Oklahoma City

So Ryan and I got to go down to Oklahoma City last weekend...alone. It was so great! I have a friend who volunteered to take them for the night so we headed down and spent a night there. We had such a fun time, but still found ourselves exhausted by 10:30.
After Ryan got off work on Friday we drove down there, checked into our hotel downtown, and went to Cattleman's restaurant. It isn't the best looking place to eat, but it was dang good. It's been around for 100 years and has been featured in lots of magazines and food shows on TV. We've heard about it so we decided to check it out. We left there extremely full and completely satisfied. We also discovered while we were here that the camera I brought alot to take pictures had a dead batter...and of course I didn't bring the charger, so we took no pictures (I'm getting all these off the internet.)
We headed back into town and walked around bricktown for a little bit. We went to see if there was a movie we wanted to catch, but didn't see anything of interest so we picked up some ice cream and headed back to our hotel room.We spent the rest of the evening eating our ice cream, watching TV, and relaxing.
In the morning we decided to check out the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum. It was a very sobering experience, to say the least. This photo shows the reflection pond where the road previously was that ran next to the Murrah Federal Building. The museum gives a detailed description of the happenings of that April day in 1995. I was only 11 years old when it happened, so I don't remember much about it. I only remember seeing stuff on the news-the pictures with the building half blown away. If you ever go to Oklahoma City I would definitely recommend going to this museum. I learned a lot, and felt a lot. It was a beautiful memorial and museum! I left there feeling physically and emotionally sick. It is hard to imagine all the lives that were changed in one day, one instant.
After the museum we looked around Bricktown a little bit more then headed over to the temple. The youth of our ward were going down there so we signed up to go help. It was so nice to be there especially after the museum. Isn't it so great that families can be together forever. We enjoyed our time at the temple. Afterward, we ate some dinner then headed back home. We really enjoyed the trip-it's the first time we've left our children...we'll have to do it more often than once every 5 years!

"Kittens"

When I put Halli to bed at night she frequently asks that I sing "kittens". Here she is singing the song herself-with a little help. Do you know what song it is?

Other October festivities

We took a trip to the pumpkin patch in October and the kids both picked out their own pumpkins. Here are their choices (along with the other pumpkins we purchased).
Here they are in front of the pumpkin patch sign this year

Here they were last year (2009) in front of the same sign. Looks like they've grown!

I made these fun snacks for a party my friend had (AC#33)

Here is another one of the projects I did at the beginning of the month #34

And this is the finished shelf i posted about a while back-I just need to get it on the wall #35

Happy Halloween

Yes, I'm back after a long absence from the world wide web. I've been so busy-my inbox is a nightmare that I still haven't faced. Here are the highlights from our Halloween. I made Carson and Ryan's costumes this year so they are also two of my AC projects (#31 and 32). Here's our night of howls hoopla.
I love taking photos in the dark because everyone looks so awkward...in this photo we were trying to be weird though. Here are the pumpkins Halli and Carson designed.

The good witch
The Bat..not batman, just a bat
All of us in our costumes

My masterpiece
We went to a Halloween party last week and Carson got his face painted-it was awesome!

Need Motivation

I've been in a creativity slump. I have next to no desire to do anything creative. Ok that isn't true...I have the desire, but I just can't seem to find the time. I've finished a few projects, but I've got to get back on my horse if I'm going to complete my 52 this year! Here are projects 28, 29, and 30
I made this board for Carson to move forward and backwards as he helps out or disobeys. Once he gets to the top he gets a prize. This board has really helped him be nicer to me and Halli-it's been so great, and he works hard to get to the top!
Last week I made these bread bundles to give away to some friends. I cut out this saying and positioned it on the mirror (not an easy feat!). It says 'Home is not a place it's a Feeling' This is the project I'm working on and hope to finish tomorrow. It has been in the works for about 2 months. It was stained and I had to strip it, sand it down, restain it a couple times, and now I'm putting the finishing polyurethane coats on it. I think I can finish it up tomorrow. So hopefully I'll have a post with the finished project tomorrow.

Problem fixed

Remember when we moved into our house a year and a half ago, and I posted this photo of our house...with the "lovely" hedges, and small dead tree over on the left.
We worked hard and transformed our front yard into something nice. Something that isn't painful to look at. The plants grew and flourished this summer.
We've even had about a dozen of beautiful flowers like this come out over the past few weeks.
And then something happened in our house. Ryan went down in the basement one evening and checked in our utility room to make sure everything was alright. This is what he found.
We called our home warranty company and they sent someone out the next morning. Two days later they came back to fix the problem. Here is the fine job they did to fix the leak.And the finished result has transformed our front yard. Here is the final result.My flower bed has been destroyed. My entire front yard has been destroyed. There is nothing we can do with it right now because the dirt has to settle back into the hole they covered up. So all I can do is go out and water the dirt to help it settle...I imagine it is a funny site to see a girl outside watering a mound of dirt. It makes me just laugh every time I'm out there.

DONE

Ok Halli was so much easier to potty train than Carson. Carson took FOREVER...we're still working with him during sleeping hours. Halli is done, doing it herself. It took two and a half days and she hasn't had an accident since Thursday afternoon. I know that doesn't seem long, but I know she's got it. She wakes up in the morning and uses the toilet before she even comes and wakes us up. She goes and takes care of things by herself. She is so stinkin independent, but in this case it is a wonderful thing cause she wants to do it all! We went out to dinner to celebrate, and got ice cream too. Halli girl, you rock my world!