Jack Halloween

I don't know why I always do this, but somehow the week before Halloween I come up with an idea.  This year was no different.  I typically hate dogs, but Zero gets a pass…he is a ghost and therefore has no hair, so I don't despise him.  You can see above the disaster my house was in with styrofoam everywhere.  The roof of course was the most time consuming, I cute each shingle individually, but it does make it look pretty legit so it was worth it.

I also saw in my parents neighborhood who tried to do something similar to the jack face below.  I used electrical wire to make the outside have a form, and then used fishing wire to make it hang on the roof.

For Halloween at work we had a costume contest with prizes.  I didn't think I'd win, but it was fun trying to be like Miranda.

Temple Open House

In October the new Phoenix Temple was open to the public before it was dedicated.  I wasn't able to volunteer to help with the open house as much as I wanted, but I did do parking duty a few saturdays.  I loved directing people and thankfully the weather was great.  The only thing that killed was watching other volunteers get to drive around on the golf carts, cause it looked so fun.  Thankfully I always had good buddies there while I was there so the time went by fast.  

I invited my whole work team to go through the temple on our lunch.  We had a fun ride over talking about how there is no way they could ever pay tithing.  During the video part, we kind of had a crying baby, but walking through the temple was really cool.  The first time I went through was at night, so it was cool to see the temple during the day.  Im very blessed to work at a place where we can talk about the church and what we believe.  You cant beat a work lunch at the temple. 

I wish I would have gotten more pictures of the weeks I watched my friend Jen's kids while they volunteered at the temple. It was only a few tuesdays after work that I wrangled the kids into eating dinner, playing piano, cleaning up their sprinkles and getting to bed.  I was grateful for the time we got to spend talking about gatorade, them teaching me how to play mario cart, tuesday tacos/ice cream at burger king, Rita's and a drive by of the temple.

Take Your Kids (or brothers) to Work Day

Monday the kids had school off and so my work planned a "take your kid to work day".  As a child, I remember a few times when my moms work had the same kind of day for us.  I enjoyed it as a kid and thought it would be fun for Bill and Court.  So I picked them up early, they gave us breakfast and then I showed them my desk and tried to show them the work that I do.  They had some activities for them to do that I left them down for and then we took a tour of the building and they got to check out a few trucks. The president of the company came to talk to them and as well as my favorite Keith Knight.  They had chicken nuggets for the kids lunch and even gave them a Knight football when they left.  I was stressed because I was so worried about them being crazy and thought they had a horrible time, but just the other night Court asked when my work, take your kid to work day was going to be, and he said that he had fun there.  Maybe they will be truckers one day! :)

Art in the Park

We woke up super early (4am) and drove all the way to Boulder City to go to art in the park and visit my aunt Claudia.

On the way home we walked past the boulder city bowling alley and decided to play a game.  

I won't say who won, but we had a lot of fun!!!

We had some dinner at Totos and then drove right back to Phoenix. 

IKEA Birthday

Its strange how much birthdays change as you get older.  I took the Friday off work and went with a friend to Ikea to pick up some bedroom furniture. We walked in wanting a dresser and came out with two flats full and a cart full of purchases.

On my actual birthday I was in a leadership training conference.  While the whole week was miserably long and draining, those in my group really made me feel special, and I was extremely grateful

Saddie Hawkins

I didn't go to a single dance in high school, and hadn't really heard of a sadie hawkins dance until I was much older.  A friend had asked to be a chaperone for her daughter and friends while she was out of town.  At the same time a friend had told me of a brother who would be in Mesa.  I figured if I had to go as a chaperon, I might as well take a date myself!

We started the day out rock climbing, which really just made me realize how out of shape, and how long it has been since I have been out really rock climbing.

There were several points when I didn't think I was going to make it to the top.  I thought of giving up way more than one should, but after so many attempts I finally made it!!! It was very gratifying.

Our date started out picking the kids up.  We drove down to tempe town lake a rented a boat to ride around in while we ate dinner-sub sandwiches.

After the boat dinner we headed over to laser tag and let the kids play a round while we went and got sonic drinks.  Of course once the kids saw that we got drinks, they wanted drinks!

Then we were off to the dance.  I was def not impressed with the music they played, nothing I would have danced do.  We sat in the back on some tables they had and talked about religion and the hard life of an old single mormon. :) For my first saddie hawkins it def was a night I won't ever forget I imagine.