The Princess and the Cowboy

Halloween this year was low key. Gracie liked the candy but wasn't too enthusiastic about the holiday in general. She didn't quite get the whole concept so the main event was a trick-or-treating party held at Sean's clinic on Wednesday evening. The party was for employees and their families. The patient rooms in the clinic were decorated in festive Halloween decor for the kids to trick-or-treat through. On Halloween we only went to the neighbors (six or seven doors) mostly just to say we did.
Although- dressing up is always fun, even if nobody else sees you. This year Gracie was a princess/fairy. This was convenient because we had everything she needed for a costume (since she wears various pieces of the outfit daily). Kemp was a cowboy. We tried to do a photo shoot but it was SO HARD to get Kemp to sit still! I don't know if you can tell in the pictures, but he wasn't too happy that we kept putting him back in the same spot on the floor over...and over...and over.

Gracie had special sparkly makeup and stickers to complete her costume. She loved having ear rings. It almost convinced me to get her ears pierced.

Here she added a sticker to her nose. As well as makeup on her cheeks which looked more clown-ish so I wiped it off before picture time.

She can fly!

This is her angry face.

Bowling

A friend of mine (her husband is one of Sean's fellow residents) set up a bowling playdate for all of us wives. School is in session so all of the kids who came bowling were under five. Which made it...exciting. I wish I could say that Gracie loved it but she actually spent most of the time crying. She was in a mood. Does anyone else have a three year old that is as moody and cries as much as mine? Please say yes. Kemp had a great time trying to escape and crawl onto the bowling lanes. He also liked watching the colorful balls pop up through the ball return. I had never seen this before,but they had these neat metal-bar-ramp thingy. All the kids had to do was set the ball on top and push it down. With that and bumpers how can you go wrong?

Yes, We are from Arizona

It is a big day for us today. It snowed for the first time! But the REAL miracle was that Sean randomly got a few hours off in the morning and came home unexpectedly. This was a big blessing. I have been feeling picked on lately because it feels like Sean is never home. Really he is the one who is picked on though. It was really special that he could be home while the kids watched it snow for the first time. Well, Gracie saw snow about a year ago but who knows if she really remembers.

Here is our yard. The snow didn't stick, but we aren't prepared for that anyway. We need to buy a shovel, gloves, etc. still. There is a whole list. Shovel, gloves, boots, windshields scrapers, a carseat for Kemp with straps big enough to fit him AND his coat.

Can you see the excitement in their sweet hearts!

Today Gracie is sporting her princess nightgown. I told her she had to wear pants so she grabbed her black leggings. To top it off tennis shoes (no socks) and her new coat.

Gracie's reaction. "Mom! It's winter! Lets build a snowman." Then proceeded to get several books with pictures of snow to show me.

Kemps reaction. Slapping the window because he REALLY wanted to go outside.

We took a drive up the canyon by our house where the snow was sticking. Gracie liked it until the cold wind started.

This is...

This is...our family. Actually, they are the characters from the PBS show "Super Why." But, according to Grace, it is our family. Dad is Super Why. The hero. I am the spunky, sporty girl on roller blades. I guess I can go with that. Gracie is...well the princess of course! And then our pig is Kemp. The little guy who likes to eat and grunts a lot. I bet you didn't know we were famous and had our own TV show.




This is...Gracie's baby. A bottle of gel with a comb-pillow and mouse pad blanket. She is in a super creative and imaginative phase right now. A sandwich becomes a tunnel and the apple slice a car. The baton becomes a microphone, horse, dumbell, crayon, and drumstick. Which makes me think I don't need to buy her any toys for Christmas.


This is...our "after Sean worked the night" tradition. He comes home after his 30 hour shift and showers. We eat lunch and then crash on the couch and watch a movie while he catches up on sleep. Gracie loves it. Kemp loses interest after a while so he and I do our own thing.

Falling for Fall

Today we went to Walmart. After tromping ALL. OVER. THE STORE.- I looked down and saw that Kemp only had one shoe on. So, we tromped back ALL. OVER. THE STORE. hoping to find it. No luck. Sure, he almost never keeps them on anyway (as demonstrated). Sure, he would probably grow out of them in a few weeks. But does that make me feel better? Not really.

On another note...

It is fall! When I was little I didn't like autumn. I thought it was depressing because everything seemed to be dying and it was cold and gloomy. Somehow I missed all of the beautiful colors. It is amazing! I love fall! The colors are bright and stunning. Some days are cold but others are absolutely perfect. I was going to steal some pictures off the web (because I haven't had my camera by my side to take pictures when we pass a picturesque spot) but started feeling guilty. So, I will try to take some and in the mean time, try not to feel a little envious as you picture in your head all of the beautiful fall colors surrounding me. :)

Big Number Three

Gracie is three! I can't believe that I am old enough to have a three-year-old child. When did that happen?
For Gracie's special day Sean got off at 1:00 and we did presents and cake. Then we packed and headed up to Midway, Utah for a retreat Sean's residency was hosting. Luckily Gracie LOVES to stay in hotels so we told her it was for her birthday (happy face). Too bad Dad had to go to meetings-but not that many (sad face). We slept at a quaint resort called the Homestead. They had a little playground, a scarecrow festival (a lawn that was full of creative and funny scarecrows from local businesses) and an indoor pool. Time was short so we couldn't go swimming (sad face) but Gracie still had fun. The weather was crisp and the leaves were changing. A perfect time to spend in the beautiful mountains. Gracie got tons of birthday wishes from Sean's coworkers and knew that this was her special day. All in all a fun birthday (great big happy face!).

Thanks to Aunt Sarah who came over in the morning and played with us! And helped make this fantastic cake.

Gracie is wearing one of her presents- a cinderella dress. She wore it most of the day. What a little princess!

Funny Video

This is us experimenting with our webcam. Ignore me in my robe. I stay in my PJs and robe til all hours of the morning when its cold. The video is kind of long, but if you hang on until the end Gracie starts to get funny with the different effects of the camera (she can see herself on the screen). The funnyness starts around minute 1:30 in the video. Maybe I'm just her mom, but it sure made me smile.

I think it might be too long and not play very well online. Please let me know if it is not working.

Its A Small World

Did you watch conference? I got some really great stuff out of the talks. I was suprised that I was still able to absorb a fair amount even with two kiddies tugging at me to get my attention. Gracie was so excited to see Pres. Monson on TV. Not to mention on the local channel through the attena/digital box and not cable. Living in Utah definitely has its perks.

Did you hear the talk by this man? Russell T. Osguthorpe is the Sunday school general president. He spoke about teaching with the spirit and teachers 'saving lives'. At the beginning of his talk he told how his son left to go to work at the hospital and said, "I've got to go save some lives." Well- his son is Sean's attending and on the faculty of the residency. (Just in case you were wondering Dr. Osguthorpe works in pediatric infectious diseases.) Sean actually called him during conference (not while his dad was speaking) because Sean had to work and they had a kid with an infectious disease that they needed to consult about. So my husbands-attending's-dad knows President Monson.

P.S. I really liked the talk.

Newest Member of Our Family

Gracie is sporting her Colts outfit. She picked it out herself and says that she is a "football dame" (football game player) when she is wearing it.

What is there to do for FHE that costs less than $20 and includes a long term commitment? Buy a bird! That is what we did last Monday. We already had a cage so we just had to go to the pet store and pick one out. It was a spur of the moment decision but Gracie was really excited about it. She named it Mary-Mary. We suggested other names but she would have none other.

My personal history with birds has been bitter-sweet. I got a parakeet when I was in 5th grade for my birthday. As far as birds go, it rocked. I trained it so that it would fly to me when I snapped my fingers. It would sit on my shoulder and was pretty affectionate, for a bird that is. I had it for about two years and then our cat killed it. The circle of life I guess.

Sean and I have had two birds. Neither with happy endings. The first, named Tink (Tinkerbell), was grouchy. We started letting her out of the cage but we found her dead one day on the bottom of the cage. She had a bad habit of eating carpet and pest control sprayed our house that day, so we think the two were a bad combination.

Our second bird was named Captain after Captain Edward Teach- the pirate also known as Blackbeard. We thought it would be neat to have a little bird sitting on our shoulder who was the Captain. We didn't do a great job of training it and one day while it flew out the door. Oops.

But we have big plans for this bird. I am going to train it well. I am also home all day so it gets a lot more attention. Gracie loves the bird and likes to tell her all the news. Kemp thinks it is neat, too. He points and grunts to let us know he wants to look at her up close for a while.

And so we welcome the newest member of our family. Mary-Mary (or Merry-Merry if you'd like).