The Michealson's Halloween Bash!

Since Bruce is off with Colter, Justine was my "date" for the Michealeson's Halloween party! I borrowed a "Little Miss Muffet" costume from Diana and Justine was "Daisy Duke". Rich was "Dr. Evil" from Austin Powers and Angie was the Frau. The battery in my camera went out before I could get a pic of them together. I'll have her email me one....It was so funny! Darci didn't dress up... Jon was out of town, so she just stopped by for dinner. We had a really fun time, but I decided Blonde's definitely don't have more fun! By the end of the night, I was ready to throw this itchy, hot wig in the trash! I'm going to wear this outfit on Halloween, but NOT the wig!

Pumpkin Fun on Friday Night!

Emma at the pumpkin patch. Notice the scary orb on the lower right side of the photo.....

A trio of pumpkins and a binky!

The "enigma" Puzzle pumpkin....

Mason, Enigma and Junior....

With Bruce and Colter in Seattle, Mason, Emma and I decided to hang out with Grandma Sue. First we went to the pumpkin patch. Mason picked out the biggest pumpkin-it took two of us to lift it in the car! Emma picked out three little pumpkins and rode in the wagon. Next, we headed over to Cafe Rio for some dinner, then to Grandma's for some pumpkin carving. We couldn't carry the big one up the driveway, so we'll carve that one at our house. Mason carved his pumpkin himself (Yikes!!). We couldn't figure out what he was doing. He made so many cuts! After he was finished, he said "look! It's a pumpkin puzzle!". What a monkey! We jokingly call it "the enigma"! We roasted the seeds (which were tiny!) , then enjoyed some carmel corn. What a fun fall evening!

An exciting thing happened at McDonalds!!!!

On Friday Emma and I went to McDonalds with Aimee, Grant and Emmaline. We had a fun time talking while the kids played on the playground. After running around for awhile, Emma walked up to us and said "I need to go potty mommy!" Magic words!!! We've been working on potty training for awhile. All of the other kids were potty trained well before now! Emma just doesn't want to do it. She will go when she is walking around naked, but obviously that's not going to work! So when she mentioned this to me, my first thought was that she's wearing a pull up and she's already gone, but I'll take her in and we'll go through the motions. What do you know? we get in the bathroom and she's dry! I put her on the potty and guess what??? She went potty!!!! Mind you this is a McDonalds bathroom, but I'm so excited!!! I wanted to yell it to the whole restaurant! Way to go Emma! It won't be long 'till you'll be wearing your princess underpants!

Justine...

Justine is growing up to be such a sweet girl! Not that she wasn't before, but sometimes teenagers turn into people you don't recognize....Not Justine! We are so proud of how hard she works, both at her job and at school. She works all the time and still is an honor student! We don't get to see her as much as we'd like (work, Boys, friends, ect....), but we are grateful for all the joy she brings to our lives. We love you Juss and are proud to call you are our daughter. Love, Mom and Dad

Corn Maze!!!

Mason had a fun scout activity last Tuesday-The Punkinaze! The kids had a great time! We went through the corn maze, me carrying Emma the whole time. It seamed like it went on forever, but we finally found the exit! Emma's favorite part was playing in the corn candy search. They fill a water trough with dried corn kernel's and candy. The kids have to dig to find the candy. By the time we got there the candy was pretty much gone, but Emma had a great time digging in the corn. When we got home and gave her a bath, about a cup of corn fell out of her pants!

Mason Picasso

I have been working on a portrait project for my art class. Mason decided to share his talent....

This is Colter
Me
Emma

An finally in the style of Van Gogh, introducing Mason Hill, a self portrait......

Snow Day!

We woke up Sunday morning to a huge snow storm! Bruce and I bundled up Emma and Mason for Emma's first time playing in the snow! We had a great time....

I had to go out and search for the last two pumpkins in the garden. Isn't it funny to see these marigolds? It was 80 degrees last week! Bruce's idea of a snowball....
Playing....

Emma making a "snow angel"....She didn't get that she has to lay down on her back, not her front!
Snowboarding down the driveway....

Trip to Seattle....

Last weekend I flew to Seattle to spend the weekend with Bruce. It was the first time we had ever been on a real vacation without kids! We had a great time! I got in on Thursday evening and Bruce was excited to show me around. We walked all over his "neighborhood", then went out to sushi. On Friday we spent the day shopping(poor Bruce!) and going down to Pikes Place Market. That evening Bruce surprised me with a wonderful dinner at Palisades. It was fantastic! We were even picked up in a limo! The food was excellent....I had salmon and Bruce had ahi tuna. It was the best seafood I have ever eaten! The tuna literally melted in my mouth! There was a saltwater stream running through the restaurant complete with starfish and sea anemones. I had to take a picture for the kids....The next day we drove around looking at potential areas to move. We found some nice houses, but the prices were outrageous! Not to mention the complete lack of yard space. I was a little frustrated. I hope we can find something nice with at least a little bit of a yard! We had a fun time just driving around and enjoying the scenery. On Sunday, we had our Realtor take us around to walk through some houses. We didn't find anything spectacular, but I think we settled on some potential areas. Later, Bruce drove me to the airport. I was so sad to leave him, but I was anxious to get home to the kids. When I landed in Salt Lake, the kids were happy to see me, but sad to leave the excellent care of Grandma and Jeni!!!

Me by the sea... Lucky I looked before I sat down in this wet chair! The starfish at the Palisades...


Bruce and I on our wonderful date! We think this will be our "anniversary place".... Live crawdaddies at Pikes Place...

I couldn't resist taking pictures of these beautiful flowers!
The sound...
Bruce....
Cute gull......

From Monet to Picasso....

Can you tell it was windy????

Bruce and I went to the "Monet to Picasso" exhibit at the Utah Museum of Fine arts. It was so exciting! I couldn't believe I was so close to such amazing works of art. My favorites were the Renoir painting called "Romaine Lacaux" and the two Van Gogh paintings. I have many prints and several books of these artists, but I was blown away by the actual pieces! Van Gogh is a true master of color and style. The swirls of paint, the techniques he uses, it was awesome! Bruce enjoyed himself and even listened to the audio recordings. We had a great time!