I have decided I hate the colors the rooms are painted in my house.  

Instead of repainting, however, I would prefer to pack up and move to a new house. 

 I painted them almost four years ago and I didn't do a very good job picking out the colors, or keeping the edges straight and it is really beginning to drive me crazy.  

Why didn't I pick more neutral colors??

I have a greater appreciation now for wireless internet than I did in the past.  As I write this, I am sitting at my dining room table staring at a pile of laundry I have yet to fold.  My thought is this: perhaps if its directly in front of me, it has a better chance of being folded if I can continue to see it out of the corner of my eye.  We'll see how that works out.

Tahnie's younger brother got married this weekend.  Its been awhile since JJ and I have been to a wedding.  It was a lovely sunset ceremony and it made me want to get married again.  I think my favorite part about weddings are the flowers.  And the cake.  I love cake.

Thanksgiving is coming up and, as usual, there are about 30 people coming over to my dad's house for dinner.  I've volunteered for the first time, ever, to make a turkey (one of three) and I'm a little nervous as to how it will turn out.  I found a good recipe in Food and Wine magazine that doesn't look too complicated..... so I'm going to give it a shot.  From what other people have told me, the turkey is the easiest part.  My plan is to make my other two dishes the day before so I can give this turkey my full, undivided attention.  I'm a little stressed about it, but the saving grace is that there's two other turkeys, and a ham, so if mine's not edible, at least we won't starve.

Owen's been really into taking bubble baths lately.  I tried to look for kid friendly bubbles at the store the other day, but they all smell like bubble gum, grape or watermelon.  So I've been using bath and body works shower gel and he always smells so good.  Even in the morning, when he wakes up, you can still smell it on his hair.  I love that.

Planet Unicorn

I will never spray my hair like that again.  My scalp was pink for days afterwards......

Give it up for White Blood Cells!!

Halloween was a huge success on all accounts.  Owen was able to grasp the concept of trick or treating rather quickly.  He and JJ went out for awhile and I stayed home to pass out candy.  They came back to call it a night and Owen decided he wasn't quite done yet, and they went around the block again.  We had a fun time for Cody's last big birthday bash.  Our costumes were so much fun and very creative as far as I was concerned.  The only bad part about the entire night was when a certain someone, who shall remain nameless, wouldn't let me play the cd's that I specifically made for Cody and his birthday.  How rude is that?  This certain person was trying to play the cd's that he made for him instead.  In my mind I was thinking, ok, I've known him since I was 13 and I think I have a pretty good handle on what kind of music he likes and what would make him laugh on his birthday.  I didn't want to cause more drama than what was already being created, so I kept my mouth shut and let him play his lame cd's.  Boo!!

When I woke up this morning, I knew it was going to be a good day.  I got out of bed early, before JJ went to work, so I could vote without having a toddler in tow.  When I drove up to our polling place, there was a line out the door and halfway through the parking lot.  So, I went home, hoping to make it back there at a time a little less crowded.  And I did.  I think my husband was secretly hoping I wouldn't be able to vote today, either because of my child, or my lack of patience, but I did it and I feel good about my contribution to this election.  Unfortunately, because I had Owen with me, I was only able to vote on the issues that I found the most important.  I sat him down, underneath the table I used to fill out my ballot, and let him play with my wallet.  This usually keeps him occupied for at least five solid minutes.  He was being so good and quiet....I should have known something was up.  I looked down and he wasn't there anymore.  He was on his way out -- halfway to the parking lot to be exact.  I grabbed my ballot and the credit cards that were scattered underneath the table and went after him.  Somebody actually called after me to tell me I needed to leave my ballot there and I couldn't take it outside.  I was a little miffed.  I mean, I want to vote, but my priority is obviously to keep my child out of harms way at all times.  

I also knew it was going to be a good day when I spoke to my dad this morning and he told me that Alika's white blood cell count went from 130 yesterday to a staggering 1100 today!!  For those of you who are not up to speed, Alika has been in the hospital for the past three weeks and after undergoing a near fatal dose of chemotherapy, he is finally on the cusp of recovery.  As long as his count stays above 500 for the next three days, he can be released on Friday.  We are ecstatic!!  I have had the opportunity to visit him a few times while in the hospital, and it was difficult, to say the least, to watch him during this transformation.  He went from being his usual jovial self,  joking about the food and watching the Broncos loose, to practically incoherent due to all the medication being pumped into his system.  It was the first time, throughout this whole experience, that I have actually seen him exhibit physical signs of his illness.  My heart goes out to you, Alika.  You are an inspiration to everyone in this family, as well as to all your friends.  I truly hope this is the end of the unfortunate relationship created between you and this disease.  Get that slugger ready.....by the end of the year we will be organizing a celebratory trip somewhere in honor of you beating this cancer and coming through a champ.  How does Vegas sound?  We just have to get you past Debbie first :)

Happy Birthday Codes!!

Today we are trick or treating early because my mom and Ruben are spending Halloween in Cabo. Yeah, I feel bad for them too. Maybe one of these days we'll make it back there again.

We spent the morning at Desert Ridge. We went there to meet up with a friend of mine and let the kids play. It was fun.....until Owen discovered the splash pad water fountain and got soaked. He was having the best time laughing and playing all by himself. It was cute, but he was wet.

Sunday was spent at Cody's Birthday Brunch. The first of several parties planned to celebrate the big 3-0. Crystal put on a really great party. It was good food, good people, and overall a lot of fun. Its always nice to meet and hang out with his "other" friends. He doesn't usually bring them around that often, but we will all be together again for his next party on Friday night. We decided to play a mean trick on him and shove his face in the cake. I don't think he thought it was that funny, but the rest of us did. Its nice to make fun of yourself every once in awhile and I think he realized that once he got over the initial shock of the whole thing.

Helen and Hal sent a nice Halloween package to Owen the other day. It included a wonderful police motorcycle that he pushes around the house and it also has a button that when pushed blares a police siren. It also says "Stop! Police!" in German. That has been his number one toy for the past two days and I'm about to hide it. I need a break from the siren. They also sent a quiet toy in the form of a soccer ball and he's been kicking that around the backyard.

Malia will be here this weekend along with her ever expanding baby bump. She found out on Monday she's having a boy and she's excited, although she really thought it was a girl. I think she thought maybe they made a mistake. We're going to get her registered this weekend and I hope she's not too overwhelmed. We'll see.....

Happy Halloween!!

My most pressing problems of the past week have been solved. I bought a flight suit for Owen at a thrift store in Pinetop last July and completely forgot about it until Brooke found it in the back of his closet. He's going to be a pilot for Halloween and he loves it. If he's happy.....I'm happy.

After continued correspondence with a very nice and polite woman who, of all things, custom makes horns and masks from her home in Oregon, she has agreed to make me three unicorn horns in a color that isn't even offered on her website. She promised to finish them this weekend and send them out priority mail on Monday, which was yesterday. So, I'm happy to say that they should be arriving any day and they did NOT cost an arm and a leg.

The only thing I have yet to accomplish is my new computer. Believe me, its driving me crazy.

I need a unicorn horn!!

I know, I know.....I've been way behind on my posts. October has just been such a busy month for us. And November is going to be even worse.
The weather is finally starting to change out here. It's been so nice and super comfortable outside. There is definitely a sense of fall in the air. Wherever we go, we are bombarded with Halloween decorations as well as pumpkins and other fall related items. It reminds me that Christmas is just around the corner and then all the wind is promptly knocked out of me. Another year gone by already.....almost anyway. I don't remember the years going by this fast when I was younger. It's probably because I was in such a hurry to grow up.

I have been going back and forth about what Owen should be for Halloween. At first, I wanted him to be a turtle, but then the costume looked a little too babyish for him. I mean, he's a big boy now, right? So, I found him the cutest little cowboy costume and he wants nothing to do with it. And I mean nothing....I tried to put it on him to make sure it fit and he was literally kicking and screaming the whole time and yelling "NO NO NO". He keeps saying he wants to be a monkey, which is what he was last year. I know he has a good memory, but I seriously doubt he remembers he was a monkey for Halloween. Who knows....stranger things have happened I guess. He is really excited to trick or treat. I think we'll just take him over to Uncle Kevin's and Gram and Tata's house and maybe the next door neighbor's. But he already knows what he's supposed to say on Halloween and he knows this holiday has something to do with scary stuff. We carved a pumpkin last night (sorry Crystal), and now this pumpkin has become his best friend. We haven't put it outside yet. Its actually sitting on the kitchen table. So he sees his pumpkin when he eats and he says hi to it periodically throughout the day. The pumpkin patch we went to is right off the 51 and Lincoln. It was really nice and they had a huge selection. Its a church that's raising money for people to go to Mexico and build houses for the needy. Anyway, we got there at about five minutes to seven and they close at seven. The woman running the place (quite clearly volunteering) was nice enough to let us take our time and pick out the perfect pumpkin, as well as take pictures, etc. When we went to pay for it, she told us that a few minutes before we got there, a man came through and bought a pumpkin and he paid for it with a counterfeit fifty dollar bill!! He bought a four dollar pumpkin and she gave him $46 dollars change. Isn't that horrible??!! Can you believe someone would do that to a church fundraiser? That man just bought himself a one way ticket straight to Hell.
Cody is celebrating his birthday on Halloween so I have to come up with a really good costume. I think I'm going to be a unicorn, but the horn I wanted is sold out. If anyone has any idea how to make a unicorn horn, I'm desperate for suggestions.

I've been reading the Twilight series and I have to say, I don't know what all the hype is about. I mean, they're good books, don't get me wrong, but I'm not sure I would recommend them to other people my age. I'm not sure I would recommend them to my teenage cousins either, for that matter. I have about two hundred pages left in the last book so I guess I should reserve my comments for my formal write up.

Today is the big day for the new macbooks. We're going to take a trip to the apple store after dinner and hopefully my next post will be from our new computer. Keep your fingers crossed!!