mother's group is the best

we love mother's group! i can say that i go for jack, but that is a blatant lie. i go for myself, to selfishly spend time with the other fabulous moms in my ward whom i love dearly. jack just happens to get to play with his friends too. today, we had our halloween party and everyone (go figure) showed up as animals, except cute mirayla who was a pirate. however, they could've cared less about the costumes they were wearing because lauren had a duck in her backyard. it was awesome!
lainey, the "laineybug" scooched into this pic.
from l to r: grace the giraffe, ethan the puppy, jack the turtle, afton and abby as more puppies, and mirayla the pirate.

the yearly carve

pretty much, i think you can guess who's is who's. you know how you have a plan, a genius creative plan, as to what your pumpkin is going to look like this year and then you stick the knife in and all the sudden you have a slash the size of kentucky (holla) in your pumpkin in the wrong direction? that's what happened to shawn (the one in the middle). when he showed me the final carve i laughed my head off.

halloween memories

i love all holidays except for halloween. yes, i'm a party-poop. i hate dressing up, i hate being scared, i never liked trick-or-treating. but as i read a bunch of halloween memories from roomies' blogs, i started thinking of mine, and the truth reveals itself.

when i was 7-8ish, the YM and YW put together halloween activities for the primary kids. they had treats and games and a dinky haunted room (the primary room). i remember my mom encouraging me to go into the haunted room, even though i was scared to death. she said it would be fun. so i go in and as i'm making my way through a hall of sheets in the pitch black, someone jumps out right in front of me and yells. well, no need to even try and act brave, i started bawling right then and there. he felt so bad he picked me and carried me like the baby i was out of the room. i couldn't stop crying and we had to go home.

then, flash forward 7 years to when i was 14. it was ben justice's b-day and he wanted all of us to go to the haunted house they used to have at the state mental hospital (yes, with the crazies as the crazies in the haunted house). i don't know how i let them talk me into it, but i went. ben's dad came with, and halfway through, i was so scared i started crying and we had to go home. really cool.

in high school, one of my best friends' b-day (the tichey) was in oct. and he always wanted to go to some sort haunted something. inevitably, i would either cry, pee, or pass out. i would beg them to take me home.

this, my friends, is why i do not like halloween and rather than having my husband have to bring me home in crumpled ball of tears, i think we'll just stay home this year.

the sink is the perfect place to sit, who knew?

this is how jack brushes his teeth.

animals, animals, animals

jack and i went with our mother's group to thanksgiving point's petting zoo. jack is loving animal sounds so he went crazy seeing live animals that actually make them. this is him withe the duckies.

a new trend

so i'm going through all these pics to blog and i realize that most of them consist of jack with no pants on and some kind of footwear so here's a gallery of sorts of fall's newest fashion.

gratitude

okay, so for the past hour i have been perusing everyone's blogs to catch up and i'm overwhelmed with gratitude for the amazing friends and family that we have. i could not begin to count the number of times i've thanked my Heavenly Father for the good people that surround us, for your inspiring examples of faith and strength. you've changed me and my family for which i can never express enough thanks. and if you're reading this, i'm talking about you.

i love you all. thank you.