Happy Halloween

Monica as Princess Peach

Carter as Thomas the Train
The trick-or-treaters in action

Posing with MomDad excited for trick-or-treating

Monica - always posing
This year the kids knew exactly what they wanted to be for Halloween. Monica has been wanting to be Princess Peach "from Super Mario Galaxy" for quite some time. We decided to buy the wig to top off the outfit. She loved it. It was no surprise that Carter wanted to be Thomas the Train. Monica had a little Halloween parade at her school. They parade the kids through the gym for all the parents. It was fun to see the creativity of some of the older kids. In the afternoon we went trunk-or-treating at the local grocery store and the kids scored! We came home and a festive dinner of hot dog mummies as well as chocolate eyes and witches fingers. Then we went trick-or-treating. We went to all of the houses on our street and then came home and carved the pumpkins that have been sitting on our porch for 2 weeks. The kids had a blast. They also loved answering the door for the other trick-or-treaters and seeing the costumes. Another FUN HALLOWEEN!

Some festive food we made

Birthday Boy!

Happy Birthday to Carter - he's 4 years old today! Just as he requested, he got new trains for his birthday. About two weeks ago we were sitting around the table eating dinner and we asked him what he wanted for his birthday. He was hesitant and so we started giving him options: Trains, a new bike, a truck and trailer.... He enthusiastically told us he wanted a NEW TRAIN! He has been riding Monica's old pink & light blue bike and so we asked him "do you think you might want a new bike for your birthday?" He emphatically replied "I think I want a NEW TRAIN!!" We got the hint and that's what he got! Because Ward & I were a little preoccupied with our duty to speak in church today, we wimped out bought Carter a cake - but it was a Baskin Robbin's Ice Cream cake and we all loved it!! I love the excitment on his face while Ward was lighting his candles, he was SO excited. Happy Birthday Carter Boy! We Love You!!

School Girl

Monica has been in Kindergarten for over a month now! I know I've said this before on this blog, but it's true - kids grow up too fast! That first day was a little bit hard for mom, dad and Carter but we've never looked back. Carter still is sad to see her go to school on some days, but he and daddy are such good buddies and do a lot of fun things together.Monica has been so excited to go to school for quite a while now. She has been reading for about six months and was learning to write when school started. She really does enjoy school. Although every once in awhile says she doesn't want to go because it's boring. But everyday when we pick her up from school she is happy and says that she had a good day at school. Here are a few more pictures of her on the first day of school.

NEW (old) house

After a 6 month search, we finally bought a HOME! It's an old fixer-upper that has a lot of potential, is in an excellent neighborhood and great schools. We were supposed to close in the middle of July but the seller's didn't have their affairs in order - and it wasn't discovered until we were sitting in the closing on the 14th. The fiasco of working with the seller continued for two weeks until we were forced to hire a real estate attorney to get the sellers to fulfill their obligations of the contract and sell the house as agreed. It was quite the experience, to say the least! Thankfully, we are in the home and we hit the ground running! We have ripped out all the carpet, including the kitchen carpet (YUCK).Check out the sweet purple shag in one of the bedrooms! All of the bedrooms had different color carpet - purple, red and blue. The rest of the carpet was a sweet green. Luckily there are hardwood floors throughout the upstairs, except in the kitchen. The padding under the carpet was plastered to the hardwood floors. We had to get on our hands and knees and scrape almost every inch of the hardwood floors. We have also torn down all the "Sound of Music" drapes - We have torn out all of the sheetrock in the basement ceiling to expose all the old galvanized plumbing and electrical. Our first major project is to relocate and put in a brand-new bathroom upstairs. Ward has also done a lot of work in the yard. He power-raked the poor lawn, has fertilized it twice and is so good about watering it by hand almost every morning. There is a sprinkling system, but it has a large leak in it. When I called to set up our water through the county, they told me the water bill last August was $230! That must have been before the leak was discovered. Someday we'll redo the landscaping and sprinkling system. We have a long road ahead of us - but we're thankful to have a house that we can make our home!

Second Tooth

Monica has lost a second tooth.  This time it was the natural process - not the dentist.  It slowly became loose and Ward just couldn't stand it anymore.  He talked her into letting him pull it out with the needle nose pliers.  Unfortunately he was unsuccessful and mom had to finish the job by pulling the tooth with my fingers.  Monica was a tropper!

Fun Activities

Since finishing school and moving to Salt Lake we have tried to take the opportunity to do some fun family activities together. We have a lot of making up to do after Ward & I both being in school (our dear sweet kids are resilient, thankfully).

Here's a snapshot of some of the fun things that we've done:

Back in March we went to the Train Expo in Ogden. 

Carter loves trains and this event didn't disappoint. This event is held in the old train station. They had a ton of model trains set up as well as plenty of booths to purchase trains and accessories at. We didn't make any purchases. Carter couldn't get enough of the real life trains. He and I walked through them for about 30 minutes, and that wasn't enough for him.

We recently bought an annual membership to the county rec center. One of the centers has a gigantic pool that is very kid friendly. We try and take the kids at least once a week if not more often. I took some really cute pictures of Ward and the kids swimming. Those were the last pictures I took on my camera before it was stolen. So here's a picture of that cool swimming pool (courtesy of the county's website).

We have been to see a few movies, at the theatre, since we moved here. Last weekend we took the kids to see "UP" the new Disney movie. It was a really cute movie, and I was crying the 10 mintues of the movie. We would definetly recommend this one!

It's amazing to experience normal life after school. I feel so thankful that we went back to school and even more thankful that we are DONE and can live a 'normal' life. LIFE IS GREAT!!!

ONI...No longer

As mentioned at the end of the previous post, I have finished the Oncology Nursing Internship (ONI). It was a great experience and I'm glad that I was able to have that opportunity fresh out of nursing school. What I don't miss is the homework and extra stress. I'm glad to work my three 12 hour shifts a week and be done!

 Here is a picture of all of us interns. 

This is me getting my 'diploma' and pin. Gigi, the internship coordinator is on the left and Sandra, the nurse manager, on the right. 

After 'graduation' we went bike riding at City Creek Canyon and down to Memory Grove here in Salt Lake. It was beautiful! What a fun day and great end to a tough internship program.

Memorial Day

We had a great memorial day weekend.  Ward took the kids up to his parents early so that I could finish my BIG project and finale for my internship.  I got finished on Saturday evening and headed up.  Sunday, we went to his uncle & aunt's homecoming.  They served a CES mission to Louisiana.  We spent a fun Sunday afternoon and evening with his family and then headed to the Memorial Day ceremony and luncheon Monday morning.  I love the tradition that we have of going to the cemetery for a the ceremony they put on every Memorial Day - complete with 21 gun salute.  It's a great opportunity to teach our kids about our family members who have died and the soldiers that have fought so valiantly for our country and died for the freedoms we enjoy.We no longer have a camera - it was stolen out of our car a few weeks ago.  But Cristie, Ward's sister and photographer extraordinaire, always has her camera and took a few cute pictures of our family on Sunday after the farewell.We had a great weekend with family!  We are so glad that summer is here and that my internship program is OVER!!