Pawn Stars!

Being a fan of the History Channel show Pawn Stars, I really wanted to stop at the pawn shop and look around. They are technically on the strip, down the street, kind of in a sketchy neighborhood. And no, none of the workers were there. But I got a great t-shirt! I expected to go in and see all of this cool stuff for sale because that's what you see on television. Instead, it looked . . .like a pawn shop.

Bellagio

Being an Oceans 11 fan, I really wanted to see the fountains at The Bellagio while we were in Vegas. I loved the end of that movie where they walk out and calmly walk over to the fountains and watch them go off and then walk away, one by one.

Okay, the fountains are viewed the strip, and there is no serene beauty on the Las Vegas strip. There were people EVERYWHERE. It's beautiful in the movie. And only in the movie.

The show was fabulous but quick! The fountains go off for about four minutes -- about the length of a song. Still stuck in my Oceans 11 fantasy, I expected something classic and beautiful and serene. Um, no. It was loud. But powerful and still fun to watch!

M&M World!

On our way to Disneyland, we spent the night in Las Vegas. We took the kids to see the lions at MGM Grand. The hotel/casino was CrAzY because they were getting ready for a big boxing match that evening. But we meandered our way through to see two lions. That were sleeping. I have to say, I was disappointed.

But then we hit M&M World. Hooray for chocolate! You would think that I went crazy and spent a ton of money there, right? Well, normally, I might have, as they had a wall of M&Ms in different flavors and colors, all there for the picking. But I realized that I would shortly be in Disney and would want all of my dollars, quarters and cents to spend on something meaningful. . .like Star Wars bath toys for Braden. (Some day he will thank me).

I did, however, buy a Christmas ornament and Garry got the girls each a bag full of M&Ms. Heaven.

Her Big Day Out

While I was taking Macey and Braden to the doctor, my friend offered to take Molly with her and two of her kids to see the witches at Gardner's Village.

Molly was so excited for her outing with her little best friend. I took out her booster and put it next to the door. While I was getting things ready, Molly was also getting ready. I went back to the door and saw that my little two year old had packed a purse, gotten her bunny ready and drawn a picture for my friend to say "Thank You". She did all of this on her own.

Molly is my little pill sometimes -- she likes to get her way -- but I am always so impressed by her!

Surgery Siblings!

Braden has had ear infections since this summer. It's been hard as he has not been able to sleep well. Or nap well. I finally got an appointment with an ENT. I joked with my friends that I was going to demand tubes the next day. So when I took him in and the doctor said that he needed tubes soon and I said that tomorrow worked well for us and he said fine, we'll put you on the schedule, I was ECSTATIC!

While we were in the office, I also had him look at Macey. She had tubes put in at 14 months. And one never came out. The doctor said it was stuck and would require surgery to take out and she could go on the schedule the next day as well.

The next morning Garry took the two to the surgery center and I got Emma ready for school. I went and picked up Braden when he was done, and Garry stayed with Macey. They did well! Braden still has the congestion I was hoping would clear up, but Macey feels good!

The "Fun" Run

When Braden was over three months old, I headed back to the gym. I had some serious weight to take off, and, honestly, probably had not lost the weight from Molly.

My friend and I decided that to motivate ourselves we would run in the American Fork Fun Run right before Halloween. You run a portion of the race through a graveyard and many people dress up. It's fun. Especially when it's over.

It's just a 5K, but I was very anti-running for a long time, preferring to speed walk on the treadmill while reading.

I will never love running. It's just not me. But I do like the effects of running. So that's something!

I ran the race with my friend and my brother in law and my nephews. I have a nephew who is a serious runner and came in 6th overall. He's awesome. I came in 10th for my age range. There are some smoking fast 29 year olds out there!

I am running another 5K at Thanksgiving with my sister and seven other family members. They will all beat me, by a lot, but at least there will not be any guilt when I eat a whole pumpkin pie by myself!

Player of the Game!

You would think that with her Daddy as the coach, Macey would be Player of the Game early in the season and often. Well, maybe not often, as each kid only gets it once, but still. . .

Macey and soccer are an interesting combination. It's just not her thing as she is not aggressive and so would never try to take the ball from someone or beat them to the ball. It's just not her style. But she likes being part of a team, and she likes to compete with the team. And she likes the snacks that are passed out at the end of the game!

At the end of the season in October, it was her turn! Player of the Game! Since it was the last game and she knew it was her turn, she really put her heart into this game. She had a lot of touches and really hussled. I was proud of my Macey!

Starting Off Four Strong

This year, I have to admit, I was really looking forward to Garry taking the kids out by himself and getting some alone time. Just me, a bowl of candy, and the remote control. Yahoo!!!

But it was not to be. Garry called me after about five houses to come and get Braden. And then Molly came home. And then Macey straggled in. Finally Emma came home with her Dad.

But I have great hopes for next year!

My Little Pumpkin!

We let all of the kids pick out a pumpkin this year and a pumpkin design. They got to pick eye shape, nose shape, scary face? smily face? teeth? no teeth? After they decided, Garry would start cutting.

I washed all of the pumpkins and got them ready to be carved. Emma said that she was excited for the day when she would get to wash pumpkins for her kids. Just to prove to her that girls can do more than wash, I took over Braden's pumpkin and carved a fun little BOO! design. Girls can do it all, Emma. Just remember that.

Boo at the Zoo!

When we lived in Maryland we would participate with friends in the "Haunted Forest" in Southern Maryland. We would walk down this beautiful garden path and there would be booths with businesses passing out candy, coupons and flyers. It was fun, and we loved going, even in the rain.

I did not think that we would find anything as great here, but I did! We decided to try out Boo at the Zoo! We heard that it was crazy crowded, as most events in Utah are. So we made a goal to be there early. We arrived at 9:30 -- a 1/2 hour after it started. Already the parking lot was full, people were parking on the street and in the back parking lot. CRAZY!

But instead of little businesses in Southern Maryland handing out coupons, the Zoo had huge names there: Chick-fil-A, Red Robin, Wendy's, Chuck-a-Rama, Chipotle, Village Inn -- we came away with so many coupons for free kids meals -- it was great!

One awkward moment -- while waiting in line at the Verizon booth, I got stuck in the middle of a flash mob performing to Thriller. I tried to get out of there fast with three kids and a sleeping baby in a big old stroller. Oh dear. I am sure that it's on Youtube somewhere. . .

Searching. . .

Remember last year when I took the kids to the fundraiser in Riverton and it was a borderline debacle experience?

This year I tried again! Once again we went out to the "Search for the Great Pumpkin". But this year I knew what to do! We brought good flashlights. Not great. Just good flashlights to help us find the candy on the way to the Great Pumpkin. Last year we had wimpy Princess flashlights and could not see anything and did not find anything. Nope. Not a single piece of candy. I kept telling Garry that we needed really strong flashlights and maybe even a lantern. He had never been and so did not understand the importance of a strong light. But I think that now he has gone through the experience, next year we will be even more prepared!

This year Garry was there. Which helped a lot. Last year he was in Washington, D.C.

This year the kids were older and so I was not anxious about losing them and demanding that we all stay together. I told them to go for it and I would find them later. They did great and found lots of stuff!
And we found the Great Pumpkin! Hooray!

We went with our friends from down the street. We have kids the same age who are good friends. This little boy is Molly's best friend so I thought it was cute that she was a Princess and he was a Frog.

Cruising

We went with some friends down to Provo to go on a Halloween Cruise on the Provo River. It was a really short trip down the river where we were able to see about 100 elaborately decorated pumpkins on the side of the river and there was a pirate who jumped in our boat and passed out candy. Macey was terrified of the whole process. About twenty minutes after it was all done, she finally talked and asked that we "never do that again." Molly, however, asked about the pirate for DAYS. Where was he? What was he doing? Were we going to see him again? She thought that he was awesome.

By far, I think that the best time of the night was when we went to Krispy Kreme for donuts and hot chocolate. The kids watched the donuts get made, and the adults hung out and talked. It was fun.