Countdown to Thanksgiving: 22 days

So, you are supposed to start this at the beginning of November, as in November 1st, but I'm late... so...oh well. :)

22 Days 'til Thanksgiving:

I'm thankful for my little family.

Oddly enough this is the only picture I have of all of us
where we are not in costume... I NEED to work on that!

My husband is amazing.  He helps me out in so many ways, and is such a great dad.  My kids are (usually) awesome, even when they are throwing a temper tantrum (Marcus) or screaming to get fed for the thousandth time that day (Astrid) I still am so thankful for them.  In my life (and sadly this past calendar year especially) I have had so many glimpses of the "that could have been me", either not having any children, loosing children, loosing my husband, having our marriage dissolve to the point of divorce, or not even getting married at all.  While my heart breaks seeing those situations, whether in "real life", second-hand, or even in the media, it makes me SO THANKFUL for what I have.  It would be doing them a real disservice if I did not make them the first thing that I'm thankful for this month.  :)

Thanks Cooper, Marcus and Astrid for making me a wife and a mommy... I'm super thankful for you! :)

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Halloween!

This year our family went as Star Wars characters for Halloween!  It was lots of fun. Our neighborhood had a trunk or treat, but we realized that we had to get up to Salt Lake soon so we left before we got to hand out any candy or go around to the various trunks.  We went up to Cooper's grandparent's house first to say hi and so they could see the kidlets in their costumes.

Marcus would not smile for the camera...

After pictures at Grandma and Grandpa's we went over to Cooper's aunt Rachel's house.  Every year Rachel sets up quite the Halloween spread with fresh scones, apple cider, chili, tacos, and fried cinnamon rolls.  It's so delicious! We always have dinner at Rachel's on Halloween!  There we met up with Maddi, Stori, and Shantel and went Trick or Treating! :)

Maddi and Shantel were crayons!  How great of a costume is that?!

 

Here are some pics of us from the night:

Dressing up is even fun in your mid twenties married with kids! lol!

Sleepy Ewok babe and Leia Momma

Tired Ewok.

Partyin' it up with Aunt Maddi!

Even Grandma Stori came to have some fun with us!

Happy Halloween!

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Halloween Warm-Up

We had our little family's "Pumpkin Party" tonight.

We had a Halloween inspired dinner and dessert (a la Pillsbury...aka, lazy mom dinner!) and we carved pumpkins!  We watched Hocus Pocus, a part of The Mummy Returns and "It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown".  So much fun.  This year was the first that Marcus could really participate in our pumpkin carving.  He poked the little holes in his pumpkin all by himself.  So sweet.

Here are some pictures of our yummy Halloween spread...

pumpkin shaped ham and cheese rolls, pumpkin sugar cookies,
 mummy-dogs, and yummy cream soda

I got these cute labels online and taped them on.
Marcus was SO impressed. ;)

We Carved our pumpkins...Cooper's is a video-game inspired star man and a "happy happy cultist" from the game "Earthbound" (ya... I don't know who/what it is either. lol!), Marcus' is the Silly Face one, Astrid's is a kitty, and mine is the headless horseman! 

And sweet Astrid had SO MUCH FUN, she fell asleep early. 

Tired Pumpkin.

As you can see from our banner, this Halloween the family is dressing up as STAR WARS characters!  I'm so excited! Our costumes are all finished, and I can't wait to show you all of them. 

Hope you are ready for Monday!  We sure are!

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Be Bald! Be Bold!

Today is the National Fundraiser, Be Bold!  Be Bald! which raises funds to support cancer-fighting charities.  This year, a good friend of mine, Stacy, was diagnosed with cancer.  She has had to have one of her kidneys removed, and has had lots of chemo and surgeries.  She has four beautiful children and an amazing husband.  A group of her friends decided that we should do this years Be Bold!  Be Bald! fundraiser in support of her.  So, we started a fundraising team called "Stacy's Pirate Girls" and have been raising funds to go to cancer-butt kicking foundations.  :)

Each of us are wearing a bald cap and a super cool t-shirt from Be Bold! Be Bald! the fundraising packet that came with it had a magic marker to write who you are supporting today.  I wish my cap was empty with names, instead of the eleven that is on it so far. 

Here are a few photos of our day so far!

See?  She sports the bald EVERY DAY! :)

Love that Marcus wanted to wear the cap for a bit too!

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10 Years Later

Today we went to the Sandy City Healing Field Display 9/11 Memorial. 

In Sandy, right by Cooper's office is the Healing Field Display.  Over 3,000 Flags all lined up in the greenbelt in front of Sandy City Hall representing each life lost on September 11, 2001.  Last week when they were setting it up, I was driving by and I thought to myself, "Wow.  That's really cool that they are doing that.  I should stop and take a picture." But then I kept driving and running errands-- bringing lunch to Cooper, running to target, and running errands by the mall.  I drove by probably 10 times and still didn't stop to take a picture.  Today, we decided that we would go.

Each flag has a tag and a story about the person the flag represents.

It is one thing to read the statistics of how many lives were lost ten years ago.  I admit, I have thought, "wow... over 3,000 people.  That's a lot.  So sad." and that's all.  It wasn't until I walked through all of the flags today to see and feel just how many people that is.  The sheer magnitude of the number of people that lost their lives came into perspective when all I saw around me was flags.  

Looking South, flags for every person who died in the World Trade Center.

And looking north, flags for every person who died in the Pentagon, and on Flight 93, Flight 77, Flight 175, and Flight 11.  

It was incredibly emotional.  Cooper and I both fought back tears (though I don't know if Cooper will admit that... haha.) as we all walked though the flags and read various stories. 

Afterwards we had to explain to Marcus (in kid-friendly terms) about what these flags were about and what happened on September 11, 2001.  He had lots of questions about it and we tried to answer them the best we could.  I know that he doesn't "get" it and he won't for a long time.  But I think that it was a good learning experience for him and for Cooper and I as parents in teaching our children this important piece of American history. Seeing as he wasn't even born ten years ago, he is too young to actually remember, but not too young to learn.  I'm glad that we were able to talk about it with him and remember ourselves. 

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