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Witch's Night Out

Me, my mom, my sisters Valerie and Natalie

We've made it a family tradition for the girls to go to Gardner Village for their Witch's Night Out every year. This is a picture of us before we left. My aunt Cathy came too, but we went and picked her up after this was taken. Hopefully someone else has more pictures that I can post later, my camera batteries were pretty much dead, so I didn't get any good pictures while we were there. This year we started out a little differently with a "True Witch Initiation" before we left. That was fun. When we got to Gardner Village we got dinner and hit a few shops. Then we waited for the giveaways. We didn't realize they closed at 10 pm, we thought it went till midnight, so after the giveaways, everything was closed. We were SO bummed! My mom and sisters weren't able to get caramel apples like they do every year, and we didn't get to go into some of our favorite stores. Oh well. It was still fun to get together. There weren't very many of us this year, we missed those who couldn't make it. Next year, girls. Next year.

Meet Oakley

Yeah, we got a puppy. Again. I know, I know. Some of you are rolling your eyes at us. We are rolling our eyes at ourselves. Trust me. But I think finding the right kind of breed of dog for your family can be a trial and error process, learning what you really want out of a dog. I hope we have finally met our match. I have wanted a goldendoodle for a LONG time (a golden retriever/standard poodle mix) and for a few reasons. #1 They don't shed (or very little) because of the poodle in them. I wanted an indoor dog so we would have to spend time with it and train it right, but I didn't want dog fur in my house. Most non-shedding dogs are small and ugly, and I wanted a more sturdy and cool looking dog. #2 Poodles and golden retrievers are supposed to be 2 of the smartest dogs. Easy to train and eager to please. So far our training has gone pretty well and he's learning fast. But I'm not saying there isn't a lot of frustration that goes along with it. #3 Goldendoodles look like a big version of our dog, Zoe, that we had while I was in highschool (or shortly after highschool?) that got hit by a car and died. #4 I think Hudson needs a little playmate, and since the fertility thing isn't working so well, he now has a little buddy to run around with and wrestle with. They've been pretty cute together. And I also think I just have a "need" for something small to love again. Trying to fill my baby void, I guess.
So there you have it. Our FINAL dog for a very very very long time. Sometimes I feel like chopping my head off with the training (mostly the chewing and puppy biting), but then I see how much Hudson loves him and it makes it all worth it.

Short, Sweet, and to the Point

Hudson loves to say prayers, but he just rattles off a one liner saying "Dear Heavenly Father, Thank Thee for the gospel, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen". So tonight we tried to explain to him that he needs to slow down and think about all of the things he is grateful for like grandmas and grandpas, food to eat, toys to play with, fishing (Jeff's suggestion, of course), etc. Then he said his prayer. The length of it didn't improve much, but at least he varied what he was thankful for. He had Jeff and I both giggling at the end, and Jeff said it was the best prayer he's ever heard:

"Dear Heavenly Father, Thank Thee for grandpa and fishing. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen".

Scrapbook Pages

It is deer hunting season now, so Jeff was gone all day today. I decided I would awake out of my scrapbooking coma and try to start getting back into the swing of things. I've been needing a creative outlet lately! I am getting so far behind in Hudson's scrapbook--something I vowed I would never do. So, I pretty much neglected Hudson (he only watched Charlotte's Web, The Jungle Book, Cars, and The Aristocats....ok, I'm a bad mom) and set to work. You know how it goes. You think you're going to whip out 20 pages in one day. Well, I decided I needed to get out of my scrapbooking style rut and needed to branch out and try new things and new styles, so that is what I tried to accomplish today. I'm usually more square and symmetrical and structured, where these are more flowing and artsy and piecy. I ended up getting a whopping 2 pages done. And they seriously took me ALL day. I did manage to stop long enough to make lasagna for dinner, though. I think that is the first time in my 7 years of marriage that I have ever made homemade lasagna (thanks to Cori and the What's Cookin' link on the right!) and it was yummy!
Anyway, after all that effort, I wanted to show off my finished product! Of course they look much cuter in person (sorry the pictures aren't that great). Scroll down a couple of blogs to see the real pictures in case you missed them. Oh, and these are the first pages of Hudson's that I have ever added flower embellishments. I hope they don't look too girly? They do it in the magazines all the time for boy pages, I just hope I didn't go overboard. I found my new favorite paper flower from Prima and I was just itching to use them!
And in case anyone is wondering, Jeff didn't get a deer today :(

Halloween Decor

It seems like everyone has been posting their Halloween decor, so, always looking for an excuse to blog, I wanted to post a few pics of our spooky shindig. Actually, there really isn't much to show. I got rid of a lot of my decorations last year at a yard sale, so it seems like the most decorated part of our house is the front porch.

I am proud to say the corn stalks are from our garden this summer, and all the mini pumpkins, too! I think we got around 42 of them! They were so fun to grow!

Every year I love pulling out this guy. He always gives me a little chuckle.

My grand centerpiece on my kitchen table. Hmm. This pumpkins seems a little lonely. I think it looked a lot better last year when I had more items. I guess I went a little crazy "de-junking" last year thinking less was more, but now I'm not so sure!

I know. Nothing inspiring, but a glimpse into our life nonetheless.

The Pumpkin Patch

This year I wanted to take Hudson to the Big Red Barn in Santaquin to take a hay ride to the pumpkin patch. It was so much fun getting a ride behind a big tractor to the great big pumpkin patch. There were so many to choose from, but we found the best three. I, of course, wanted to take advantage of the picture perfect event and take lots of pictures, but, as usual, Hudson was anti-camera, and Jeff was in a hurry to get to his parents house so he could watch the BYU game. But I think I managed to get some pretty cute ones. As you can see, I even had a little trouble selecting just a few!

Using those big muscles to pick up that pumpkin!

Of course he found a rock that was more interesting than the pumpkins. Also notice he's got Lightning McQueen in hand. He's always gotta have good ol' Lightning.

Isn't he just the cutest?

Funnies

Tagged

A LIST OF 8's
I was tagged by Cori.

8 TV shows I love to watch
1. The Office
2. Good Things Utah
3. Chuck
4. Heroes
5. Wife Swap
6. Super Nanny
7. Man vs. Wild
8. Dirty Jobs

8 things that happened yesterday
1. Had breakfast of cold cereal.
2. Got on the computer.
3. Got a phone call from Jeff saying they were coming to shoot video for online advertising in an hour.
4. Cleaned house like crazy.
5. Got dressed and put makeup on.
6. Played with Hudson in the backyard.
7. Went to Walmart.
8. Ran to Smith's to get Iron Man from Red Box. Watched it.

8 favorite places to eat
1. Chili's
2. Texas Roadhouse
3. Bajio
4. Quiznos
5. Chic-Fil-A
6. The Harvest (I've only eaten there once but it was SOOOOO good!)
7. Baby showers or bridal showers
8. Family parties

8 things I am looking forward to
1. Halloween
2. Christmas
3. Hudson being potty trained (not looking forward to actually doing it, though)
4. Getting pregnant
5. Being able to get a goldendoodle
7. Jeff coming home from work
8. Finishing the quilt I am working on

8 things on my wish list
1. A baby!
2. To become a Jetson so I can magically be ready for the day in under 1 minute! (I hate getting ready! I'll be in my P.J's all day if I can! I stole this from Cori, and I AM in my P.J.'s all day!)
3. To be a better wife and mom i.e. more cooking, cleaning, patience, service.
4. Money to spend on decorating.
5. Inspiration and motivation to get caught up on scrapbooking.
6. A sexy body.
7. A hefty savings.
8. Get my food storage organized and get more of it!

8 people I tag
1. Holly
2. Tami
3. Teresa
4. Ashley
5. Marie
6. Misty
7. Gina
8. Pamela

My "$300" Prize

I really don't want this post to sound like I'm ungrateful for my prize, but when I was told it was worth $300, I was pretty stoked and had some high hopes. But as it turns out, my sister went to pick it up for me since she lives closer to the station (thanks again, T), and she said they had to do a value receipt or something and said it was worth $100. But that's ok! You give me 100 bucks and I could go buy a TON of cool scrapbooking stuff! So, when I saw what I got, I was slightly disappointed....ONLY because I had such high hopes. I think I'd rather have $100! Don't get me wrong-- I still think it's awesome that I won and there are some fun things, but the majority of it is chipboard and I have never used chipboard in my life! I guess now is a good time to learn! Anyway, here are some pics of my loot.

The collection.

The book and it's contents. It's a really cute book with some cute ideas to make cards.

6 Magazines.

A pack of 8x8 paper.

Some stickers in what my sister called a cute tin.

7 Chipboard packs

This cute little 6x6 embossed chipboard album is probably my favorite thing out of the prize. But I won't know what to do with it.

More chipboard stuff from Basic Grey. I got 3 of these.

Hat Pins

I know, I know. It's getting ridiculous. I'll blog about anything and everything, these days, but I'm so bored when Jeff is gone! Anyway, Jeff took me to Lagoon last week (thanks, babe!) Because Jeff was trying to walk off some motion sickness, we were checking out those old buildings that no one goes in that have all the old stuff in them. (Pioneer Village?) Well, in the upstairs of one of those buildings were a bunch of old dresses, hats, and some old hat pins. For some reason I fell totally in love with the hat pins and decided that I want to start collecting them! I just think they are so pretty in a funky kind of way, and they are little knobs of tiny artwork on a long metal stabby thingy! And grouped together, they look like little bouquets of jewel encrusted abstract flowers. I love it! So I looked a little on e-bay and decided I could get myself into a lot of trouble just buying hat pins! Anyway, I thought I'd just share my new, quirky interest. If I ever get a good collection going, I'll keep you posted. I know you'll be dying to see. :)

Girls Night

When the guys have their priesthood conference session, the girls in my family get together at my sister Valerie's house and have dinner and hang out. Here are some pictures of our event.

You can't have girls night without fabulous treats. My family loves peanut blossoms! I made these beauties with love, and they all got gobbled up! I also made mini cheesecakes.

The gang. From left: my mom Lanet, Aunt Karen, sister Teresa, niece Hayli, sister Valerie, Hudson on the lap of my cousin Shalyn, Aunt Cheralee, Grandma Nina, Aunt Cathy.

Hudson with my cute cute cousin Shalyn

We had yummy taco salad for dinner

Just hanging out and visiting.

My crazy fun Aunt Cheralee hiding in her shirt because she was being picked on for some reason or another.

Hudson and the kids played in the basement most of the time. I went down to check on him and he was having a good time playing with a play kitchen and the fake food and dishes.

It was so fun! I love hanging out with the girls in my family. I love them so much and can't wait until Witches Night Out at Gardner Village!