No Media Challenge

Last Sunday our bishopric invited our ward to a "No media challenge".  I was alittle upset about it at first.  I use the media almost everyday to some extent.  I was alittle worried that it would end up being a bad and a really rotten week for all of us.  This media fast included the following : No internet, no news, no t.v., no movies, no music, no anything that has to deal with media. Try that!
After spending a week without the media, I can honestly say that it was nice.  I really mean that.  I realized that we used the media too much to help us raise our children.  It used to be that our boys would wake up too early for us and we would send them downstairs to put some cartoons on or even put a movie on, thanks to Keaton. How did that kid ever learn to use the t.v.? They sure are smart.
But this week when they got up early, Lance and I would take turns getting up with the boys. We would go downstairs and just play, read them stories or  help Keaton with his spelling.  It was really nice to be just with them. No interactions or disturbances from other sources. Just us.  I walked away this week having a different perspective of how we will use the media in our home.  So here are my goals.....

1. Don't use the internet while my kids need my attention
2. No watching T.V. during the day. I can spend this time playing with my boys. That is if they want to play
    with me.
3. I can do all my blogging, journaling and computer stuff at night after my boys are down for bed.  I will try
    to stick with this. You may have to remind me now and then but it is my new goal.
4. Listen to more positive and uplifting music. Unless I am cleaning. I have to have louder music while I do
    that. It is what motivates me to get it done.

So here are a few of the things I am going to try from now on.  I challenge each of you to do a no media fast this week, or sometime with your family. You may be suprised just how nice it can be.

Trunk or Treat

This year we went to our ward Trunk or treat. It was a blast. My kids loved it! I loved it! It was the perfect evening for it too.  My whole family met up with us.  It was so fun to be all together.  I don't have much time tonight to go into detail but I will let you see our pictures to show you the proof of how much fun we had.  We had a tri-ward trunk or treat. They started off with dinner, then entertainment for the kids and then they taught us the Thriller dance and then we ended it all with a trunk or treat.  My kids went wild and were so excited about filling their buckets to the top that overflowed with candy.  Owen was my little horse this year and he was so content to walk around, as long as he had a sucker he was ok. I was ok with that too.  We had a great year and we had so much fun! Thanks everyone who made it such a great time.!

Hope you had a Happy Halloween!

Just a side note.  Today in our combined third hour, our bishop and his counslers invited us to participate in a Media fast.  Let me explain.  About two years ago our Stake invited us in No T.V. for one month. It was really hard, but we did it and saw many blessing.  So our bishopric has invited us to put all the media away for only one week.  I hope we can do it.  It will be good for us.  So that includes... no tv, no internet, no music, anything that has to deal with media.  In doing this we allow the craziness of the world to leave our homes for a week and we focus on letting the spirit work within ourselves and within our families. This will be good for me. So you will not hear from me for a whole week. Wish us luck. I will report back a week from tomorrow. Have a great week! I love you all!

carving pumpkins

This was our second night in a row carving pumpkins.  We have collected quite a few on our doorstep and it was about time we carved them.  We had all of Lance's brothers over with their wives to help out.
We started the night eating homemade Cafe Rio.  It turned out pretty good too if I may say so myself.  Then we got to work and we just finally finished.  To end it, I made Lava cakes and we ate them with ice cream.  It was a great night.  Here is what we did..........

Carrie and Shelli carving their pumpkins. These two amazing gals are my sisters-in-law.  Shelli said that this was the first time for her to carve a pumpkin. That was unbelievable for me.  Shelli is the one of the far right.

John and Brantly were happy to watch on the sidelines.

John and Carrie carving their pumpkin

Brantly wasn't feeling very well and was kind of upset the whole evening. Poor Brantly! I hope you feel better soon. I sure love you!

My boys were so excited to light them up and see them glow in the dark. Nevermind Andrew, he always has a dirty face, even after bath time.

The three of us carving our pumpkins. Where were all the husbands? Oh that is right on the sidelines doing other things. So we took matters into our own hands and did them ourselves. It was fun.

Thanks for a fun evening guys! Let's have another party soon! I love getting together with these guys! They are so much fun.

What are we going to be for Halloween?

What are we going to be for Halloween?  That is a good question.  At one time both my boys wanted to be transformers. Can you believe that? What have I stooped to? I really miss the days when I could choose cute little costumes for them to dress up in. Not transformers.  One day they liked them.  Andrew still likes it but Keaton, well he wants to be a ninja now.  A ninja? Are you kidding me?  Owen does not have his costume on yet. He is going to be a really cute horse. I have a cute outfit and his grand apperance will have to wait until Halloween.  Look at my niece. Isn't she so cute? I think she makes a pretty cute tiger.
Wish us luck this week on costumes. We could be something completely diffferent.

Palmer's fall harvest party

Every year our friends the Palmer's hold their annual Fall Harvest Party. Its always on a Monday. Usually the Monday before Halloween.  My children look forward to it every year.  It is sometimes better than Halloween itself. They live right behind my parents home and when you park down the dirt lane quite aways there is a tractor with a hay wagon on the back that comes to pick you up. My kids loved that. The Palmers have a beautiful place. It is pretty large and it fits everyone.

  Everyone was worried that the weather wouldn't hold up but to our luck it did. It has been raining all day long and then later on in the afternoon the rain stopped and the clouds parted alittle, enough for the sun to peak through for the sky divers.  To start the party right, Batman and Spiderman always parachute into the party.  The kids were going crazy.  I bet there are at least 200 + people at this gathering and they are waiting patiently for them to arrive.  Here is what we saw......

Then after the superheros landed another plane flew above dropping candy for all the kids to get. The plane flew over about 5 different times. Most of the time the candy landed right on top of us. Imagine candy dropping out of the sky, falling really fast and hiting you. It hurt and it hurt some of the kids. My niece Ava got pelted on her cheekbone and it also caused a bloody nose. But nonetheless, the kids had a great time. I apologize right now for the pictures.  Owen would not go with his dad and Lance ended up taking the pictures. So we will have to make do with what we have, which isn't much. Sorry!

It was really cold.  I was worried that the kids wouldn't stay warm enough but I think we did pretty good. Owen loved sitting in his stroller, as long as it was moving, and he stayed pretty warm and cozy.

There was face painting, food and tons of games for everyone.  Since it starts at 6 p.m. we don't stay late because Owen goes to bed at 6:30 and he will get pretty cranky. We stayed until 7 this year and he did pretty good.

We look forward till next year. Thank you Palmers! We had a great time!

Playing in the leaves

Friday we took a trip to my parents house to spend with my grandma who was celebrating her birthday.  She lives right next door to my parents.  My parents have a lot of leaves as well as my grandmother's house.  It was a beautiful day and the boys were itching to play oustide.

I have to explain this next picture. My son Owen is really obsessed right now with the riding lawn mowers all around us.  The first thing he wants to do when we get in our garage or get out of the car at my parents is go straight to their shed and starts begging for a ride. When Owen says lawn mower, he rolls his tounge over is teeth and starts to mumble. It is really cute. I need to get it on video. So this is Owen with his obsession in the back.

Field trip

This was Keaton's first fieldtrip with his Kindergarten class.  They made a trip to the Star Fire Department.  I voluntered to go.  I am so glad I did too. What a sweet group of kids.  Since the budget for the school was cut there were no buses to help transport the kids, so we all had to walk.  It's not that far but when it is 9:15 am and only 45 degrees outside, it gets really cold.  But we did it and it wasn't bad.
They had the kids watch a video about fire safety, they also took them to the back room where they keep all the firetrucks in the garage.  One of the firemen got into his Turnout and the kids loved that. They also let them get up into the fire trucks and move around and see what it was like inside. I think they had a great time.  Here is the proof to show for it.....

Thanks Keaton for allowing me to be apart of your class. I have really loved watching you in class. You are so smart and so quick to learn. I love that about you!