Monday, November 2, 2015

Halloween 2015

    Halloween is always a fun time at our house. We all get into the spooky spirit as the leaves start to fall. I thought my obsession with the holiday came with having sons. My boys got really into the ghoulish and gory, even from a young age.

    This year, I was reflecting on all the memories with my mom from Halloween. She was always having us trick or treat our house before we went out into the neighborhood. She answered our door one year with panty-hose on her head! She would craft my sister and I whatever costumes we dreamed up. I am sure she sparked my love for Halloween.


 It is most definitely Collin's favorite holiday. He was helping me set up little vignette's all over the house. And the kid is not wrong, it all about free candy people!
   We headed to two trunk or treats before the 31st. Each time the costumes changed a bit for some of us. Here we are as Medusa, a cowboy, Elvis, and Raphael.

   Aden "clowning around" with a friend from church. (check the Cookie Monster trunk in the background, so cute.)
   Grandma Ellen's painted pumpkins sure beat the hassle of carving up jack o' lanterns.

   This was the trunk or treat that the City of Meridian hosts. We went as a witch, a cowboy, Elvis, Enderman (it's a video game thing), and Parker's costume was an ensemble of bad life choices including a neck tattoo that read "NO REGERTS."
   HUGE-ly upsetting moment for me to see Kaleb warmly embrace this fellow.

   Even though the house had been decorated for a month, at the last minute I made this bloody rag and smeared "HELP" on the mirror. The boys lost their mind. They thought it was so creepy and funny and wanted cryptic messages on all the surfaces of the house. It is such a delight to gross THEM out every once and awhile. I'd like to think it was my panty-hose on the head moment. :)
   Hands down my favorite TV show of the year is the Neflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. I knew I wanted to dress up as her this year and I was quite pleased with how it turned out.
   Matt was a rodeo clown. When we first met, he told me he was going to be a rodeo clown when he grew up. Let us all hope this was the moment he was referring to!
Thank ya, thank ya very much.
One of the Men in Black, watch out for the neuralizer.
   Holding. Penalty is 5 yards, automatic first down. Or something like that. Kaleb looked great and barely annoyed me with that whistle at all. (Recorders and whistles are Satan's instruments in the hands of children.)
   Collin had his heart set on being an Enderman from Minecraft. An all black costume with a box on his head. Yikes. I tried to convince him on so many occasions to switch but he held his ground. And he was not alone. We saw many other characters from this game and he was a huge hit with kids his age. Many asked to have his costume!
   One other thing about all these costumes worth noting; I did not have to spend a dime! Thank you dress up box and a grandma who frequents the thrift store.
   Parker's friend joined us for the night. They were often thought to be the Blues Brothers or LDS Missionaries.
   Our group met up to trick or treat with Aden's friends. The night was perfect Idaho Halloween weather. So pleasant!


   And now, if you will allow me one rant: No one that is considerate and costumed is too old to trick or treat! Your only vote, in my opinion, is to open the door or not. To single out siblings that seem too old or too tall is just mean. Maybe there would be less teenagers smashing pumpkins and terrorizing animals on Halloween if they were welcome to trick or treat with their families. UGGGGGH.

UPDATE***** My friend Hannah sent me this post on Facebook yesterday. Very well said and I completely agree! I need to map out a route of these folks for next year.

Friday, October 2, 2015

Year 13 & 14




With optimism, I looked for anniversary posts on our 13th & 14th years of marriage so I can finish this series I started. There are none. Oh, 2013 & 2014, you jerks, you. Matt and I had a real hard time with those years. Overwhelmed with life, work, our first teenager, and an ADHD child, we had nothing left for each other.

The good news is we made it! I learned some things along the way, too. Things like the best bottle of red under $10. (ha! kidding, kinda.) I poured a lot into the kids during those days. Which is kind of cliche but also, kind of like loving Matt because they are half him. I learned new things about food and tried new dishes which is one of Matt's favorite ways to be loved. Honestly, there was a whole lot of "Help me, Jesus!" At some point, it didn't stop being difficult but I noticed that I had some strategies built up for when it's tough. Maybe there is some wisdom there but mostly I am just keeping it real.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Life is beautiful

 Matt's insanely talented cousin took photos of Kaleb all around downtown Boise. I joined in for some fun, too. Kandi was so great about making Kaleb feel comfortable and captured some of his hilarious personality quirks. This ginger guy of mine is growing up. He and I have had a lot of frustration with each other lately but he keeps us all laughing as well.




 (this photo captures exactly how I feel about raising teens everyday)






Kandi posted some of these on her blog as well.  http://kandilamont.com/uncategorized/being-yourself-never-goes-out-of-style-boise-teen-photographer/ If you have a moment to show her some love, please comment or share and let's get her name out there! Thanks again, Kandi, I adore these moments you seized.

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Homecoming 2015






The stars aligned for my old high school friend, Jami and I's oldest kiddos to head to Timberline's Homecoming Dance together, Parker goes to a small high school that doesn't host a homecoming dance and Mariah had a fun group going together and needed just the right guy to go with. Jami and I were able to arrange a meeting and the kids hit it off. The two of them had a blast getting to know each other, posing for pictures, and dancing. They even let us parents hover around a bit, 
Jami and her husband Joel were fantastic to partner up with. We had dinner next door to the kids and just laughed until it hurt about parenting and all it's pitfalls. Jami took all these beautiful photos while the teens were coming up with more and more poses. It was so sweet for Matt and I to share this milestone with another couple.

I think they have started a great friendship. I was able to overcome a lot of worries about what these next few years will look like. I could feel that my heart stretched just a little bigger. That is the magic of young people, they are full of so much potential and possibility. It can be nerve-wracking but also inspiring.

Friday, September 11, 2015

Date night


Matt's mom ended up with some extra tickets to the BSU vs. UW game last Friday night, it made for a sweet date night. We grabbed some food at Mazzeh first, ran into the best of girlfriends tailgating, and then settled into the North End Zone for the game. The weather was chilly, neither team played well, and Matt missed the second half getting us coffee but it was a blast regardless. Funny thing, after walking back to our car at midnight, Matt saw a couple going at it in their car. The guy turned the inside car light on and the girl was totally naked while we climbed into our car to drive away. We were in a hurry, embarrassed for her, but she was comfortable sitting there without clothes on. I joked later that was because she was in college and all her parts were where they are supposed to be.