Nobody gets in to see the Wizard, nobody, not no how!

My mom is such a talented sewer!! She not only made a Dorothy costume for Emerie and Payton but for me as well! And for Heidi...and for Mekall...and for Ellie...and for Camille... and for Aspen!! (I don't have a picture of Camille and Aspen--Yet!) Wow! We kept her busy!!

I didn't make as cute a Dorothy as Heidi and Elisa (she borrowed the costume for a party) since they have much longer hair!! But it was fun dressing up! **Emerie insisted we ALL wear the 'safety' glow necklaces!! ;)

Mekall, Heidi and Ellie

Heidi and Nate

Fred and Elisa Reese

Halloween night was a lot of fun!! Kerby stayed at home and passed out the candy and I went with Emerie and Payton! We joined up with Elisa, Sydney and Sean and walked our hearts out!! They lasted almost two hours!! Taylor and her friend Jane went out with Jane's mom!

Madison and her friends are 'older' now and didn't want to tag along with us old folks!! We sent them with a cell phone and off they went!! They EACH collected 10 pounds of candy!!! Too much in my book!! I think some of it will have to disappear... ;)

Madison, Sarah and Emily as Alvin, Theodore and Simon

Taylor and her friend Jane

Trunk-Or-Treat

Taylor--as Hannah Montana, Emerie and Payton--as Dorothy, and Maddie-- as Alvin

Madison as Alvin and her friend Sarah as Theodore

The Reese kids

Our church had Trunk-Or-Treat tonight and it was a lot of fun!! They provided hot dogs and chips for dinner and then the kids went 'door-to-door' on the classroom doors trick or treating!! Elisa and I shared a room! I wish we would have gotten a picture of it! It was decked out with scary signs, orange lights, dangling skeletons, and scary music--oh, and a ghoul (which scared most of the younger ones into not coming in for candy!) The kids had fun but since it was a school night we headed back home around 8:30pm. Fun night!! :)


My little posing Dorothy's!! ;)

Weber State beats NAU!

On Saturday our friends invited us to the Weber/NAU football game. Kerby and I hadn't been to a football game in a long time and as I was getting ready I asked Kerby if he thought I was dressed warm enough. He looked at me sarcastically and said, "Stacie, the game is INDOORS!" I guess they figure if they want a football team they better have an indoor stadium because of the weather here!!

The stadium seemed really small to me--either because it was enclosed or because it was actually small compared to Cougar Stadium!! Anyway--it was fun! Weber killed NAU! The final score was 42-14!

We went with a U of U graduate, a NAU graduate, a BYU student (me), a Weber State graduate (Kerby) and . It was hard because we wanted to cheer for Weber but then again, we now live in Flagstaff and NAU is our hometown school (and only about 3 miles from our house!) --tough situation! ;)

There were a lot of Weber State fans there! More than I would have thought. Kerby wanted to wear purple but I guess he doesn't own anything purple!? But Kerby would have probably gotten beat up if he cheered for them sitting amongst a bunch of NAU fans!!

Mom and Daughter(s) Book Club

My cute neighbor started a Mom and Daughter Book Club this month! The books will be the girls' age group but it was such a fun idea!! We read 'From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler! I remember reading this book when I was a kid!! It was a fun night of comments, question answering and yummy treats!! Thanks Myndie Tullis!! See you next month where we will discuss 'Lawn Boy' about entrepreneurism.

HSM 3! (High School Musical 3: Senior Year)

Madison, Sarah, Taylor and Sophie

The kids were invited to go to opening night of HSM3!

Elisa stopped by the theater this morning to ensure they got tickets! I had to pick up the kids from school--instead of letting them ride the bus--because they would have gotten home too late!

They had a great time--althought they didn't like it as much as the first two movies! Luckily they went to the 2:15pm show because later that day there were very long lines to get tickets!!

Emerie felt kind of bad--she wanted to see HSM3 too!-- but I couldn't very well leave her to be babysat by the mom going! So we had her play with her friend Sydney and she was fine!

The Benson's Come For A Visit!

Tracey had emailed me several days ago saying they were going to go see the Grand Canyon and that they were staying in Williams, AZ. Well Williams, AZ is only about 30 miles away from Flagstaff so they were going to swing by for a visit! We were excited for our first 'official' dinner guests since we moved here!!

We made Chicken Alfredo, breadsticks, salad and a yummy pumpkin dessert that Tracey wants me to post on the family recipe site!!

Thanks for coming to visit us guys!!

**The kids were little 'show-offs' all night as you can see from the photo!! ;)

Food Storage Here We Come!

As anyone who knows me well I HATE handwashing anything! In fact, if an item requires handwashing I probably won't buy it! So this adventure was definitely not my forte but I did it!!

With the current situation with the economy and, of course, being told for many years to have it--we invested in some food storage! Now I always had a lot of canned food and stuff like that but as far as flour, sugar, rice, pasta--ya know--the basics I didn't always have alot!

So I handwashed 6 large buckets and 4 small ones--plus lids! Then I labeled 'em and stuffed 'em! Yeah! One LESS thing to worry about!!!

I also purchased several cases of beans (all kinds), canned chicken, tuna, (can't have too much protein, right!?) We might be eating the same things over and over but I guess we would at least be eating!!

With Love, From Grandma

We got these darling Tooth Fairy pillows from Grandma a little while ago!! Grandma is so talented! She embroirdered each girl's name on their pillow!!! The girls were so excited when they arrived!! Grandma even started them out with a little cash!! ;)

Emerie will be able to use hers soon because she has a second loose tooth already!!

Daddy Daughter Outdoor Activity!

On Saturday the girls and their Dad headed out at 8:30am for their Daddy-Daughter Day!! It was about a 1/2 hour away and it started at 9am. It was out by Lake Mary so it was a little chilly but it was a great day and warmed up pretty good! Some families had camped out and since we aren't campers we didn't have the supplies to stay over during a COLD Flagstaff night in pop-up tents and sleeping bags! No generator... not enough down sleeping bags... no lanterns...you get the idea...

They had several 'stations' they could go to and craft things. It was organized by the men so of course there was a 'rifle' or 'pistol' making station complete with rubber bands for ammo! Another station they could make a satchel to put their ammo in.

They had hot dogs cooked over an open fire for lunch. And due to the fact it was organized by men--there were no bathrooms arranged for! So the girls had to go out by a bush!!

All in all it was a fun day! And a break for Mom, who was home with Payton, because Dad and the kids didn't get home til 1:30pm!

Here are the 'pictures' Kerby took of the fun day! **Notice they are not pictures at all but small 'movies' --the camera was on the 'Movie' mode all day!!

Pumpkin Crafting at Michael's

My friend, Elisa, and I decided to take the kids to Michael's to see if there was some cheap fun craft we could take home and let the kids do. When we arrived at Michael's we found out they were doing a special Pumpkin Crafting. You bought their $5.00 pumpkin and you could decorate it with any of their supplies and then you got to take it home!

The kids had a ball! Emerie made a princess (notice the cute crown on top!) Taylor made a spider. Madison had to complete hers at home because she did Frankenstein and they let you do everything but paint there at Michael's.

**Thank goodness again for camera phones!! I had left my camera at home by my computer because I had just dropped the pictures from it to my PC!

Payton Playing Guitar

Payton LOVES to 'play' the guitar! Whenever we play Guitar Hero she wants a turn! Don't you just love her 'uh-um, uh-um' lyrics? ;)
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Our Trip to Tucson!

We had not been back to Tucson since we left one year ago! We decided since we were only 4 hours away it would be a fun getaway! We left Saturday right after Maddie got home from Camp Colton Friday. There was a mad dash to get all her stuff put away and her laundry done and repacked for the next trip! Jana Welton was so fun to hang out with as well as her cute family! My kids were so excited to see their 'babysitter' Makena again!! Jana and I and some friends went to dinner, out for gelato and, of course, shopping!! It was fun!! Thank you Welton family!! They also fixed a yummy Sunday dinner for us before we headed back Sunday afternoon!

Maddie hung out with Kendall most of the time--I still can't believe I didn't get a picture of the two of them!! And then she spent a few hours with her good friend, Megan.


When we call the Richard's they were so excited because Saturday night they were having a birthday party for Caleb and they wanted Emerie to go to it!! Caleb was her best friend in Tucson! Monet wanted to 'wrap' Emerie up as one of Caleb's presents!! He was pretty surprised to see her!

Taylor and Monet were such cute friends!! I am glad they still email each other and talk on the phone!! It was as if we had never left!!

Maddie is back from Camp Colton!

Maddie with all her bunkmates.

Maddie called me at 11:00am this morning and said they got back a little early and could I come pick her up! I was so nervous she hadn't had a good time because she didn't say a whole lot on the phone! I drove up to the school and she met me at the car and said, "Mom! It was so fun!!" I was so relieved to hear that because I was worried all week not being able to talk to her to find out how she was doing!! The pictures posted are the ones Maddie took.


To wake the kids up every morning the Camp Leader would walk around doing the chicken dance while holding the ghetto blaster blaring the chicken dance music!!



The dinner bell and the 'old-fashioned' BBQ (according to Maddie).


Her tent and sleeping quarters. It was so cold that her water bottle half-froze in her backpack in the tent!! They had to sleep with their winter hats on!


A cat that lives at Camp Colton.


She took lots of scenery pictures!

We are all glad to have Maddie back home!! We are so glad she had a great time and met a lot more kids! She said the food wasn't that great--but I guess it can get hard to feed hundreds at a time!!