Gage's Baptism

i woke up very emotional-i just couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that my oldest boy was EIGHT! *the above photos were taken by my uber talented friend janelle-she is awesome
after the baptism we came back to our house for lunch. we did it OUTSIDE in our backyard-on the SIXTH of november-amazing! this weather can stick around as long as it wants to! we had so many family and friends there to support gage. it was such a great day. neal did an amazing job and i felt the spirit so strongly--it reaffirmed to me that this is what it is all about, this is why we are here on earth. it was awesome to think that gage had taken his first step to returning to Heavenly Father. the only regret i have is i didnt gt a pic of gage in his suit on his actual baptism day. oh well. a soon as we pulled into the garage he was up in his room changing inyo comfortable clothes--boy takes after his mom--i took off my high heeled boots in exchange for flip flops as soon as i could!

Carving Pumpkins

i forgot to include these pics with my halloween post but wanted to post them because they are so dang cute!

Halloween 2010

this was the first year i let the kids choose what they wanted to be. usually my OCD self likes to have a THEME to halloween. since this is the year of letting things go, i told them to have at it! this is what we got: Micheal Jackson, Harry Potter, a (NICE) lion (because he is PETRIFIED of lions and would only be one if he could be a NICE one) and a lil' pumpkin.



the kids got to wear their costumes to school on friday. it was fun to get lots of use out of them. this is a picture of our little friends brock and parker who looked AWESOME! parker was the best lil' pirate i've seen and brock looked C.L.A.S.S.I.C as brett micheals. hahaha, i was dying when i saw him!me, ryder and lucy went with my dad and kim to the parade friday morning and then we stayed and helped out with the class parties. it was a fun-filled sugary day! saturday we got a TON done around the house and yard and that night my dad and kim came over for the traditional chilli diner before trick-or-treating. it was rainy and cold but the kids had a great time. it was ryder's first real year of going door to door and he loved it. i am SOOO glad that the candy has officially run out-with ALOT of help from me ;) i LOVE halloween--such a great, fun time of year.

it's great to be eight

gage's birthday this year has stretched over a two week period. poor boe-boe. he is green with envy and is SO glad that after yesterday(gage's baptism-more to come) it is FINALLY over! gage woke up on his actual birthday to the greatest surprise ever(as far as he is concerned)...gage as mentioned previously is OB.SESS.ED with MJ. LOVES him. LISTENS to his music OB.SESS.IVE.LY. gage is also spoiled rotten and has every toy/game known to mankind. gage's parents are SICK OF TOYS. gage's mom had a fantastic idea to take gage somewhere fun and amazing for his 8th birthday. after said mom heard the ad for THRILLER at kingsbury hall, the deal was sealed. here is gage's mini cake that he woke up to on October 25, 2010:
it says(in case you can't read it) "gage is going to THRILLER"
here is gage's face when he saw his cake on his bday morning:

he was WAY excited---me, neal, gage and boe went the next day(October 26th) and it was AWESOME! neither neal or myself could believe that we had lived here our whole lives and had never seen it--it was amazing. i would DEFINITELY recommend it to everyone. gage said over and over that this was the BEST birthday he has ever had. he is already asking when we can go again. mission accomplished :)

To my boy...

dear gage,
what can i say to describe how i feel right now? i cannot...CANNOT believe that EIGHT years have gone by since you made me a mommy for the first time. i remember it like it was YESTERDAY. i was so.scared. SO.SCARED. to give birth. so scared to have a baby-so didn't know WHAT i was doing--i felt so unprepared to become a mom. my labor was awesome and eight hours later after 10 minutes of pushing, you were born. all 5 pounds 10 ounces of you. you came out rearing and ready to go. your eyes were open and bright, you looked like you were ready to take on the world. from the moment you were born you have never stopped. you got your first tooth at four months, crawled at five months, walked at ten months, CLIMBED out of your crib at eleven months, talked FULL sentences by the time you were one and actually TOLD me what kind of party you wanted for your second birthday. you are energetic and full of life. you are smart and funny. you are compassionate and empathetic and tolerant of others, especially me. you tell me all the time that you love me and that i am beautiful...even when i am nine months pregnan and huge or first thing in the morning---you are a sweet, sweet boy and i am so proud to be your mom. you are quick to forgive and are easily talked out of a bad mood. you want SO badly to choose the right and make good choices. i love you--always, no matter what. thank you for being my son, for teaching me SO MUCH in your short little life and for loving me no matter what.

i love you.
mommy

Gage's 8th Birthday Party

my boy turned EIGHT this year. what?! EIGHT YEARS have gone by?!?!?! gage is REALLY into michael jackson right now, i mean OBSESSED with him. at first my creative juices started flowing...i had grandiose ideas for an A-MAZING micheal jackson themed party. then reality set in. i REEEAAALLLYYY didn't want ten million kids at my house for three hours. i know that's rude. i know that is NOT a FUN-MOM thing to say, but it is so true. as stated in other posts, i have been SO OVERWELMED, pathetic as it is, it's the truth. so my SMART juices started flowing and i suggested that gage invite his BEST friends to do something like a movie or incredible pizza or boondocks, really anything, just as long as it WASN'T AT MY HOUSE! gage decided to take his best buddies to Toy Story 3. GREAT idea. we had the kids come over and do presents/cake and ice-cream--because of the AMAZING weather, we did it OUTSIDE!!! outside on OCTOBER 22--go figure. kim helped me out a TON by coming with us--we had 11 kids and 2 adults. it was AWESOME! the kids were great. they sat back, enjoyed their treat bags, popcorn and drinks and watched the movie. we got back a little after six p.m. the kids were all gone by six thirty. the best part? my house looked EXACTLY the same after the kids were gone as it did before they got there! AWESOME! SO. WORTH. THE. MONEY!

HobbleCreek Half 2010

neal my dad, kim and kaylee ran the hobble creek half marathon this year. i was SOOO jealous to not be running with them. you would think (and hope) that this jealously would be a motivation for me to get my butt running again but alas that has not happened yet. hopefully soon ;) anyways, they all did great. neal's goal was to do it in 2 hours or less and he did it in one hour fifty seven minutes! that is a GREAT time. my best time is 2:08---i want and NEED to beat the two hour mark and neal was able to do it his FIRST time! it was fun to be at the finish line waiting rather then running thru it! maybe next year i will be ready to run again, one can hope right?! my dad, kim and kaylee all did great too! way to go--13.1 miles is a L.O.N.G distance!

Lucy's Blessing

we blessed lucy on september 5. it was such a great day. in that i am only going to have one little girl, i decided to bless her in my blessing dress, which was handmade by my beautiful aunt lanae. i had it restored and for being nearly 33 years old, it looked amazing. i found a vintage headband that matched it perfectly and she even wore the little slippers that i did!