Friday, October 31, 2008

Trunk-or-Treat!

This is Chad and the kids at the start of our neighborhood Trunk-or-Treat. Sam is the "Bumblebee" on the left and Keaton is the "Optimus Prime" on the right. Down in center of course is my baby Yoda. At first the boys wanted to be Darth Vader and Darth Maul, so I was looking for a little Leia costume for Emmi. But the only Leia I found was too big and this Yoda was just too cute on her to pass up. Then of course the boys wanted to change to Transformers, so Emmi is the lone Star Wars character. A back story on the Yoda thing- I guess one of my uncles called me Yoda as a baby. I was pretty bald and got pointy ears from my father, so I guess I did. So, you could say my baby girl just had to wear Yoda at least once to honor her Mama! ha ha The boys right before the candy raid. They have been waiting for weeks to finally be able to wear these costumes. I think they look pretty cute! I wanted to get a shot of my kids with my friend Sheila's that were also there tonight. She has two twin boys Sam's age, that are in his preschool class, and a little girl who is a year older than my Emmi. I couldn't get one with Emmi looking at the camera. She was mesmerized by Malone's costume I guess. Sam's preschool class just after their Halloween party. (Sam is Bumblebee with the mask).

The first video below is Keaton and the morning Kindergarten Halloween parade. His teacher is the "witch" in black and Keaton is at the very end of his class. The next video I shot during the trunk-or-treat. It makes me laugh to see Emmi run around in her costume because she really looks like Yoda from behind. What do you think? I hope you all had a Happy Halloween!!

A Democratic Halloween

I saw this cartoon on my friend Leslie's blog, and thought it was too fitting for this halloween with the upcoming and election and all. I just had to post it too!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Cornbelly's

We were so lucky this week. My neighbor Sara gave us 2 free tickets to Cornbelly's down at Thanksgiving Point. (Thanks again Sara). We had heard how fun it was last year, so with the free tickets we just had to take the kids. Like my neighbor said, it really is kid paradise and was well worth the money. I think we are going to have to go every year now and make it a tradition. Here are some of the many pics that I captured last night. Enjoy!
You gotta love the smiles going down the slide. (Sorry about the red-eye, did I tell you I need a new camera, or what?!) Sam still has to pull a funny face every time:) This was the cow train that was pulled by a tractor around a bumpy path. I sat with Emmi in another cow in front of the boys. It was quite the ride! Emmi in the princess carriage, reaching for her Daddy. One of the funnest things was this huge tower of carved pumpkins. The boys loved the SpongeBob, Charlie Brown and Snoopy ones, Emmi couldn't stop pointing to the Dora one and me and Chad loved this center one for our Cougars, of course. On the right you can also see the Jazz pumpkin, but I didn't want to get one of that because it was next to the Ute pumpkin:) I would really recommend this place to everyone with little kids. But hurry, it closes on the 1st!

Double Tag

Here is a lot of information about me, as I have been tagged twice. (Thanks Sidni and Chelsea). Hope you enjoy!

8 Shows I Watch
1. Dancing With the Stars
2. Jon and Kate Plus 8
3. House
4. Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Making the Squad- cheesy I know;)
5. BYU Football
6. Utah Jazz Games
7. American Idol
8. So You Think You Can Dance

8 Things that Happened Yesterday
1. I babysat Cameron all day.
2. I took and picked-up Keaton from the bus stop.
3. I finished reading a book.
4. We found out a few extended family members on Chad's side are critically ill.
5. Chad's Grandparent's flew in for the weekend.
6. Chad and I took the kids to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point.
7. The Jazz won their first season game.
8. Got to bed a little earlier than normal.

8 Favorite Places to Eat
1. Outback Steakhouse
2. The Old Spaghetti Factory
3. The Brick Oven
4. Joe Bandidos Mexican Restaurant
5. Ihop
6. Wingers
7. The Cheesecake Factory
8. Hunan City

8 Things I'm Looking forward to
1. Taking the kids trick-or-treating tomorrow
2. Going to lunch with my sisters and Mom over the weekend.
3. Going to the next BYU game
4. Sam being FULLY potty-trained
5. The holidays
6. Another vacation with my sweetie
7. Another baby???
8. Seeing Chad's grandparents on Sunday

8 Things on My Wish list
1. A New Camera!!!
2. Trees, flowers and my deck finished
3. My basement finished
4. A big shopping spree for new clothes (I can dream, right!)
5. A new TV
6. A new entertainment center
7. I think I'll stop there, I'm greedy enough as it is!
8.

6 Unspectacular Quirks About Me

1. I like to pick my lips. I guess it is a nervous habit. Often when I am watching t.v or reading I find myself touching my lips, looking for some skin to peel off. Once I get peeling, it is hard for me to stop until I taste blood. Then I kick myself because my lips look horrible and I have gotten cold sores from it too. Gross I know, sorry.
2. In order for me to go to bed, I have to check the doors, and turn out all the lights. I blame the paranoid safety checks on my cute Dad, because I must've gotten that from him. I didn't think I would ever be so paranoid, but Chad doesn't do it and so I was forced to!! Now it is a habit. Even if I go to bed before Chad I still end up doing it because I don't trust him to do it right.
3. Also from my Father, I have been given genetically many many fatty cysts. They are just under my skin and are all over my body. They don't hurt and can't be seen by anyone, but I have a few that are on my arm that I like to poke at when I am bored. I really just need to get them removed.
4. I don't care for sunglasses. As much as I try to wear them when I am driving, they end up making me feel claustrophobic or give me a headache. Unless it is a necessity, I would rather squint.
5. I like to drive fast. I used to go fast as a teenager, but I married a man who definitely has a lead foot, and I have gotten much worse. No matter what I seem to always be running a little late and therefore see the need to go faster than the speed limit. Of course I am constantly behind people who are driving under the speed limit and I tend to get upset.
6. In conjunction with #5, I don't like to be late. I think it all stems back from drill team in high school where there was the threat of 100 high kicks, running laps or even worse, just being reprimanded by the coach if you were tardy. To my recollection, I was only late a few times in all my years of cheerleading and drill and that was enough to make me never want to be late again. Now that I have 3 small children, it is harder for me to get to things on time, but I hate when it happens and I try my best not to.

I Tag anyone and everyone who would like to!!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Pumpkins and fun night out...

Tonight we got messy. After a yummy spaghetti dinner we pulled out the garbage bags, and knives and made an even bigger mess with pumpkin guts. The boys were really excited about this and Keaton was actually a really good help. We got some halloween music going and used some patterns to make some cool designs. The "Y" pays homage to our favorite football team of course. I did the smiley face and Chad did a pretty good job with the spider web and spider. What did you carve on your pumpkins this year?
Saturday night Chad and I met up with one of my favorite people from high school, Sarah and her new hubby Ryan. We met at the Cheesecake Factory, YUMMY!!! It was so fun to see Sarah and finally meet Ryan. They are such a cute couple and sound like they are awesome parents. Sarah just had a baby girl a couple months ago, but looks so good! I can't say the same about me in these pictures, I'm afraid. It was such a fun night, Chad and I are hoping that we can do it again soon.

Where are you Keek?

Last week I was going out of my mind trying to find Keaton. It was in the middle of the afternoon and Sam kept asking me where Keek was. I kept telling him that he must be downstairs or in his room, but Sam kept coming back up saying that he wasn't. At this time I hadn't seen or heard him in awhile, so I started to get worried. I checked every room in the house, and outside the house while calling his name and still, no Keek. I started to panic and again, checked every place I could imagine that he could crawl into. I was one step away from calling Chad and the police when I ran back downstairs. I stood on the mattress to peek over the side of the drywall, when I heard a little noise below me. Sure enough, I peeled back the sleeping bag and found Keek snoring softly, his blankie and all. He was totally covered with the sleeping bag and wedged in there pretty tight. What a scare he gave me!!

Monday, October 13, 2008

Like Mother, Like Daughter...

This is a picture of my Mother Annette, and me when I was about 9 months old. Notice my hand in the bottom right corner... Yes, that is a cast on my arm. Somehow I managed to fall off the armrest of our couch and brake it (my arm that is). My Mom says that I didn't let it get in the way of me crawling and I even managed to use it as a weapon to hit my older siblings on the head when they teased me. A few years later, I spun around the front room a little too fast and hit my head on my Mom's hope chest (on Mother's Day no less :) and had to get stitches. I wish that I could stop there with my list of injuries, but in first grade I broke my foot and had to lug another cast around for most of that year. I guess it shouldn't be a shock to me when my own children get hurt, but it is, and of course it was my little princess to get the first stitches. It happened a few weekends ago now... it was Saturday morning and Chad was helping me can the last of the pears in the kitchen. The kids went outside to play and the next thing I know Sam comes running in the house saying Emmi fell. I ran outside and found her in the bottom of our window well. (Chad made it out of huge boulders, so it is too big for a cover.) From what I could get out of the boys she tried to shimmy down the rocks because the boys were playing down there, but let go and managed to hit her head on something on the way down. Luckily Chad volunteered to take her in to the doctor, and he got the fun job of holding her down while she received 2 stitches. These pictures were taken at the doctor's office, on the day that she got her stitches removed. I am very grateful now, because I know that she easily could've gotten more injuries that morning, and she was such a trooper. I am also very sorry for all the worry I must have caused my own mother with all of my catastrophe's, and am seriously hoping that my daughter won't turn out to be quite as accident-prone as her mother was.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Happy Birthday "B"!!

My cute Dad's birthday was today, and I just wanted to take a moment and tell you a few things I love about him. I love his friendly personality. I cannot think of a single person who I have ever heard of that didn't like him. He makes friends very easily and is very warm and caring. In fact, I remember wanting him to take of me when I was sick as a little girl, because he would always spoil me with Popsicles, and Sprite.

I love that he works for the security department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and he has since I was very young. I have always admired his testimony and willingness to protect our faith, and I love to hear all of his cool stories and experiences. I think that it also says a lot about him that for the last few years he has been given the assignment of driving President and Sister Monson to General Conference. I know it is a great honor to him and one he takes very seriously.

I love him and all of his "gadgets." My Dad is all about the newest and latest technologies and spends a lot of free time with them. It is very normal to call the house and be told that is down on his computer "shooting Nazi's" on one of his games. It is great to be able to talk and compare about computers, cameras and phones with him and get good advice.

Last but not least, I love how hands-on of a Grandpa he is. Since his first grandchild (my Keaton) was born, he has been following the kids around, making sure they stay out of trouble and harms way. My kids love him to pieces, and to my Mom's dismay, usually ask for him.

We are lucky to have you Dad. We love you and hope you had a wonderful birthday!

A New Baby

I am happy to announce that we have a new baby in the Hunsaker family. Chad's sister Lydia gave birth to a beautiful baby girl early Monday morning. They named her Brinley Lydia, and she weighed in at a healthy 7 lbs 9 ounces and 20 inches long. Chad and I got to see her and Lydia at the hospital later that night and all her dark hair. She is quite a cutie and I know all of us are excited to get another girl in the family. (Now we have an even 3 boys and 3 girls between the two of us). Congrats Lydia and Dustin!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

TAG- I'm It!

(Thanks for the Tag Chelsea!) I was supposed to go to my picture file, to my 4th folder and then to my 4th picture and post it. This is what I found. It was one of those shots where I didn't get everyone looking at me, but a cute one of Chad and Emmi (and my Aunt Janet too I think?:) on Christmas Eve. We were at my Grandma's house waiting for Santa to come. It is fun to see how much Emmi has grown and especially how much hair she has gotten since December. I tag Erin, Becki, Holli, Jen and anyone else who wants to, to do the same!

I Have Decided...

1. I like to "Can." Last year was my first attempt at canning and even though I had to muddle through and learn how to do it myself, it turned out rather good! I have to say that this year I was actually rather excited to go up to the fruit stand and pick out some tasty peaches and pears to can. It is satisfying after a long day of canning to see these bottles out cooling on the counter and then down filling up space in my food storage. This year I also made some peach jam and I am afraid that we will run out of that before the fruit stand opens up again next year. Those who know me well will attest that I am not accomplished in the kitchen whatsoever and I personally never thought in my wildest dreams that I would be able to try my hand at canning. But hey I have 3 kids, and drive a minivan, so why not:) 2. I am very sentimental. I bought this movie on Amazon and couldn't wait to watch it with my boys. This was one of those movies me and my little sister Erin thoroughly enjoyed and rented more than our fair-share. I was hoping that even though my two oldest are indeed boys and are mostly into trucks and anything robotic, that they might sit still for this one. Well, indeed it has become the new favorite at my house and the boys are even requesting to listen to the CD while we are in the van! I love that it is a wholesome movie, filled with good songs and happy memories for me.3. I love BYU football! (Sorry to all friends and family who are misguided Ute fans :) I had originally planned on going with Chad to the first couple home games and letting the boys take the rest, but I am hooked and don't think I will be giving up my seat anytime soon. I love getting out with Chad and no little ones, I love the hot dogs and snowies (who doesn't!), I love giving high-fives to my father-in-law when the Cougars make another great touchdown, and the goosebumps when they come into the stadium. But most of all, the more I learn and see of BYU, the more I respect them as a team and the more I love to see them do well. Go Cougs!!