Catching up... starting with Halloween!

It's been a long time since I've posted on my blog...I was having issues with it but thanks to Tia & Merrick it's all taken care of! Thanks guys!!

Well I'm a little overwhelmed with where I should start, I'm so far behind!! I guess I'll start with some Halloween pictures!

This year Don and Lincoln went as clowns!! I am pretty bummed because I forgot to get any picture of Don and I .... oh well I guess.

Jackson went as Woody and I went as Jessie! Jackson sure had a lot of fun with Halloween this year!

At our church Halloween party they had a bunch of games for the little kiddos...Jackson's favorite was  the Limbo! He had a lot of fun dancing to the music and hanging out with his best friend Savannah!

This year we let Jackson color/chalk a pumpkin. He sure had a lot of fun with it! This kid cracks me up all the faces he makes for the camera....

The finished product!

 Helping mom and dad with their pumpkin...

 Pretty neat!

 Brothers! I think the boys look a lot a like in these photos.

 Don't mind the food in Jackson's mouth, we had to bribe him with candy to sit by Lincoln!

 Aw....sweetheart!

 Halloween is Don's Birthday too, so did a lot of celebrating. Jackson had to get rinsed off in the sink after eating Don's favorite dinner... spaghetti!

As you can tell Don was super excited about his new shirt! :) I felt bad because he had to leave in the middle of his party and he didn't get to go trick or treating with the boys because he got called off to work! Ah...the joys of a social worker!

 

 I had been planning on doing a Thanksgiving project for a while, but I didn't do it until Thanksgiving Day!! haha...well I couldn't put them away after only one day, so they are still up with all of our Christmas stuff! I think they turned out cute though...and of course I got the idea off of Pinterest! Everything on the blocks is paint...with a little ribbon to dress it up a little.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween(belated)...I'll post our Thanksgiving Day soon! :)

Mormons...

It is really hard for me to listen to people talk about my religion in a negative way. Most of you know that Don and I are Mormons, and proud of it. But since Mitt Romney has been put in the spotlight for the presidential race, news and other sources have been spending a lot of time reporting on Mormons. We have read and watched many of these, but we have been somewhat disappointed in the truthfulness of some of their information. There is a lot of Anti-Mormon literature out there, so it makes it hard to find the truth and facts. But our church has websites that have the correct information about our values and beliefs. You can visit them if you are interested in finding out for yourself what it is we believe: Lds.org and Mormon.org.

Mormons at a very young age learn what we call "The 13 Articles of Faith." It helped us as children better understand our fundamental beliefs. Don and I have used them when helping others understand more about our faith. 

13 Articles of Faith

1. We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
2. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.
3. We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
4. We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
5. We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.
6. We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.
7. We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.
8. We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.
9. We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
10. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.
11. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
12. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
13. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul-We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.
    

1st Haircut...

Don and I have been saying for a long time now that we need to cut Lincoln's hair. Basically his whole life we've been saying that because he has so much hair and it's so long. I was so sad when we actually cut it though, because now the cute curls are gone and now he looks like a little boy instead of a baby! But he is still such a handsome boy and we think he looks pretty sharp with his new hair cut!

BEFORE:

 AFTER:

He is such a stud! :) I made him a hat because its starting to get chilly...and I think it turned out so cute! It fits him just right!

Don and I took the boys to the library yesterday and to our surprise, we saw some of the flower booths from the farmer's market were still open.  They had all of their flowers on sale! Don said I could pick any bouquet that I wanted.  I picked the one below for only $10...its so beautiful! I've never seen a prettier bouquet...I'm so lucky! Thanks Don! :)

Project for the month...

I got this idea on Pinterest and thought it was amazing...so I decided to do it! Travel Tic Tac Toe for the kids (or adults)! :) It's perfect for the little ones on car rides, plane rides...anywhere really. When Don got into his car accident and he had to empty the car of everything, he found some old Altoid boxes. I told him not to throw it away because I was sure I could use them for something...haha. Pinterest has turned me into a junk collector! :) This project took a little time because I had to put the paper together myself in Photoshop. But I'm so glad I did it! All you need is a Photoshop program, an old Altoid box, Mod Podge, and 1/2" magnets!

First thing I did was paint the bottom of the box...this is optional, I just did it because I thought it looked nicer.

 Then I got the magnets ready...these are used for the markers for each person.

 Then I printed and cut up the playing board and the cover.

 Cover

 Playing board

 Next you round the corners so it can fit in the Altoid box

 Then I just covered everything with Mod Podge for the finish...I'm excited to use these! I think the kids will enjoy them!

Trash to Treasure...

I was going to do another political post...but I'm too tired! Talking about political stuff just wears me out! :) Hopefully next time I'll do it!

I love that it's become popular to repurpose old things! I love the way it looks, I love that you don't really have to spend money on it. I love feeling crafty... turning someone else's trash into my treasure! Here is the scoop on my latest project!

Don and I found this window at a yard sale for $6.50. It needed cleaned desperately! The paint was peeling off, so once I cleaned it I lathered it with one of my most favorite things...Mod Podge! That way all the paint wont peel off, but still has the rustic/old look.

 Don had some extra barn wood he uses for his picture frames...which made for a perfect shelf under the window.

 Add some decorations...and you've got yourself a beautiful window! :)

I'm still debating weather or not to put pictures in it....we will see. It's a nice addition to our front room! I bought another smaller window at the yard sale that I'm planning on fixing up to put a wreath on it.

Washington's Children part 3...

To be quite honest with you, I didn't think we would ever be able to find enough pictures for a Washington's children part 3....but I was dead wrong.  Just when we thought we've seen it all, someone pulls out the big guns! You can find part one here, and part two here!

Washington parents carry their children around in baby packs...

 And so do we... ( I love Lincoln's face in all of the pictures below, he's so stinkin' cute!)

 They burp their children over their shoulders...

 And so do we!

 They protect their children from harmful UV Rays...

And so do we!!! :)

 They pack their children around in bags and baskets for rides...

And so do we...but secretly our children like it more.

 They take their children for wagon rides...

 

 And we would too, if we had a wagon. But we do scoot our children around in coolers from Walmart...

 They dress their kids in tye dye shirts...

Yep...we do that too!

We basically thought we were up to par with the Washington parents, but alas, I think they've got us beat. How can we possibly compete with a parent taking their child Trick or Treating in the middle of August...

What? You don't see it? How about now...