Happy Halloween

My friend Rachelle posted this for her family and I just couldn't resist.

Happy Halloween!

In A Whole New Light

So I am pregnant. For the first several months of my pregnancies I am pretty sick. I've decided when you are sick and pregnant it is a very strange thing. Mentally it is not at all like just being sick with the flu or something like that. It seems it will never end. You just come to terms with the thought that you are going to feel like this for the rest of your life. You might be at the dinner table eating a great meal, stand up, head to the bathroom, throw up, then head straight back to the table and finish dinner. Totally weird. Fortunately this does not last for the rest of your life. For me this time if it follows past patterns it will slow down sometime around Christmas. Merry Christmas to me!

My reason behind this sudden post happened a couple minutes ago. My stomach was acting up again. Seth wanted something and I tried to explain that he needed to be patient. I told him mommy's stomach was sick. He wasn't grasping it at all. He just kept pulling on me trying to get me to do what he wanted. Then my stomach told me it was time. I headed to the bathroom to vomit. While all this loveliness was going on. Seth walked in to the bathroom right up to the toilet. He looked from me to the toilet a couple of times. Then he started laughing! So there I was worshiping the porcelain thrown with my 2 year old laughing at me. He was also holding a bowl of croutons. After he finished laughing he just stood there popping croutons into his mouth while watching me vomit. Only a 2 year old wouldn't see that as odd. At this point I burst out laughing, another thing that probably wouldn't have happened if I had the flu. See morning sickness is treated as something totally different. You can be hanging over the toilet laughing at your 2 year old laughing at you. Oh the joys of wanting to be a parent of three, but how could this face make you feel bad while being sick?

West Virginia

When I was younger there was a French program connected to our ward. It turned into a French branch and my dad was the branch President. The branch was made up of French African members. As a family we kept very busy with all the goings on of the branch. I have many fond memories of the members, missionaries serving in the program, and all the African soirees we had. One of my favorite families in the branch was the Doue Family. Their son Peabo was my little buddy. I knew whenever I saw Peabo I would always get hugs. Peobo was seriously the most adorable kid in the world. Since the time of the french branch the Doue family is about the only family active and still in the area. We have stayed close with them. I have been able to watch Peabo grow up. He is no longer the cutest little kid because he's in college and is plenty taller than me. Even though he's not the cute little Peabo who would always give me hugs I still hold a special place in my heart for him and his family. They are genuinely good people who would do anything for anyone.

Aside from being a good guy Peabo is an AMAZING soccer player. He was a star player in high school, on the DC United Academy team, and called up to the U18 US Nationals team. He is now in college and received a scholarship to play for West Virginia University. Last weekend we decided to take a weekend trip to West Virginia to watch Peobo play. The game was friday evening. We got there friday afternoon and checked into our hotel the same time at the rain started. It poured for a long time. We went out to dinner then as we were driving to the game with our ponchos and umbrellas in hand Peobo texted us saying the game had been postpone until 4pm the next day. Now we had time to waste. Fortunately we were able to get a late checkout. Then headed to fine warmed clothes for the boys. The temperature had dropped about 20 degrees overnight and we weren't prepared for a colder soccer game. we finally made it to the game and had a great time watching. Even though the score was 0-0 in double overtime we were happy we went.

Seth's favorite part of the hotel was the hot chocolate.

Hanging out at the game.

Peabo is #15.

During the game there was a hot air balloon festival going on. The kids loved it. So did we because it kept them focused on something for a while.

Seth was the half time show. We only have a little bit recorded, but he went on for quite a while a drew tons of attention. I wish we had taped it all because it was so good.

After the game with Peabo. Now someday when he is famous we can say we have a picture with him.

The Pumpkin Patch

We have the absolute best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world. It's at Butler's Orchard. We could spend all day there. There is a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch, farm animals to feed, potato sack slides, a hay barn to jump in, castle playground, and delicious apples to eat. By the time we got home from our fall adventure Seth was worn out.

Seth's mad posing skills on the hay ride to the pumpkin patch.

He searched high and low for the perfect pumpkin.

In the end after touching I think every single pumpkin in that patch he found the perfect one.

We were at Butler's Orchard for a preschool field trip with Reed, Isaac, Seth, Noah, and Noah.

Seth posing with the pumpkins on the way back to the other fun. Isn't he such a stud?

Look how he measures up. 3 feet tall.

Seth had no fear feeding the animals.

I'm shocked none of them bit his fingers off.

Weeeeeeee!!!!!!

Everyone needs a barn full of hay for their kids to burn off some energy.

The pumpkin patch makes for some cute pictures.

I love having mommy and Seth time since Tade started kindergarten.

Summing Up September

Here are the photos for September that didn't make it in any previous posts. I'm almost caught up with my blogging.

Walking to and from school uncovered all sorts of surprises in nature. Several days in a row we saw signs of cicadas. One day we saw it's skin, then one that had freshly shed it's skin and then one that was dead and stuck to a tree. I kept telling Tade how lucky he was to see all these stages of cicadas because you don't see them everywhere or very often. They only come out every 17 years. One day walking home from school we came across this last one stuck to a tree and decided to bring it home. Auntie was at our house and helped to teach the boys about this not so common bug.

It was quite impressive and very dense for a bug. When this one was dropped it always hit the ground with a thud.

Kathryn thought it would be funny to put the cicada on Gunnar's head. Seth was concerned at first.

Then when it fell off he decided it was a funny place to put the cicada so he put it back on.

Seth had no problem touching the bug, but Tade took some warming up. He finally decided to give it a try.

Uncle Sean becomes the boys best friend whenever he makes pancakes or waffles. He was kind enough to share.

My boys were so helpful blowing out my birthday candles. Amazingly enough neither of them spat on the cake as they were trying to blow out the candles.

My little Sethers is so good and playing quietly since Tade started school. I love just watching his imagination at work.

Our suitcases were out one day and the boys had the best time playing in them. Seth tried buckling himself in. He wanted to go on an airplane. Ever since we got back from Utah all he's wanted to do was fly on a plane again.

Tade has gotten into "crafting" as he calls it. He uses a lot of paper and tape and cuts it all up. I find tiny pieces of paper all over the house, but it's worth it because Tade is having so much fun creating whatever comes to mind. In this case it's supposed to be a triceratops.

My favorite show is So You Think You Can Dance. Tade and Seth like it also. We have many episodes on DVR. Seth is always asking to watch "dance." One day I looked over in the corner and Seth was doing one of the dances. It was a hip hop dance called the transformer dance. He pulled Tade into doing the dance with him.

Here they are doing the first part of the dance. They can be so cute together.

National Book Festival

Every year there is the National Book Festival downtown. Each year they get amazing authors to come speak and do book signings. This year I decided to go down. I'm not much of a reader, but there were several authors I recognized this time. Shauna and I headed downtown with books for signing in tow. At the time I didn't realize how unrealistic it was to get all the books signed I had brought with me.

As soon as we saw the lines for the signing reality set in. If you want books signed you need to pick only two or three authors and get down there early for your first line. Shauna and I got there as it was starting. My list of authors included John Grisham, Judy Blume, David Shannon, Steven Kellogg, and Shannon Hale.

Judy Blume and John Grisham were signing books only a half hour apart so I chose Judy Blume over Grisham. After standing in her massive line for about half an hour Shauna and I both realized we were never going to make it to the front of the line before they cut if off. So we got out of line and decided to wander around for a while before heading to the pavilion to hear Shannon Hale speak.

PBS kids had a tent set up which we passed by. Tade would have loved to be there. They had characters to take pictures with, activities to do, and tote bags with books and DVDs to give away. There were also tents for book sales and other organizations. As we wandered we came across people handing out book festival bags, posters, and programs along with the Target tent who was also handing out free bags. Shauna and I liked the free stuff. A person can always use more bags to carry things around. Along with sponsor tents there were also the pavilion tents which were set up by category: children, children & teen, history & biography, mysteries & thrillers, fantasy & fiction, and poetry & prose.

After collecting our handouts we headed over to the children & teens tent where Paula Deen was finishing up her presentation. The few minutes we heard of her had us laughing. That lady and her butter just crack me up. One of the audience members asked her husband how he stays on a diet in her house. His answer was "you don't when you're living with Paula Deen."

(Shannon Hale laminated all her rejection letters together. It was quite long.)

After Paula finished we filed in and took our seats to wait for Shannon Hale. She is the author of the Goose Girl series and has also written a book called Austenland for all the Mr. Darcy lovers out there. Shauna and I had second row seats for Shannon. Her presentation was great. I was very impressed with her speaking abilities. When they told her time was up I was shocked. I felt like she had just begun and I wanted to hear more. When we were done listening to Shannon Hale Shauna had to head home. So I was left alone to attempt some more book signings.

I went and stood in line for Steven Kellogg. He is an author and illustrator of children's books. Even if you haven't heard of him chances are you have in your possession or are familiar with many books he has done. As I went through Tade's books before the festival I came across a book from my childhood he had illustrated called Once Said Darlene. I waited in line for over and hour, luckily he chose to stay longer because technically they only have to stay an hour to sign. When I finally got to the front of the line Steven Kellogg signed the book and even drew a picture of one of his characters in the book. Tade now has quite a treasure. It was at this point the rain that had been threatening all morning decided to pour down on the festival goers. For once in my life I remembered to grab and umbrella and was very thankful I had one.

The Shannon Hale line I joined after leaving Steven Kellogg was very long. It would have been a miserable wait in line without an umbrella. This line moved very slowly. Shannon was signing from 2-3pm. She had started early and by 3pm I still had quite a ways to go. Fortunately she also chose to stay longer to sign books. I was so relieved to hear this. She is the main one I was there for. All the people in line with me had books from the Goose Girl series to sign. I was the odd one out with my Austenland book. It was the one I most enjoyed. I finally got to the front of the line and had it signed. At this point I had accomplished everything I had come to do. So I headed to the metro pretty satisfied with my day. The only thing that would have improved it would have been if Judy Blume's line had been shorter and if parking hadn't taken forever to find. (I took the metro home because Shauna took the car when she left.)

White House Tour

I have spent most of my life living just outside of Washington DC. There are so many things in this area to take advantage of. Some of these things I have see a million times and others I have skipped over. One of the skipped over items is the White House tour. You used to have to wait in line in the wee hours of the morning to get tickets for the tour. I was not willing to do that and those who I have known to do that were very unimpressed and said it wasn't worth the early morning wait. Now the system for the tours has changed considerably. My cousin is an intern for one of the Utah Congressmen. On occasion they get openings for tours of the White House. A couple weeks ago they had an opening and Becca emailed me to see if we wanted to go. So Shauna, Sean, and I headed downtown for the tour. Jake, Tade, and Seth opted to stay home for Tade's soccer game. When I got the confirmation email for the tour there were instructions on what we couldn't bring. The list included pretty much everything. Seriously, you could not bring anything but your car keys and a cell phone. If you showed up with a camera, bag or anything else you couldn't get in. They had no baggage check. When we got to the check in point Shauna and I were on the list, but Sean wasn't. Fortunately they did a quick check and Sean was able to get in. We figured his name would come up quickly in their system seeing as he is a diplomat.

The tour was a self guided tour. It ended up taking about 20 minutes. It was actually nice finally seeing the White House. Shauna and I had fun comparing several pieces of the furniture and wall hangings with things my Grandma had. Now I can say I have been in the White House and on the grounds of the White House (for the Easter egg roll) in the same year.

They did let us have our cell phones as long as they were turned off. As we left we could use them to take a picture just outside the front door.

I want a house with a front porch like that one.