My Favorite Things

Addilyn

Maycie

Alex (aka: Bubba)

In My Mind I'm Goin' To Carolina

I knew the first time I saw the beauty of North Carolina that I would love it. I didn't expect to fall "in love" with it and have it feel so much like home. I love that I want to raise my kids here in that down to earth, Southern country goodness. I may be Utah born and raised, and I'm proud of that, but there's no place like home, and North Carolina is home.

The pictures are by my dear friend Caiti's sister, Shannon Hadden. Thanks Shannon for capturing my children so beautifully. If any of you need family pictures, let me know. She lives in Utah and I can give you her email.

Trick or Treat! Aren't they Sweet!?

Our traditional Halloween dinner of Tyropita and tomato soup. It's the one meal they look forward to almost as much as the trick-or-treating.

Trick-or-Treat!

Yeah! Free candy! Here comes Maycie the Bat-dog.

Alex, sharing his spoils with dad. Actually, all the kids had a fairly generous spirit. After trick-or-treating Addie was excited to come home and hand out candy. When we ran out sooner than planned, she decided to empty her bag of candy into the hand out bowl. The other kids pitched in and we were left over with very little candy and no sugar hangover. What a great idea, Addie.

What Shall I Be?

Isn't Halloween magical? The one day a year you can be anyone or anything. Indecisive Addie settled on a hula dancer for our church's Trunk-or-Treat. Can you guess what Maycie is? in her own words, "Are you afraid? Am I a bat? Am I a dog? No, I'm a bat-dog." Maycie's imagination never ceases to amaze me. She found a hand-me-down vampire costume and never waivered from her inventive "bat-dog" disguise.

My little linebacker. There's no great stretch of the imagination here. The kid looks like a football player in everyway. A future Carolina Panthers player? Maybe.

After a "dress rehersal" at the Trunk-or-Treat, Addie changed her mind to be a "wedding girl". Now we're ready to Trick-or-Treat.

Horray for Halloween!

Picking the perfect pumpkin with my little pun'kins.

The 2nd Annual Carving Fest with the Sixts.

Spooky Bats and Spiders. Addie and Maycie couldn't wait to decorate the house with these homemade decorations.

Fall Fun at the Woolly Worm Festival

Choosing the perfect Woolly Worm(Fuzzy Catepillar). I hope we get a fast one.

No Joke, there is an actual festival in Banner Elk, North Carolina in honor of this furry little creature. Everyone races their "wooly worm" up staged ropes for a grand prize of $1,000. Quite a sum for such a little guy.

Corn Chex and Ketchup?

Maycie's unusual snack request of corn chex and ketchup. She must get her delicate palate from her dad.

My Favorite Sound

I'm listening to my favorite sound, which is my three children playing harmoniously together. How blessed I am.

Dancing Queens

Not-so-good Mom Moment

Today I'd been a bit grumpy and I'm afraid I took it out on the kids a bit. My patience level was nearly non existent. However, Maycie quickly humbled me. Tonight as I was putting her to bed, with big blue puppy dog eyes and in her sweetest voice she said, "Mom, tomorrow will you please not be so mad?" OUCH!! Right to the heart. I promise I'll be better tomorrow. Thank goodness kids are so darn forgiving.

Good Mom Moment

I love my kids. They can be so sweet to each other. The other day Alex showed affection to his sisters by bringing them their special blankets- their favorite comfort item. It was so cute how he handed them each their own blanket and how he ate up the affection his sisters gave him for his good deed. That was definitely a good mom moment.

Safety Boy!

It's a bird. It's a plane. No, it's safety boy, or techno boy!!!

Happy 30th Birthday, Adria!

Since Sandy Abbott and I share a birthday in the same week we decided to celebrate together at the Cheesecake Factory. Love those lettuce wraps - and cheesecake of course!

Cool Cruisin'

For Adria's 30th birthday and our 9th anniversary went on a cruise to Canada and New England. We departed Sept. 14, 2008 from New York City on the Norwegian Dawn. Rob's parents were so kind to take a week off to come watch the kids for us. It took me about 3 days on the cruise to relax and not feel so guilty about leaving my children for the first time ever. How silly is that?! Then I slapped myself and tried to enjoy the absolute relaxation and freedom. I really got the hang of it after a few days. We read (love those Twilight series), slept, ate, did sight seeing, ate, played games, watched movies, read some more, ate... did I mention how much we ate? It was truly a vacation. Can't wait to do it again.

Cruising past the Statue of Liberty as we depart from New York City.