Oh Christmas Tree!

Cooper wanted desperately to get his own tree set up yesterday, so I finally dug his out from under the stairs. His ornaments were in another box and I told him he would have to wait until I got the boxes out. Well, being the creative kid he is, he problem solved. He decorated it his way, with no complaints. He called to Chris and me to see his tree. Cooper decorated his tree with his matchbox cars. Maggie topped it all off with a seashell as the star and added some Smurfs. Cute kids!

Washington D.C.

Thanks to Chris having a conference in Washington D.C., thanks to Chris's boss, John, for providing my airfare to D.C., thanks to Teresa & Lance Hislop for watching our children while we were gone, thanks to David for watching our dog, and thanks to my mom and dad for tucking the kids in Sunday night, we were able to have a MARVELOUS time in our nation's capitol. I wandered around during the day visiting: Natural History Museum, National Archives Museum, National Portrait Gallery, FBI building (couldn't get in though), Arlington Cemetary, and then Chris and I visited together the Washington Monument, the Capitol, American Indian Museum, Holocaust Museum, American History Museum (that opened the day we were there), Lincoln's Monument, Vietnam, WW II, WW I, Korean War Memorials, White House, and the Smithsonian Castle. We found a restaurant called Phillips that is an all you can eat seafood place by the wharf. Chris was in crab leg heaven--big copper pots of crab legs, whole crabs, crawfish, mussels, shrimp, etc. Great eatin!! We had so much fun together. We called it our early 10 year anniversary trip.

Jen and Brad made my blog

This is for Jen and Brad! I took their picture at the banquet and Jen said, "This picture should make your blog." Well indeed it did! You guys are great!!

Fun, Family, and Fancy dinners

This week has been the Hislop family festivities. Elynn came in from Kansas, so we had a Hislop dinner on Sunday and then to Javier's on Monday night and the culminating event was at the Energy Solutions Arena to have Chick inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame. It was a great evening. Grandpa Chick invited Maggie to attend this special event--along with the other older cousins. Maggie got a little bored, but she did great at a fancy dinner/banquet--she came prepared with her Tinkerbell purse outfitted with pencils, paper and books. I was proud of my father-in-law to get this prestigious award. It was fun to be with family and friends.

Already fighting lines at Stores

Winegars, our local grocery store, had a 4-8 p.m. sale yesterday. They had great prices on a lot of things and for the 4 hours only. So, the kids and I meandered over there and were shocked at the parking lot--completely full. No baskets. I followed a little old lady out to her car to get a basket. No butter. We were there 10 minutes after the sale started. No eggs. Once again we were there 10 minutes after 4. Well, they substituted the eggs for a different brand, so I got some eggs. We got everything else we wanted, but the lines went from the register to the back of the store. Well, being resourceful, I went to the deli, and they checked me out. Pretty smart! The kids had tons of samples--including a chocolate fountain, got a balloon, saw an elf (it wasn't a real elf according to the kids, because she wasn't short enough and her ears weren't pointed) and got to sit on Santa's lap. Maggie wants a Hannah Montana singing barbie, Cooper wants a Monster truck, and Allie wants a dolly. Where did Thanksgiving go???

Reflection on REFLECTIONS

For those of you that are not familiar with Reflections, it is a PTA sponsored contest to show off your talents in the arts: photography, visual arts, musical composition, 3D, literature, dance, theater, and film. This year Maggie chose to enter 3 categories. I was also the one in charge of the whole shabang: advertising, organizing, getting judges, awards, etc. The award's night was Nov. 6th. Maggie won each category she entered: literature (poem below), photography (sunset), and visual arts (above picture that I couldn't rotate--called When Everything Smiles). People may have cried fowl play that she won, but she sure did a heck of job on her entries and won fair and square. (Nobody actually complained, but Chris likes to make up stories that I fixed the judging.) We were proud of her.

I am soooo glad the bulk of it is over. I am not the soul chairperson any longer. I turned it down for next year.

MY TRIP TO DISNEYLAND
I went to Disneyland last week.
I had lots of fun.
I saw Ariel and her friends
But I am not done.
My sister skipped through Wonderland
With a girl named Alice.
I stood underneath
Cinderella's Palace.
I went on a very scary ride
with my dad and then my mom.
It was really really bumpy
And the driver's name was Tom.
But now I have told you

What I think is WOW!

So what is going to be my favorite
Out of all this now?
It is telling this to you!

Sunset Picture by Maggie

Maggie took this picture of a Sunset at Mission Beach and entered it into the Reflections Contest. I happen to know the person in charge and Maggie took first in the photography division. The award's night is this week and she will be pleased that she won--she won't find out until the award's night. I am so proud of her.

Happy Halloweening

Allie the princess, Maggie the nice witch, and Cooper was Zorro without his mask!

We had a great Halloween--minus our pumpkins being smashed.

Happy November 1st!

Can you believe we are already in the month of November?! Time is flying by!! We had a great and productive week. As I am writing, Chris is out mowing the lawn and getting the yard ready for winter--but then again, I can't believe he is mowing in November.

We had a great day yesterday. First, we went to my parents house and saw my Aunt Barbara and Uncle Perry off. They were visiting from Missouri and left yesterday. We were able to visit with them quite a bit this week. After visiting with them, we went to Chris's work and visit with him and trick-or-treat some of his co-workers. Then we were off to Toys R Us to do some window shopping for Christmas and buy Maggie some roller blades with some birthday money from G & G Hislop. While there, we happened to time it perfectly for their trick-or-treat party. From there, we went to Target to get Maggie's 8 year pictures taken and Halloween pictures of all three. After that we went and picked up Daddy and were off for the evening. We had a great time trunk-or-treating at our church yesterday. We didn't even do the neighborhood thing. We went to both grandparents houses visiting with them, cousins, aunts and uncles, and then came home to our pumpkins smashed all over our driveway. Cooper and Allie both cried because it was their pumpkins all over. Mean teenagers!!! Chris and I were both upset at the blatant disrespect. Our porch light was off and no one was home, so why destroy a child's pumpkin?! It was a good teaching opportunity for us. We taught our kids about respect and forgiveness. All was well in the end.