Happy Halloween!

Carving pumpkins is messy! This is Mike's domain. I have never been willing to scrape the guts out of a pumpkin. I guess this is why marriage is a good thing- there are just some things that Dads will do and some things that Moms will do. I will make the pumpkin seeds!

This year the kids were surprisingly independent in their pumpkin carving. They cut and scraped themselves! Mike is almost out of a job. (But Andrew and I still won't touch the stuff so he did clean a pumpkin out for Andrew!)

Megan has never minded things that are messy.

Melissa has her own way of doing things. Never a dull moment with her.

Katie always has a plan and follows through!

I went to Williams-Sonoma yesterday and sampled their pumpkin seed brittle and pumpkin butter. OH MY GOSH! SOOOOO GOOD! I got on line and found some recipes to try. We love pumpkin seeds and I can see a whole new way to enjoy them. (Hope I didn't add any calories!)

Megan and her Clarinet!

Megan has started in the Summit School band! She is playing the clarinet. It is so fun to see her be excited about a new talent. She is picking it up very quickly - it helps to read music from piano lessons. And she gives us concerts all the time!

I love it in the car when we are listening to music and the kids will say - is that a clarinet? Music is such a brain builder. I'm glad she is interested and having fun!

Did you know that Grandpa Clark used to play the clarinet?

Thank you Ashley!

My niece is such a cute mother and has been sharing fun ideas on her blog. Thanks Ashley - we took your soda bottle/pumpkin idea and had fun "Boo-ing" some families in the neighborhood.

Mike also took a bottle to his home teaching families with some cookies. Talk about easy and creative - we loved it!

Beautiful Fall!

We love our maple tree! We planted this tree about 11 years ago. We got it when Megan was a newborn baby. Mike dug a big hole and the kids all threw pennies in for good luck. It has taken a while to grow but now it is great for shading the back patio. It is so beautiful this fall - Mike called me as I was driving the kids home from school and said - "You have to take pictures of our tree. It is so beautiful!" The funny thing is I had just taken pictures that afternoon before I left to get the kids from school.

We have been married too long!

And I've been taking pictures of this tree and it's leaves for years!

This was what it looked like after 5 years!

2002!

We started to have a lot of leaves to play in after about 7 years! We noticed a bird's nest - I can see it from my bathroom window. And last year, a squirrel climbed up and sat in the branches.

This is 2004!

2006!

2007!

It's hard to say who is growing up faster, the kids or the tree! I just keep taking pictures of both of them!

The Phantom of the Opera!

Happy 14th Birthday Katie!

We surprised Katie a month early with a special evening just for her.

We had a wonderful girls night out. Dressing up, dinner out, great seats, beautiful music!

Dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory downtown. We even sat in the trolley!

A souvenir mug. The mask turns white with hot liquid!

Katie has seen the movie several times and has been listening to the music since she was 8 years old - thanks to Aunt Carol. It was fun to see her face and watch her enjoy the show. Megan and Melissa were so excited for her - we all have been singing the songs for days.

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Jessica came for a visit and everybody is happy!

We love to see Calvin and Addy or "Alvin and Caddie" as I said last night. A little mixed up....

We went with the Walkers to our favorite farmer, Mr. Udick. We have been picking his pumpkins for years! We got there and his gate was closed. How could he not be home? We let the kids play at the school across the street and waited for awhile. We finally gave up, but as we were driving away, I told the kids to watch the blue truck driving down the street. They watched out the rearview window and screamed - "Mom he is pulling in to the farm." It was Mr. Udick! So we got to pick our pumpkins after all!

Everyone found the perfect pumpkin and we feel ready for Halloween.

Thank goodness Dad has a truck to haul them all home!

I'm a little old fashioned but I love pumpkins and ghosts and fun Halloween decor. No blood and gore for me. I hate the way things are leaning towards the disturbed for decorations. My skeletons all are smiling! I love to have a million pumpkins on my doorstep.

Happy Halloween!

Photo Tag from Tammy

Okay - like I have million photos - but this is the random one from the 4th folder, 4th file. It is outside the Salt Lake Temple in 2003 at Ashley's wedding. Fun tag Tammy!

My New Table

I love my new table. We picked out a oak country table but didn't want the chairs that came with it. So we went with some black contemporary chairs with a tan microfiber cushion. My goal was to pick out the perfect fabric and cover them to make the bridge between country brown and contemporary black.

Mike helped me and we got it done. I love the fabric. 2 chairs paisly and 4 checked. Something different - we all love it.

I put the old table and chairs out to donate to the Volunteers of America truck. Within about 15 minutes, someone was stopped at our door and asking for the table. So we almost "curbed" it - as they do back east.

Goodbye old table...

I will miss Melissa's red tally marks she carved in the back one of the chairs, and Annie's puppy teeth marks on the rungs of another. Every mark of homework scratched on the table top , and the bare spot from spilled fingernail polish remover, and the red sharpie that didn't come out. It was a well loved table.

Trying to catch up....

I am determined to keep this journal of the little things in our life, but I am sadly behind. I love to look back chronologically so my catch up posts are going to be dated accordingly. I just "caught up" about the family reunion we had in August, Tammy's visit in September, and Andrew cleaning his room! Call me crazy but....I am organized.

Grandma Love

Grandma Love,

I hijacked your blog to say hi. I sure miss you! Can't wait to see you at Thanksgiving. Give my aunts and uncle a big hug for me. Tell Papa Mud hi too. Mom and Dad are taking good care of me but I miss having fun at your house. And I miss your big tub too, plus all your fun toys.

I love and miss you!!

Love Baby D

Miracles Never Cease

Mom - come upstairs and see what I did.

Oh My Gosh! Andrew - what did you do?

I cleaned my room!

Why?

I just felt like it.

Who knows what actually goes through the head of a 16 year old. After conference, on Sunday afternoon, he cleaned his room, rearranged the furniture, changed his wall decor and left me speechless.