Happy Happy Birthday.........Let’s Celebrate!

My Little Grannie turned 90 years old on Halloween! We got together and had a little birthday party for her. She enjoyed of course having the children around for short periods of time before the noise and craziness would become to much for her...poor lady! We had a great dinner and a nice time visiting. Happy Birthday Grannie!!

What A Spooktacular Time.....

This year for Halloween we were able to go to my Moms ward Trunk-or-Treat on Friday night and then our ward Trunk-or-Treat on Saturday night. Which was great since Sunday was actually Halloween and we were not going to be Trick-or-Treating on the Sabbath. This year Kenna was a Twinkling Witch....meaning her skirt had lights in it!! Walker my lil Star Wars freak was Obi Wan Kenobi the Jedi Master. Carter was a Grim Reaper with a bleeding skull face. This was the first year that Cooper didn't dress up at all!We had a blast at my parents ward party! They had lots of candy, hot dogs, chili, cupcakes and homemade root beer.....YUMMY! They had carnival games for the children to play before the trunk-or-treating too!! SOO much fun!! Walker had the most fun I think though because he spent the whole time hanging out with my brother Eddie and his wife Chris and my nephew Chance who is the same age as him!We had a really nice time at our wards Halloween party the next night. We had our annual Chili and Cheesecake cook off. I didn't make homemade chili or a dessert to take this year because I had been sick the week before and still was a tad bit under the weather . It was so much easier to just buy something instead of making it but definitely not as tasty!! We had fun visiting with our super great friends and letting the kiddos just run and play. Cooper was off on his own all night running around with his friends and Tanner came for a little while and then left to go to his friends Halloween party. Not many pictures from either night since the kids were running in all different directions!A Halloween weekend full of lots of fun and candy!

A Cause For Celebration........

For Cooper and Tanner's birthdays this year they had friends over for a video game party one night and they both wanted to go to Johnny Rockets for a family dinner. Tanner and Cooper sat at their own table. Cooper couldn't put his burger down for another picture! Tanner doesn't eat a ton of crappy junk food so I had been surprised he loved the burgers. I said to him that the burgers are just too greasy and he said "but Mom every once in awhile you just have to have one though"! Everyone had a really fun goofy time. The weather was perfect so we enjoyed the outdoor dining area. The Birthday boys kept tormenting poor little Kennedy until she finally went to sit with Daddy...ugg brothers!!Cooper was easily entertained by the ketchup smiley face the waitress made for him on his plate....then he entertained us with it too!! The little kids had never ate there before and decided that they really liked it. Walker and Carter enjoyed their own table where they visited and colored almost the whole time.Everyone had been taking turns being sick for the past week and a half so we hadn't bought our Halloween Costumes yet so after dinner we went Halloween costume shopping and then to Yogurt Jungle for some yummy fro yo!! Happy Birthday Boys!!

Hair? What hair?

Well after 4 1/2 years it was time to finally cut and trim up what little bit of hair Miss Kenna-Lou had!!My super duper sweet friend _ _ _ _ _ went to beauty school back in the day but hates to actually cut hair so she does her family's hair only. One day when we were talking I mentioned sissy needed a haircut and she said she would do it........just don't tell anyone!!hahaha Kenna was leery of the whole thing but she sat still and was very cooperative and afterwards had a lil shorter hair and we even gave her bangs for the first time! I think she is even more adorable with bangs!! THANK YOU SWEET FRIEND!!!

Scouting............

Cooper getting an award at the Court of Honor............

Infinite Hope......T.O.F.W...........

Time Out For Women (T.O.F.W.) is described as a full weekend of inspirational messages and music. That is a perfect description for it too!!My friends Carrie,Vicki and I went together. Neither one of them had been before so they didnt know what a great treat they were in for! I couldnt have asked for better friends to go with.
The 2010 theme for T.O.F.W. was Infinite Hope! They had many speakers but the one who stood out in my mind the most was Mariama Kallon from war-torn Sierra Leone. She says:
"If it wasn't for hope, I wouldn't have been able to be here with you. Hope is the reason I am here."
Her story was inspirational and to read some of it here is a link:
http://www.mormontimes.com/article/696/Hygiene-kit-gave-hope-in-war-torn-Sierra-Leone
She talked about the personal hygeine kits the church has assembled and donated throughout the world and how when receieving one it was a life changing event and the importance it was to her as she struggled to stay alive in Sierra Leone before making it to America. They had tables set up for a "day of service" to assemble kits. At each stop of the 2010 Time Out for Women tour across America, donated items were assembled into "hope kits" and then given to local women's charities.
I enjoyed listening to Brad Wilcox former seminary teacher and mission president speak also. He has been involved with E.F.Y.(Especially For Youth) for years and after listening to him I can see why that program runs so well for our youth. He says "I wanted to be able to give women the same experience that young people get at EFY."
DeAnne Flynn a mother of seven spoke and had to say "the ultimate patterns are laid out in the gospel, in Jesus Christ's example, in the scriptures". She said sometimes parents might fall short of the kind of parents they long to be. But unless they make a concerted effort — unless they identify and try to align their lives with good patterns — it will be difficult to consistently change.
There were many other speakers but these were a few of my favorites!
We also had great music from Mercy River and Dallyn Vail Bayles.It was a super great girls weekend that I hope to do again! I love my girlfriends they are awesome!