Caramel Apples

We made caramel apples over the weekend. I pretty much ate the crushed up Snickers bar while the caramel set up on the apples, but that's beside the point. They turned out pretty good for a bunch of amateurs!

Raking Leaves

This weekend was so pretty! Perfect weather for what is probably the last nice weekend of the year... and until like May or something. Sad! Josh and the kiddos went out and raked/swept leaves on Saturday. I vacuumed inside and did some laundry and watched them as they worked. It makes me smile just to watch them.

Neighborhood Halloween Party

Our neighborhood Halloween party was a blast, as usual. The kids love it every year. Games, prizes, food, more food, AND a pinata!!! They cleaned up good! Pretty sure they don't even need to go trick or treating!

Carving

The children went to Papa and Grandma's house on Friday night for a Halloween party and sleepovers. They had a costume contest and won awesome prizes, like mustaches. Awesome. Then, they carved pumpkins, ate pizza, watched movies and eventually dozed off. They love having sleepovers with Papa and Grandma and the dogs. Parents normally aren't invited, so the only pictures I have are from the pumpkins that they brought home. They are pretty rad!

A Few of my Favorite Peeps

Last night was my last night of service learning... at least the last night that I HAD to be there to complete the required hours. I cried the whole way there. I have fallen in love with these kids! They melt my heart. They have so many talents and strengths that we could never have because they are just simply closer to the Spirit. These pictures were taken during our karaoke hour. They LOVE to sing. Even those who can't speak will at least make noise with their voicebox. They sway to the music. Some of them just close their eyes and listen. You can tell it calms their soul. They are happy and kind. They are patient and compassionate. They love to snuggle and be loved on. They have a spot in my heart forever. The coordinator asked me to keep on coming back. I think I will, thank you. I won't keep going every week, just because it's too hard. My boys need their Mama home at night. But we will definitely stop in and cook and sing with these angels as often as we can!

Braceless

Jackson had his braces taken off yesterday! Wahoo! One down, three to go!

Cloudy with a Chance of Funny Pictures!

Friday was a ROUGH day for me. Like, ROUGH. Crappy! Josh drove down with Brooklyn and informed me that we were getting dinner and going to a movie. Best medicine for a horrible day! We took the kids to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. I took a picture of the kiddos before the movie, and then Brooklyn took the camera and laughed hysterically every time she snapped a picture and the flash went off... blinding the boys! The movie was adorable. The night was perfect.

Last Baseball Game of the Season

Done. This baseball season is over. Braxton really loved playing baseball. He was finally getting the hang of hitting the ball and now the season ends. I'm proud of him. He is such a great teammate, a great cheerleader for his teammates, and he is just a joy to watch. He makes everyone laugh and giggle and smile. I'll miss watching him play under the lights twice a week. What I won't miss is the four days a week commitment. Yikes! Until next year!

My Catheter Ablation

I have to give a speech in my COMM 1010 class this week. I chose my catheter ablation as my topic. It's really not that interesting, or that entertaining, but it's an important topic to me. I was diagnosed with Supraventricular Tachycardia - Atriaventricular Nodal Reentrant Tachycardia early this year. I had suffered through several severe, and worsening episodes with my heart. My body was not handling these well at all. I was vomiting every night, throughout the night. I was fatigued beyond words. I had fainted. My anxiety level was up because I never knew when another episode would hit. My well-trained cardiologist was able to detect exactly what was happening and prepare a plan to make it better. One sunny morning, Josh drove me to the hospital and I prepared to be all fixed up. A catheter was inserted into my neck and another into my groin. The two extra electrical connections that I was born with were ablated (or burned). I was back at work five days later. FIVE DAYS later. This was five months ago. For the past month, I have been working out four to five days a week. I walk, jog, kick-box, jump, lift light weights, and play with my kiddos. Yes, I still have minor episodes, but they are much less severe and much, much shorter than they were. I cannot tell you how grateful I am for modern technology. This procedure could not have been done 20 years ago. I am so grateful for well-trained doctors and surgeons who are able to do this procedure with confidence. Without this procedure, who knows where my body would be today. I'm giving this speech on this topic because 1) I want people to know the symptoms and to get checked, 2) I want people to know what their treatment options are, and 3) I want people to have the opportunity to live their lives to the fullest!