First Presidency Christmas Devotional 2009

This year we were able to get tickets to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional! We have never been to see the Prophet speak in person, so it was a great experience.

We took Trax downtown. Liam and Trevan tried to see how long they could stand before falling over.

Liam and I in our seats. Same place we sat the last time we went.

This was Trevan's first trip to the Conference Center. Liam was happy not have another kid along for a change.

Me with all of my sisters.

Another pose with my Liam.

Temple Square 2009

This year we went with half of Jim's family to see the lights at Temple Square.

It's so nice to be close enough to do this every year as a family tradition.

Liam with the Nativity at the pool

Nativity scene outside the visitor center.

This year we went into the museum across the street. They have a lot of fun activities going on there at Christmas time. I recommend stopping in!

Even though it's blurry, it's a good pose of Liam and Santa at the Museum.

Liam "giving a talk" at the museum

Gavin and aunt Kristina working on the puzzle.

Visiting dinosaurs with an old friend

Because of Facebook, one of my best friends from high school and I were able to find each other. It's been fun being reconnected. And it turns out that she has a daughter only a few months younger than Gavin. So, we got together with the little ones to check out some dinosaurs!

Too bad he ended up with sand in his EYES, hair, clothes, and diaper!

Gavin is too SCARY!

Halloween Day

This year the two boys went Trick or Treating together with me around our neighborhood.

We went through several ideas before Liam decided to be a mad scientist. He didn't want to go with any of my details (white powder on his face and dark circles under his eyes), so this is what we ended up with.

Gavin was a car and wore the costume OK this time.

And the side view.....

We have SO MUCH CANDY. The bad thing about it is that they are "small" candies. You eat one and feel like it's nothing because it's "small". But by the time you eat 3 small candy bars you might as well have eaten a regular sized one. Oh, it's that time of year again isn't it??

Trick or Treating at Jim's office

Talk about a load of candy!!!

After 3 floors of cubicles, the kids had more than enough candy....to share with their parents.

Carving Pumpkins

Oh pumpkin carving, it's a tradition you just have to do but one that is always such a mess. I HATE the slime and my hands end up all red, but I love Halloween and I love my kids so we do it every year.

Lately Gavin has decided that he is a cat. He meows all the time and crawls around brushing up against things. So, he got to have a cat pumpkin this year.

Luckily, Liam is finally old enough to do most of his carving all on his own. He did a great job!

Gavin really wanted to be helpful and wanted to get in there and do it, but we all know that a 2 year olds "help" isn't always so helpful. He did do a lot of hole poking though.

Here are the finished pumpkins. Mine is the "New Moon" pumpkin, in honor of the movie soon to be released!! (Not that I'm Team Jacob, I'll always be Team Edward)

Scary!!

Liam's Last Elementary School Halloween Parade and Party

Liam is in 6th grade so this is his last elementary school

Halloween class party and parade.

Liam dressed up like a crazy snake and spider person (or something like that - it's hard to get him into a costume at all).

I was able to go and help run games at his class party. He got to try to eat a donut off of a string. Very funny to watch.

My aunt Peggy was even in the parade!

Gavin and I had a long, long wait for the parade to start. I tell myself every year not to go on time because it always takes forever. Well, I didn't want to chance it so we waited for about 30 minutes before Liam came through. Oh well, it's good exercise chasing him around.

This is Liam's class walking through for the parade.

Liam's attempt at the donut.

Our Ward Halloween Party 2009

Liam preparing to enter the church Spook Alley!! I'm sure it was very scary. The young men got to run this activity. Liam hopes our new ward will do this too so that he can help run it next year.

Liam with his friends at the party.

Gavin had fun checking out the pumpkins. Most of the games were too hard for him to play. He did have fun playing the fishing pole game though.

This is the first time we could get Gavin to put on his costume. Neither of my kids like to dress up. It's a nightmare to force them. Gavin finally gave in once we got to the party. We'll see how trick or treating goes. I'm guessing that he'll do it to get the candy.

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Thanks again to Melissa and Ryan for another fun Pumpkin Patch/Trevan's birthday event!

Jim and Gavin shooting the corn gun. That thing is loud and shoots really far!

Trying out the little maze before entering the real one.

Taking a ride on the awesome tractor train.

More train fun.

Here are a couple of animals.

And here are some real animals. Gavin had fun going in to pet them.

Little farmer Gavin.

Checking out the rabbits.

It was really fun, but pretty cold. I love October!!

Our Tree/Fall Leaves

We have a beautiful tree in our yard. I love it, until it's time to lose the leaves anyway. And, let me say that trying to rake leaves with a 2 year old around is pointless. I would rake and he would run through the pile and destroy it. I'm glad he had fun, but we had to figure out how to get the leaves cleaned up without his help.

Hospital Complaints

So, I went in for surgery on Sept 29th. I admit that I was not a great patient when I got there, but I am amazed at the stupidity of some nurses. I just have to complain.

#1 If a patient is freaked out that they are going to feel their surgery or wake up but be unable to tell anyone they are awake (I know, irrational fear on my part) DO NOT reinforce it by telling them that it happens. Don't tell them that you have had c-sections that you could feel. All this does is freak them out even more.

#2 Don't go with the first vein you find. I have TWO fabulous veins that nobody has ever missed, until this event. It's like they don't even try to be careful.

#3 Too many patients, too few nurses. I realize there is a nursing shortage, but seriously - when you have to ask 3 people to ask your nurse for your meds and they finally show up 3 or 4 hours later it's ridiculous. And I have to add that the person that ended up pulling through for me was the cleaning lady!!

I picked this hospital because they are the best in the area. But, even though it wasn't that busy I felt like some nurses were just over worked. It sucked. I did have one male PCT that usually didn't even work on that floor that was wonderful! He was checking on my constantly. I should have written a little note about him to pin on the "star" board in their hall.

Labor Day 2009

We wanted to get out of our house and do something on Labor Day. We decided to go to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point. It turned out pretty well. Really cheap and not too crowded.

Admission even includes a ride on their horse drawn wagon. Gavin loved it. He's never been pulled around by a horse before.

Watch out for the dangerous horns, and Liam's look (not happy to be in pictures anymore)

Checking out some goats (goats, right??)

The evil horse with the red eyes (OK they were only red in the picture)

Everyone's looking a little crazy. It was fun.

Maybe we'll plan ahead next year and do something even more fun!