Halloween 2010

Hendrix and MilaBelle trying on Mommy's costume for fun.

Our Truck or Treat at Church had great games for the kids. Here's Peter Pan golfing...

and tossing..

Leah was very proud that she put this costume together. She may not know how to sew yet, but she's pretty handy with some hot glue and pins. Hendrix looks awesome. MilaBelle and him were both excited to have coordinating costumes.

MilaBelle was beautiful TinkerBell. She has loved Tinkerbell for quite some time now. She wore this dress nonstop for two days.

The kids got a lot of loot at the party.

Mike helped run one of the games: Donut on a string, always a classic.

Our little Princess

10th Annual Halloween Party -Yuma Style

For the 10th year in a row my brother and his wife threw their Halloween Party, they are still in Yuma so it was there for the 3rd year. It was tons of fun. There's always amazing food, awesome treats, great games and of course the Costume Contest, that Mike and I take very seriously. Mike, me or both of us have won every year and Mike has won every category. (Funny, Scary, Best Couple, and Most Creative) This year was no exception. We worked really hard on our costumes, Mike is so creative, artistic and great at constructing something from nothing. We won Most Creative!

We were Lego Men - I was Lego 'Shaun of the Dead' (the zombie killer) and Mike was a Lego Zombie. These costumes only cost us $10 a piece and some of the materials consisted of a laundry basket, pringle cans, an oatmeal container, an over sized shirt and a cardboard box.

My brother usually goes for the funny - and totally pulled it off with Papa Smurf ...

Tamara is always inventive and came as the lady from the movie "The Birds"

Our friends who started coming with us to the parties about 5 yrs ago came as Publishers Clearing House winner and prize giver. Very original Bekah and Tyler!

This super sweet couple is also hoping to adopt; here's their adoption blog site:

http://www.tylerandbekah.blogspot.com/

We invited Tyler's little bro, Chase and his new wife Lauren to come along, and they were totally up for the costume challenge with their Kramer and Elaine outfits that were spot on.

We had a wonderful time and are already planning the next two years of costumes.

It's the party of the year.

A Post about MilaBelle BY MilaBelle

That's MilaBelle. That's paint, it's my paint, and it's gonna dry. My paint is going to do this (acting out shaking her hands so the nail polish will dry)
Oh, that's paint on my feetees. I don't have paint on my toes anymore, you took it off.

I'm playing with blocks. I'm building a cake.

I have a stroller with my baby and I'm holding Hendrix's lunchbox. That's my baby!

I'm wearing my shirt and my shoes and my pants. I buy those shoes at the store.

(This is MilaBelle's $6 outfit from Love Child)

A post about Hendrix BY Hendrix

Me on my birthday. There's balloons everywhere. Daddy put the wrapper things around my bed. And I'm 5!

I like my cupcake cake.I love the cupcakes.

I'm gonna blow the candles out.

Me playing with my blocks I got for my birthday from Oma and Grandpa Britt

Hendrix starts Kindergarden

Because this is our firstborn starting school we documented everything....

First light...

Waking up...

Breakfast...

Backpack on, and ready to go...

The ride there...

The walk to class...checking out the playground...

Standing just outside the door

Sitting next to his pre-school friend Liz...

The beautiful sky as we drove away, one child less...

Having breakfast with MilaBelle... this is a tradition we are going to adopt for our family. It was great to spend time together and talk about are sweet boy.

I did most of my crying the night before as Mike gave him a Father's blessing including remembering the values he has been taught at home and that his parents and Heavenly Father are proud of his good choices and that he can always remember that he is loved when he's sad or scared. I also am very confident that we have taught him well. I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to be home with him these past years. I am thankful to Mike for working hard so I can have this time to be with our children. I am thankful to my Heavenly Father for being the perfect example of a parent and mirroring our parenting to match His.

33 Simple Years - 33 Simple Acts

Mike turned 33 on the 3rd of this month.

We got to celebrate all week. 1st the best cake I've ever made. Super chocolaty with PB cups baked inside and layered on top from Bakerella Grandpa's house the Sunday before the big day:

2nd: Breakfast for Champions: How sweet is this toaster? I got it on NBA.com You can get your favorite team. It burns the logo right into the toast. Hendrix loves it just as much as Mike.

3rd: Cold Stone on his birthday, that our nephew Bren made.

To make the week special we did 33 acts of service/kindness. Here's our list...

(1) Donate Blood

(2) Give gatorade to someone in need on the street

(3) Gather items and donate to Goodwill

(4) Surprise someone at work and bring them a treat

(5) Take the kids to the movies

(6) Bring a treat to someone on their birthday

(7) Buy the Ensign for a family who doesn't get it

(8) Send a random e-card to a friend

(9) Decide to only buy cage-free eggs and organic milk from here on out

(10) Donate money to Children's Cancer Research
(11) Send a compliment to convience store management about an employee who gave great service

(12) Leave comments on friends blog who we don't get to see often

(13) Helped a neighbor move

(14) Watched friends kids so they could have a date

(15) Gather all the grocery carts in a parking lot and put them away

(16) Bought new flowers and put them on Mom Britt's grave
(17) Brought candy and flowers to the Bishopric and their wives to thank them for all their service

(18) Open the door for someone

(19) Pay a compliment to a complete stranger

(20) Put quarters in pay phones and water dispensers

(21) Say "hello" to someone you don't know

(22) Pay for the person behind you in the drive-thru

(23) Send a note to someone who influenced your life

(24) Leave a generous tip (50% min) for great service at a restaurant

(25) Write a thank-you to someone serving in the ward

(26) Pray for someone in need

(27) Have the missionaries over for dinner

(28) Cleaned the house on his day off for his happy wife

(29) Served in the temple cafeteria

(30) Send pictures of the kids to family living far away

(31) Bring cupcakes to work

(32) Make and send cards to family serving in the army

(33)Helped a friend's family move

We hope this list inspires you to do some random acts of kindness for your friends, family, the earth, animals and strangers. It's made a difference in our lives already. Mike even did more than just this list and both of our eyes have been opened to other acts of service to be done.

My favorite ones were bringing small gifts to the Bishopric (the husbands were amazed we knew their favorite candy...but I had called their wives prior to find out, and so it was cute.) I also thought it was fun to run around the parking lot with the kids getting the grocery carts and putting them away, we had lots of people looking at us, maybe they'll think how nice it would be to simply put even their own cart away next time. :) It always feels good to give customer service people compliments to their mangement. People are always quick to complain to managers (us too sometimes). Why not let them know the good things their company's doing?!

Mike's favorite were:

The drive thru T.Bell purchase for the car behind us was Mike's favorite of them all. However, they were all good ones for him to do (his idea's for a few, so go figure)...but the real fun was had in coming home each day after doing some of them & marking them off the list; then sharing stories of how it went & how it was to do them.

_______________________________________

Happy Birthday to you Mike, and...when you can help the chances present themselves: Pay it forward people!

Mountain Memories...

The kids and I spent two weeks in WA with my family, my Mom, Grandma and Aunt all live on a beautiful mountain, which is referred to as just that "The Mountain" There is always family, friends and neighbors around so there is no lack of company. Infact they leave their doors unlocked so even if no one's home, it's not uncommon to borrow a couple eggs, a jar of homemade pickles or use their basement to workout in (all things I did while there) It's also common to leave your keys in the car incase someone is in need of your extra car. (just bring it back with gas in it) I love that everyone up there treats one another as family if they are or not.

This is my Grandma's yard which is where we spent most of our time. We had a portable pool and slip and slide that my kids promptly took off all their clothes and ran free and naked in the cool weather. I think they were just excited to be outside. When I lived here as a child this area was all dirt, but we had just as much fun running and chasing one another. As a teenager this house was my home away from home over the summers. I was deeply in love with Washington and it was wonderful to make new memories with my kids.

This is one of my favorite areas, the path leading away from my G-ma's house to the mom's.

The Clayton Burger where Uncle Adam took us out for homemade huckleberry ice cream - Yum! It was a soft pink color and delicious. As a youth my cousin Josh and I would ride horses down the railroad tracks and meet friends here.

The kids were excited to meet new cousins and had so much fun. Lemonie was a joy. So sweet with her chubby cheeks. She's smiles and lights up everything. MilaBelle loved having a baby around. And it was the first time all my mom's grandkids were together.

This is my cousin Josh's little girl Carly. Mila and her are only 3 months apart and our oldest boys are just 1 month apart. Hendrix had tons of fun playing in the dirt with Jakob.

The only negative for little ones, were having legs that ran faster than their bodies. We had mulitple days of scratched knees and our share of brusies.

In MilaBelle's words her favorite things about Oma's house are

"Dress-up, round toast with cheese, I like Oma."

In Hendrix words "I like marble works, trees, bugs, round toast with butter, not cheese and the sandwhich's Oma makes me."

I can also say that they loved the tire swing and being free to roam. For the first couple of days I was always worried where they were, when finally my mom told me to relax they were either at Aunt's, G-ma's or somewhere in between. I could walk outside and hear their voices and holler for them to come back whenever I needed. And if they were bothering anyone they'd be sent home. It's a wonderful niche my family has created for themselves, away from busy streets, and strangers. I look forward to next summer and staying longer.