Happy Halloween!

Garett: Army Guy
Carson: Fred Flinstone
Jaxon: Ninja
Kelsi: Tinkerbell










This was the first year the kids went trick or treating by themselves! Carson and Garett were terrific and brought Kelsi and Jaxon home alive and with buckets of Candy to boot! I actually MADE Carson's costume with an actual sewing machine! I made 4 whole seams...and the rest is glued.
I stayed home and handed out candy. I actually really like to do that. I think it's fun. Andy watched a football game while he carved pumkins. It was even pretty good weather. The rain held off till later in the night. It was indeed a Happy Halloween.

The Pumpkin Master

Andy kind of had a late start on the pumpkin carving this year. He only got three done. The spider is actually Carson's. He gutted it and transferred the pattern on. Carson took the kids trick or treating this year and they could not wait one more second so Andy finished it up for him. Some of you may not realize this but Andy is a master Pumpkin carver! Every year we get many compliments on his pumpkins!

Andy Is A Genius!

Yes, this is exactly what it looks like it is! Andy is sawing this box spring in half. Here's the deal: We finally cleaned out the play room and painted the room downstairs for Sir Carson. We started to move his bed down but when it came to the box spring we couldn't get it around the bend on the basement stairs--too tight. After wedging the box spring, smashing our toes and various fingers, getting frustrated because of lack of communicating moving instructions clearly and digging marks in the wall, we decided it wasn't going to work. So then we took the box spring and mattress back upstairs. (Here's a tip: If you ever have to move a bed, move the box spring first! Saves you from having to move the heavy mattress twice. I know this from experience.) So then we thought well maybe we'll have to get Carson a full sized bed and let Kelsi have our old bed. But that would have been a bummer because Andy just refinished some furniture for Kelsi's room that we inherited from Andy's grandparents (a bed and a cute little vanity with a GIANT mirror). We didn't think Carson would really appreciate the vanity or the giant mirror so we didn't want to give him the bed either. So we went to the local Furniture Store--where they are always having an inventory clearance sale--like every day. We explained our problem and the guy said, "Oh, I could get it down." "Oh really!" I thought. Then he said that all we had to do was buy a split queen box spring for a mere $180. Well, we didn't really feel like doing that. Andy did some research and watched a couple on YouTube cut their box spring in half (which was actually quite entertaining). Then Andy said, "If these Yahoo's can do it, we can for sure do it." So he did and it worked Swell! We got the box spring and the mattress downstairs. Carson is still working on the "crib" but I'll post a picture when he gets it finished.

Aaaaaarrrrggg Matey!

This year Andy's office dressed up as Peter Pan Characters to deliver donuts to all the dentists. He had several ideas: Ken and Barbies, Mr. Potato Head and the "you have saved our lives, we are eternally grateful" aliens, Sesame Street characters...but Captain Hook and crew seemed to be the most do-able. He enlisted the help of one cutie-pie fairy! After all who can resist a cute 4 year old Tinkerbell? They are actually out delivering now, even as I type, so I'm not sure how it's going, but you can't go wrong with Andy in a curly black wig, can you? He was pretty creeped out by the black moustache as it was made with REAL HUMAN HAIR! A selling point printed very clearly on the packaging that was not appreciated by Captain Hook himself.

The Table Saga

Andy purchased this table at our ward yard sale a year ago for 5 bucks. He thought he could strip it and refinish it--easy, peasy, lemon squeezy. After $100 worth of stripping stuff, several weeks of trying to get the industrial strength finish off, and many swear words in his head he broke down and rented a belt sander and sanded the crud out of it. He finally got all of the finish off and enlisted the help of a wood worker in our ward to get all of the edges squared up. A couple of coats of stain and he was ready to seal it up. The problem was it was November by this time and way too cold to apply the finish. So he wrapped it up and stored it in the basement. After the craziness of summer wound up he decided to break it out and finish it up. After 20 or so coats of polyurethane he felt it was ready. He brought it into the house to "cure" for a month...make sure it was nice and hard. Finally the day came when he set it up and we all admired his handy work! We ate dinner on it that night marveling at what a good job he did. The finish help up to dinner---SUCCESS! Unfortunately that's about all it held up to. After dinner Jaxon decided to draw some pictures and the pressure from the pen on the paper went right through all 20 layers of polyurethane and made a lovely scratch-picture on the table. It's hard to see on the photo above because of the flash but if you look real hard you can see a person drawn by Jaxon. Now we know why it was almost impossible to get the original finish off. My theory is it is because the wood is sooooo soft (pine). Andy is so disgusted I'm not sure what the plan is now. Strip it and try again or throw it away? So far it is still up and we are still using it but nobody can do their homework on it or do any sort of writing. We kept the old table so maybe when Andy gets done grieving he'll decide to swap it back out again. I'll keep you posted.
This has nothing to do with the table saga but it was quite a funny conversation held at said table. The subject of childbirth came up and Andy and I were explaining a very small inkling of what childbirth involves.
Jaxon says, "MAN, I'm glad I'm not a girl!"
To which Kelsi replies, "Well, I'm a girl."
J; "WELL, get ready for the PAIN!!!!!!"
K: "Well I won't have pain anymore."
J somewhat incredulously: "BABIES!!!!!!!!!"

Life on "The Hill"

This September I turned 40!!!!!! A fact the Kelsi tells EVERYONE! "My mom is 40!" It was a Super Groovy birthday-literally! Andy took me to Abbamania. It's this group that tours around and pretends they are ABBA. They were actually REALLY good. Andy even got up and danced in the aisle with me. We were sitting on an aisle seat so he only had to get up and scootch over an inch or two. The fact remains that he still got up and danced . Which I know he would have NEVER done on his own but he was trying really hard to be fun for me. What a sweetie-pie!
Then he came home for lunch on my birthday and very stealthily ran into the back yard, ripped up the stakes that were in our garden, clattered them on the front lawn, and started pounding the snot out of them into our front lawn. After that display he had my attention. Then he started struggling with this 20 foot long piece of butcher paper. After it became apparent to me that he was in need of some assistance I went out and helped him tape up this banner that read "40 and HOT ooh la la!" ...complete with black balloons. I think he was secretly trying to get released from his bishopric duties by being a rebel rouser with THAT kind of sign. It didn't work. I loved it anyway. I thought it was hilarious and hopefully kept the neighbors talking for weeks! My mom came over later that night and brought me one of my new favorite treats--an Italian gelati! Thanks to all of you who sent gifts and cards and warm thoughts and wishes!
All in all it was a great birthday!

Back in Business!

Ahhhhhh! We finally got a computer that works! Hooray! Actually when the other one worked it was swell...but the hard drive kept freezing up...so-not so swell!
I think when we last left off we had just gotten back from a rather stellar mini-vacation. I thought it was a disaster but the kids have mentioned things about it for two months now. So I guess it's the disasters we remember the most. I should remember that during our next disaster.
School finally started and we were sort of able to get back into a routine; something we were all ready for. I thought things might slow down for me once school started. I was wrong. Oh well, I might as well be busy--I like it better that way anyway. The new photos on the right are first day of school photos. (Kelsi didn't actually start school until Sept. 21 but we took her photo anyway!) Carson started 8th grade in the big Jr. High (weird for me). He likes it. He has some really good teachers that he likes, so that is good. He is still in orchestra playing the violin and he is still taking piano lessons (much to his chagrin). He is also still in ballroom dance. He is on the Junior team this year which is a much bigger time commitment than it has been in the past. He is really having to learn the art of wise time management.
Garett is in the sixth grade at the middle school. He also likes his teachers and is doing well. Here's the biggest news,...so far he has an A in spelling.....hooray....we'll try to keep that up. He is playing the trumpet and also taking piano. He REFUSED to take ballroom. He wouldn't even try it he was that sure he would hate it! Which is O.K. because he has an UBER 11 year old scout leader who believes in three hour meetings and campouts which last from Friday at 4:00pm to Sat. at 9:00 pm. Jaxon is in the first grade and this is his first year at school ALL DAY! He, too, likes his teacher and is doing well. He's a super reader. His level is 3.2 (third grade). I teach art in his class once a month and his teacher told me, "Jaxon's a bright boy. I can tell I'm going to need something for him to do all the time." I told her that would be great idea.
Kelsi started preschool at BYU-I which she absolutely adores!!!! She goes on Tues and Thurs morning for 2 hours. She's only in for one semester so she will be done in December. I'm usually not a big preschool person but she may change my mind in Jan. We'll see.