I can't believe I am saying this!!

I have always told myself I wouldn't be caught dead driving a van. Well, I need to go back on what I said. The new Honda Odyssey is so sweet. It has everything you would want in a car....well except for dashing good looks. I can only imagine with more kids, my life is going to get busier and busier. I will have kids and kids friends in and out of my car. If one of them ding up my doors or hit into other peoples cars, I will have to kill them....but with this Honda Odyssey you don't have to worry about that. All of you know how much I love Diet Coke and better yet, a nice cold Diet Coke!! Well don't worry this van has a cooler in it!! (That is my favorite part). Anyway, I decided to just drop my PRIDE and come to grips with the possibility of maybe driving a van one day and actually being ok with it! Go check this swagger wagon out here and you too will see how cool a van can be :)

Gardner Village and Target

Last week a bunch of us headed to Gardner Village in West Jordan. I had never been before, and it was so fun, especially at Halloween time. There was quite the group that went down. Karly and Ben. Karly's sister Hayley and her two boys Will and Drew. Hayley, Grace and her niece Ellie. Me, Drake and my Mom. We had a fun time looking in all of the shops and all of us enjoyed pumpkin sugar cookies from the bakery.

Karly, Ben, Drake and Me.

Ben and Drake.

So cute!

Check out those cute kids. From left to right: Will, Drew, Ben, Grace, Drake and Ellie.

Karly, Hayley and Me with our kiddos.

Grace, Hayley and Ellie.

After Gardner Village me along with Drake and my mom went with Hayley and the two little girls to the Fashion Place Mall. While we were there we stopped at a few stores that had the Tom's shoes. Hayley and I both looked at them and wished that we had them on our feet, but both told ourselves we didn't need them, maybe next month. After being in the mall a couple of hours, on our way out we decided to try them on. Well.... we were hooked and.....

We treated ourselves to a cute pair of Tom's! The great thing about these shoes if you don't already know, when you buy a pair, a pair gets donated to a child in need of a pair of shoes.

Pretty happy with our great decision!!

Oh boy, now to the end of the day. We were all pretty tired from the long day of walking around and shopping, but my mom and I still had to make one more stop at Target before we could head home. I love going there, and I had something I needed to return. Drake had been good all day, but hadn't been able to crawl around and get any energy out. While we were trying on some things, we let him down to get out that energy. While doing so, he also got out more than just energy and we were heading straight to the bathroom to change his diaper. My mom went in the bathroom to change him while I paid for my things. When I got in the bathroom, my mom had a look of fright on her face as there was "stuff" all over the place. All over the changing table, all over Drake and all over her!! We only had one option and well....we did what we had to do and bathed him in the sink! I was mortified and explained over and over as people were coming in.

The water was the perfect temperature and Drake thought it was pretty cool.

Thanks to Grandma who ran out and got a towel and some new jammies.

This is the best picture of them all! Look at that happy face. This is by far something I will always remember and laugh at! But seriously Drake, don't make me do this again!

Halloween Decor

I love Halloween. I love dressing up, so this is my kind of holiday. I think because Halloween is in October that is also why I like it so much. This is by far my favorite month of the year. I love the smells, the tastes, the weather and the coziness of homes. The only thing I was lacking, were Halloween decorations. I didn't have anything, and was having a really hard time finding anything that I wanted to buy. They sale lots of cute Halloween decorations, but I wanted spooky. Thanks to my talented friend Hayley Neil, we made our own Halloween decorations this year and I got the spooky feel I was looking for. All for under $20.

The pictures below are terrible photos, but it gives ya an idea of what it is like.

Check out that owl. What a sweet find at the D.I. Just a little spray paint on that baby and it changed the whole look! The picture in the frame is a photo I took a few years back when I lived in Romania. It is a staircase in Dracula's Castle.

We got everything at the D.I. and then just went to town with the spray paint. We found a couple of really cool items when doing this project. We got this spray paint that you spray on the inside of glass or on the back side and it makes it look like a mirror. It is way cool and gives it a great look. We did that to the vases with the roses in it. With the black over the top, it gives it an old creepy look. It is awesome. Then on the candlestick holders we painted them black then spayed gold webbing on them. It looks like gold spiderwebs. It too is pretty cool. I am so happy with the way my house looks for Halloween, and can't wait for next year when I can do more!

VICTORY

USU beat BYU.....WAHOO!!!

Drake went from this

To this, very quickly. We wore that kid out!

Anniversary Getaway and First Time Leaving Drake

We celebrated our 3 year anniversary on September 14th. A week later we left for San Diego to celebrate, and left Drake behind with my Mom and Dad. It was a wonderful break, and it felt good to hang out with just Josh and worry about me and only me. I was able to sleep when I wanted, get myself ready, feed myself and did I say sleep?? We had such a fun time and ate a lot of really good food.

Leaving Drake at Grandpa and Grandma's. I was pretty sad to leave him. Then when we got to the airport and I realized how much work it would have been to take him with us, I wasn't so sad anymore.

Drake tried to come with us, but we caught him!

We got there on a Wednesday night. We were staying at the Hilton Bayfront which was right down town close to everything. We didn't rent a car, so we were right by a tracks stop and by the Gaslamp Quarter (A huge street with lots of shopping and good places to eat). We went over there and ate every night. There was a place with great Gelato, that we also got a couple of times.

When we were checking into our hotel the lady at the front desk asked us what the special occasion was. So when we returned from dinner that night, we had been gifted cheese, fruit and wine. It was very nice of them and we appreciated it, but we don't drink.

So we called to the front desk, and they brought us up some sparkling cider instead.

Thursday we went to Sea World. Josh had never been, and it had been a while since I had. We didn't realize how long it would take us to get there on the public transportation, so after two hours of going only a few miles, we arrived. It was perfect though. We were able to see all of the shows and everything else we wanted to see, and enjoyed some Diet Coke from a Shamu cup!

Ok, so this is how we started our day off on Friday. At Richard Walker's Pancake House. Oh my this place was heavenly. It is a little breakfast joint in downtown San Diego. They are known for their "apple pancake", and you better believe that is what I got. Hands down, the best breakfast dish I have ever had.

After breakfast we got on a ferry and headed over to the small Island of Coronado. We sat on the beach and walked around and looked in all of the shops and the Hotel Del Coronado. It was a great little island with a fun atmosphere.

When we got back that night from Coronado, we went to a Padres baseball game. The Padres won, and it was a good game. This was my first time going to a pro baseball game. It was great!

We of course enjoyed ourselves some foot long hot dogs.

Saturday we slept in and spent the day at the pool. We went to dinner at Joe's Crab Shack, then headed to the Utah State vs. San Diego State football game....we got killed!! Lucky for us we ran into my friends parents Tim and Kolette Belnap, and they drove us back to our hotel so we wouldn't have to ride the public transportation.

This was our hotel. It was really nice and like I said above, it was in a great location.

While we were gone. Drake got VERY spoiled by Grandpa and Grandma. My mom told me she was going to buy those monkeys for his room (thank goodness she didn't).

She did buy him a Backyardagains DVD and some toy trucks.

She also bought him some Buzz Lightyear pj's.

And Lightening McQueen.

And Thomas the Train.

One of the nights my parents drove and met the other Grandparents, Barb and Syd in Preston for dinner, so they could see Drake. I am sure that was quite the sight. Four grown adults fawning over one 10 month old child. He is a lucky little boy to have all of that attention and so many people who love him. When it was all over, we were ready to come home and see Drake. We had a few habits that had to be broken when we started into our week.....life is different at Grandma's I guess:) Our vacation was a great one, and one we will take again and again as a family!

The Next "SURVIVOR" Series

For all you women out there... this will give you a good laugh. If only this was really on TV we would get a good laugh weekly. Enjoy!

Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and 3 kids, each for six weeks.

Each kid will play two sports and either take music or dance classes.

There is no fast food.

Each man must take care of his 3 kids, keep his assigned house clean, correct all homework, complete science projects, cook, do laundry, and pay a list of "pretend" bills with not enough money.

In addition, each man will have to budget in money for groceries each week.

Each man must remember the birthdays of all their friends and relatives, and send cards out on time.

Each man must also take each child to a doctor's appointment and a haircut appointment. He must make on unscheduled and inconvenient visit per child to the Urgent Care on a weekend, evening, holiday or right when they're about to leave for vacation.

He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function.

Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned house, planting flowers outside and keeping it presentable at all times.

The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done. There is only one TV between them, and a remote with dead batteries.

Each father will be required to know all of the words to every song that comes on TV and the name of each and every character on cartoons.

The men must shave their legs, wear makeup daily, which they will apply to themselves; either while driving or making 3 lunches.

Each man will have to make and indian hut model with six toothpicks, a tortilla and one marker and get a 4 year old to eat a serving of peas.

Each man must adorn himself with jewelry, wear uncomfortable, yet stylish shoes, keep their nails polished and eyebrows groomed. The men must try to get through each day without snot, spit-up or barf on their clothing.

During one of the six weeks, the men will have to endure severe abdominal cramps, back aches, and have extreme unexplained mood swings but never once complain or slow down from other duties.They must try to explain what a tampon is for when the 6 year old boy finds it in the purse.

They must attend weekly school meetings, church and find time at least once to spend the afternoon at the park or similar setting.

He will need to read a book and then pray with the children each night without falling asleep, and then feed them, dress them, brush their teeth and comb their hair each morning by 7:00 a.m.

They must leave the home with no food on their face or clothes.

A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be required to know all of the following information: each child's birthday, height, weight, shoe size, clothes size and doctor's name. Also the child's weight at birth, length, times of birth, and length of labor, each child's favorite color, middle name, favorite snack, favorite song, favorite drink, favorite toy, biggest fear and what they want to be when they grow up.

They must clean up after their sick children at 2:00 a.m. and then spend the remainder of the day tending to that child and waiting on them hand and foot until they are better.

They must have a loving, age-appropriate reply to, "You're not the boss of me."

The kids vote them off the island based on performance. The last man wins ONLY if .....he still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment's notice.

If the last man does win, he can play the game over and over and over again for the next 18-25 years...eventually earning the right to be called Mother!

HA HA HA I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. NOW, I appreciate the man in my life and he helps with a lot of these things so I don't do all of them on my own.... but it still made me laugh really hard!!! Can I get a WOOT WOOT for motherhood!!

Drake's First Word

We have been really busy the last few weeks. Josh got put in the bishopric and has been so busy with meetings, leaving me very busy with Drake and no time to blog. Besides all of the babbling of mama and dada, Drake said his first word, HI! Of course we are very proud of him and think he is so smart! We love this little man and think that everything he does is marvelous!