Annual Costume Contest

Here it is! The Alvey Costume Contest. Please make sure you vote!!

THE PRIZE:

THE CONTESTANTS:

1. Rough Rider

2. Madame Butterfly

3. Haka Warrior and 4. Wicked Witch

5. Dash Incredible

6. Rocker Fairy

7. Fairy Fairy

8. Chicken Little

9. Anakin Skywalker

10. Ariel

11. High School Musical Cheerleader

12. Queen Amidala

13. 70's Cop

14. Little Wicked Witch

15. GI Joe

16. French Maid

17. Swine Flew (Can't see the wings)

Leaves

As soon as our trees started to lose their leaves, Wyatt started bugging me to rake them up so he could play in them. I finally caved in and last week we spent 2 whole days just raking them up, playing in them until they were spread all over the yard and then raking them up again.

Apparently this is what Wyatt thinks he's supposed to do when I say, "Smile." Not quite what I had in mind.
Every time I'd throw the leaves, Eva would cringe like she was about to have water dumped over her head. I'm not really sure why.

Getting Ready for Halloween

Grandma A had a "Getting Ready for Halloween" party this year. She took us all to the Red Barn pumpkin patch and let the kids pick their own pumpkins. The only rule was that you had to be able to carry it by yourself. Eva didn't quite understand that concept.

After we all got pumpkins we went back to Grandma's and she had Halloween t-shirts for them. Uncle Jake made a background for the kids to take their pictures by. My kids didn't mind sitting by it but neither one of them would smile for me.
Instead of carving the pumpkins, Grandma A had pieces you could poke into them. Awesome idea! Clean and easy. Eva's is a pig and Wyatt's is a dog. We put the pumpkins in our front window and every time Eva sees hers, she starts to snort. So cute. Happy Halloween!

Underneath It All

Only 16 months ago, Eva looked like this. She was quiet, still, innocent and clean. I never had to use stain remover on her clothes and only had to bathe her 2 or 3 times a week. She wasn't sneaky or mischievous. And when I left the room I knew she'd be in the exact same spot when I came back.

(Photo taken by Meggan Hayes of Composure Photography)

Eva is now the opposite of everything that she was 16 months ago. She's loud, and sneaky. She's always getting into stuff that she shouldn't be. She climbs and hides and every time I say "no" she gets that look on her face and then laughs. She doesn't care about being disciplined and usually just smiles at me the whole time. And now I have to bathe her EVERY night. And sometimes even in the middle of the day.

How did I end up with a boy that is clean and organized and methodical and quiet and a girl that prefers to look like this?

My parents keep telling me that Eva learned how to do everything from me, but I don't believe them. I'm sure that as a child I was calm and sweet and always well-behaved.

In the Groove Again

Back to scrapping...

I take frequent brakes from scrapping but when I do get to it I do at least 10-20 pages. I LOVE digital! Here's some of the pages I did this last week. I think my 2009 album might have to be printed into 2 volumes. I printed 2008 with 100 pages but I'm already at 103 pages for 2009 and there are still 4 momths left in the year!

At The Cabin

Jen and Mar invited us to their cabin a couple of weeks ago and it was great. So great that we're going back this weekend. Although without Jen and Mar (have a great trip!). We floated the river (twice), went to the farmers market, rode bikes down the canyon and ate great food. Glad we could fit it in before the summer ended! Thanks for the invite guys!

09 WindFest

Last weekend we went to the WindFest in Spanish. We actually went last year too and had such a good time that we wanted to go again this year. Rusti came with Mandy and Kenz and Kevin and Shan came with baby Logan. The weather was perfect!

The kids got to make kites but we couldn't get them to fly. We thought maybe it was just us but when we looked around it seemed that nobody could get them to fly. Eva didn't seem to mind though, she just wanted to eat hers.

Since the WindFest celebrates the windmills and "going green" all the booths have to do with saving energy. We got to ride Segways. Kevin and Danny were the first to go. They seemed like naturals.

Then came the girls turn. It just felt really wierd to me! I thought I was going to crash thte whole time. Shannon and I went pretty slow but Rusti had no fear.

We also rode large tricycles. Eva really liked to ride but she kept trying to sit up so it made it hard to pedal.
Danny and Kevin also got to ride the zipline but they both said that the harnesses kind of hurt. We didn't get any pictures because they went while we were making our kites. Danny and Kevin also got to test drive a smart car but I can't get the pics to upload for some reason. Oh, well.

This one's for you, Camille!

I did it!

When Camille and I were roomates we went through a certain phase. This phase had something to do with making homemade bread every Sunday. We tried for 4 or 5 Sundays and didn't have ONE loaf turn out edible. It was so very sad. After that experience I figured that I just was one of those people that can't excel at bread-making.

Which was totally fine by me.

Until a few months ago.

I started to get this craving to make bread. I tried to appease this craving by making bread that doesn't need yeast. Banana, Amish, and Zucchini bread. And, although these were very good breads and I ate them, they didn't fill the spot.

So today, I decided that we were going to have hamburgers for dinner and I was going to make the buns all by myself. 2 hours later and here we are! We will be having homemade buns and bread with dinner tonight! I'm so very proud of myself right now. And making it even better was that Wyatt was so excited when he woke up from his nap and saw the bread. He even told me I did "a totally sweet job."

Mmmm...

Excuses or Why I Don't Blog as Much Anymore

This is how we spend the majority of every day. Sometimes the neighbors come over and sometimes it's just Wyatt while Eva naps, but this is what we do now that it's hot. So I could post pictures of what we do every day, but it's entirely possible that the only thing that would change from day to day would be the kids swimsuits and the book I'm reading. I'd say sorry for not posting more, but I'm actually loving the relaxation that we get every day. And the fact that the kids are totally content with things that cost me less than 20 dollars 2 months ago. :)

Being Spontaneous

Last Saturday morning Eva was not acting like herself and wouldn't take a nap so we decided to throw the kids in the car and go for a drive. As we were pulling out of the driveway Danny asked me where we wanted go. The conversation went a little bit like this:
Danny: So, where are we headed?
Me: I don't care just as long as Eva goes to sleep.
Danny (jokingly) : In that case, let's go to Jared and Val's. (4 hrs south of us)
Me (with sarcasm): haha. Yeah, okay.
Danny: Actually, we could. If you want to.
Me: Ummm...okay. Let's leave them in the car then and go pack everything.

15 minutes later we were on the road. It was really fun to be able to pack up that fast and go. And I love that the kids are at an age where we can fit all their stuff for one night in one bag! All we paid for was the gas to get there and back and it was the best trip we've had in a while. We spent the whole time swimming and visiting and by Sunday night we were back in our own beds. Thanks J & V!