New York City

In October, Kyle and I went to New York City  with Darren and Laurel.    I of course am horrible about taking pictures, but fortunately for me, Laurel isn't.

Me and Kyle in Central Park.  We didn't get to say to long in the park because there was a huge walk for Breast Cancer Awareness and it ended where we were in the park and this peaceful tranquil spot in NYC turned into party central.

Kyle and Darren.  I am sure they are having a serious discussion :)

Laurel got this picture of Kyle in the subway station.  I think it is a cool picture.

 We also took in a Yankees game.  It was freezing cold and the Yankees lost, but I think we all still had fun.  Kyle took a picture of all of us a the game, but I have yet to receive a copy of that picture from him. I am not very photogenic, so you all know how deeply disappointed I am, that I don't have the picture to post :)

We had a great time in New York with Darren and Laurel!

Halloween

Pumpkin Carving

The finished product.  We like our pumpkins carved old school.

Where is Zachary?

Zachary in his Halloween guillie suit.

Goodbye Beast, Hello Pearl

I am trying to play catch up here.  

Here is the Beast.

  She got that name because she is enormous and cars move out of the way when they saw the beast coming.  She was a good car.  Even though I didn't fill her up with my family, she has hauled many miles all filled up.  She got the youth to many youth conferences, EFY's, dances, temple trips.  She carried our family on many vacations with content kids peacefully watching movies in the back.  She even hauled us out to Utah twice to drop off Hannah.  The last trip she carried a Honda in tow.  She whined a little, towing the Honda, but the good girl got us safely home.  Sadly, the Beast was getting old and with only two kids home most of the year I didn't need as large of a vehicle.  In September, the deals were really good so we sadly, with warm fond memories traded her in for something smaller.  We weren't prepared to say goodbye, so I told Savannah she could take some photos of our last outing with her.

I just noticed that Savannah was sticking her tongue out in this one, so I had to include it.

Meet Pearl

We are loving Pearl.  She is sporty and fun to drive.  When I want to go somewhere,I don't even have to get my keys out of my purse.  I just get in a push a button.  I am LOVING  that.  I will never go back to the old way.  I am free of having to dig in my purse to find my keys. Free at last.

Say Hello To My Little Friend

This is my new Christmas best friend.  It is called the Lightkeeper Pro and for 20 bucks (found at Home Depot, Lowes, Target) it will make all of your Christmas light nightmares go away.  You know what I am talking about.  You pull out your tree or your garland or your outside lights.  You put them up and plug them in and they do not work.  You know that pre-lit tree you bought?  You don't have to buy a new one or string new lights on it when the lights go out in one section or two. All you have to do is remove one of the lights that are out and plug the gun in where the light was, push the trigger and Voila!  The lights are on!  It makes the strand bypass what ever is causing all of the lights to go out. I know that the light companies have to hate this little product, but I don't care.  Karma baby! They have been sticking it to us for many a Christmas season.

Is Savannah That Hard To Spell?

Last month was Savannah's birthday.  She turned 15.  I got her a necklace for her birthday that has her name on it.  Of course they didn't already have one with her name on it, so I had one made.  Of course I was in a hurry, so I paid for the necklace and left for more shopping while they made the necklace.  I got there just in time to grab the necklace and pick up the kids from school.  I glanced at it and took it home.  I wrapped it and had Savannah open it that night, only to realize when I put the necklace on her that it was spelled wrong.  A couple of days later, I was at the mall with Savannah and we returned the necklace to have them make one that spelled Savannah correctly.  I took Savannah shopping while they made the new necklace.  We came back to pick it up.  Savannah looked at it and said it was spelled right and put the necklace on.  I should have looked at it.  The first time they spelled her name Savannh.  This picture is the second try at spelling her name.  Of course I didn't notice until that night, so the next morning, back to the mall I went.  I asked for a necklace spelled correctly.  This time I got the manager. She was not happy that her employee had misspelled  her name twice already.  She made the necklace and finally it was right and Savannah loves it.

Here are some other pictures from Savannah's birthday:

getting ready to blow out the candles

make a wish and blow out the candles

yea, I forgot to make a wish!

she liked her dad's visor, so he gave it to her. (It is UT... It has a T on the side)  She got money and gift cards.

shopping!!

I also got her these sandals that she wanted.  Of course they didn't fit, so we had to exchange them.  What a Birthday!

Savannah also had a slumber party.  The girls had a lot of fun.  They were up until 3am, but they were quiet after 1am.  I forgot to take pictures.  Oops!

Father Son Camp Out And Battle Of The Woods

On September 17th and 18th Kyle and Zachary went on the father/son camp out.  Zachary was really excited to go camping with his dad.  Zachary also loved that he got to take his pocket knife.  Kyle got it for Zachary a couple of years ago but keeps it locked up, only to be used for camping trips.  They cooked hot dogs and made smores.  On the camp out they had a rope bridge set up for the boys to try out.  Zachary was all about that.  I think he gets tired of being around girls all of the time.

This is Zachary's rope bridge adventure.

While the boys were away on that adventure, Savannah and I went to the battle of the woods. There are only two football teams in "the woods" and we played each other.  Every year we have the battle of the woods and I believe the winner takes the trophy to their school for the year.  Our team lost but we had fun and it was beautiful weather.  We also got to cheer on some boys in our ward on the football team as well as some of the girls in band. After the game Savannah and I made a Sonic run.  I should seriously just own my own sonic then every hour could be happy hour.  I know, it sounds crazy ,but a girl can dream.

I love the views from the home side of the stadium.

Painting Complete!

So we hired someone to paint and in four hours it was all done.  Yay!

On a side note, Hannah and I were in Home Depot on Wednesday buying a water filter for the fridge and we passed the paint section.  There was a sign there that said,"Every color has a story".  Hannah said to me," Well mom, I think they are right.  Our colors certainly have a story.  An ugly, funny(no hysterical)  Fool's Rush In kind of story."

Here is our final color Bangkok Rust :

Now I just have to find some curtains I like and some small things to hang on the walls.