AAAARRRGH…..AGAIN

So do you know why Layton wanted to be a pirate?  Because Dallin wanted to be a pirate.  It’s only logical you know.

But Dallin didn’t want to be just any pirate.  He wanted to be Captain Jack Sparrow!

And I’d say he’s just as crazy as Captain Jack ever was!

GO GATORS!

Yeah, not really.  But it goes along with Mandy’s costume.

Funny thing is, we actually bought her a new costume this year.  She picked out this cute little leopardess number.  But when it came time for Trunk-or-Treat, she didn’t want to wear it.  And I didn’t want to fight with her.  I usually don’t win anyway. 

She’s highly logical and very convincing.  And she can really wear you down.  So she went as a cheerleader instead.

I tried to get her to wear my old garnet and gold Bulldogs cheerleading outfit, but it was all about the Gators for her.

I’m blaming this one on Sherri.  She knows Mandy loves anything that Emily and Sarah give her!  Besides, she’s adorable even if she is wearing orange and blue!

AAARRRGGH….

Very very scary.  I’d hate to meet him in a dark alley!

He Who Must Not Be Named

Todd and Katie totally made my day a couple weeks ago.  We arrived at Luke’s Harry Potter themed birthday party and after gorging ourselves for a little while on all their delicious food (for real, these guys know how to lay down a spread) Todd asks Nathan if he wouldn’t mind dressing up as Lord Voldemort and scaring the kids.  Awesome.

The kids prepare by practicing some spells with the wands that they had made earlier.

Then out comes the Dark Lord.  In shorts.  I mean, it is Florida, so he must be on vacation.  But even on vacation, he doesn’t mind taking a little time to terrorize some kids.

Smiling from ear to ear.  I think that might be the creepiest part.   Anytime Lord Voldemort is smiling must mean bad things are going to happen.

But the kids are up for the challenge.  Audrey tries a different tactic to bring down You Know Who.  A full on tackle.  Maybe Harry should of tried that.

Then the kids attacked in mass,

and Lord Voldey didn’t stand a chance.

The best part – since I took pictures of it – I can pull them out and laugh at Nathan anytime I want :)

You know it’s been a day…

full of fun when you look in the back of the van and see this:

The best days always end in exhaustion.  And it’s even better when you’re dressed like Captain America!

Ballet at the Town Hall Fall Festival

Mandy’s ballet school did a little performance at the Orange Park Town Hall Fall Festival.

Little kids dancing are so dang cute.  Half the time most of them had no clue what they were doing.

 

It was a good laugh.  And Mandy of course looked adorable.

They even had them all say their name.  For a little girl that is so sassy and prissy at home, she acted like a little shy angle up there on stage.

I love my pretty little ballerina!

I love…

a beautiful sunset.

Seeing things like that always make me want to start singing – “I’m glad that I live in this beautiful world, Heavenly Father created for me.”

So what did we do on our Anniversary?

I’m sure you’ve been just dying to know. 

We woke up at 7:15.

I got the kids ready for school and Nathan got ready for work.

I took Dallin and Mandy to school and Nathan headed out to the office.

I cleaned the kitchen, worked on stuff for the Women’s Conference, edited pictures, and worked on a permit.

Then Layton took a nap and I did a little more work.

I picked up the kids from school, fixed them a snack and helped them do their homework.

Then we left for the ballpark for Dallin’s baseball game.

We got home late and ate a super romantic gourmet dinner. 

I mean, what could possibly be more romantic than grilled cheese?

After the kids went to bed, we did at least have a little grape juice toast to our 10 years together.

All I can say is thank goodness we celebrated our anniversary a month early!!!!!  We never would have gotten any celebration in this month!!!

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins

Halloween is inching closer and closer!  So to get ready for it we decorated some pumpkins!  I know it’s traditional to carve them, but I find that to be really hard to do myself, much less something that the kids can do.  So we just paint them instead :)

It is serious business at our house.  It requires major concentration!

While at the pumpkin patch we found some very fun little pumpkins/gourds.  We found one that looks like an octopus,

one that looks like a swan,

one that looks like a pumpkin in a ghost costume,

and one that Layton said is a giraffe in a ghost costume :)

And then I saw this one and had to buy it for myself.

I love the bright orange/red spider veins.  They look beautiful!

So here are their finished products.  Rather cute if I dare say so.  And the pumpkins look cute too.

I’m so proud of these….

…that I need to show them off.

Isn’t our bag cute?  Everyone that comes to the women’s conference will get one.  I think it makes our conference very legit :)

It’s been a pretty nice 10 years…

10 years ago today, Nathan and I were kneeling across the alter in the Orlando Temple.

During these 10 years, we’ve had smiles everyday, secret jokes, a few fights, frequent laughter, occasionally tears, some misunderstandings, many compromises, a lot of forgiveness, a huge learning curve, 3 kids, and a whole lot of love.

Thank you for these wonderful years.  I look forward to all we will experience together for eternity. I love you.

Goldhead

For a little afternoon fun a couple weeks ago we headed down to Goldhead State Park for a little hiking and playing in the creek.

It really is a lovely little spot.

After hiking for a bit, we stopped along the trail for a little rest and a snack.

It was so nice and refreshing to be in nature together.  I think its something that we need to do more often!