Friday, October 31, 2008

Halloween!

Emma's preschool had a Halloween party today. They wore their costumes and paraded through the school.
These are my Frankenstein cupcakes.


Alyssa and Katherine


Emma and Lorelei wore the same dress!

These pictures were taken at last week's trunk or treat.









They were so excited for Halloween of course! Emma thought she got to take all the candy from our candy bowl. Alyssa got spacers a few days ago in preparation for her palate expander and is not allowed anything chewy or sticky. She is so bummed! She'll be able to eat them after the spacers are taken out next week. She doesn't get the expander for a few weeks.

Diana is not home for all the festivities. She went with the field hockey team to Nantucket for a playoff game. (They lost.) She said that it was really cool there and that they had a big Halloween parade.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Stolen Innocence


I just finished reading this book and found it to be very interesting on several levels. It was strange to read about a girl growing up in a large city-she lived in Salt Lake City until she was 13 but she had very little interaction with anyone outside of the FLDS members and was taught that outsiders were evil. The community was so controlling that they had very little idea of what most people would consider normal. Everything about their lives was controlled by their church including the style of their clothing and hair, their schooling, jobs, etc. Very strange. And then to be forced into marriage at age 14 when she was in many ways because of the extreme contol much younger than most 14-year-olds. She really was just a child. After reading all that she went through I'm surprised that she has handled things as well as she has. She should be a basket case. I have been aware of the FLDS community for quite awhile, long before the El Dorado stuff of this past summer but had not been aware of their doctrine. They believe in the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith but then they take an extreme right turn and much of what they believe is hard for me to understand or I imagine for any outsider to understand. I found this to be a very interesting, well-written read.

Friday, October 17, 2008


So we were watching the BYU game on one channel and the Sox game on another, flipping back and forth between the two and thoroughly disgusted with both of them. About 11 pm I had had enough. It was the 7th inning and the Red Sox were down 7-0 so I went to bed. 5:30 does come early you know. This morning I'm walking on the treadmill and watching the news and what the heck! The Red Sox won! We had a chance to get tickets for the game but Garrett had Open House at his school and Dave was coming back from New Jersey. Even if we had gone we would have been part of the crowd leaving early. Wow!


GO SOX!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Pretty Diana




Diana didn't care for that last picture so I am putting up a nice one of her. Pretty!!

How to Torture a Teenager


1. Force her to go on an all-day drive with her family. (See previous post)

2. Drive for hours out in the country where there is no cellphone service.

3. Have her sit next to a 3-year-old who screams half the time (I want Chinese food!)

4. Have her sit in front of a 10-year-old brother who puts his feet up on her seat.

5. Watch endless hours of Max and Ruby dvd's in an effort to keep said 3-year-old quiet.

6. Tease her about moving there and homeschooling her.


How to make it up to her: Find a mall with a Chick-Fil-A and an Arby's-both restaurants that we miss!

New England beauty
















On Monday the kids had a day off from school so we decided to take a drive to see all the beautiful fall colors and some of the quintessential New England towns. This is such a beautiful time of year here. The weather is nice-in the 60's most days and the 40's-50's at night. The leaves are beautiful of course. It's amazing how brilliant they can be! We drove in a loop up through New Hampshire with its hills and quaint towns. At one point we drove up a hill where you could see out across a valley. Gorgeous!

Monday, October 13, 2008

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning...

Emma on the first day of school in her ladybug costume.


Emma is a very independent, opinionated, strong-willed 3-year-old who, for the past year, has claimed that she is six. She does not believe that she is too young to make her own decisions, especially when it comes to what she wears. Most of the time I allow her to wear what she wants (pick your battles) albeit I reserve the right to veto some of her clothing choices. However, even with the amount of wardrobe control she is allowed, getting dressed in the morning can still be rather traumatic if what she wants is not clean, doesn't fit right (she's very picky about that) or is inappropriate for the weather. This morning she wanted to wear shorts even though it is in the 40's and we are going to be driving into the mountains of New Hampshire where it is even colder. Fit #1 for the day! I just left her alone and she eventually came out dressed appropriately, although she is wearing her snowboots!

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Emma at Story Hour



Emma goes to Story Hour at the library on Thursday afternoons. This was her second week to go. The first week she introduced herself to everyone she could see (Hi! I'm Emma!). She really enjoys going although Thursday she had a fit during the craft-threw her paper across the table and refused to do it-all because I colored in a square on it.

Woohoo!


So the economy is falling apart, panic reigns on Wall Street, major corporations are struggling but, Hey! gas is cheaper! The price dropped 20 cents in 5 days. Gotta love it!
-Dave just told me he got gas for $2.87!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Aaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!

We were driving (we did a lot of that today) and Garrett started yelling, "Emma, put your seat belt back on!" She now knows how to get out of a 5-point car seat belt. Darn! She sure is pretty proud of herself though. Put that together with the crib being taken down so she is in a big bed means that I have a lot less control over her. Yesterday I put her down twice for a nap only to hear the tv come on a few minutes later. That child just wears me out sometimes...

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Come what may...and LOVE it!

For the first time in too many years we watched all four sessions of General Conference. Okay, part of that was spent with my eyes closed and I took Emma to the bathroom several times so I can't claim all of it but I did watch most of it. I have to say that my favorite talk was Joseph P. Wirthlin's talk about dealing with hard times but there were many great talks. I look forward to getting next month's Ensign so I can read them!

Saturday, October 4, 2008

This week in pictures
















It has been a busy/normal week for us. The pumpkin pictures were taken at a farm stand near us. Alyssa has been aching to get some pumpkins. In Montgomery we couldn't get pumpkins until just a couple of days before Halloween or they would rot but here we can have them all month long. Emma asked where the farmer was and when I pointed him out she looked confused and asked where the other farmer was. I guess she didn't think he looked like a farmer!





The field hockey pictures were taken yesterday. The temp was in the upper 50's and with a brisk wind we felt quite cold as you can tell by Diana's outfit. I don't know much about field hockey. It seems like soccer with sticks but they have a lot of rules and the whistle is always blowing. She played most of the game and did well. The three younger kids had a good time running around in the grass. Emma introduced herself to some of the opposing team's players. (Hi! I'm Emma. What's your name?) She has been very friendly lately which will surprise some of you I'm sure. Diana invited several of the girls from the team to our house afterward for food and a movie. We stayed up way too late watching the Red Sox game (Go Sox!) and so are pretty tired today.





Emma and Alyssa had their swim lessons this morning. Alyssa is a fish! I can see her doing swim team some day. Emma did better this morning. At least she got in the pool even though she wasn't happy about it. She didn't scream today which was a big improvement . She screamed through the entire lesson a couple of weeks ago.




Wednesday, October 1, 2008




HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY ERICA!!!