Happy Halloween

Today was a fun day! We played all morning, made cakes in the afternoon, and then went trick or treating in the evening. We started in Old Town and did the rounds with the businesses, and then we went Trunk-or-treat at the church. At the church we also had a cake walk, free hot dogs and root beer, face painting, hayrides, fish pond, and doughnut eating on a string. We saw a bunch of friends, handed out a ton of candy, and wore ourselves out. The kids were exhausted and went to bed a little after 8.

Emma insisted this year that she didn't want to be anything girly. So she choose to be Captain Rex- a storm trooper from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. She did get a lot of complements with the accompanying giggle. It was cute to watch her act her part.Here is a picture of Emma and Riley (vampire.) They are the best of friends right now and two peas in a pod! Those are his two sisters next to Sean.

Sean wanted to be a Knight, and we did buy the outfit. He changed his mind at the last minute and decided to go as Batman, without the mask because it broke a month ago and was thrown away. It's probably good he went as Batman, because the knight outfit was too small (yet cute.)

Ryan was superman! Very fitting for his attitude and he looked great in it. He was all smiles tonight, and only got scared at one outfit- a dinosaur. When he get too tired he turns silly and all smiles. He had everyone in stitches!

After we had gone around the church and had food and played games, we went back to our car. Here Emma and Sean took turns handing out the candy to all the trick-or-treaters. They had a blast. Usually I decorate our car really cute with lights and pumpkins and such- but I forgot this year. Ooops- oh well!

Here's me-goofing off for the camera and my hubby! I still love the outfit, and wish I had more reasons to wear it. It was a very warm night, the last few years it's been cool enough to need a jacket, but this year it was pretty warm (I even saw a baby crawling around in just a diaper.) The one thing that I have learned with poodle skirts is that they keep you unusually warm. In the old movies when they are in the convertibles and the men were wearing jackets and the girls were always wearing short sleeve shirts- I had thought they must be cold or why aren't the men sharing. I now know it is because the girls were wearing natural heaters.

As we got ready to go we buckled up the kids and they immediately reached for the candy. YummY!!

Here are what my cakes turned out to look like. I made 5 cute couples, and I hope nobody realized that I forgot the eyebrows and lashes on the girl- good grief where is my brain.

Here is the table with my couples on display.

By the way these are the cakes I made last week- I can now say that I made 20 cakes in one week. - ha ha Although they were small- it was enjoyable. Hope everyone had a very Happy Halloween.

Happy Pre-Halloween

For those who want to see what decorations we put up at the Hoggard home this year. The kids and I bought a $5 sheet and painted a face onto it. Then the next weekend a huge windstorm blew it away, but he is back and almost as scary! We bought the cool spooky spiderweb and orange lights, the kids informed me as to where it should go. The reflection onto the window behind is neat to see.Here is our mini-graveyard. For FHE this week we paired up and carved pumpkins. Sean really wanted one with hands and a bow tie. Shiloh wanted one that was winking. Emma wanted to stab it with toothpicks. Here's an up close finished product Here is the finished Halloween facade. For Sean's preschool we made 20 little bags of candy to take.

For Emma's Kindergarten we made 20 more little bags.

Happy Day Before Halloween!!

Random babble

Some times I don't want to write individual posts on something really small. Yet- if you put a whole bunch of small things together it's more exciting to read and worth my time to blog. Here are a few things that are interesting or exciting to me. Emma's very first report card. (The front and back) The actual grades.

The format is so different than the one I received 25 years ago. Emma's school makes the parents sign them and return them.

Ryan's favorite thing to do right now is dump out cereal all over the floor. It is driving me nuts- he has completely ruined four boxes of cereal in the past two days and spent a lot of time in timeout. And still he runs to the cupboard! This is what will happen if you add flour to a Kitchen Aid before Mom turns it off.

In case you were ever wondering- this is how I get stuff done!

Emma's school had an assembly and she got an award for perfect attendance! Great Job Emma! This last Sunday was the Primary Program. We bought Emma a new dress for the occasion and so she could keep warm. All the primary children wore "Future Missionary" tags, and Emma was very proud to wear hers.

Her brother liked it as well- ahhhhh just think only16 more years.

You will probably only find these pictures funny if you knew me when I was a youngling. For those who just recently discovered my friendship I will fill you in. All through Elementary I played hard at recess; all of my jeans had holes in the knees, I would come home dirty, and I was constantly trying to hide the blisters on my hands. It drove my poor mother nuts and I could never understand why. Now. . . . . my daughter. . . . is coming home with mud and grass stains all over her knees and bottom. For the first time since I have become a mother I found myself repeating my mothers words and thinking to myself, "What am I going to do with her."

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

On Friday was my fathers birthday, and as a tradition my children sang Happy Birthday to him early in the morning. To celebrate I went to my Bishops surprise birthday party. I did eat extra cake for my dad.

Anyone who knows my dad knows that he is the kindest person and very generous with his time. He is always willing to help someone in need, and as of late his humor is seriously blooming. Apparently it was always there, but being his daughter I missed it somehow.

Some fun facts: My Dad grew up in a house a mile down the road from where I grew up. We both graduated from American Fork High School (so did his father.) He married my mother in 76 and moved into the house that they still live in today. He was in scouts the whole time I was in elementary. He was a Bishop from the time I could date until I got married. He's worked at Geneva Steel and for Utah Power. He's a huge supporter for family events: dinners, reunions, holidays, etc. He loves his family and we love him- Happy Birthday Dad! I encluded a few fun photos.

Ryan Update

Now that it's been almost 3 days he is feeling much better. He is still extremely tender and is restricted with his movement, but he has learned to cope and can now do as much mischief as before. We talked to a friend of ours who is an orthopedic surgeon and he told us that the brace really isn't necessary because little children heal so quickly (which is a relief because we still don't have it yet.) Thanks for all the support and prayers in behalf of Ryan they have truly been a blessing. I am grateful for such wonderful family members and close friends- Thanks guys! For those who have no idea what I am talking about read my post called "Poor Ryan."

I've been tagged- 8

8 TV Shows I like to watch:

1. Smallville
2. The Office
3. Scrubs
4. NOVA
5. Clone Wars
6. Friends reruns
7. Everyone loves Raymond reruns
8. M.A.S.H. reruns

8 Restaurants I like:

1. The Brick Oven
2. Olive Garden
3. Casa Bonita
4. Jamba Juice/Cold Stone
5. Nic's
6. Haunted Hamburger
7. Mortons Steak House
8. Javelina Cantina

8 Things that happened today:

1. Woke up at 5:30 with my two sons
2. Watched the BYU vs. UNLV game
3. Pulled my kids on a wagon trip
4. Talked to my sister in law Angela for 45 min on the phone
5. Went to Dennys with my kids- refused to pay for my daughter hard and gross dinner, then whipped out a 20% off the entire meal coupon. I think they hated me!
6. Told Shiloh to go to work (I know it's Saturday, but it was more work keeping the kids away from him working then to have him just gone. What can I say: I'm mean.)
7. Didn't make my bed for the seventh day in a row- no surprise to my sister. Where are you now Michelle- I'll still read you spelling lists while you make my bed.
8. Blogged

8 Things I'm looking forward to:

1. The Elections being over
2. Family coming into town for Thanksgiving
3. Christmas
4. Not making dinner tomorrow because it's Shiloh's day to cook
5. Ryan's collarbone healed
6. Sean being completely and totally potty trained
7. Emma's tooth falling out- it's creepy watching it wiggle back and forth
8. Shiloh coming home by midnight so I can fall asleep

8 Things on my wish list:

1. To go to Europe
2. To skydive
3. Sleep in on occasion
4. Loose another 15 lbs and feel good
5. Find a cheap piano- I've been looking for almost a year with no success
6. Honestly: I need to jump off the gossip bandwagon. Sadly I can't see when I ever got on- it's never been a problem for me my entire life, but recently I have felt really really bad about a few things I have said.
7. Continue my New Years resolution clear to the end of the year- only 2 months left. First time ever that I have been successful. (Recycling, and not using plastic grocery bags)
8. Have my children get baptised, go on missions, get married in the temple and maintain a strong testimony so we can continue life together forever!!

I tag:

Anyone who has the time to!

Poor Ryan

This is how my day was suppose to go:

• Walk at 5:30am
• Take Emma and Sean to school
• Make 10 cakes and frost them for fall festival
• Pick up Sean
• Make 12 Halloween cupcakes and decorate
• Pick up Emma
• Prep for my Cupcake demonstration for Enrichment
• Drop Emma off at 6 for Primary Activity
• Go to Enrichment at 6 and do my demonstration
• Pick up Sean around 7 and all go to Emma's school fall festival

This is how my day went:

• Went walking
• Kids all woke up late. While rushing to get ready, Ryan wanted to play with a toy in his crib so I put him in. About 1 minute later he was falling out of the crib and landing on the floor- flat on his back. After having the wind knocked out of him he begins screaming. I instantly pick him up and rush to Shiloh where Ryan proceeds to throw up all over me. Once he calms down and I put him on the floor he starts walking like a drunk. BUT I am in a hurry- because we are all late.
• Drop Emma off at school- late
• Drop Sean off at preschool- late
• After making the cakes I start to notice that something is wrong with Ryan. Every time that I pick him up he would scream, he couldn't raise up his left hand, and he couldn't bend over and pick up a ball. After calling the doctor I picked up Sean, then made frosting and quickly frosted the 10 cakes.
• Rushed the cakes to the school then went to Dr. Sanson's office where she ordered x-rays of his left elbow and shoulder, and informed us that he has a slight concussion. We then drove over to get the x-rays.
• Denise Steinert was so sweet and picked up Emma from school and let her play at her house with Alec, Addie and Amy for the next few hours. I also dropped Sean off after the x-rays- just a note that Sean behaved awesome through it all.
• RESULTS: no break in the elbow or the shoulder, but a fracture in the middle 1/3 of his clavicle (collarbone.) He will have to wear a figure 8 brace for the next 3 weeks to pull his shoulders back to heal properly.
• I get home around 5 and feed my kids and comfort Ryan. He never got a nap that day and fell asleep around 5:30. I quickly made frosting and rushed to the church with Emma.
• Enrichment was long and we end up going to the fall festival late and missed out on half the activities. We stay and visit for awhile, by the time the kids crawl into bed it is around 9. Then I still have to clean the disaster of a house.

Poor Ryan he is just a miserable little man, he's learning to cope and accomplish what he needs to. Yet he's still little Ryan- this morning I was helping Sean in the bathroom when he emptied the dishes in the dishwasher into the garbage can. Ahhhhhhhhh

Halloween Party!!

Last year some friends of ours put together an adult Halloween party and it was a huge success, and so this year they planned another one. With extra time I made a poodle skirt with matching shirt and petticoat, and I borrowed some saddle back shoes (thanks Alicia.) I then forced my husband to go as a bald greaser. LOL After being Leeroy Jenkins from Utube last year I had to help him out this year. For the party I was in charge of making the homemade root beer as well as a dessert. (I learned: don't make your cake too cute because than nobody wants to eat it!) During the night we ate desserts, we played some games (witch hunt, donut eating contest, guess your husbands feet, and others) and visited outside as well as inside. Then the men all concluded with the traditional ping pong in the garage. It was a really great party- one I will always look forward too! We had a photographer there to take the pictures check out her website here. Thanks Janae- the pictures below were taken by her as was another hundred or so. The creativity with the outfits this year was awesome. We had everything from traditional to political to polygamists. As you will see by the slide show we were in stitches all night long.

GIRLS LUNCH

Today a bunch of mom's took some time to bond, step away from the kids for a time, and to giggle about silly old stuff. It was a very enjoyable two hours!

Me- Alice? U decide

I got on my sister Michelle's blog and found a fun little quiz to find out which cullen I am. I loved the books, and even have a couple books with autographs. Anyways I found out that I AM AN ALICE! Which means: You are intelligent, outgoing & stylish. A true girly girl, you love shopping and makeovers. Although you are a generous friend, you can be coy, tricky & very persuasive in order to get your way. You are known to zone out occasionally during conversations, but your friends forgive you because you are understanding, supportive & know how to throw one heck of a party! How much fun was that! You can decide if that's me or not :) BTW I can't wait for TWILIGHT to come out in only 37 days!!! Wooohoooo!!

Emma's Kindergarten Pictures

I may be biased- but isn't she a cutie!! Love ya Emma!

Verde Valley Fire Station Open House

My children are huge "Firemen" fans so when I found out the fire station was having an open house I quickly put it on my calendar. I figured we would go, stay for awhile, and then skip out- because I didn't want to stay there for the whole two hours. Well- I was wrong! It was so cool that I was begging the kids to stay. When we pulled up they had "Sparky" the dog outside waving to all the kids, then they had hot dogs (Emma ate two) chips, cookies, water, and popcorn. We got to see a whole lot of booths. Then came the fun stuff! They had a brand new firetruck that hasn't even been used yet that we got to get in and look at. Emma and Sean got to wear the headsets so they could talk to each other- they thought that was pretty cool!

We then watched two firemen repel down the side of the station and then climb back up the ropes! Then we watched a puppet show where they taught the kids fire safety. My kids were all giggles! Who wouldn't laugh at a talking bird and a lady with bright pink hair.Then came my favorite part of the night. We watched three firemen take apart a minivan- COMPLETELY!!! They popped the tires, broke out the windows, and then showed us how the "Jaws of life" worked. SWEET! Then came the grand finally- they put flares into the van and watched it burn- once it was a huge fireball and we were feeling the heat (Emma hid behind me at this point) they turned on the hoses and put the fire out in about 15 seconds. It was amazing! So I ended up staying the full two hours- and we all loved every minute of it!!