Halloween

Melissa and Cameron had a lot of fun Halloween night!!

Melissa was a scary witch. I loved her hat...I wish I had one like it!

Cameron was a ninja. He loved his ninja sword, but didn't want to carry a sword and a bucket.

I can't believe how old she looks in this picture!!!

Who's that? He blends into the night.

Trick-or-Treating with their best buds Bryce & Camryn

I love this picture. This is where they sat down waiting for their moms to stop talking so they could keep going. :)

First Day of School

Melissa and Cameron were so excited for their first day of school. They were up and ready to go by the time the school opens their doors. I know that won't last forever :)
Melissa is now in 4th grade and Cameron is in 2nd grade. They love going to school and I hope that lasts for a long time!

Cameron with his Super Mario Galaxy shirt

Cameron with his new teacher Mrs. Nelson

Cameron in his new room

Melissa wearing her favorite outfit

Melissa with her new teacher Mrs. Barton

Melissa in her new room

Anahera Gifts

My sister-in-law is having a contest. She is very creative with her baby gifts. Go check her blog out and see what I mean. http://anaheragifts.blogspot.com/

Speedy Spaniard

Melissa and Cameron getting ready to run the mile

Mommy, Melissa, & Cameron after the race

Running with our best friends Bryce and Camryn

For the 24th, we ran the Speedy Spaniard. I ran the 10K and the kids ran the 1-mile. Brook would have ran with us, but he has a hurt knee and didn't want to make it any worse before his MRI. I wasn't as prepared for the race this year as I was last year. Even though I ran a little faster then last year (11-min. mile), I also walked a little bit this year. At least I finished, that is my main goal. The kids had a lot of fun. Melissa ran the mile for the first time this year. They both had fun and said they would do it again next year.

4th of July

Wow!! I guess I've been out of the mood to blog for awhile. I'm not sure why? I guess I go through phases with everything. Plus with the kids home for the summer, I've just been having fun with them. Unfortunately, I have a lot to catch up on!!! Instead of doing it all now, I'm showing a few pictures from our 4th of July. We spent the holiday with Brook's family again this year.

I made these shirts for the kids this year (familyfun magazine)

Getting ready to watch the fireworks

My two cute kids!!!

Thanks to Brook's brother-in-law Brandon, we had GREAT seats for the fireworks!

Dance Competition

Melissa participated in the "Dance America" dance competition this weekend. The beginning of 3 competitions. Her and McKailey said that they were 16 years old because they looked like they were with all that make-up on. Her first dance was "Shake Your Tail Feathers" and her second dance was "Ordinary Miracle". In this dance, Melissa has a little solo at the end. Both dances are really cute!!

This is part of her solo

Easter

On Easter Sunday, I overheard my children having a conversation about the Easter Bunny. Melissa was saying that she didn't think it was the Easter Bunny, but that it was some person that went around and did all the houses in the neighborhood. Cameron came back and said, "Melissa...eggs just don't pop up out of nowhere, of course the Easter Bunny comes!!!" I thought it was a cute conversation. One child is getting close to leaving the childhood imagination behind, and the other is still totally involved.

Yes......I am alive!!

Ok, I apologize for not being a "Blogger" lately. I guess things just got so crazy and busy and unorganized, that I put blogging on the back burner.
I usually blog over the weekends, and I was gone a lot during March. Another crazy thing is that Brook changed jobs!!! I can't tell you how stressful that is.....and I'm not even the one that's doing it. I know some of you have been through that and can sympathize with me :0) It's all good of course. He was offered a job with Max International in SLC. We weren't sure what to do. He's been with NuSkin for so long and with the economy, I wasn't sure if he should give up his stable job. With lots of prayers, going to the temple, and lots and lots of talking, we decided it was the right thing to do. Today is actually his first day at his new job. He said he wasn't too nervous, but I'm sure he was. When he was through with NuSkin, it hit him pretty hard. He's been there so long and has so many friends, that he came home feeling like he'd gone to a funeral. I felt bad for him!!

So...now with that decision made, with my classroom at work fairly organized, and with my house back in order, I feel like I can blog again!! I feel like I can breath again!!

So I apologize about that and about not looking at anybody's blogs either. I'll have set aside some time to catch up on all the fun stuff that's been going on out there in the world outside my "bubble"

Valentine Fun

I know it's past Valentines Day, but at least it's still February right?!

For school each year, the kids need to decorate a Valentine box. It always stresses me out and I don't enjoy thinking about it. Once we were all done I thought they turned out cute and the kids did have fun. I guess I shouldn't worry so much. Cameron's theme was "I love to read" or "I love books" (I don't remember exactly) and he loves to read Garfield, so we made his box into a Garfield book. On the side he drew one of his favorite comic strips from the book. I think it turned out really cute.

Melissa's theme for school was "simple machines". We turned her box into a stapler. I wasn't sure how this one was going to turn out, but I thought it turned out really cute too!! She had a piece of foam inside so you could push down on the stapler and it would come back up. (sorry- I forgot to rotate one of her pictures.)

For Valentines Day, we always do a candlelight dinner with the kids. I try to make all of the food pink or red. The kids have fun lighting the candles and eating in the dark. They also think it's funny to see the food turned pink. This year we had sparkling juice, ham, pink potatoes, pink biscuits, and raspberry jello. We had our neighbors over to eat with us this year. We took turns watching each other's kids while the other couple went out on a date. They said they felt like they were in a nice restaurant. I really love having candlelight dinners with my kids. So much more fun then going out to eat!!!!

Brook surprised me with a dozen red roses!! They were so beautiful and TALL. He just set them on the table and waited for me to find them. I didn't walk into the kitchen for a little while, but when I did, I was very surprised!! (I love my husband, NOT just because he gave me roses), but for all the things he does for me. I couldn't wish to spend Valentines with a better man!!

Bedroom Decor

I keep telling my family that I will post this on my blog.....so I finally did!! This is the decor above our bed. I think it turned out soooo cute! I can't take credit for the idea, because my friend Michelle back home had something similar to this above her bed. The pictures are so cute and were taken by Dana awhile ago. I love seeing pictures of my kids when they were young and sweet. They are still sweet, but older!!

Happy Birthday Brook!!

Brook had his 35th birthday today. He may not be happy that I'm putting his age in here? It's not how I wanted his birthday to go. I've been sick this week and haven't been out to do any preparations. So I told him that we will celebrate it this weekend. I did (with some help) get his favorite dessert made. So at least it wasn't a total loss!!!

A classic picture of Brook

The kids can't wait for dessert either

Retreat

This is one of my favorite times of the year. This was our 6th annual "Scrapaway" neighborhood retreat. It started out as a scrapaway with only scrapbookers, but now it is for anyone in our neighborhood to come and do what ever they want (e.g. play games, eat, facials, eat, rock band, eat, scrapbook, eat, watch movies, eat) notice I didn't put in sleep!!! We stay in a huge cabin for 2 nights. We take turns cooking or cleaning up one meal. It is really easy and we eat wonderful food the whole weekend. I'm sad it's over, but I had a blast and I got a lot done!

Palatal Expanders

This week Melissa went to the orthodontist. Her baby teeth were so tight and perfect and now that her permanent teeth are coming in, there is no room. So she had Palatal Expanders put in for her top and bottom jaw. The nice thing is that I don't have to turn a screw on them each day. They make them with springs in them that are constantly pushing. Right after they were put on, she wouldn't talk. They told her to read a book outloud to me that night so she'd be able to talk at school the next day. She had a hard time talking that day!! It was so sad when it came time to eat. She had a hard time swallowing, and she was in a lot of pain. She just sat at the table and cried. I mashed up her food and had her swallow without chewing. She's had them on for a couple of days now and thank goodness she is getting better!! I thought it was going to be a long year.

Skiing

For the new year we went skiing as a family up at Brighton. The night before we went there was a storm and that morning we had 9" of new snow. It was BITTER cold in the morning, but by the afternoon we thawed out. It was so beautiful up in the mountains!!! I thought the trees looked amazing with all the new snow on them, so I had Brook stop so I could take a few pictures.