Halloween: Tradition

Every Halloween, Ken and Bridgette's parents put on the BEST Halloween party ever!! They decorate their house so well, it looks like a haunted house with scary sounds, statues, and typical Halloween fun! They always have tons of food, booze and margherita machines and they hire a DJ. This year there was over 100 people while we were there. It's always a fun night and here are the pictures to prove it!! Ryan, Mike, Me and Jen.

Jen is a car crash victim pieces of glass in her wounds. I was the make up artist and think maybe I should seek a career in that field!! Haha!

Me and Amy conversing with a very handsome man who was bringing us our drinks....or was he?

This is my favorite picture!! Pamela, Mike, me and Jen with Ryan in front. The best part however, is Bridgette running to get in the picture with us. Love you Bridgee!

Jen and I with my fancy shot skills. :o)

Halloween: Rockband 2008

We as a family have discovered our love for Rockband. I personally have been grounded from using the microphone as my dad says "I can't concentrate". I think he's really just jealous and nervous that a talent scout might discover me.
So needless to say, Rockband has been a Friday night adventure for all of us to get together and practice our skills. So far I believe Mike is the master of the drums. Keith has taught my Dad how to do side kicks while he's jamming on the guitar. Dayton actually does very well on the microphone.

Jess, Me, Jen, Erica, Kari and Lana all dressed up rocker style! Jess may decide on that hair do for every day attire. She's still trying to talk Lana into allowing her to do it.

The whole crew: Dayton, Erica, Lana, Dad/Kibbers, Me, Jess-n-Keith, Mike(Wham) and Jen. Yes, Mike went all out and even used some killer eye liner to complete his ensemble. Lana was kind enough to loan him a pair of shorts, as his weren't short enough. Dayton's chest hair grew rather quickly once the magical Sharpie was applied. Keith really is wearing a levi vest!

The boys doing doing "YMCA". My dad's shirt is definately "rockband" style by pinning the tears on his shirt closed with safety pins. All in all it was a total success!! We now have the pictures to prove it.

Our Fall Celebration!

Arizona's fall season is amazing as the weather is perfect! Add a few pumpkins, friends and it makes for a great Fall Celebration event! We had chicken tacos (seems to be the tradition for get togethers), bean dip, pumpkins to care and sugar cookies!! We had Amy, Terry and Kristi join us for carving pumpkins. Bridgette, Ken, Pamela, Justin and Ryan were there playing rock band, eating and carving pumkins. Leslee and Steve came, brought good food, plus the fire pit! Lex and Amy were there with Theo (their puppy) and Melanie and Lacy joined us also! Jen and I had lots of fun and can't wait to do it again next year!

Leslee and I roasting sunflower seeds.

Jen and Mel

Lex and Me

Leslee, me, Ryan, Bridgette and Kristi carving pumpkins. Terry's attempting an honorable mention.

Lacy and Jen


Ryan roasting marshmallows

My trip to Utah

I decided it was time to go home and visit my family that lives there. If you know me at all, you know my nieces mean the world to me. Laira and Bailey both live in Utah with their mother. Laira and I are so similar it is almost scary. :o) Bailey is the cutest little princess ever. They both have very unique little personalities that are as different as could be. I miss them immensely and wish more than ever I lived closer and could be a bigger part of their lives. Here is our trip:

I wanted to go visit some of my favorite spots so we took the girls up to 'Squaw Peak'. It was beautiful to look over the valley, as you can see, the girls weren't really 'feeling' it. We saw a lot of para-gliders.

I love this picture, the girls look so sweet and innocent. They loved being outside and exploring nature. Laira was in a panic towards the end of the day as she needed to use the bathroom. We were running to the car!! :)

Bailey loved spending time with Jen also. This picture is of Bailey tattling on Jen and showing me how Jen bit Bailey's finger, and it was not nice.

Our trip to the pumpkin patch where they had fun bouncing toys. Laira needed some prompting to get on and play, but Bailey just climbed up and didn't stop for an hour!! They then picked out their pumpkins and were so proud of their choices that we painted at home. Once again Laira wanted to take charge and have Bailey paint hers all black, Bai stepped up though and took over

Laira is getting so grown up. We went to Brick Oven for dinner for Laira's "birthday" since I was going to miss it by a few days. We ordered the girls salad bar, they LOVE veggies, cheese and fruit. They wanted nothing to do with the pizza or pasta. I let them each pick out what they wanted on their plates. I should have taken a picture of that. Laira's plate was full of beets! She ate them all and asked for more. At the end of dinner, they brought Laira ice cream for her birthday. This picture is bittersweet for me. She looks so grown up and mature in this picture. I am sad to know how much time I am missing with them and how I wish I could change that. All I hope is she will always know how much I love and adore her and Bailey!!

Grandpa Doug and Grandma Sally. I am so lucky to have such amazing mentors and role models in my life that have shown me what life should be like. My grandparents are truly amazing people who have taught me how to work hard and play harder. My grandma is one of the most dedicated, hard working, focused women. My grandpa has a heart of gold and extreme patience. I am lucky to have their genes and little pieces of them both. Even if I do have Grandma's big hips!! Love you!!