Pumpkin Decorating

Are you sick of me blogging about everything yet? I told you this is my favorite time of year...so deal with it!! We decided to paint pumpkins this year because we will be going to Puerto Rico for Halloween and I wanted to enjoy the pumpkins as long as we could without them getting all moldy...yuck! It was quite the adventure with Malak. Of course he had to be involved and do things just like the big kids do. James was very brave to have him on his lap and enjoy being painted as well as the pumpkin.

James cousin Zaida was visiting Las Vegas with her boyfriend over the weekend, so they helped us paint the pumkins. They came here from Washington DC for a couple of days. James took the kids down to the strip and hung out with them a couple of nights over the weekend while I was in Idaho. They all had a great time and it was nice to have help with the pumpkins!

Pumpkin Hunting

So last monday James had the day off work for Columbus Day so we decided to take the boys to the Pumpkin Patch. It was kinda sad because I really like to do things with the whole family but realize if we don't do it when we have the chance--nobody will be involved. I realized that the little boys could pick out the pumpkins but everybody could help decorate them and it would be a family activity!! Just funny how life continually changes as a mom as your kids keep growing...you gotta roll with the punches!

So when we pulled up we should have realized it probably wasn't the best day to go because we were the only people there. When we got out of the car the wind was blowing sooo bad that they couldn't even have any of the blow up slides going or anything. It was a little sparse on activites, but we made the most of it and just fed the greedy goats! Malak was hilarious when we put him down. He would run in circles screaming and running from pumpkin to pumpkin trying to pick them all up! He just kept saying ewwww and ohhhh. I wish the dang kid would talk!!! He has such amazing communication skills..but I can pretty much understand anything!! So we picked out our pumpkins, fed the goats and went home! Short and sweet and to the point!

These pictures crack me up because their true personalities are shining through!! Kai is pretty mellow and up for anything most of the time...But watch out for Malak!! You never know exactly what you're getting with this kid but you better bet it won't be easy!!

Decorating for Halloween

This is by far my favorite time of year! I love everything about it! Fall in Vegas is a little challenging but I have actually started to feel the change in weather...slowly. I hadn't really been feeling up to the whole decorating thing but really want to create those memories with my children...so I compromised and only put half of my stuff out. (And realized that it's time to buy new stuff because the stuff I have is sooo old!) We had such a great time with Malak decorating. He is such a busy kid and we couldn't keep him concentrated in one area--he was everywhere!! I thought it was funny because this is the kid that gets freaked out when he sees Elmo on TV, but isn't scared at all of the Halloween spooky things! He just points and says, "EWWWW" and "OHHHHH". It is so cute to watch him pick everything up and help hand it to me without freaking out! Forget trying to take him to Wal-Mart or anwhere that has lots of stuff-he hyperventilates by ewwing so much! I love his personality! You can tell Kai was over decorating...he just wanted to ride his bike. As a matter of fact every time that garage door goes up the next question is, "Mom, can I ride my bike?" It's just automatic. I feel so bad because I hate going outside to let him ride his bike because I can't control Malak. And it's so hard in our neighborhood because we are on a very busy street and I stress out about it. Remember the good old days when you left your house in the morning and didn't come back until it was dark and you just played all day long with no supervision??? We definetly live in a different world. Orem and Provo are a lot different from Las Vegas....

National Honor Society

Jamie was inducted into the National Honor Society a couple of weeks ago and I was able to go and watch the ceremony. There were about 4 kids from our ward that were involved as well. It is great to see these amazing young men and women participating in these programs that will help them with leadership skills and organization. It is a program that they have to donate their time to helping the community and things like that. He was selected because of his GPA and his involvement with other activities. He again is such an AMAZING kid--I know you are all sick of my gushing about my son but there is never anything bad to write about! He truly is such a great kid and I am consistently reminded of that on a daily basis! I can only hope that the next 3 turn out as good as the 1st! :)

Bolivia Memories

It's been a while since this actually happened but I'm trying to catch up on all the things I have been meaning to blog about...so bear with me!

One of my dear old friends Patricia Lara came to Las Vegas and I was able to meet her and her husband for dinner. We had such a great time and it was awesome to reminisce. She looks as beautiful as she did when we were 13 years old! It was so great to catch up with her and hear about what happened in her life after we left Bolivia. I have felt such a void in my life since leaving Bolivia and all of my friendships that helped me through adolescence. I didn't know how to find anyone or reconnect with people since it's only been 20 years! Then I found facebook! Okay, I am not a very good facebooker because I just don't have the time but at least I have been able to find alot of people not only from Bolivia but from High School and everywhere in between. What an awesome network that is available to us to find our friends! It has made me think and have some regrets about not maintaining friendships. I'm not sure why I haven't kept my friendships through high school and things like that but it made me want to do better and keep those people in my life. I think it was such a difficult period in my life that I just wanted to leave it all behind and move on to the next thing...but realize now that it is healing to revisit these friedships.

Pat just got remarried and her new husband is great! My husband is so wonderful to go with me to these kind of things and be such a good sport! He can get along with anybody and did just that with Pat's husband...they were great friends by the end of dinner. We actually would love to go visit them within the next year in Miami! I loved being around Pat because I could understand her spanish so much better than I can with James' family. It encouraged me to speak it more freely instead of being intimidated by those crazy Puerto Ricans that speak sooooo fast! I need to brush up on my spanish anyway---but it gave me a little more confidence! It was so awesome to see her and remember all of our fun times!

Good Ole Friends

I got to see some of my dear friends from High School while I was visiting in Utah! I wish I could have spent more time visiting with them...I didn't want to say goodbye because there was sooo much to talk about! I wanted to see more of them, but really planned my trip very last minute and didn't give much time for them to shuffle their schedules around. I was grateful for Kim and Shannon who met with me at One Man Diner in Lehi and spent time catching me up on everyone's life! It was soo great to see them and reminisce of our crazy drama days! I really kinda missed out on a lot of the good stuff becuase I was in Beauty School my senior year. I have alot of regrets about trying to grow up too fast and not enjoy my life--but grateful that I am able to reconnect and remember all the fun times we did have! I hope to see ALL of you very soon! Maybe a weekend in Vegas??

Time Alone

I was up in Utah this last week all by myself...that means all alone. No kids, no husband, and no responsibilitiesor schedule. The best part of the drive was the quiet and being able to think and reflect. I loved driving by the mountains and seeing all the changing colors of the leaves. It made me miss the seasons so much! Fall is definetly my favorite time of year!

It was so weird to spend time with my family and not have to chase after my kids or worry about toting them all along for all the festivities. I missed them terribly but was able to really enjoy my neice Ella, and nephews Lincoln, Russel and Riley. I didn't get to see any of the other kids, but it was great to actually focus on those around me instead of my kids. It was a little different experience for me because I always kinda feel like the bad aunt. I don't ever really get to spend time with any of my nieces and nephews without my own kids running around, which takes the focus off of them. I realized that it's not that I'm a bad aunt, I've just always had my own kids since my family was started first and haven't had the time to spend on building those relationships. I saw them in a different light this time and it was wonderful. I also got to spend some great time with JaNae. We went shopping all day and were able to buy her wedding shoes. Whenever we go shopping, she's kind of a drag because she usually gets stuck with the kids and this time there were none! She actually bought some things for herself and I bought her the cutest outfit for her bridal pictures. I really enjoyed my day with my little sis! I can't believe she's getting married! I am very happy for her!


These shoes are some that she tried on...she found the ugliest ones she could--and joked she would wear them for her wedding! If we could have found some cute tennis shoes-she would have worn those under her dress. Maybe she still will...

We were able to go to dinner with those that could make it on Saturday night. And of course we went to my favorite restaurant--Wasatch Broiler! It was great to see Mindy and sit and talk with all those that were there! I love my family!

Funnies

We were riding in the car the other day--and Kai was sitting in the backseat...randomly he says,"Mom, we need to move to China!" So of course I am laughing and ask him why--he says, "it's time. We've lived in our house a long time and I'm ready to go." Okay--what?? He is the most random kid ever--maybe you had to be there, but I thought it was hilarious!

Homecoming Week

Jamie had Homecoming all last week. Since he is in Student Council we didn't see him before 9:00 almost every night last week. He was super busy, but we all had so much fun. It was a little crazy, but we managed to keep it together...I think:) He had been working on a float all week long, but it all paid off because his group won the award for best float at the Homecoming game on Friday night.

He had open house on Tuesday night so I got to meet all of his teachers and got to go back to High School for a day...lots of memories! As I was going through his schedule and sitting in all of his classes talking to his teachers, I realized just how much he has on his plate. Not only is he taking all honors classes this year, but he also has an AP Biology Class. He had to fit US History in somewhere and didn't have any room for it, so he is taking it as a virtual class on-line. I was a very proud mom at that moment realizing how much ambition he has and how much responsibility he has taken on himself. He never complains about not getting to bed before 11:00 pm. He never whines about getting up at 5:00 am to get to early morning seminary. He is so disciplined about staying home on the weekends to get all of his homework done instead of hanging out with his friends. He really hasn't had a social life this year because he's been so busy with school.

During the open house at school, his guitar class performed a few songs for the crowd that gathered to listen. He loves music so much! I wish that he had more time to spend practicing the guitar and enjoying his music. I am very proud of his sacrifice this year and I know it will pay off in the long run. James and I decided we needed to do something nice for him to reward his good behavior--which we have really noticed lately. His favorite thing in the world is my ipod which he always borrows. We wouldn't buy him one becuase he's already gone through 2 in the last couple of years. He's been without one for a very long time, so I decided to go buy him one to let him know how much we love him and appreciate his hard work. We've started seeing that transition from young'n to adult and it's exciting and hard at the same time. His smile was priceless when he saw what we were giving him. I love having him around and am so grateful for him in my life! He's such a blessing.