Jason's 35th Birthday

Tuesday, the 18th was Jason's 35th Birthday and we had a lot of fun. I planned a surprise party for him with some of our friends and he had NO idea! Yeah! After work, we had a pizza party with the kids then Kelsea said she would babysit for a little bit while Jason and I went to the video store to rent a Wii game. While we were gone, Kelsea called when the guests had arrived and pretended that she was nervous and needed us to come home - it was perfect! We got home and everyone yelled surprise as we walked into the kitchen. We had cake and ice cream and played games. Afterword, Jason said he was really surprised and really honored that his friends would take time out of their busy (school night) schedule to come and celebrate his birthday. I think it really made him feel good. I am so glad he enjoyed his birthday. I just love him more than anything and wanted him to have the best day ever!!

(Here's some pictures of him opening presents with the kids)

He was REALLY happy with this present! He's been wanting a new robe for 13 years and I finally got him one - he loves it!

Platinum is MUCH Better!

So after a pretty interesting week of funny, apprehensive, and blunt reactions, I decided I couldn't handle the yellow/orange hair. I called by my hairdresser to get it fixed and here is the result. I NEVER thought I would go platinum, but this is MUCH better! (So for all of you who were so nice to me this week and didn't share your true feelings about my yellow hair, please feel free to let me know what you really think - I won't get offended - Promise. Besides, Brianna already told me, after seeing my hair today, that she was so embarrassed about my orange hair before - Thanks Brianna!)

(I'm not sure why I do a puckered lip pose - I guess I could delete the picture, but then my kids wouldn't know how weird their mother is when they read our blogging journal later on.)

How to keep your children quiet for Family Home Evening

Need I say more?

Do blondes really have more fun?!

So, to save myself from the embarrassment I experienced tonight at a RS Program rehearsal, I have decided to post some pictures of my latest venture.

I decided to go blonde!

Pretty shocking, I know, but I think it will be fun. My high school friend, Brooke, is a hair stylist and did a great job. I must say that I dread the reactions from everyone who has not seen me yet, but that will probably end in a week or two. (So far, the reactions have been pretty choice! There's nothing like walking into a room full of your friends and having someone announce your surprising change - embarrassing!)

Ensemble Festival Honor's Recital

Kelsea and her friend, Aubrey, just competed in an Ensemble Festival last weekend and were one of only three pairs in their division to be picked for the Honor's Recital last night (there were 249 total participants). I was so excited for them, especially because of all the hard work they put in to preparing for the Festival. Here's a video of one of their duets (performed last night at the Honor's Recital).

They found out that they got a cash award and were, needless to say, VERY excited!

Way to go, Kelsea and Aubrey!

Darth Vader

Corbyn is disguising a turkey for a school project and decided to disguise it as Darth Vader. When I helped him spell the name, he said, "no mom, that does not say 'Dark Vader.'" I thought that was pretty funny.

Brianna then came up to me and said, "Mom, I only like 'Light Vader' because he doesn't do anything bad.'"

So, you see, my children obviously have not seen Star Wars and do not know much about it. They are now in the family room watching it for the first time.

Report Cards

Today we received report cards for each of the children and there were really no surprises, except for one child. Jason seemed very surprised that one of our children did not get all Satisfactories for classroom behavior. I, on the other hand, remember vividly from my own childhood that every time my mom got one of my report cards, I had all Honors in everything academic, but when it came to classroom behavior (specifically "talking when I wasn't supposed to") I always had Improvement needed marks. So when one of my darling children had similar marks to the ones I had as a child, I wasn't surprised at all. "The Apple doesn't fall far from the Tree" - Darn it. I guess the Tree just needs to teach the apple to grow a better tree somewhere else.

(I don't want to mention the name of the child I am talking about, but you may be surprised that it is not my oldest child. She actually does very well with being quiet when she's supposed to; she's afraid of disappointing the teacher.)

Snow Season

I love the snow!!! It is one of my favorite things in the whole world! It emanates the pure white light that I love and it makes me happy!

Star of the Week

Brianna is the Star of the Week in her Kindergarten class and we had a lot of fun making this poster of all of her favorite things.

Halloween Fun

This is just a glimpse of all the fun we have had the past couple weeks. I love Halloween!

My cute, crazy kids!

(I'm not sure why I included the pole as one of my children.)

This is Landon, patiently waiting for the Halloween parade at the school - he was such a cute Tigger!

Jason put this wig on to go trick-or-treating - he had a lot of double takes from our neighbors.

This was at Corbyn's class party.

Trunk-or-Treating at Jason's parent's ward party.

Jason and I dressed up as Bill and Hillary for an adult Halloween Party we went to. (I'm not sure it was such a good idea for sweet, conservative, Jason to be Bill - you can imagine where all the jokes went. Argh!)

Corbyn's Class

Amber and Brianna waiting for the School Parade

Kelsea at the Parade

Dr. Kelsea Barker

Amber and Landon at the parade

We had such a fun Halloween! Jason took the children Trick-or-Treating and I sat on my covered porch, read a book, listened to spooky music, and passed out candy - it was great!!! My neighbors made a huge spider and put it on a remote control car and scared a lot of people with it - it was really fun for me to watch. After Trick-or-Treating, the kids downed a lot of candy and we had a sleepover in the living room, while watching a movie with my mom.