Yay for this fun earthly existance. Right?

This year's Halloween preparation has been... well.... weird.

I usually get totally into Halloween. Well, by "totally", I mean, I get out my cute decorations for the livingroom, put out my halloween pillows, hang up a halloween wreath outside, maybe string some lights. I listen to halloween music all day long, watch old scary movies, and bake like crazy. I'm usually on top of the halloween costume for my little buddy early on and just putting on the finishing touches about now.

This year??? Well, not so much. It started out great. I've been watching old scary movies quite frequently as I fold laundry or do other mundane household chores. But with my husband's new calling in church things have been in a state of chaos.

To top it all off, our basement flooded over the weekend and I had to totally trash my sewing room to get to the flooding closet. Lost a lot of my fabric, too. Bleh! So I have to muck out the muck to get to the half-finished costume today.

Not to mention the pressure that has been put on my by my little buddy. He said "Mom, every costume has to top the costume the year before it, just so you know." Ya. No pressure! Last year I spent about an entire week, several hours a day, working on his Prince of Persia costume. The year before I spent about that same amount of time perfecting his Jack Sparrow costume. This year... well, I think I've put in a total of about 4 hours so far. Legolas is NOT going to be stunning, let's just say that.

I'm trying not to feel like I've failed in some way because I haven't put my entire heart and soul and bank account into this costume. But honestly, I just haven't really cared this year. I hope it doesn't show when all is said and done, though. I'm sure it will be just fine.

And the whole point of Halloween is loads of candy anyway, right? So as long as he gets his sugar rush we're good, right?

Well, I'm counting on that as I try to find my sewing machine under piles of fabric and bags of trim. That is, after I put all the fans away and clean up all the mops and towels and try to tack down the carpeting again from the flood. Yay for this fun earthly existance, right??? :( hee hee

Chocolate cake makes anything go down easier!

Wow! What a day we had yesterday!
My husband was put into the bishopric as the second counselor in church yesterday. I sat there in amazement at the incredible bishop we had, and thinking how grateful I was to have such a sweet, kind-hearted bishop. Then the new bishopric gets put in and I felt ovewhelmed with love for each of them and thinking how YOUNG they all looked! I got choked up as the new bishop spoke about following and acting on the promptings of the Spirit, and letting it take you where you need to be. He talked about how they wanted to move many times but it didn't feel right. That one really spoke to me, for sure!

So it looks like I'll be seeing a lot less of my hubby for a while! My relief society president told me it was good because there'd be fewer chances to not get along! She is so cute!

Today I am grateful for family support, church members with kind words of encouragement, and chocolate cake from Costco which I had no reservations about having two slices of yesterday.

Now on to the treadmill to work off that cake! Here's to a new week, and a new adventure!

sad, sad day.

I just heard some incredibly shocking news and I am reeling from it all. I barely slept a wink last night. Some dear, dear friends of ours are getting a divorce, and it is breaking my heart. We used to do things with them all the time. Our kids played together, did egg hunts together. We had them over for breakfast to watch conference occasionally. They were a solid couple, weathering difficult storms. They had a beautiful family. I looked up to them, and prayed for them often.

I just spent the last 20 minutes writing and re-writing, deleting, and writing, then deleting again- strong words about divorce. I decided not to put them here for now. I am too upset.

But I am really mourning the loss of our dear, sweet friends' family today. And my prayers are reaching out to those poor darling kids.

Sad, sad day.

Simple Irritable Housewife syndrome....I've got it, apparently.

Tonight I needed someone else to do the cooking. I wanted something warm, something comforting, something homey, and I didn't want to be the one to have to put it all together.

It was one of those days- you know, the ones where little irritating things seem to go wrong all day long. My potted plant broke and got dirt all over. I got the whole bed made up with clean sheets and found I had lost two pillow cases which could not be found anywhere. I stubbed my toe about 50 times on the leg of a chair. Just one of those days. Many might say just the simple little irritations of a common, everyday housewife.

Well, when my sweet hubby got home from his long day at work, he sensed my frustration and offered to take us all to dinner. My hero! We went to this family restaurant near our home. Let me tell you, who knew a crispy breaded country fried steak with mashed potatoes and gravy (which was the size of Texas, and which I shared with my husband, thankfully!) and an ice cold diet pepsi could solve all my ills? There is no more comforting thing than snuggling cozy around a table eating good food with my cute little family on a cold rainy night.

Thank heaven for good food, good service, loving family, and cozy warm beds to snuggle into on a fall night. This simple irritable housewife is content.

Nice to get away sometimes.

Last weekend we took a very short trip to St. George and Zion National Park, and boy, was it needed!

My husband LOVES to hike Angels Landing, but I won't let him do it alone. (I know, mean wife, huh. I also won't let him ride his bike all the way to the top of 2700 S. without a helmet. Call me a shrew if you want to.) But, I lovingly arranged for him to hike with some family members, and Saturday was the most beautiful day to go. (pay no attention to the date stamps on the pictures. My camera thinks it is 2010.) (Oh, and I tried to get the images going the right direction... I think it would take a rocket scientist to get it right! Sorry.)

My mom, my sister and her kids, and me and my son hiked around the lower portions of Zion

My sister's drool machine, aka cutest baby ever, was in a front carrier and he was the best hiker of all! I had a fun time with the nieces and nephews. I even got to wash out pee'd in underpants in the virgin river!

I know, lucky me! (don't let anyone read this. I don't think you're supposed to do that sort of thing. The deer can do it, and the little squirrels can do it, but little 4 year olds can't I guess.) I'm certain if I'd seen another woman washing out underwear in the river I would have snubbed my nose at her and cast judgement on her, so I welcome it, I guess.

I got to search for little shy gnomes hiding in the forrest as I hiked with my cute niece back from seeing the lower Emerald Pool.

I was trying to distract her from complaining about not wanting to walk and wanting to be carried. Frankly, I wanted to be carried too! It worked. She couldn't stop talking about gnomes after that! (Yes, folks, I'm that good.)

Loved not having to fix breakfast for 2 whole days, sitting on the green lawn outside the Zion lodge eating sandwiches, smelling the fresh air of the gorgeous canyon, getting my feet wet in the Virgin, and eating at our favorite mexican place, Paula's.

Sunday my hubby, my son, and I went back for our last dose of Zion for the year. We did the hanging garden trail which we'd never done before and saw a super tiny frog- about an inch long!

Then my husband talked me into doing the "other" trail connected to the one we were on. Ya, it ended up rising about 300 feet in several switchbacks along a 3 foot wide trail with a sheer drop-off on one side.

My son kept saying "Ooo mom... don't look down!) I about sold him to the nearest asian. (There were about a hundred of them and they all thought he was cute. It wouldn't have been hard to find a buyer, I'm sure!)

We reluctantly left that afternoon after indulging in a delicious ice cream cone. The drive home was long and a bit forlorn as we know we wouldn't be back for several months. But it was sooo nice to see Zion in the fall. I love that place! And I had such a great time with my family!!!!