Happy Halloween!

     Well obviously since it's Sunday we didn't go out Trick-or-Treating tonight but we had plenty of opportunity to go out all dressed up this week! On Wednesday night we had our tri-ward Trunk-or-Treat which was a lot of fun. Spencer and I got all dressed up as 80s rock stars (we were amazing) and Ashley was a cute little ladybug. I'm quite proud of Ashley's costume because I made it myself, even the wings! And I was proud of the skirt and leggings I made for my costume. I love this extra time on my hands that I didn't have while in school so that I can make fun things for my family. :) Anyway, back to the trunk-or-treat, Ashley had a great time collecting candy and while we never got her to say "trick-or-treat," we did get her to say "thank you" quite a few times which makes us look better as parents anyway haha. She wasn't scared of anything. There was a trunk that had a sheet over it and someone was sticking their hand out to give kids candy. Their hand and arm were painted to look all dead and nasty. A lot of the little kids were backing away and wouldn't go there but Ashley marched right up and took the candy piece by piece out of the nasty hand and even had the courage to say "thank you" when she was done haha. What a brave little ladybug!

     Thursday I went back to the pumpkin patch with Ashley and a few friends where I snapped some cute pictures!

     A lot of these pictures are just funny but this last vertical one of Ashley was pretty wall-hanging worthy haha. She's a doll.
     On Friday we were invited to a party at one of Spencer's classmates house and so we got all dressed up again for the occasion. Ashley won Most Adorable Costume (which I admit I do take some credit for although it was Ashley who really made it most adorable haha). I actually had time to curl my hair for the occasion and had more time for make up which made my costume that much more rad. ;) These pictures are the BEST and you'll see why hahahahahaha!

 I know you were just dying to see my ridiculously awesome make up that I would wear every day if it were appropriate and if I had the time... and my awesome hair. For some reason people always ask me if it's real or a wig when it's this curly haha. Just for the record, IT'S REAL! ;)

 This picture definitely takes the cake! Spencer wishes he weren't wearing his glasses but oh well. I think it's the best ever. I just might frame it. Rock on!

    

     So, it being the Sabbath and all we did not go out tonight but rather, Spencer and I enjoyed watching Hocus Pocus and drinking hot apple cider after Ashley went to bed. It was almost perfect... I say almost because our air conditioner kept clicking on (and it's set at 80 degrees...) which means it is utterly too warm for the last day in October. And next week it only gets warmer. Someday it will feel like fall. Maybe by Christmas. ;) Happy Halloween!

Fun stuff!

My mom was here for about a week while Spencer was finishing up his midterms (and let me tell you, if it weren't for my mother and for weekly visits with Merryn and Carolyn, I'd be ready for the nut house!) and while she was here we went to the pumpkin patch! I should back up a little. It is in the mid to high 70s here and up until about a week or two ago it was still in the 80s and 90s. I do NOT feel like this is fall. And there are no changing trees. And I made some delicious spiced caramel apple cupcakes that made my house smell like Thanksgiving and I went outside into the blasted heat and things just haven't made sense around here. I got really use to Utah and to changing seasons. And you can all gasp in shock when I say, I miss Utah. *Gasp!*

So, back to my mom and the pumpkin patch. There's a fun little pumpkin patch just down the street from us so we decided to go for FHE while my mom was still here. We went at night so it was nice and dark (and cooler, but still not cool enough for sweaters) and there was a great Halloween moon! There were pony rides, a petting zoo, and lots of inflatable slides. So cool! You had to pay for that stuff so we didn't do any of it but Ashley was really excited just to watch. So at the petting zoo there was this really ugly chicken. If it weren't for the fact that it was in with other chickens, I would not even have known it was a chicken. Apparently her name was Cruella De Ville if that gives you any kind of idea what this chicken looked like. My mom took pictures of this weird chicken for like, 10 minutes! Ashley had wandered away long before then so we left grandma with the chicken. :) Spencer commented, "Gee, I'm sure glad we brought grandma to the petting zoo..." Haha, for sure! Ashley loved it all and we had a good time watching her dance to the music that was blaring. She sure loves to dance!

And I got some cute pictures (just a few) before my camera died, but don't worry, I will be going back to get more! Enjoy!

We also gutted Ashley's first pumpkin on Saturday! ( I know, I know, we abused Ashley last year by not carving a pumpkin.) It was a huge success and Ashley got loads and loads of fiber and vitamin A when she decided to "help" us clean out the pumpkin by eating the guts! I know it won't kill her which is why she managed to eat some but I couldn't just let her eat a ton of raw pumpkin, hence the picture where she has a pouty face after taking the guts away...

Conference Weekend

     Most trips we make seem very last-minute but hey, that's life for us right now. Last minute we decided we'd try to go to Grandma Prestwich's 80th birthday party. The party was Thursday night and then we'd spend the rest of conference weekend with the Sorensen family at the cabin. We were so excited to go! Long story short, I got the stomach flu the day we left. I braved the drive to my parents' house 2 1/2 hours away from us where we stopped to change Ashley's diaper and for me to get a blessing before finishing our journey to South Jordan. After stopping we decided I was too sick to continue the journey so we made plans to stay the night, made a few phone calls to apologize for not coming (Spencer's mom thought he was joking...) and I went straight to bed. It's a good thing we stayed because Spencer got sick shortly after I did. Ashley was fine but we were glad to have my parents to watch her while we moaned and groaned for 24 hours.
     Friday we decided we were well enough to finish the trip to the cabin at least. It meant a short weekend with the Sorensens but we were all looking forward to the visit so we figured we might as well go anyways. On Saturday I got the news that everyone at my parents' house now had the stomach flu! How terrible is that? We must have had some pretty potent stomach bug because we were so careful not to get anyone sick while we were there! It was crazy! Everyone is fine now (finally) and I think the bug died out with my side of the family. :)
     On the bright side, I have cute pictures of Ashley playing in the leaves at the cabin with her cousins! They were throwing them on her head while she laughed hysterically. It was so stinking cute. I just wish she could spend more time with them. They all adore each other.

 

        Oh man I love this cute kid. ;)

     Conference gave me a lot to think about. I could not get enough of it and I felt like I needed to hear exactly everything they said! It was amazing! One of my biggest things I want to share real quick is that I've realized I need to slow down and simplify. I've been trying hard to keep myself busy for several reasons. One of them being that I don't feel like I've accomplished anything if I don't have a big long to-do list every day that I can check things off of. I've made it ridiculously long and then when I don't get everything done I feel like a failure. I've been focusing on little things that make me really busy to the point where I'm annoyed when Ashley wakes up from her nap because I needed more time to do my to-do list. I've been annoyed that she wants to go outside and play now that the weather has finally cooled down. I've been really bothered when I don't get to all the stores I wanted to because of nap schedules or because I didn't get to shower yet.

     Since Pres. Uchtdorf's talk on simplifying and slowing down, I've really tried to focus on that. Who cares if I didn't get to clean out my fridge today? Is anyone even going to notice if I didn't dust? Will anyone say anything to me if I took Ashley to the park unshowered? Probably not... I'm proud to report good progress this week in slowing down and enjoying my time with Ashley. She won't be our only child so I should cherish the time with her right now while I can focus my attention on her. I know she notices the change in me too because she's less whiny, throws less tantrums, and is generally happier and goofier.

     I'm really excited for my progress and I'm really going to try to keep it up and just slow down and enjoy life. I'm use to being in such a hurry all the time and it's nice to take it easy and slow down to really notice what's going on and just have fun. My house isn't as clean but hey, I can deal with that if it means a happy husband, a happy baby, and a happy me. :)