Good Times On Halloween

What a CrAzY time of year! I love Halloween, but by the time it actually gets here, I have just about had it. This year was no exception. It started thursday evening with the Meadow Ward Halloween Party which is always a good time.

Friday morning was a just plain HeCtic trying to get the kids all dressed up, painted, and ready for the ScHooL CaRniVaL that the PTA puts on every year. They do such a great job, and the kids have a blast at it. They have asked me to help the past two years, and it is SO much fun to see all the kids dressed up so cute. Let me tell ya, this year I was in charge of the Witch Hat Ring Toss game and by the end of the day, I honestly had done at least a thousand lunges and squats picking up all the rings. My legs were sore for days after, but it was still a lot of fun.

After school Mo and I were stupid enough to think it would be fun to take the kids to SpOoKy StOrY hOuR at the Library in Fillmore. Now that was wild! I don't know what we were thinking, but the kids had fun there too.

By the time we needed to get the kids ready for TrIcK or TrEaTinG my nerves were completely shot. I know, I know, for those of you who know me, you would never believe that :) But, we got them ready and headed out. They had a great time, and of course got way too much candy.

Jeremy loves to dress up for school and this year he was a hit. He even had that redneck southern accent that he spoke with which had everyone bustin up.

Carson and Brock were both Darth Vader. Carson decided not to wear his mask because it hurt his face (the costume looks much better with the mask, but whatever!)
Bryson and Kaleb were both Vampires. Look at Kaleb's freaky face!!! Every picture was a tad bit scary. What a kid.

Here are all 4 girlies. Carlie was Tinkerbelle, Addi was Snow White, Tylie was a Ladybug, and Kamryn was a Witch. It gets a little crazy when the girls are all together, but they have a lot of fun together! Carlie was insistent that Kamryn needed her witch hat on, but Kamryn didn't think so!

Here's my little TyLiE bUg! Doesn't she just look so sweet and innocent??? Yep, she can fool anyone with that sweet little smile!

Here's the GirLs... Kelsey, Me, Skyler, and Mo. I am so glad that they came down to the ward party, it just isn't the same without them living in Meadow anymore! What are we gonna do when Sky leaves us and goes to college next year? We have a good time hangin out and chattin:)

The kids love goin to Great Grandma & Grandpa's house. Of course they spoil them rottin and let them pick WAY too much candy! I love these pictures we got of them with the kids.

What a cute pic of ALL the kids (except Kamryn who had already had enough at this point) with Great Grandma & Grandpa.
Addi and Great Grandpa. What a little cheeser!

I LOVE this sweet picture of my Grandma & Grandpa Beckstrand. How cute are they? We are so lucky to live right next door to them. My kids love to walk over and visit, and of course get treats. What great examples they are to me in every aspect of their lives!

My Little Darlin's At It Again!

What am I gonna do with this little darlin of mine???

So the other day I was getting ready for the day in my bathroom, and I had just changed my clothes. In the process of changing my pants, I emptied out my pockets. There just happened to be a tube of dark pink, extra thick and sticky, lipgloss in my pocket which I sat on the counter. I continued to do my hair, not noticing that while Tylie was in there watching me get ready, she grabbed the lipgloss and ran. She is so fast I didn't even know that she had taken it! A few minutes later, she came walkin into my bathroom and this is what I saw...

Yep, she bit the top off the lipgloss so she could just squeeze it out and that is just what she did. She went to town on painting herself, and just about everything else she could in the few minutes that she had.

That included her baby doll and her bedspread...

Her chair... and of course every bit of clothing she had on!
This is after I tried to get it off her face and out of her hair with baby wipes. You can tell that it didn't quite come out to easily, and she wasn't very happy about it.
In case you are wondering, the lipgloss did not come out easily! I washed, and scrubbed, and used every kind of shampoo possible and she still had pink hair! It had this thick greasy film that just would not come out. After a few days, and trying lots of different things, it finally has worn off and isn't pink anymore.

All I can say is it is a DANG good thing that she is so cute!

Oh ya, I keep forgetting about this, but here are the after pics of my kitchen cabinets. As you can see, after a few hours of scrubbing, most of the marker came off. You can't really see it very well in the picture, but there is very little evidence left of the black marker, and if you didn't know it was there, you'd never even notice it!

{ What a Special Lady...}

I am using the same post as Mo because I would have written almost exactly the same thing as her. Great minds think a lot :)

Monday morning my sweet Great-Grandma Neva passed away. I'm feeling guilty for all the times I drove past Spanish Fork and didn't stop. I'm feeling happy for her to get be with my Grandpa again. I'm feeling grateful that she loved us as her own, and for the wonderful memories of her that I will cherish. There are many words I can think of that describe Grandma Neva, but the one that stands out is SPUNKY! That woman could run circles around me up until a few years ago, and I don't think anyone walked as fast as she did. She made the most beautiful Christmas gifts for us when we were younger, but the wrapping was almost as beautiful. Even as a child I remember not wanting to open my gift because it was always SO perfect. I feel so privileged to have had her in my life and will truly miss her.

Neva Mower Sanderson Johnson
(February 12, 1920 - September 29, 2008)

Our beloved grandmother, mother, and friend, Neva Mower Sanderson Johnson, passed away peacefully September 29, 2008Neva was born February 12, 1920 in Oak Creek, Utah to Francis Marion Mower and Martha Terry. She married Ted Sanderson on August 9, 1939 and was later divorced. She married R. Dean Johnson on October 27, 1974 and was later sealed to him on December 22, 2001.Our grandma loved to crochet, garden, and bake pies for birthdays. She loved to camp and fish, she was a wonderful dancer, and made beautiful quilts. Grandma was the best Kismet player. We always got to see the happy dance when she got a Kismet. Grandma loved spending time with her grandkids. She was very dedicated to her roses and was rewarded for her efforts by receiving the Beautiful Yard Award in Spanish Fork. Grandma stayed active with her gardening and yard work and continued walking right up until the day of her death. Grandma never let her hair fade from its vibrant red color and always reminded us of her bent and crooked fingers–they were working hands.Grandma is now rejoicing in Heaven with her silver haired sweetheart and her beautiful little boy.She is survived by her son, Bryant (Colleen) Sanderson, of Santaquin; daughters, Charlene (Doug) Allan, of Mapleton; Paulette (Larry) LeDuc, of Provo; and Gwen (Keith) Barney, of Salem; 21 grandchildren; 45 great grandchildren; and 33 great great grandchildren.We love you Grandma and look forward to doing the happy dance with you again.Funeral services will be held on Thursday, October 2, 2008 at 11:00 a.m at the LDS Church at 310 E. Center Street, Spanish Fork, Utah. Family and friends may call on Wednesday evening, October 1, 2008 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Walker Mortuary, 187 South Main Street, Spanish Fork or on Thursday morning at the church from 9:45-10:45 a.m. prior to services.

My Budding Little Artist

This morning when I woke up, I thought to myself, today is going to be a good day. That is what I get for thinking! I got Tylie out of bed and she was just playing in her room and watching her new Barbie movie... or so I THOUGHT! She was very quiet about what she was doing, so I had no clue. And of course she is very fast when she is doing something she knows she shouldn't be doing. So when she came into my bedroom and I saw a little bit of BLACK PERMANENT MARKER on her arms I instantly head to the kitchen to where she had a chair pushed up to the counters, and had climbed up on the counter and found a black sharpie off of the top of the fridge. So this is what I came upon...

Yes, these are my kitchen cabinets!!! And the last picture is my wood floor!!!

So you can guess what I was doing ALL morning long, trying to figure which kind of cleaner takes permanent marker off wood. I scrubbed, and scrubbed, and scrubbed. Much to my surprise, if you scrub hard enough and use enough different cleaners, it does lighten considerably. It still isn't all the way off, but I think the rest may just have to stay because it doesn't want to seem to come any cleaner. So, pray for Tylie that she doesn't do anything else today that she isn't supposed to because I don't know if I could handle anymore today!!!

Take Me Out To The Ballgame...

Saturday night after we went to Boondocks, we went to the Owlz baseball game in Orem. It was the final championship game and we had a blast. It was so fun because we were right up close and personal!

Carson is showing off his foul ball that he got. He was very excited about getting it.

This is where Carson spent the majority of his time, right down by the team. That is where he was when he got the ball.

Bryson showin that cute smile.
Tylie being just as cute as can be.
Dad and his boys.
This picture is just a bit blurry because Bryson was doing his famous dance moves to the music that was playing. He is such a goof ball!
We had a great time, and the kids were surprisingly good! Who knew! The Owlz ended up loosing, but it was still tons of fun.

Family Fun at Boondocks

This last weekend Jeremy had Governor's Day for Guard. They have this every year and it's a big production put on by the National Guard honoring the Governor. I help out with the Family Support Program in the guard, and we decided that we wanted to take the families to Boondocks after they did their guard stuff. We had a lot of fun there. I had never been there, but the kids loved it. We didn't have as many families as we would have liked come, but the ones that did had a good time. It's always nice when you can take your family out and have dinner and do fun activities like this for FREE!


Jer and Carson had a blast in the go carts. If you know Jeremy at all, he is very competitive, and that is where his son gets it from!
You can see that Carson is looking behind him, that is because he was telling Jeremy what everyone behind them was doing. They were in the lead and he wasn't about to let anyone pass him!
Still in the lead, and he stayed that way the rest of the race.
This is what I did while the boys did go carts, and laser tag... chased little miss around! She was having a great time running away from mom. It was good that there was lots of room outside for her to run, cause that is all she wanted to do.
Tylie hates to get her picture taken, so she would try to hide her face every time I tried to take one.
Once again trying to hide from the camera.
We ended our fun day with a round of mini golf. Of course Carson loved it since he loves to golf. He took the game very seriously. Bryson had fun too, but he got a little impatient that his ball didn't go in every time.


This was the last hole. You had to get the ball in this little hole and when you did the dragon would blow fire.

First Day of School

I know, I know... School started almost a month ago, and I am finally getting a post done about it. That is just how my life goes, I'm always a day late and a dollar short! Oh well, better late than never I guess.

Carson started 3rd grade this year! I know, I really can't believe that I have a 3rd grader cause I am not old enough to have a 3rd grader :) His teacher is Mrs. Child and when she told me she was excited to have him in her class, I told her she had no idea what she was in for! Now that they are a few weeks into school, I am sure she knows what I mean!
Bryson started Kindergarten this year. His teacher is Mrs. Farris Stevens and man she is going to have her hands full with him! He was very excited, but a little worried because he was picked to be in one of the all day classes. I know that I am a horrible mom, but I was saying my prayers really really hard that he would get picked out of the hat, and when I the letter during the summer I was seriously jumping up and down. How bad is that??? But if you know Bryson, you know why I was so excited. He is one VERY active child, and we tend to hit heads - a lot. So I think that this is going to be very good for him.
Bryson is quite the character and I call him our drama queen. Everything is such a drama for him. The first day of school he came home and this is how our conversation went:

Mom: Hey buddy, how was your first day of kindergarten?

Bryson: (Being very dramatic) It sucked.

Mom: No it didn't, I am sure that you had fun.

Bryson: No I didn't, it sucked.

Mom: (trying not to laugh) Bryson, you shouldn't say that, it isn't a very nice word for kids to use.

Bryson: Well, it did!

He just kept it up that he hated school, and finally at the end of the day he told me that he really did have fun.
Brotherly Love! At least for the moment :) These two have actually been getting along quite a bit better lately which makes it nice for me. They ARE still brothers, so of course they fight, but hopefully they keep getting better and get closer as they get older!