a thankful moment

I absolutely love and adore my children. Even when I am frustrated and at my wit's end, I just adore these girls. Last night, Ainsley was fussy, it was about 10pm and I was so TIRED. Hannah was still awake and so HYPER! She was dancing around and running back and forth from her room to the living room. I was exhausted just watching her. On one of her trips into the living room, she belted out "Shala, Shala, Mal-E, Kiss the Girl" It was so FUNNY! Thomas and I just busted out laughing! She reminds me so much of myself that it is hilarious! When I was a little kid, I used to make up words to fit the sound of the songs when I didn't know what the real ones were. And more often than not, they weren't even real words. :) And now my precious little girl does the same thing!

Pumpkin Carving

Tonight for Family Night, we carved our Halloween pumpkin and watched The Great Pumpkin. Thomas did a great job cleaning out the pumpkin guts, I sorted the seeds (so Greg could roast them!), and Hannah and Daddy did a good job carving the pumpkin. Ainsley was a great cheerleader and wanted to be a part of everything. She screamed when we ignored her!

Thomas and Hannah getting ready to carve. Hannah looks so excited!

Ainsley excitedly looking on!

Thomas taunting Hannah with the pumpkin guts! She didn't like the pumpkin much after she saw the messy goo inside the pumpkin.

Hannah not too excited about having to get in another picture. Ainsley excited because she is out of her saucer and in closer to the action!

"CHEESE, Mom! Do you like my new mouth?"

Hannah carving the nose.

My amazing photography skills caught the pumpkin all lit up... Okay, so my camera has a night time still-life setting. And I rigged a "tripod" out of a set of storage drawers. That's why it's a bit crooked.

Hannah & Ainsley sitting with the finished pumpkin.

All done! We had a lot of fun and made a big old mess! I love Halloween!

some pictures from this weekend

Ainsley got her first tooth through on Friday!

My sweet girls outside!

Thomas, Hannah, Dylan, Ashley & Zoey at Mary & David's Halloween party. And no that is not something stuck to Ashley's head. Dylan is throwing his chapstick in the air!

Ainsley & Zoey at Mary & David's

Hannah, Ainsley & Zoey

Cute little Zoey

Hannah eating a chocolate spider-web cookie! She loved it!

Mary & Nathan
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Sunday morning pictures

my two beautiful girls. i love them so much!

isn't hannah beautiful? i love her smile!
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Sunday afternoon photo shoot. Hannah wasn't interested in joining Ainsley for this one. She was playing with Makayla!

Have you seen the new church commercials?

Here are two of the them from lds.org . They are totally unscripted. amazing.

new layout

credits:
jeannie papai's girl dreams kit at seaside scraps
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fonts: super snorty laughter

credits:
Erika Tenney's Making Time For Play
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fonts: times new roman, turtle club

credits:
Rebecca Myers' Funky Paisley Kit at Seaside Scraps
alpha from jeannie papai's girl dreams kit at seaside scraps
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fonts: turtle club

sweet tooth...

I have a major sweet tooth today. Perhaps I will bake some cookies or something. But for the moment I am eating some caramel corn that my mom sent me from Pumpkin Show. It's so good! I love caramel corn!

In our church, the women are assigned to go out in pairs and visit with the other women in the church. They are supposed to visit or check in with their assigned ladies each month. Well, my Visiting Teachers called me last night to see if they could come by this morning. So, we got up early and got dressed and ready and cleaned up a bit. A few minutes before they were supposed to come, Hannah looked at me and said, "Mom, I don't want your big mean teachers to come over." I just looked at her a little bit puzzled and started to laugh. I guess to a 3 year old "Big Mean Teachers" sounds a lot like "Visiting Teachers". I explained what they were actually called to her. Anyway, the visit was fine. One of the ladies brought her two little girls and they played in Hannah's room for a bit. A few minutes ago Hannah looked at me and asked if her little visiting teachers could come back and play, and I could talk to the big visiting teacher. :) What a funny little kid! We're off to a rough start this morning, but hopefully things will get better. Ainsley is teething and is just generally cranky. You can actually see the tiny little tooth cutting through her poor little gums. Hannah has had a few pretty major tantrums already, but I am just not putting up with them. When she starts to throw a tantrum, I give her two choices, either stop immediately or go to her room to finish. She usually stops. I have had to carry her to room a couple of times, though. She HATES being banished to her room because she is such a social child. She has learned how to dress herself now. She even gets her pants and shirt on right! My little baby is growing up way too quickly! I adore that kid! Ainsley is wearing a Halloween outfit today, so I need to get some pictures of the two girls today. It's COLD, though! We are going to a Halloween party tomorrow night at my aunt's house so we'll definitely get pictures of that.

new layout

credits:
October Free with Purchase Kit at OAKS
dotted paper, stitch: doreen stolz
orange flower: beth kern
black paper: rachel martin
glitter pumpkin: jessica gorny

black web from sarah grimwood's sugared spooks
folded ribbon, cardboard from Not So Spooky kit by sarah ellis & faith true
alpha by melany violette
white dot alpha by juliana smith at scrapquick
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fonts: turtle club

new layout

credits:
fresh & funky: starstruck kit by victoria feemster & faith true
star border from doreen stolz's everything boy kit at oaks
christine smith's crumpled creased and curled
beaded alpha by dirtyfeet designs
snowflake by jane atwell from the rakscraps january 2007 megakit
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fonts: turtle club

Pictures from today...

Hannah having a picnic

Ainsley fell over in the grass & tried to sit herself up.

Hannah & Ainsley sitting in the backyard! They are so cute together!

Hannah singing & dancing!

Hannah being a good big sister. She was covering Ainsley's mouth while she coughed.

childhood memories

Isn't it interesting how a sound or a sight or a smell can take you back to your childhood? I was mixing Beechnut Chiquita Bananas with rice cereal and was taken back to my early childhood. I remember my mom mixing that exact combination for my little sister Angie to eat, and later Ashley. I LOVE that smell. It is one of my favorite childhood smells!

And on to other topics...
I LOVE that my girls are already friends! They are so cute together. Hannah is the best big sister. She has been enjoying playing with Ainsley so much lately. This morning, Hannah was playing with her stuffed ballerina doll. Ainsley kept reaching out to it. So, Hannah gave it to her to play with. I told Hannah to be careful because Ainsley would chew on it and get it all slobbery. She said, "It's okay, Mom. It's only a little bit of baby slobber." What a great big sister! I love my little Hannah so much!

We went to Wal-Mart this afternoon to get baby food and Zantac. Now, if you have ever read about one of my trips to Wal-Mart, you will know that this is normally torture beyond anything anyone should ever have to endure! After the last trip, I had to come home and take medicine because my back hurt so badly from trying to control Hannah in the store. She was all over the place. But not today! She was a perfect angel today! We had such a good day! We went to the store, came home and had a picnic outside and then we painted Hannah's toes a glittery pink color. It was definitely a good day!

Today's Pumpkin Outfit

the pumpkin patch

We had the big Cardall Family Halloween Party last night. It was really a lot of fun. Jim & Shelly threw the entire thing and they did a magnificent job! We met at a local pumpkin patch, and had a big tailgate-style dinner of the most delicious taco soup I have ever eaten! It was so good! And I could actually eat it! That was the best part. We sang Happy Birthday to Jordyn & Carter, the two October birthdays. Then we went into the pumpkin patch area and walked around and looked at the different displays and took tons of pictures! Lucky Uncle Robbie got to be in the grandkids picture because there were too many babies and not enough big kids! It was so nice to be able to spend time with everyone and enjoy the fall weather!

new layout

layout credits:
christine smith's overlays II at design.christinesmith
jenna nelson's feathered friends at scrapdish & dragonflairestudios
snowflake charm by veronica peralta from January 2007 Mega Kit at RAKScraps
metal balls on wire by christina renee from digiscrapwrap
screw from ann-marie's sea dreams element pack at oaks
crumpled heart by dawn wilson at oaks
love frame by faith true
silver heart by michelle bowley from the DID birthday kit
cherish tab from delicate days kit by amsdigiscraps
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fonts: turtle club

the cabin update!

Well, Saturday morning dawned bright and early. Thomas and I were both up at the crack of dawn and couldn't go back to sleep. So, we went ahead and packed and waited until it was time to leave for the cabin. We called Chrissy, who called her dad, who said that when he left the cabin that morning about 9am, there wasn't any snow at all, maybe just a light dusting between the trees. He didn't think that we were supposed to get much snow at all, just a light flurry. Well, Thomas and I watched the weather report that was calling for a winter storm warning and 10-20 inches of snow in the ski areas. So, we went ahead and packed all the winter clothes we had for Hannah and Ainsley. Then we started driving up to the cabin. We stopped at the WalMart in Park City to get gloves for Hannah & I because it was starting to snow so much and there was already over three inches on the ground there. By the time we got to the cabin, there was about three inches of snow there and it kept coming down. We probably had about five inches. It snowed on and off the entire time we were there. It was really nice to sit by the warm fire and watch the snow outside. My husband is a bit of a pyro, though. He kept building these huge hot fires! He had the living room up to 85 degrees at one point. A little too warm! But it was a pretty good weekend. All of the kids were a bit hyper, but I think it was because of the snow. They were cooped up a lot because it was too cold to run around outside and play. I can't wait for next month!

pictures from cabin weekend!

Hannah playing in the snow for the very first time!!!

my happy little girl!

Thomas & Meredith
Aren't we cute? Okay, so we're grimy and messy and cold and I don't have a DROP of makeup on, but I just love my hubby! We realized a couple weeks ago that there aren't many pictures of us, so we are trying to fix that! And you lucky people get to see them!

Thomas & Ashlyn & Hannah pushing the tube back up the hill.

Ashlyn & Zoey

Thomas gave my baby some Coke! And she LOVED it. Everytime she sees a Coke can, she gets really excited and lunges for it, licking her lips! It's so funny!

Ainsley likes being outside in the snow!

Yea, Jordyn!

Ainsley is just chilling in the snow!

Okay. Definitely NOT my smartest move. Yes, that is Ainsley strapped to my chest. The snow wasn't packed really hard and the kids were barely moving. So, we decided that it would be safe for me to go down with Ainsley. Thomas gave me a little push and we went SOARING down the freaking mountain. About halfway down, I saw Carter playing in the snow right where I was heading. I screamed for him to move and then the tube turned and I realized the we were NOT slowing down. I couldn't flip out of the tube because of the baby. So, I just curled around her and braced myself the best I could. And then my brother-in-law caught us! And saved me from sliding into a bunch of branches. Thanks, Mr Bailey!

Thomas getting ready to fly down the mountain on the tube! He wouldn't let the kids go down on their bellies, but he sure didn't have a problem doing it!

Ashlyn & Jordyn getting ready to push Hannah down the mountain!

Ainsley sitting up being a big girl! Aren't the orange chairs lovely? :)

Hannah wearing her "Cousin Eddy" hat that Poppa Porter sent to her. Ever seen National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation? That hat is straight out of the movie! :)

Thomas wearing Hannah's hat! :)

Thomas with our poor little Florida car!

Okay, Ainsley is done! Time to go home!