All Hallows' Eve 2010

 Happy Halloween.  And may the force be with you. 

Most definitely with us it was. 

 CJ with "the girls."

 Esther and Esther's friend Carrie came trick or treating with us in Provo.

Cecily pretty much worships the ground Esther walks on- it's totally cute.

Es was a witch and Carrie was an Oreo/witch. 

 Yoda and Stevie.... I mean Davy Crockett

CJ with her "cookie decorating" smile on.

Ok, ok, I took this a few days before halloween, but it's so cute.

New Favorite

Last night I was bored. I got off work early, didn't want to go to bed, and (SHOCKER) I didn't want to clean or do laundry or anything productive like that.

So, after trolling around blog world and facebook, I jumped on our Netflix account (which, by the way, if you don't have it - you need it).

I clicked on "Babies"

My review? CUTEST. MOVIE. EVER.

Not much to it, just a camera crew following 4 babies from around the world from birth until about 1 or so.  No dialogue or anything.  You would think it wouldn't be that great, but then you fall in love with the babies.

The little Mongolian baby (Bayar) was my favorite because he was so funny and in to everything and reminded me of my Nolan.

This movie will pretty much melt your heart and make you laugh even if you don't have kids.

Party, Party, Par-TAY!

Cecily's 3rd Birthday Circus Party was a smashing success, if I do say so myself. 
She had fun, so that's all that matters, right??

I didn't do much to make it a circus party except I decorated a cake to kind of look like a circus tent, hung some streamers, and Mike made balloon animals.
 That's pretty much exactly like Ringling Brothers, I think.

The birthday girl in her birthday outfit

 

This is a classic Cecily face. And my cake.

 

Mikes crazy array of balloon hats, bears, swords, flowers, and little mermaids.

 

CJ blowin' out her candle.  Woo hoo!

Cutest kid.  Now pulling himself up on things and cruisin' everywhere.  Yikes!

CJ with Aunt Laura

(Who took every picture you see here.  I was a lazy mom and let her do all the photography.  Fabulous job and lots of love!)

And BY THE WAY

A big shout out to Mike's little brother Sean, who goes in the MTC today.  He's going on a 2 year mission for the LDS Church to Lubbock, TX and we are really proud of him. 

I had 4 older brothers go on missions which was awesome, but now it's cool to have a "younger brother" go. For those of you who don't know him, Sean is awesome.  He is just the kind of person who goes and does without needing lots of praise and cheering. 

I guess now I am old enough to appreciate what a sacrifice it is to take 2 years and dedicate your life to God. 

So, Sean, even though you are already in the MTC and you will probably never read this, Mike and I are proud of you and the good decisions you've made to get you where you are, and we know you will be an awesome missionary. 

We will write.  And pray.

XOXO,

              MWCN

3 Years

3 years ago, 2 days after I turned 25,  I had my first child.

And she was perfect.

And my life started.

 Two years ago, she turned 1. 

It had been the best year of my life.

 One year ago was her 2nd birthday.

It had been the best 2 years of my life.

Saturday was the day she turned 3 years old.

It has been the most challenging, exciting, thrilling, growing, changing, loving,
 BEST 3 years of my life.

And that is all.

Veintiocho

I'm 28 today.

  Wow.  Kinda close to 30. 

Where did my 20's go??  Oh yeah-  college, marriage, vegas, 2 babies, and unemployment,

 just to name a few.....

Anyway, one year ago today I wrote this post about the things I've accomplished in my life.

Now, on to my 28 year list.  Last year was 27 things I've already done, so here's

28 things I WANT to do in the next 28 years

1. Have more babies.

2. Purchase or build a home.

3. Run a marathon

4. Take my kids out of school for 1 year and home school while traveling the US in an RV and teaching them about US History.

5.  Finish my kids 1st year scrapbooks

6. Record a song I've written (technically I've already done this, but I'm working on writing a better one)

7. Get REALLY good on my guitar

8. Have my own ceramics studio

9. Get a Master's Degree

10. Have a dinner party (I've never had one....)

11. Get 100% of my debt paid off, including my mortgage (when I get one).

12.  Take another dance class

13.  Help my kids with homework, and know what I'm talking about.

14.  Learn to play hymns on the piano

15. Teach at the Highschool level  

16.  Teach at the Pre-school level

17. Go to Thailand and Italy.

18. Get my body back in shape (working on this one, ugh) 

19.  Volunteer at a soup kitchen

20.  Teach my kids to be kind to everyone, no matter what

21. Improve/Re-learn Spanish

22. Share my testimony of the Gospel

23. Keep up on my record keeping (journal, blog, scrapbooks, life history, etc.  I'm WAY behind)

24. Sew a really big quilt

25. Learn to be patient

26.  Learn to knit

27. Teach my kids the value of working hard and accomplishing goals

28.  Love more freely, and be more Christlike.