CARVING SCARY PUMPKINS. . . .

We sure had a great weekend! My parents called on Friday morning to tell me they would be coming to visit this weekend. First thing Saturday morning there they where! I think they left at the crack of dawn to come here. We had a productive visit. My mom and I cooked some, and my Dad, Shannon and the boys went to the pumpkin patch. Last night my parents cooked dinner for the boys and Shannon and I got to go out to dinner by ourselves. What a treat!

We woke up early this morning and after breakfast Shannon, the boys and I went to church. It was so cute, the kids did a parade for All Saints Day and dressed up as saints, marched down the center up to the front and sang a song. After church we came home and visited with my parents a little more before they placed their Donna Kaye's to go order, and were on their way home. We went and picked out a few pumpkins at the market and carved them up. David played most of the time, but Skyler put some elbow grease in. Shannon did a ghost with a tombstone, and I did the spider. I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.

So as I said. . . a pretty great weekend. The time change always kind of messes me up, but I am sure my body will catch up soon. Thanks so much Mom and Dad for coming up to visit. As I said a couple of weeks ago, I am truely lucky that I have such a wonderful loving family.

Happy Haunting!
Love,
Shell

Cute Scary Stuff!

I took a class this past Saturday to make this book. It is a little scrapbook for 10 years of Halloween pictures. It turned out really cute so I thought I would give you guys a peek. I am really enjoying taking these classes at the Scrapbook Store. I would like to start a scrapbook for the boys. . . . .
We will see.

Here is Shannon as the Joker. It's kind of wierd how you can see his eyes. Every year he gets dressed up to take the kids out trick or treating. The past few years he has been Tigger. This year he told me he was not putting that Tigger costume on again. Since Skyer and David are going to be Batman and Robin, it seemed fitting that Shannon would be the Joker (or Alfred the butler!!!) We got the mask that we ordered from Target.com yesterday and it is a little scarier than we thought it would be.

Oh well off to bed for me!
Happy Tuesday.
Love,
Shell

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

Let's see, so if I am 35 (or so) that would make you 60 (or so!!!) If only I were still 35!!! Anyway, Happy Birthday to my Beautiful Mom. David and I sang her Happy Birthday this morning, and then David sang it at least three more times during the day.

We went breakfast this morning and then it was off to the Pumpkin Patch. Didn't buy a pumpkin, but had a lot of fun. There were five big blow up slides there, three or four bounce houses, a tractor ride, a Cinderella's carriage ride, and lots of pumpkins. The boys each went on four of the slides and went into the bounce houses a couple of times.


We went for a bike ride tonight. David did not want to get in the trailer that goes behind my bike, so we kept it short and went pretty slow. Shannon went fishing tonight (not catching, just fishing!)




Pretty slow Sunday.

Total Frustration!!!

Ok, so I am supposed to be at a class that started 20 minutes ago, and THE BABYSITTER ISN'T HERE!

I am totally frustrated.

The part that is even worse is that the boys are playing nicely in the back yard, no yelling, no crying, and I can't even enjoy it because I am totally focused on where is the babysitter, when is she going to get here, and am I too late by the time she does get here to still participate in the class (not to mention do I lose the money I had to pay for the class!)

Oh well, I am going to drink my ice tea and try to enjoy my children and cross my finger she shows up.

Happy Thursday (at least there is good TV on tonight)!

Love,
Shell

All Good Things . . . .

They say all good things must come to an end.
That is what has been in my mind for the last couple of days.

I was sad for Gwen when I heard her son Tom had passed away. I remember meeting him at cider house years ago. I don't believe that anyone should have to bury their children. My mom said it was a really nice funeral on Sunday for him.

My mom called me on Saturday night to tell me Maloy had passed away. I am so grateful that I got to know such a sweet, talented and loving woman. There are few people in life that love another person like she loved Uncle John and I am happy for her that they are finally together.

This weekend we went camping in town at Buena Vista Lake. It was really a nice weekend. A couple of our friends from Orange County came up and camped with us. They are fun guys! They brought me pair of big (really big) Chanel Glasses that they assured me were "real" and had only been worn in a photo shoot for a magazine!!! They also made me cinnamon, clove, nutmeg lattes with chocolate and regular whipped cream. Oh the life! I have this cold that started to come on last Thursday and is really hanging on. It was nice to be able to be out at Buena Vista with all the big trees and beautiful green and just be able to relax. Hopefully this cold bug will hit the road soon!

You know I had a really great conversation with my mom Saturday morning. I am constantly grateful for my family. My parents and my sisters. We all really have great lives, but more than that we all have great relationships with each other. We all are genuinely happy for each other when something good happens in our lives. We are pretty lucky to have each other and I just wanted to say how thankful I am for each and every one of you!!!

I will try and post some pictures from this weekend tonight if I get a chance.
Happy Tuesday!
Love,
Michelle

Free Hugs Campaign. Inspiring Story! (music by sick puppies)

This is a pretty cool video! It is funny because the first time I watched it I thought to myself, I don't think that I would walk right up to that guy and give him a hug, but the longer I watched it when he did start getting hugs (giving hugs) I really got a good feeling inside, so I thought I would share it with you!
Happy Friday!!!

Can you see it?????

Ok, so I gotta be honest. . .
I CAN'T SEE IT! But I do believe that someone who knows what they are looking for saw it and sometime in the beginning of March I will have a nephew!
Now if we all just put our heads together and submit names.

Breakfast at Aldo's

Video sent by mmhamner

Friday morning before the wedding we went to the Santa Cruz Harbor. Here is a little video with some pictures of our adventure.
Press play ~ Enjoy!

Beautiful Girl

Amy looks so pretty here, and Isabel looks like a little angel. It is so fun to be able to share some of these great pictures!

Happy, Happy, Happy

Isn't this a great picture of Alison and my Dad? They both look so very happy. Handsome and Beautiful!

I think I am finally getting caught up at work. Sometimes I feel like I need a vacation to get over being on vacation. The first part of the month really was not a great time for me to take a vacation! Oh well. . .

We are taking the boys to the early show tonight of the movie Open Season. It looks cute and they (especially Skyler) really love going to the movies. I'll let you know how it is.
Happy Wednesday!
Love,
Shell

The Wedding Party. . . . . .

Armando, John, Cynthia
Hannah, Amy, Alison, Me, Diana, Brent
Isabel, Skyler, Ella, Kai

WHAT A WONDERFUL WEEKEND!

This weekend was really a wonderful time.
We went to Santa Cruz to celebrate and participate in Alison and John's wedding. We had decided to stay in a rv park and so I made a reservation at Santa Cruz Rv Park in Scott's Valley. It is so much easier to take our 5th wheel when we go out of town than to stay in a hotel. That way we have all of our "stuff" with us! The park was great. It seemed like it took us forever to get there. We didn't leave Bakersfield until about 3:30 and stopped for dinner so we did not arrive in Santa Cruz until about 9:30. It was dark and raining and I was sure glad to be there!!! The next morning we made our way over to Alison's house and I went with Alison and Amy to the Well Within to have a massage. It was really relaxing and totally what I needed. After our massage we went over to the harbor and had lunch al fresco at Aldos. I love sitting out on the patio, the sun was shining and we had a really nice lunch with some great conversation. After lunch it was back to the trailer to get ready for the rehersal and then on the the rehersal dinner. We went to Michael's on Main and dinner was so good!
Friday Shannon and I took the kids to Aldos for breakfast. We walked out to the lighthouse and the Skyler and David looked for seashells on the beach and then it was time to get ready FOR THE WEDDING! THE MAIN EVENT!
David was having nothing to do with walking down the isle. Skyler did great. The weather even participated! It was a beautiful ceremony and the reception was the best party I have been to in long time. It was really nice to spend time with family and see everyone. It was great to get to meet Alison's friends who I have seen in pictures and heard about for years but never met and to get to see and meet people again that I haven't seen in years. I really had a wonderful time. My guys all looked great!
The boys found four or five other boys of various ages and they had a great time.
Saturday morning Alison and John had a really nice brunch for family and a few close friends. That was really nice. I was able to visit and relax. The boys again got to play with their new found friends and relatives and had a really fun time.
Sunday we drove home and today it was back to the grindstone.
You know, I am so grateful for my family. My husband, my children, my parents and sisters, and now I have one more great brother in law! Brock set the brother in law bar pretty high, but I am certain that John is right up there with him.