Thanks, Mom!

My mom sent me a Borders giftcard last year and while I have used it to purchase a book or two, I mostly use it for "dates" with my kids! They like to go to a bookstore with me and enjoy a snack while looking at books. It makes for a fun and cheap date! :-) I enjoy these relaxing times with my kids and I am always game for a cappuccino, too! :-)

Tea Time

Recently, Katie and her friend, Krystal, went to a fun place in town for tea time.

This shop has hats and gloves and necklaces that young ladies (and older ladies :-) ) can choose from to wear for tea. The girls selected their tea time attire and then were seated.

Along with plenty of giggles, they enjoyed tea and scones with whipped cream and jam.

When you are eight, you can only act like a young lady for so long...

As soon as the girls took off their finery, they were done with all of that sitting and acting proper! Thankfully, their moms agreed to give them some time to run and play together to get it all out of their systems! ;-)

Election 2008

News reports about the election repeatedly use the word, "historic." And so it is. I have to say that I am glad that Americans chose an African-American president. I am glad my children will see that the man in the most powerful position in the world is someone who looks like them. They will see children living in the White House who look like them. They won't see barriers holding them back because of their skin color. They will see that the sky is the limit for what they can accomplish in life. Alleluia! This makes me so happy it moves me to tears.

But, it pains me that I could not vote for the first African-American president of our country. I could not vote for him because of his unwillingness to protect innocent lives. I believe that life is precious; even the life of a baby still growing inside their mother's womb.

So, I feel a mix of incredible sadness and great elation at the outcome of this election. Now that Barack Obama has been elected, I want him to be a great president. I hope he is successful. I will pray that he will make good decisions for our country and be a great leader. I will also pray that he will become a champion of every American-even those yet to be born.

Football Game!

Dave surprised Grant one morning by telling him that the two of them were going to a professional football game that day! Grant was so excited he could hardly stand it. They had their first ride on the light rail, too, since they took it instead of having to deal with parking.

The guys had a great time together watching the game, eating snacks and getting some autographs. And to top it all off, their team won the game! Here are some pics from their fun day.

About This Blog

There are so many interesting blogs out there and I have discovered many that I love to return to again and again. These bloggers have such an engaging way of sharing their lives through words and pictures. I have bookmarked several blogs that I check on an almost daily basis because I like to see what they are up to. When I started this blog three years ago, I wasn't exactly sure what kind of a blog it would be, but it soon became clear how I wanted to use it.

This blog is mostly a scrapbook of our lives, so my kids can look back someday at some of the daily and special things we did while they were growing up. (In fact, I plan to get the blog printed into book form for them at some point.) In an effort to keep up with our busy days, I usually just post the pictures with a brief description of what we were doing and leave it at that. Occasionally I have shared more in depth about things close to my heart and it is fun to interact with others I have met in blogland, but I just don't have the time to post lengthy daily reflections about life most days.

So, if you happen to stop by, you are welcome here and I hope you will leave a comment to say hello! And I would love to go to your blog as well, whether it is a newsy place, a spot for deep reflections, or just a simple family scapbook. Happy blogging!

Halloween '08

This year, our friend, Melissa, and her daughter, Cecily, joined us for some trick-or-treating. We usually just go to houses where we know the families, on our street and the one behind us. After that, we get in the car and head to a nearby church that hosts a, "trunk-or-treating" event we have gone to the past few years. Families from that church park several cars in a big circle with the trunks facing in, decorate their trunks, and hand out candy to little trick-or-treaters. After going to all the trunks, you can go inside where they have pizza and some carnival-type games that kids can play. Attendance at this event has really increased in the last couple of years and we heard of three other churches that hosted their own versions of trunk-or-treat this year. It is a safe way for kids to dress up, get lots of candy and have fun.

We also heard that Chipotle restaurants will give free burritos to anyone dressed in tin foil on Halloween night, so of course we had to check it out! When we got there, we saw a long line of people wearing tin foil hats, belts and other creations, waiting for their free burritos. So, we joined the line and started twisting and crimping foil into headbands, bracelets, hats and belts. And, yes, we all got free burritos! We took the burritos home and will enjoy them for dinner tonight. That was a fun way to end the evening, and how can you say no to a free meal? ;-)