I just want to SQUEEZE her.

Annie's learning so much every day- new words (Bumpa, Grace, amen, bye-bye, kay, please), attempting to eat with a fork and spoon, somersaults, unzipping her jackets, putting on big shoes, wearing purses, opening books and turning pages, the list goes on. Most importantly, she is learning how to get anything she wants from her Daddy.

When I grow up, I want to work at the candy factory.

I think next year I might enroll myself in preschool. It's awesome! This week "Hands On Preschool" went to Mrs. Call's Candy Factory in Heber City. I was lucky enough to tag along as a volunteer. This place was awesome! It has 100 year old machines doing lots of the work as candy makers maneuver the goods through a series of cooking, conveyor belts, and wrapping. My mouth was watering the entire time. I don't know who was more glued to Mrs. Call- the kids, or the volunteers!
Volunteers: Amylee, Melissa Duke, Darcy Haas
Pictured above are black licorice caramels after they have been cut into strips. The gear looking machine in the bottom right of the picture is what cuts them into the bite size pieces that you purchase. It worked like a machine gun- this is definitely the job Dallas would have if we worked in a candy factory.
Above: The kids are watching the candy "wrapper" wrap the candies and then drop onto the conveyor belt which loads them into big boxes.

Will, Sidney, and Grace. (Side note: Will tells me he is marrying Sidney because he loves her.)

Betrayed

William. Bless his soul, I love that boy more and more everyday. He's very cute and funny as of late, but sometimes he's only funny to other people and not so much to me.

Example:

There is a family in our ward, the Booths, that love our kids and always offer to watch them. They're both sheriffs, so I trust them. Their house is like Disneyland compared to ours, so Will loves to go over there as well; it's a win-win for all of us. Well, a few months ago they watched our kids and said Will just made them laugh and laugh. I didn't find out why until last night.

Dave Booth was talking to Dallas about the kids and his wife Kati asked if Dave had told Dallas what Will said. Dave said, "No Way", which only made Dallas more curious. After a few minutes of trying to talk them into it, Dave finally spilled the beans.

Their whole family was in their living room and one of their daughters passed some gas. Will started laughing and Dave said, "You think that fart is funny?" Will, who has been properly trained to not say the "fart" word and instead says "gas" or "toot", was ecstatic that he was allowed to say "fart" at their house. He went crazy saying "fart fart fart" and making them laugh because of how funny he thought it was. Then Will let the bomb drop-

"YOU KNOW WHAT? MY MOM FARTS SOOO LOUD, AND HER FARTS STINK!!!"

I have been betrayed by my own flesh and blood.

I must clarify- my toots smell like roses.

Mistakes

I make mistakes sometimes. Hard to imagine, isn't it? After I tell you what I did today, you'll believe me. Separately, both things that took place are great; it's when you put them together that you get into trouble.

First off- I wanted something easy for dinner tonight. More specifically, I wanted the "Set it and forget it" type. I dug out the Shredded Pork sandwich recipe, threw Worcestershire sauce, mustard, brown sugar, ketchup, vinegar, onion powder, salt, and some juicy pork in the crock pot, set it, and walked away.

Secondly- I caught the cleaning bug! This was very good news as the little hand prints and slobber marks on my TV were telling me it was time I got down to business. So, Sarah McLachlan Wintersong was cranked on the Bose speakers, the pumpkin spice scentsy was flipped on, and I vacuumed and dusted to my little hearts content.

So what's wrong with this?

Pumpkin Spice BBQ Pork- that's what's wrong. I'm gonna be sick.

I have a sister...

Her name is Cami Anne. She's a beautiful, patient, kind, loving, creative, funny, organized wonder woman. In short, she's everything I could ever want to be and more.

Cami and I are 10 years apart- this is quite the gap. Although it has shrunk since I graduated from high school, got married, and shared 2 pregnancies with my sister, I still think we are close because she took the time to be a sister to me when I was going through all of my child and young adult awkwardness. Cami took me with her friends to haunted houses, game nights at the Eby's, and most importantly Walmart. (We will always have Walmart...) Although I proved myself annoying by dressing up in my high heels when I was 6 years old to see her prom date, Kirk, come pick her up, she still loved me.

And she still does. I look forward to our 4:30PM phone calls, Guitar Hero dates, and our crazy Saturdays catching soccer games, making crafts, and kissing our kid's owies. I never feel like we have enough time to spend together.

So, here's to you sister! Thanks for making me who I am, and inspiring me to be the woman I want to be. I love you.

I'm a private blog.

I didn't give enough of a warning when I suddenly went private with my blog last week and I think many of you believe I haven't been blogging as of late- NOT TRUE. So, I'm going private in about a week. If I don't have your e-mail from prior privatization, get it to me. Stalkers included.
Happy Friday!

That's what Will said...

"My friend Sidney had a green ice cream cone. Maybe it was pear... or maybe it was lemon... or maybe it was peas."

"One time we could have sausage. And popcorn. Let's have sausage and popcorn mixed together!"

Dallas: Annie, do you have a stinky diaper?
Will: No, it's just the broccoli. I smelled it when I was downstairs.

Will: Did you know I can count to 100?
Amy: You can? Tell you what, if you can count to 100 then you don't have to eat any of your dinner and you can just eat candy.
Will: 1.......... I want you to help me.

I think Will may have some misconceptions when it comes to food... except for the broccoli.

Super Tuesday

You can forget the Academy Awards, Super Bowl, ratings week, or the return of fall TV. Know what gets my husband glued to the tube? Elections.

This is Halloween!

As my kids continue to get older, the holidays just get better and better! This Halloween was no exception as we got to experience the events with some new traditions.

Will's preschool had a costume parade. The children were ecstatic walking around the block with giant smiles, waving, and saying "Happy Halloween". Things only got better when we went to their classroom where they sang some festive songs, and fed us doughnuts and Pirate Juice (homemade root beer)- "Drink if you Darrrrrre!" I was so proud to see Will sing with his classmates and to watch him interact in a different setting. He is so big!
Will was "Deadly Nadder" the dragon from How To Train Your Dragon this year.
Halloween evening was exceptionally rainy in Heber City, so luckily the annual Trunk-or-Treat was moved inside. There were chairs set all around the gym and the children walked around in a circle collecting their goodies. Will walked around by himself with his friend Grace, and Annie stood by Dallas and I shamelessly attacking the candy bowl. When we ran out of candy we walked Annie around to collect a few pieces, and then we were off to a little party at my friend Tracie Garcia's. Tracie stuffed us with goodies to give us energy to go door to door.
Unfortunately, it was just too rainy to Trick-or-Treat. We made it to 4 houses before we were drenched and headed to Grandma Kaiserman's for a game of Klondike Rummy and some pumpkin sheet cake and hot cocoa. We let Will eat candy to his little hearts content, and then we headed home- totally exhausted!

Happy Halloween!!!!!

Hard Core

Hard Core (adjective)- Running 5.25 miles in a blizzard.
Crazy (adjective)- Running 5.25 miles in a blizzard.
The winter running had to begin sometime.