Categories
Chase Adventures

Pumpkinland Trip

Last week we took the kids to Pumpkinland for Joy School. I was wondering why it cost $3 to go in and pick out pumpkins, but we soon found that there was a lot of fun stuff for kids to do there! Climbing structures, animals, playground, light alley, etc. Chase ended up picking out a white pumpkin that he wants to paint, and an orange one to carve. It was an enjoyable field trip!

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When we went back to the car, though, I had a HUGE scare (a real one, not just a “Halloweeny” one). See, I had an extra kid with me, whose mom couldn’t come with us, and I instructed him and Chase to stay right with me on the sidewalk so I could unload Charlotte from the stroller. Well all of a sudden, Chase darted out behind the van, straight onto the busy Geneva Road. I almost had a heart attack, screamed his name in the most shrill voice I’ve ever heard escape my mouth, and ran to the other side of the van to pull him back to the sidewalk. I lectured him and told him I had been scared that he was going to be hit by a car. He cried, “I was just hiding from you on the other side of the van! You’re a mean mommy!” (He loves to say that these days. But also I apparently had hurt his back when I pulled him to the sidewalk.) Everything was okay, but I was pretty flustered and definitely ready to go home!

This is such a fun time of year. The red and orange autumn leaves are gorgeous and remind me of my elementary school days and Halloween! I am so excited to take Chase trick-or-treating (I love it as much if not MORE than he does)! Let’s just hope it doesn’t snow…. The weather says tomorrow is the first day of snow—boo.

Categories
Family Fun

A Couple of “Fun Fotos”

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Categories
Family Fun

Hee Haw Farms

Yesterday we took the Activity Day girls to Hee Haw Farms. We hardly had enough seats to take all the girls, but I didn’t have the heart to leave Chase with a sitter because I knew he’d have a blast—which he did! Thank goodness GG came to help with the kids (they just got into town yesterday)!

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Only 2 things tainted the experience a little…

See, about 1/3 of our ward and neighborhood HAS or HAS HAD the Swine Flu! It scares me so much. And two of the girls in our group were just barely recovered, one of which still had the infamous cough. So long story short, I made her wear a mask and ride in the other car that didn’t have a little baby in it. She was upset… But hey, I let her come with us!!!

And the other thing was that RIGHT as we were gathering the girls together to leave, the other leader’s 3-year-old daughter fell, hit her forehead on a rock, got a huge gash, and had to go get stitches! Yikes.

Other than that, it was a GREAT time!!!              

Categories
Tech

Google-ite

Did you know all the things you can search for on google… I just found this page that lists them all and has examples. Wow, fascinating.

* Earthquakes
* Currency Conversion
* Cooking Conversions
* Fill in the Blank
* Package Tracking
* Area Codes
* Zip Codes
* Public Data
* Calculator

* Weather
* Local Businesses
* Unit Conversion
* Movie Times
* Sports Scores
* Flight Tracker
* Dictionary
* Time
* Stock Quotes

Categories
Personal

Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?


My sisters have both been involved in service programs lately, for which I would like to praise them! I think their parents have set a good example. In this fast-paced world, it can be a challenge to remember those around us who could use a little help. But if we all try to remember a neighbor or two in their need, and help lift a burden in any way we know how, life will be that much better for us all. Here are a few of my favorite quotes on service:

“A single, struggling individual may be stalled with his heavy load even as he begins to climb the hill before him. To reach the top unaided is an impossibility. With a little help from fellow travelers he makes the grade and goes on his way in gratitude and rejoicing.” –David O. McKay

“None of us should become so busy…that there is no room left for quiet Christian service to our neighbors.” –Spencer W. Kimball

“A man filled with the love of God is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race.” –Joseph Smith

“Build into your life an area of service, and when you marry, have an understanding as husband and wife that a big piece of your life is going to be devoted to service to the Lord and to your fellowmen. Build service into your thinking and your aims and desires, and then organize your time right. It will work if you want it to.” –David B. Haight

Categories
Deals

Christmas List 2009

So I’ve decided for Christmas this year I would perform a little social experiment. No survivors or hidden cameras needed on this one though. It all started last year when Joy put 2 things on her list, then she added like 3 more things as it got closer to Christmas. I got her almost everything on her list, except for painting the kitchen and something else. Ever since then, anytime someone walks in our kitchen, I’ve had to hear about how painting the kitchen was all she really wanted… so that sparked my imagination. And I thought what if I told people I want two things, one very specific and one very general, what would I end up with? For a very real life example, lets look at my list for this year:

  1. Star Trek The Next Generation Complete Series
  2. Remote control helicopter

Now the specific one is very pricey, so maybe multiple people will go in on it and buy it, OR maybe one person will say, “well he’s only asking for two things, so I’ll get it for him” OR maybe everyone will say, “sheesh that’s too much, I’ll get him a remote control helicopter”. Which brings us to the second item, a remote control helicopter… but I didn’t say what kind, so that leaves the buyer thinking, ok I’ll get the $20 thing from wal-mart, OR they could go the mid ranged helicopter on the internet, OR they could go with a high end one from the RC model store.

AND what adds more excitement is that there are only two things on the list… so will people say “oh he’ll get the first one from Joy and the second one from his brothers, so I’ll get him a big bag of milky ways”… so really I have no idea what I’ll end up with for Christmas (maybe 12 different remote control helicopters), I just know these two things are on my list. Leave a comment below to let me know what’s on your list, b/c you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take!

Categories
Family Fun

Fun-Filled Family Update

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These are our cute children, whom I love so much! Lately, we’ve seemed to have had quite the mixture of ups and downs– some moments are wonderful and some we could do without– which is how life goes, I guess! But the “ups” have definitely outnumbered the “downs.”

Some things to celebrate are that recently, Chase helped Pace “mow the lawn,” and he made his bed perfectly all by himself, and he had a pretty sweet setup for General Conference (the part of one session that he stayed downstairs for).

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In other news, we seem to have 2/2 not-so-great sleepers for children. I would be just thrilled if I could somehow function well on a few broken hours of sleep, but since things are going well overall in our lives, I can cope… This sweet little rascal prefers to be vertical rather than horizontal in her crib:

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And I have to let her cry herself to sleep sometimes, after which I check on her and find her in some interesting position like this:

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But she is growing up so quickly, and she can climb up the stairs quite rapidly now. Hooray for Charlotte!

Something random that happened recently was that the other day, a couple of funny girls from Activity Days stayed at my house to help clean. They’ve done this twice now, voluntarily! I’ve “paid” them with cupcakes, snacks, and little Victoria’s Secret lotions. If they show up on my doorstep again, who knows what I’ll come up with next to repay them.

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Categories
Ranting

My poor daughter

SO you might think this is a post about how Charlotte is scared of going to sleep… but no, I’m actually more scared that I’ll be raising a daughter who will be looking at photos like this, and thinking she’s fat. Photoshop, such as blessing and such a curse. And so entertaining when crappy photos get published.

Check out this cover’s whole story here.

And check out one of my new favorite sites: photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com

Categories
Deals

MORE FREE STUFF!


Here we go again with letting you know about free stuff. This one is one I’m not familiar with, Eintein Bagels. Get a free dose of sugar bagel bites with any drink. Seems like a great dessert. Check it out for yerselves before Oct. 14th.

Categories
Deals

Free Crucial Conversations Training!

We have scheduled Crucial Conversations training for October 22 & 23, (Thursday – Friday). Justin Hale will be training this course. If you have friends or family who would be interested in attending, please email or call me with their name, email address, and their company name -if applicable.

Please let me know ASAP if you would like to attend this 2-day $1000 training session for FREE, simply for being a McBlog reader.