:00 until bedtime without getting too ornery (bedtime is about 7:30).
Almost always wakes up happy and smiles so big when I walk in the room.
Babbles a lot and makes a gargling sound I find adorable.
Gets upset by loud noises or too much activity.
Rarely falls asleep in the car.
Loves giving open mouth kisses (although I don't think he knows that is what he's doing)

I love this boy so much. I love that he is a happy boy and is fairly predictable. He is such a sweet little thing, even though he always smells like spit up.

Honesty

Last month, Jeff and I were getting our temple recommends renewed and had to answer the question, "are you honest in all your dealings?" Interestingly enough, we both had experiences with honesty.

Mine was a small thing. At a caselot sale, I bought several cases of food. Beans, vegetables, soups, chicken broth, etc. When I checked out, I just put one of each can on the belt and told the cashier how many I had of each one. 12 of each, 18 chicken broth. Easy peasy. But when I got home, I found that I had actually taken 24 chicken broth, and short changed the grocery store about $6.00. I knew I had to go back and make up the difference, and so I did. It took me a few days to get there, but there was never any doubt that I needed to do it. I needed to be able to answer the temple recommend question without hesitation. And I think it was a good lesson for my kids to learn (as they accompanied me back to the store to pay the $6.00 I still owed).

Jeff's was a trickier situation. He had made an order with 3M for supplies for his office (brackets, rubber bands, etc). He thought it was about $1000. But the order didn't make it to his office. Instead, he got a message that 3M would be filling another order for him, as their was a problem with the delivery truck. No big deal, he would just wait for the second order. But in the meantime, he got a phone call. A man told him there were several boxes with his name on them left by the side of the road in west Provo. He drove over to check it out. Not only were his boxes there, there were also boxes for many different professionals in the area (the one I saw was for an eye doctor).

The boxes were open and had been gone through, and some of the stuff was unusable, but most of his order was there. Either the boxes somehow fell off the delivery truck, or were stolen from the warehouse and then abandoned by the side of the road. Jeff picked up his stuff and took it back to his office. He talked to his brothers, who all told him that he should just keep the stuff that was usable, as the shipping company's insurance would be paying for his new order.

But then he found out that the order wasn't a $1000 order. It was a $10,000 order. And that was a much bigger deal. He just couldn't, in good conscience, keep all the stuff without saying anything. And so even though he was tempted to profit by about $10,000, he couldn't do it. He called the rep from 3M and explained the situation. Instead of replacing the entire order, 3M just needed to replace the stuff that was damaged.

Jeff said the same thing--that he was so grateful to be able to answer the honesty question in his temple recommend interview with a clear conscience. And even though the extra supplies would have been really nice, that temple recommend was worth a whole lot more.

Moab

We took our yearly trip to Moab for Fall Break right before we went to Hawaii. It is always so much fun for the kids. Not always so much fun for us (we enjoy it, but 7 of us in one motel room is a little much, and sleeping doesn't always happen). I didn't get many pictures, because Allie was having a tantrum about a picture I took of her, and she knocked the camera out of my hand into the sand. It has not been working right ever since. But here is proof that all the kids were there and had a great time.

Greg brought gear to take everyone rappelling. Damon did great and can't wait to go again!

We overloaded the hot tub at the Hampton Inn. Fred and the kids!

Halloween

**Sorry, I'm having some formatting issues with the pics and I'm not going to go to a lot of trouble to change it to make it perfect. Maybe when I'm ready to Blurb...

Jeff and I got home just in time to celebrate Halloween. We carved our pumpkins Sunday night. Nothing fancy this year, just some basic designs the kids came up with. 

Monday morning, I went to the kids school for the Halloween parade. 

And finally, it was time for trick or treating. McKay didn't know what was going on. I think he looked pretty cute, though. Unfortunately, I still don't know whether or not this costume glows in the dark. McKay stayed safely inside Aunt Laurie's house while the other kids trick or treated.

Carter revived the Hamburglar costume I found for Damon when he was 18 months. Strikingly similar with that mask on...

Damon    

                                                                                              

Carter

Just a quick 8 years later, and that little Hamburglar turned into this football player for the Y. I had a heck of a time trying to find a costume for Damon. I thought for sure I'd find one on KSL (where I got Kyla's outfit), but nothing ever showed up. The only thing I could find was a $50 brand new one from the bookstore. That wasn't going to happen. Finally, I found this on ebay for $25 (including shipping) and Tara had shoulder pads to complete the set. I think he looked awesome!

Three cute boys

Kyla was the perfect BYU cheerleader. She was so happy she got to wear makeup. I think she looked adorable! I could have done without the Frankenstein tattoo on the forehead, but whatever.

Allie had makeup on too, and had a cute ponytail with some ringlets. But something set her off (I think she wanted to wear Kyla's tennis shoes because hers are too big) and she cried and cried and all that makeup came off. She wasn't too pleased to pose for her pic. I got her OSU costume on ebay also. I couldn't find another Cougar one, and Allie was happy to be a Buckeye (she was born in Columbus, after all). Mostly, anyway.

We got one good shot of all the kids together. Allie even smiled for this one. 

And then everything fell apart.

Carter had the BEST time of his short life. He was running and jumping up and down with delight when he found out that people were giving out "nanny." It made my whole day, and was worth coming home from Hawaii to witness. He held on to his pumpkin full of candy with a death grip. But he was very sweet to share with anyone who asked.

Damon and David scored quite the haul (which you can't see in this picture). We took the kids to the candy buy back at the dentist yesterday, and Damon gave away about 1 lb of candy. He saved about 10 lbs for himself! Jeff bargained with him, and paid him $8 for 3/4ths of it last night. Now we have our own stash, and Damon doesn't feel like all his effort was for nothing. Allie gave away a little more than Damon (all she had left) and Kyla gave away 2 pieces (all SHE had left)! It was a fun Halloween. Now for the sugar detox...

While the cat's away...

Just a small sampling of the many, MANY pictures that were taken while Jeff and I were in Hawaii and the kids partied with grandma and grandpa. They did pedicures...

Decorated for Halloween...

 

 

Played at the park...

 

Played at home...

Read scriptures together...

Fell asleep together...




Had a class Halloween party...



Got all prettied up for the ward trunk or treat...

Made sugar cookies...

Talked to mom and dad ONCE the whole week...

Had a little grandma time...

And a little grandpa time...



And had a whole lot of fun!