Way too much Halloween fun

Does everyone remember how very much I love Halloween? It is really my favorite. And it just keeps getting better every year, because I can push my love for it onto Evan and he absorbs it like a sponge :) Saturday was FULL of Halloween fun for us, and I loved every minute of it!! Let's remember one of my favorite costumes of the past; being pregnant at Halloween is super awesome!

This year I had some favorite touches of my own for every day happiness :)

 

Evan and I only had three costume changes for the day!!! SO MUCH FUN!

 Saturday morning, I took Evan to Albertson's for lots of Halloween festivities. Here he is with his buddy Tyson waiting for the costume contest to begin.

 Which Tyson won! He was a pretty darn cute lil' Woody.

 We set out that afternoon as pirates to a friend's house for a little party. Evan is saying, "Arrggghh!" to the camera.

 The pirate with his two Woody buddies. We had lots of fun pinning legs on the spider, playing ball toss for candy, eating bite sized caramel apples, and frosting sugar cookies. We walked away with lots of fun treats and goodies!

 And I think the best costume was saved for last!

 Evan absolutely loved his bones! And they were glow in the dark, which made them even more awesome!! There is a cute little pumpkin for his heart, and spider dangling from his rib on the other side. Eek!

 Hooray for Halloween! Our ward trunk or treat was just right for Evan. We were done in about 45 minutes, and that was so perfect. He was much more excited about people's trunks being decorated than any of the candy they had to offer. We had such a great night.

 I LOVE LOVE LOVE being pregnant at Halloween! It makes it that much more fun. And I love my husband even more for going along with my craziness and always making my costumes so dang awesome. Just as he created the pumpkin farmer from above, he mastered this skeleton baby, too! Nate, your the best!!!

A change will do you good

 Are you singing? :) Our annual October recruiting trip to Utah State happened earlier this month, and we had lots of fun in Utah and Idaho. Evan thought it was great fun to have some change, be with Dad, and hang out in a hotel. (Since he had spent the entire month of September stuck inside with just mom). 

Too much fun. He managed to take up an entire queen sized bed, every night. Luckily, there were two in the room and Nate could get some sleep in the other. Me, on the other hand...not so much.

 He is becoming quite the artist, but has to be in this exact position to draw. Every time. I don't mess with his creative genius.

 My sister and my dad are bringing sexy back with their twinner glasses, although there is a good 30+ years age difference between the two. I think they are both rocking the look!

 Evan is growing up to be quite the little boy, not so much a baby anymore. He wanted to do homework every night like his cousin, Trayson, and had to have snacks and milk, just like him, too. Although Evan was forced to do his homework downstairs away from Trayson, because Evan was quite distracting :)

 We went to Union Station in Ogden one night for a craft boutique (I miss these in the desert!) and got to play on the trains for a while first. The boys thought it was SO cool!

 I had never been inside the actual station part of Union Station, and I thought it was really neat. I liked imagining the hustle and bustle of people in here in the olden days. My, how it's changed!

 Evan had his first pedicure, thanks to Aunt Stacey and Grandma Susan. He loved it! So weird. And constantly wants to show everyone his pretty toes.

 I was also able to get my first glitter toes, and I love, love, love them!! Maybe that's why Evan loves his pretty toes...

 The night before we were leaving, Trayson could not help but cuddle and hold Evan. He kept saying how cute Evan was. I don't know where this change of heart came from, but it was hilarious!

 Nate's car decided a bit ago to quit turning right, so he got lucky and came home from Utah in this baby. He loves it. Evan loves it. Enough said.

 My sister's friend (mwe have never met) sent Evan this Elmo costume all the way from Mississippi and we think it is super awesome!

 Evan may look a little nervous here, but he honestly loves it. He stares at himself in the mirror and just laughs and laughs. He just hates holding still for pictures. He wants to "run and see it" before the picture is even taken. The kid has no idea what it's like not in a digital world!

 We have friends moving in next door and we are so excited!! Evan and I got to play with their baby Abigail while her mommy was unloading stuff from the car. Evan adored having the baby at our house. He wanted to show her all of his toys and do everything that she did, like lay down on the mat and play ;) So sweet.

 Nate went on a backpacking trip awhile ago, and amongst his camping stuff that has been out, Evan has become seriously attached to this roll out pad. I hide it while he's sleeping and he always finds it. He is constantly playing in it, coming up with all sorts of uses for it.

 See? We honestly watched an entire cartoon like this one morning. It's getting to be a bit ridiculous.

 Halloween is coming and it's my favorite!!! We took Evan to see the Halloween house, or the crazy Wizard of Oz house. It's this guy in town who is apparently just obsessed with The Wizard of Oz. A lot of his stuff is up year round, but more of it comes out around Halloween, and he usually has a TV on his front lawn playing the movie. I shot video of it that I will post, because you really can't get the whole effect from these pictures.

 Evan kept calling Dorothy a witch. Come to think of it, I don't know if there is a witch in the whole scene...I know there are flying monkeys...I'll have to go back and check. I don't mind :)

 With fall, usually comes boredom on my part because nothing is changing in the desert and I think it should be. So, I usually dye my hair.

 It's not as dark as I would like it to be, but it still looks better than the drabness it was before. So I will take it. For now.

 Funny story, remember this picture? It was taken middle to late August 2009.

 While my hair has changed and the background has changed, not much else is different these days...

Bebe' Fuller numero 2 is set to join our fam come middle of April!!!!!!!!

One thing hasn't changed around here: Evan is still the cutest dang kid I know (even when he is sideways. Sorry) This is his Halloween song:

Perhaps a tad mushy; for journaling purposes, really...

5 years ago today I was convincing my Exercise Physiology lab instructor to just let us play games for class that day (instead of our usual grueling Wednesday workout of running our guts out) in celebration of me getting married the next day. Walking into the Fieldhouse that day, everyone kept saying, "What are you doing here? You're getting married tomorrow! Don't you have better things to do?" I did not, in fact. I felt pretty darn prepared. I had at least taken the day off work, which was a big deal for me. But after that last class, I met up with my mom, my good friend Tosha (ie the decorator) and Nate's close friends Colby and Penny to head up the canyon to set up everything for the reception. That night, my best friend from elementary came up to Logan to spend the night with me. After meeting up with Nate's family after dinner at the church to decorate and set up the luncheon, Marilyn and I stayed up way too late reminiscing of our younger days. We painted nails and slept on the floor, (since all of my things had already been moved to "our"house) our last of many, many, many sleepovers. 2 days prior, I had met in my surgeon's office to hear the most wonderful news, that the lump they had removed from my breast and biopsied the week before, was indeed not cancerous, but that I needed to keep an eye on things. This was the best way to start my week, and helped ease a lot of already there wedding stress. Later that same day, my Athletic Injuries professor informed us he was changing our test from Tuesday to Thursday (my wedding day!) thinking he was doing us a great favor. I managed to convince him I really was getting married the day of the test, and could I please take it early. He told me no, he didn't want any questions leaked, and that he would allow me to take it when I returned from my Honeymoon on Monday, assuming I would not be talking to any of my classmates over the weekend :) Escaping these few minor last minute stresses, along with silly things like not having  pen or book for guests to sign in, I felt prepared. I pleaded with Nate upon departing the night before our wedding, to please, please, please not be late picking me up the next morning for the Temple. I told him if he were late every other day for the rest of our lives, so be it, just please don't be late tomorrow. I informed his two old mission companions who had traveled long distances to join us on our day (one from Las Vegas, who I'm quite sure thought he was in Canada by the time he finally reached Logan, UT), and would be staying with Nate that night at our house, that if they kept him up all night and made him late to pick me up, I would never forgive them. :)

He was late. Thursday, October 19, 2006 was a bit overcast, a perfectly brisk, fall day (later making great pictures, since there was no sun to squint at). In the Sealing Room, holding hands with my groom, taking in at least 50 of our closest friends and family members, the Temple felt so warm and bright and quite possibly, bursting it's walls with joy. I didn't realize that day that this would be the only day for all of our lives that would be solely and completely about US. Just us. I wish I could have made my younger self realize that on that day, because that is pretty darn special. My eyes were teary from the moment the Sealer mentioned my grandparents, the only set in the room, as an example of longevity in love, still holding hands. I was overcome with emotion for the rest of the ceremony. Nate never let go of me all day. I remember thinking to myself that night at our reception how absolutely wonderful it was to spend an entire day with him (which hardly EVER happened in our 1+ years of dating), by my side, holding hands the whole way through.

I'm so thankful he decided to stick it out with me, when after approximately 36 hours of being married, he awoke to me in the middle of the night puking in the guest bathroom of our log cabin retreat in Jackson Hole, WY. I knew then that he truly loved me, when he came to my side, gently rubbed my back, and held my hair for me. He sweetly gave up on our breakfast dream of going to Village Inn the next morning, watched tv in the other room and let me sleep in until about 1230 in the afternoon. Once I finally woke up, he quickly took my order for what I needed and ran to the nearest gas station, picking up my Coke, pretzels, and Advil, along with a juice and muffin for himself. If my happy newly-married-wedding bubble hadn't already been popped, reality slapped me in the face on Monday as I gave my most important presentation of the semester in my business class at 730am, proceeded with the rest of my classes that day, ran a 3.5mile warmup! in my lab, took the test I'd missed out on the week before, and headed to work until 730pm. I think Nate came home about 9pm that night. And that was our new life.

Today, I am scrubbing the kitchen floor, by hand; something I despise, loathe, abhor. Because the man I fell in love with what seems SO very long ago, the man who couldn't take his eyes off me 5 years ago as we set up tables in a church, the man who, with watery eyes and on bended knee on a special rock in a river in Idaho, told me he could not imagine life without me, never wanted to be without me and loved me more than he knew he could, asked me to scrub the kitchen floor, and told me how much it would mean to him if I did. And today as I started scrubbing, it gave me a lot of time to reflect on him and our life. While I probably had more fun 5 years ago, playing kickball and dodgeball at school, taking a day off work, and contemplating the butterflies in my stomach on how the next day was supposed to be the best day of my life, I didn't have a sweet son napping in his Aggie room, who makes my world go round. I didn't have the full-time job of being a mom, something I never knew I would love and appreciate so much. I didn't have a hard-working, dedicated husband who sincerely loves his family, his job, his church calling, and his new truck :) I didn't have fish in the backyard to watch over,or a house to call mine. I didn't live far from home and family, and wasn't forced to have faith in my husband and my God that all would be well. In the long run, 5 years doesn't seem like anything to be worked up about. But looking back at our last 5 years, I really can't believe we are where we are, and am truly glad that my husband, the man who had me immediately smitten and head over heels,  decided he needed someone to eventually scrub his floors. :)  The funny thing about love is, as I scrubbed and scrubbed that darn kitchen floor, I soon forgot how intensely I hated it. I could only think about how lucky I am, how good it felt to do something that I knew he would sincerely appreciate, and how very, very much I love my husband. Happy 5 years tomorrow, Love.

  This picture was a candid shot taken by my uncle. It's very us. And I adore Nate's "real" smile in it.
(I couldn't get my scanner to work, so I took a pic of the pic in the book on my phone. Real quality stuff. :)

Evan is a dinosaur!

 That's what I had to tell Evan to convince him that the green spray the hairdresser had just sprayed on him was not scary.

Throughout our haircuts that day, no matter what you asked Evan, his answer was green. Sometimes he would think for a minute before answering, "Evan, how old are you?" "Um...green!" And other times he would just be talking to himself, like at the play kitchen naming all of the foods, "Green (banana), green (cob of corn), green (sandwich)..." I don't know what weird kick he was on that day, but we walked out of there with a green balloon, a green sucker, and green spray in our hair.

After she first sprayed his newly cut spikes, Evan's face was terrified. He looked like he was about to cry. So the hairdresser sprayed a piece of my hair, to show him it was okay, because mommy had some, too. He was hating the idea of all of this more by the second, until I said, "Evan is a dinosaur! What does the dinosaur say?" "Raarr!!!" Immediate smile, and he got down off his chair, and ran to the other stylist to show her his dinosaur hair. He was pretty proud of it for the rest of the day. But we both got baths as soon as we were able. Green's not really my color :)

Cutest little dinosaur I ever did see, though.