HALLOWEEN 2010

Halloween was a lot of fun this year at our house! I even took the time to make something for Kylie's class party.....

Not to mention make this banner that I had brewin' in my head.....

And we can't forget our door decoration. We've had this silly skeleton thing for years. We've named him "Bones". This was the first year that Kylie didn't cry when we put him up!!

The funnest part is always the parties! We were in town this year to be invited to the annual Hammond party. We had a lot of fun visiting with friends & eating YUMMY soup. EmmaLee even orders the cutest pumpkin bread bowls. We had Mr. Clean & his maid in attendance. Their entourage included a ninja, Iron Man & the cutest Wonder Woman you've ever seen! Then, we had H.I. McDunnough & Edwina from Raising Arizona. (Quite the show stopper - they were hilarious!) There entourage had a witch, prisoners & the most darling Cindy Lou Who! We also had more prisoners in attendance with Alice in Wonderland & a Vampiress. One of my favorites, though, was EmmaLee's mom & her bumble bee costume she made. It was awesome! After attending their ward Trunk or Treat we came back to homemade donuts & lots of candy trading!

Next, was our ward Trunk or Treat. Which we have never attended. It was fun & Erik even got guy time with Luke. Their picture fully deserved the "BFFL" tag. I felt the need to dress up my costume this time because it was the biggest tent of a costume ever! It may have looked more dumb, but at least I didn't feel like a house. And I just couldn't resist taking a pic of our newest bishopric member dressed as Superman & his princess wife. Too cute! I also love the pic of my girls walking with Juliet. Priceless!

However, my favorites of the night are the following two where it looks like my girls are taking off with peoples kids. Especially Kylie's! This picture makes me laugh every time I see it. Her face is classic & totally looks like she's taking this child!!


Lastly, was the Smith-Hallows gang party. Everyone who didn't show up in costume had to take a pic with the silly noses. I was tired of my silly costume by this time, hence the nose. The Rubbles stole the show at this party! As well as the Flower Child. And yet again, another picture of Erik cuddling with other males. (I can't even tell you how many of these we have. Or pics of him with other wives just to confuse people. That could be a whole other post.) Anyway, Halloween also brings Steele's birthday, so it was a perfect time to celebrate! He received some hair gel & made the best mohawk on Max!

OCTOBER

WOW!! Where has the time gone? Life is flying at such a speedy pace that I just can't keep up. It's all I can do to make sure were at least fully clothed when we leave our house in the morning. With work, my calling, yearbook & our crazy life in general - things are NUTS!!! I'm completely impressed I had an hour to do this today. So, if anyone out there is still checking this - let's start off slow....

I am an anal person. No secret! For my sanity, I must go back to October & work in chronological order. Even though we've had some pretty life changing events occur that deserve immediate attention. In the past I would start posting when I had a bunch cued up to automatically post for a week. Today, however, I have one & only one. At least it's a start & we'll see where we go from here. ;)

I'm starting with October. This was a month full of some craziness. We started a babysitting coop & love it! I took some pictures the first week we had a turn & had to share. (I hope no one is nervous that I posting pictures of their kid. Probably should have asked first. Oh well - sorry! The kids are all so cute. We actually were short one the first time, so there's only two here. Oh & I had to add the picture of Nui because it makes me laugh every time I see it. It's blurry, but how often do you catch a picture of a dog with it's eyes closed? I thought it was funny!

Next, we had a crazy storm with a micro burst in our area. The stake RS Pres called me & asked if everyone in our ward was ok after the storm & I thought that was odd. It was just some rain. Sure it was a lot of rain, but nothing major. I had no idea what had happened 1/4 mile from my home! We went to Target by our house & found light poles down Southern that were completely destroyed! The pictures don't do it justice. It was crazy! One of them is cracked twice. Weird!! Our bishop is still harassing me for meals because he had some branches fall into his pool. Guess I better get on that. I'm a slacker of a Pres!

October was also a miracle month! Little Eli was born to Jack & Alli! What a blessing he is to them & a cutie at that! It's crazy to look at these photos because he already looks nothing like this. He has the best dimples & the cutest grin. They grow so fast!

Now we'll see how long it will be before I can post again. I counted roughly 17 posts to catch up. Halloween will be next. At least my yearbook deadline is only 3 weeks away!! Actually, that's terrible because I have a lot to do! On the other hand, it's wonderful because I'll be done!! Wish me lots of luck!

GIVEAWAY

I usually don't enter weird contests because, let's face it, I never win!! I did win a PSYCH giveaway awhile ago, so I'm hoping for some more good luck! In the words of a woman dying to buy some tupperware from Kip so she could get a miniature sail boat, "I want that."

http://www.meandjilly.blogspot.com

P.S. - I really am hoping to get some posts done this week now that Christmas is over. MERRY CHRISTMAS by the way! ;)

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Dear neglected blog,

Someday I promise to get back on track. Someday life will calm down enough to allow me to come back. If anyone is still out their - I'm working on it. Not sure if anyone still looks at this - or even cares, but I really need to get in gear for my journaling purposes. I have a lot to post. A LOT! Life is just crazy! Someday...someday.

Love,
Melanie

DIVISION LINE

**Journaling post - something I just wanted to jot down to remember.**

There is this sweet, sweet lady in my ward that I've really come to respect & love over the past year. She's the Family History Leader in our ward & has taught me A TON!! I love family history & couldn't have asked for a better teacher. She has such a strong testimony of this work & you would not believe the amount of work she has done & the stories she can tell!

We were talking today {she always has some wonderful insight to share with me} about trials. She's had a fair share of trials in her life & we were just talking about kids in general. We were also talking about loved ones we know going through difficult times. I expressed concern for someone I know going through some rather difficult times right now. Well, this dear woman always knows the right thing to say!

She told me she was just talking with one of her daughters about this same subject & that she's decided that those with difficult trials are on the balancing line, so to speak. Everyone has trials & life is hard. Some really do get handed some really hard things, though. These trials make you stronger. We all know that. But, stronger for what? She told me her theory was that they make you stronger to know which side you're on.

For some reason this made total sense to me. Something that is common sense if you think about it, but it struck me. This is something I really needed my specific loved one to hear. Trials make you stronger, yes. They challenge you to decide beyond a reasonable doubt which side you'll be on in the last days. Could you really be strong enough to stand up for what's right without gaining the strength to do so from your trials? This sister told me - she's had her trials. She's done her duty & she knows without a doubt which side she's on.

Through tough times we should all remember that we're becoming stronger. Sure it's hard & flat out sucks at times, but in the end, we'll know what side we truly stand on. If the opportunity arises to stand for the truth against something extremely difficult - will we have the strength to fight for what's right? Will we know what side of the fence we're on?

PRAYER

Sunday night I had a RS Auxiliary Training Mtg. Erik had to leave town that night, so I was now left with trying to figure out what to do with my girls. Given the nature of my calling I couldn't just say, "Oh well, can't come." At church I asked my friend Bonnie if the girls could come hang out at her house during the mtg. She, as always, was so kind to say yes. She told me she had a dinner at her mom's, but they could still watch the girls.

When the time came around I text Bonnie to see if they were home yet. I didn't hear anything, so I told my girls that if we didn't hear from her that they would just have to sit in the hallway & color or something for a bit. Apparently, that idea was not appealing. I was gathering up my things & trying to rush out the door when I heard a faint, "Just a sec" in the background. I look over & see Jay saying a prayer. My heart melted!!

When she was done she looked up & gave me a little smile. I smiled back & said, "You really want to go to Bonnie's don't you?" (They really love Bonnie & her kids!) She replied with a yes. Well, I couldn't just let it go. I called Bonnie once we got in the car & we got it worked out.

Thanks to my awesome friend Bonnie my 7 year olds prayers were answered! Thanks again Bonnie!!

JOSH & JILL

I'm not sure how I missed this post in the scheme of things, but hey! Better late than never right? And it's not in chronological order - oh well!! Anyhoo, here's the story...

The beginning of August I went on a little trip to Colorado with my Dad & Mignon. It was a blast! My sister-in-law Jill got married & we were excited to go support her. It started with me being asked to create their invite. This one was the funnest one yet because she wanted it really girly with lots of fun things. Including birds! It was way fun for me to create & luckily they quite liked it. (At least, they told me they did & sent them out.) Here's the invite...
We flew up to Denver on Thursday the 5th & then drove down to Colorado Springs. Friday we spent the day just kind of hanging out, getting to know Josh & his family. {His mom is mine & Mignon's new best friend, by the way.} We took Elliot swimming at their hotel & then prepared for the "rehearsal dinner" that night. We went to an Italian restaurant & again just enjoyed the evening!

On Saturday we headed to the church building to set up for the wedding & reception. Mignon & I were sent to wash table clothes at a local laundromat. I'm sure you can imagine the fun that was. On a Saturday no less. ;) All in all the ceremony & reception turned out lovely. We have a little bit of a joke in the family about how my Dad will find someone he knows {even if in a round-a-bout way} no matter where he goes. Well, he even found someone at the reception. Didn't know him personally persay, but he went to Arcadia & they knew some common people. Hilarious! Can't take that man anywhere!
After the reception my parents & I took Elliot home & watched him so that Jill & Josh could have a little honeymoon. Unfortunately for them, it was only one night. I got a crash course on bolusing Elliot. I even woke up in the middle of the night to check his sugar while he was asleep & bolused him. He didn't even wake up. {Bolusing is telling his pump how much insulin he needs.} I was quite proud of myself that I could wake up to do so. I was so worried about it though that I didn't get much sleep. I just wanted him to be safe. Apparently, I bolused him too much because his sugar dropped later that day. He was ok, but I felt bad! We took Elliot to church & then came home to visit some more with Josh's family.

Later that day we drove back up to Denver to help take Josh's family to the airport. We stopped at a restaurant called Craves that has become Josh & Jill's favorite place to eat. It was very delicious hamburgers & we had a ball watching a guy make beautiful shakes. Seriously, they were works of art the way he presented them & they looked yummy!! We were too stuffed to try one. After we dropped off Josh's family we said bye to everyone. Even Josh, Jill & Elliot. We then headed to a hotel for the night in Denver. There was an amazing rainbow in the sky as we pulled into our hotel. The best picture of the trip came from this evening....
We were laughing at ourselves! All of us snuggled in a bed with our snacks. {Don't worry - there was 2 beds.} The next day we went to the movies & saw Salt. Then it was time to head to the airport & head home. It was such a fun trip & I loved being able to have a little trip with my parents by myself. Not to mention getting a chance to spend some time with Elliot, Jill & Josh. It was a great weekend. And I need to give my Dad & Mignon a HUGE thank you again for the funnest trip!! I love you guys!