Halloween 2011

This October was really fun, but also really busy.  I feel like that is the story of my life. :)  Anyway, I wanted to take a minute and post about the ways we, in the Lighten house, celebrated All Hallow's Eve. :)  Mawwwwww....

We started off the festivities with the Annual Lighten Family Halloween Party!  My kids look forward to this every year.  My super-nice in-laws throw this party at their beautiful home, and I am always amazed at that fact.  The reason being???  30+ some-odd grandkids!  All in one house, all decorating sugar cookies with frosting, and all doping up on sugar!  It gets pretty wild sometimes, but the kids love it! 
This year, Trev was on a fun guys' trip in Dallas with all his old college buddies watching the Cougars play.  So I went stag with all my 4 kids. :)  For that reason, I didn't get a single picture. :)  Too much going on, too many little hands to wipe, and the moments just flew by.  But I will mention all the fun things we did so that later on my kids will know how amazing and nice their grandparents are. :)  We had sugar cookie decorating, pumpkin bowling, bean bag tossing, apple bobbing, and ghost suckers making.  They also had a parade to show off costumes, yummy soup and bread dinner, and of course, trick-or-treating throughout the house!  So fun...thanks Gma and Gpa Lighten!

The next day was Saturday.  Trev was still gone, and so I decided I would clean my house and then do some fun things with the kids for Halloween.  It is always such a great feeling to have a clean house going into the Sabbath.  I really think it helps me feel the Spirit more on the Lord's day. :)  So once the house was clean, we headed to the store to get some supplies to make caramel apples!  Yummm...these are probably one of my most favorite treats in the world.  LOVE them!  While I dipped the apples, Abby and Morgan did a little Halloween craft.  Jake and Claire weren't so interested.

What a nice sister Morgan is...

Now onto Monday...HALLOWEEN!  We started the day off with the kids annual school costume parades and parties.  Which they were both REALLY excited about. :)  Again, no pictures.  Too much going on, but all the kids looked super-cute.  One kid was even the "UP" house...that's right, the cardboard house around him, and brightly colored balloons coming out the top!  Really creative. :)  Morgan was a bumblebee and Jake was a SWAT team guy.

After all the school festivities, I wanted to take the kids somewhere fun...mostly to kill time before dinner and trick-or-treating that night.  We decided to go see the Witches at Gardner Village.  We have done this every year, and this time Trev met us there after work.  I think it's becoming a tradition. :)  And guess, what...I actually got a picture this time...just one. :)

Next we headed home to Pizza and Salad for dinner...something easy and I knew they would eat before the massive candy-intake began...not the healthiest, but something of substance...hey, whatever. :)

Last, but certainly not least, TRICK-OR-TREATING!!!  Notice Morgan is no longer a Bumblebee?  She does this every year, by the time we go trick-or-treating, she wants a different costume. :)  Funny girl.

As you can see the weather was gorgeous!  My kids didn't even need jackets!  We got lucky however, because the next morning we woke up to a blanket of fresh snow on the ground. :)  In terms of candy, the kids CLEANED UP!  Most of which, we wound up selling back to their dentist the following day...he sends it all to the troops in Iraq.  Nice huh??  Plus Morgan had a lot of cavities this year...I think a win-win option. :)  In return, they each got a little prize, $2, and a new toothbrush kit. :)  This might become a tradition too...we'll see how long I can keep talking the kids into it. :)

Happy Halloween everybody! 

FHE - A Play and Sunset Hike

Two Mondays ago, Morgan and her Brownie Scout troop put on a Readers' Theater play all about eating healthy and exercising.  They had been practicing for a few weeks, and it turned out really cute!  Morgan was one of the Princesses...she did a great job.

I have to mention this...during the play, every time Morgan had a line she would step forward, say her line dripping with passion, cock her cute face to the side, and then step back in line.  My friend commented to me on how dramatic Morgan was.  I had to laugh because when we were practicing the lines together, it was almost depressing to hear her speak her parts.  She was so drab and boring about it.  So I told her, "Dress it up a little honey...when you talk act like you are actaully enjoying it!" :)  This dramatics come showtime were the result. :)  Funny girl.

Since Morgan's play started at 5:15 p.m., we were all invited to come, and it is about 20 minutes from our house; we just decided to bring pizza, have a picnic at the park nearby, and finish off Family Night with a sunset hike! :) 

Not far from where Morgan's troop meets, there is a trailhead that goes up to a place called "Potato Hill."  Trev found it, and so we headed out.

Everything was going great for about the first 3 minutes.  Then Morgan fell, next Abby fell, and then Claire fell.  Jake was the only survivor. :)  All the girls cried.  Abby and Claire wanted Trev and I to hold them.  So we did, for about 5 minutes.  Then we tried to put them down, and they started to cry again.  We, or maybe I, decided that we were not going to carry them this entire hike.  They could walk.  They did not like that idea. :)  Claire eventually was fine with it.  This one however, was not. :)

Seriously, is that not the saddest little face. :)

But we held firm, and kept going.  I held her hand, but was not going to climb this hill carrying her when she was perfectly capable of walking.  I have done hikes like that before and I refused to do it again.  Mean mom??  Maybe.

After the power struggle started to subside however, the sun was just starting to set and it was beautiful!  Add in the changing Fall colors on the trees...and wow!  M&J kept saying, "GORGEOUS ALERT!"  I am so glad they noticed. :)

This is about half-way up the hill, it was pretty steep actually.  You could DEFINATELY consider this a hike. :)

Notice that I am not holding Abby's hand any longer??  I think it was more that she was upset with me, than doing better.  As witnessed on the top when she wouldn't even come sit by us. :)  See what I mean???

In the midst of all the Abby shananagans, I suprisingly wasn't too bothered.  I was just enjoying the scenery and LOVING seeing my kids enjoy it as well.  Great moment as a mom.

Well, Abby did finally warm back up to me.  Maybe it was the beauty on the top that got to her too. :)  This was pretty much the last sad face she sported that night.  Sure love this little girl, fire and all. :)

So the best part of the whole hike (and the reason we took this one in the first place), was that from the top of Potato Hill you can see the whole valley on one side (as noted above), and the beautiful Draper Temple on the other. 

This just melts my heart.  Trev and I just pointed out the temple, and then didn't say much more.  We just listened to the kids talk about it.  They mentioned words like "beautiful...families...marriage...Heavenly Father's house."  Then we sang "I love to see the Temple" together.  Family night lesson - complete.

I believe in this world there is "the beautiful" and "the ugly." I have oftened pondered how to protect my kids from the ugly in the world.  I used to think that I needed to shield them from it. Which I still do try to do and believe in many instances that is appropriate and also my job as their mother. However, as my kids grow, I realize that I will not always be able to shield them from it. I have started to feel that if I try to surround them with the beautiful, then hopefully that is what they will choose later on. They will understand and connect with how the beautiful makes them feel, because it will be starkly different than the feelings that come from the ugly. That is why I want them to learn to appreciate the beautiful now, so they will look for it later.

Some of the things I believe are beautiful in this world:

1. The Gospel of Jesus Christ

2. Families and the idea that they can be eternal.

3. God's amazing and awe-inspiring creations that were made for us.

4. Seeing my kids recognizing beauty.

This life is wonderful.  There is opposition, but again, I state, that it is wonderful.  We just need to be shunning "the ugly" and search for "the beautiful."  This is something Trev and I are trying to teach these precious little ones.  Cherish the beautiful.  Great Family Night.

Fall Break at Gma & Gpa Dodson's

Over the last couple of months Trev and I have been talking about doing various "home improvement" projects.  Some more needed than others, others more fun than needed. :)  So fall break was coming up for the kids, and Trev said to me,"you take the kids to your mom's for the break and I will do the wainscoating you want in the entry way."  Ummm...let me think...YES!!!  So off we went...to Gma's & Gpa's house. :)

Day 1 - We pretty much just hung out on day 1.  Cousins came over and my kids were in heaven. :)  They just played, and played.

When I told my mom we were coming, she informed me that she needed some help with a project of her own...she had purchased a 40 lbs. bag of frozen chicken.  All this chicken needed to be cooked and shredded so she could use it a little at a time.  So my mom, myself, my sister-in-law Becca, my little sister Jessica, her friends, and Morgan all worked together to accomplish this.  I have to admit, I don't think I have ever spent so much time standing over a stove.  I also have a bit of a phobia of raw meat.  It has gotten better over the years of being a mom and cooking for my family, but this scenario was sort of like shock-therapy. :)  Here are all the girls shredding away at the intense amount of chicken. :)  They kept complaining about hurting hands...I can imagine. :)



I have to mention something here.  Morgan is the oldest grandchild on my family's side.  When she was born, my little sister Jessica was Morgan's age (7).  So these two have always had a special relationship.  My little sister is now 14, and so Morgan is kind of like her little sister.  They pal around together just like I did with Jessica when she was young.  It is always really fun for me to watch the closeness they share.  
This visit however, I saw that increase even more.  Jessica's friends Hannah, Whitney, and Rianan were there most of the weekend.  They did the typical teenager things, but this time, Morgan kept getting invited.  She was asked to sneak in and hang out with them, even eat their brownies they made that none of the other children were allowed to know about.  She even shredded meat with the "big girls."  It was a neat experience for me to see her feeling so grown up.  It also gave me a glimpse of where she is heading.  I also realized once again, how fast she will be getting there.  It seems like just yesterday that Jessica was Morgan's age.  Now my little sister is growing up into a beautiful, amazing young woman.  And Morgan won't be far behind...strange.

So after a long day of cooking chicken, Becca and I decided to take our kids to the park around the corner, just to get them out.  They LOVED it!  It amazing how much kids love parks.  Especially when cousins are around. :)

   

Afterwards, we went back to Gma's and ate...BBQ Chicken Sandwiches (of course!).  YUM!

Day 2 - Since the kids had all been at Gma's house the day prior, we decided to take them somewhere fun.  In Logan, near where my parents live, there is a little Zoo.  I can't remember the name, but it is tucked inside this big beautiful park.  I think I may have mentioned how much my kids love animals...;)  It was perfect for them. :) 
So we packed a lunch, played and ate at the park, and then went to the Zoo...with 9 kids.  It was a bit crazy. :)  But fun.

 

What a fun day right??  Well...this is not all!  While we were eating lunch at the park, we ran into my parents' old Bishop, Bishop Gilbert and his family.  They told us about this Annual Pumpkin Walk that this group does up in Logan.  It's free, and it is adorable!  The basic idea is that different groups take a "booth" and create a "scene" using pumpkins!  Their were some pretty great ones.  We saw Despicable Me, Pumpkin Jack, Winnie the Pooh, and Tigger too, Mrs. Sunny Patch's kids, and many others.  I was really impressed!  And they only do it for a few days in October - just so happens that we were there at the time!  Lucky huh??? 

By this point, all the kids were pretty spent. :)  We ran them hard, and they were ready to head back home.  We finished off the night with more chicken...this time Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup in bread bowls. :) 

Last Day - This was the day we headed home.  But before we left, we were lucky enough to see my brother, Kevin, and his sweet Fiance, Katelyn.  The kids LOVED playing with them both!  I love it when there are adults around that don't have kids yet...my kids get tons of love and attention! :)



I love my family.  I am so glad we got to spend time with them over fall break...who knows, maybe we will do this next year too. :)

Stay tuned for pictures of Trev's projects while I was gone...we are going to work on finishing the wainscoating this weekend...pictures soon!  :)