Halloween with Cousins

I think that this Halloween was one of the best we have ever had. The weather was so nice! (for Utah) I had a great time with my sister while the husbands took the kiddos trick-or-treating. They came home tired and loaded with candy. (Chet note - so, just down the block a little Harris quit. It was funny, he turned to me and said, "I'm done". It was funny.)

My tender lumplings, Liv and Harris, as Jack and Sally. Liv wasn't to crazy about being Sally but Harris said to her "it's Jack and Sally." So being the awesome big sis that she is she went as Sally.


Bestest friends. Cousins Olivia and Camille ready for some candy!Lil punkin Aubry in her costume from Build-a-Bear, from Auntie Lindsay. Could she be any cuter?! (Chet note - yes, you read that right her costume is from Build-a-Bear!)
More bestest friends. Cousins Ryan and Harris ready to go! (Chet note - I did the fine face painting job on both Olivia and Ryan. I know, I am awesome...)

Halloween Eve and Pumpkin Carving

So, every year we like to spend some time together and carve some pumpkins. Inevitably, this involves me spending hours and hours carving away at a pumpkin, it usually involves Jaime saying she doesn't want to carve a pumpkin but doing it anyway and the kids will inevitably start a number of pumpkins and we will finish...

Anyway, we'll keep this one short. Here are our creations:

You'll probably notice a theme to our pumpkins this year...

Anyway, Jaime went with Oogie Boogie.

This took me almost forever. Jack and Sally was what I was going for if you couldn't tell...

Liv started and let me finish this scary Pumpkin King creation.

Harris worked on and let Jaime finish this carving of Zero.

How are people supposed to get to our front door you ask? Well, unless you are going to buy our home, I really don't want you visiting...

Happy Halloween Eve!

HalloweenTime

So another Disneyland trip has come and gone. Siiiigh. We had a blast as usual. Here are some pics of our fabulous time. This giant Mickey jack-o-lantern is so cool! At night it is lit up and flickers like there is a candle in it. Love it!

As you know we love finding new characters and this trip was no exception. We saw a ton of new ones (check the slide show) and were so excited! You can imagine Harris' excitement when we saw these guys. Jack and Sally. From his favorite show "The Nightmare Before Christmas". We were lucky to see them. They were only out one other time over the weekend.

As I said Harris' favorite show is "The Nightmare Before Christmas". At Halloween and Christmas they redo the Haunted Mansion to match the movie. So of course we have to do the ride a million times. It is very cool at night because the whole outside of the Mansion is decorated with jack-o-lanterns. I tried to get a picture but it is just too dark. So here is my cute family waiting in line for the ride.

Silly kids waiting in line for Haunted Mansion Holiday...again.

On Sunday my Dad joined us at Disneyland. It was his first time there in almost 20 years! Liv decided that sitting in the very front on Screamin' was the best way to reintroduce him to the park. Dad was a sport and did everything the kids wanted him to do. I'm pretty sure he had a great time. :)

How cute is this pic! Dad and Harris did Autopia together with Harris at the wheel. Dad came away with just some minor whiplash. ;)

Being goofy with Grandpa while waiting for Nemo.

Heehee. Poor Dad. He loved every minute of it. Really.

Pearl Jam 9/28

So on September 28th I had the chance to see my most very favorite band in the whole world live in concert! I last saw Pearl Jam in Las Vegas in 2006, it was also awesome but our seats were terrible. Before that I saw Pearl Jam in 1995 and my seats then were also terrible. This time I decided that my seats would not be terrible. I got up extra early the day that tickets went on sale and drove 40 miles to the E Center box office to get in line. I felt pretty good about my chances of getting tickets as I was 7th in line and there would be 8 lines open when tickets went on sale. What I didn't know was that the losers in the front of the line would be having their children also attempting to purchase tickets which pushed me back to like 13th and didn't allow me to purchase tickets right when they went on sale. When I finally got to the ticket agent the only tickets were nosebleeds. I bought some anyway, just because I wanted to make sure I got tickets, and then Jaime called and told me that she was able to get 25th row on the floor on the internet! Yep, I went all the way to the E Center for tickets but Jaime was able to score great seats in the comfort of her own home...oh well. Later on I decided to sell all the tickets I owned and find some better seats through a ticket agency. I was able to get 14th row on the floor and it was awesome!! Anyway, on with the story.

The concert itself was so much fun, PJ really is my most favorite band. I really enjoy other bands and the music that they make but no other band has the history and meaning for me that they do. Interestingly enough, PJ was introduced to me by my mother. For those of you new to my tragic past, my mother and I are estranged and have been for almost a decade. Anyway, it was my mother that first played PJ for me right after Ten came out and I was visiting her at her home in Boston. She became a big fan after seeing some of their more intense performances on TV and I can still remember sitting in her car as she drove and told me about how amazing this new band was and the intense emotion surrounding their music. I remember being blown away by the raw emotion, the anger and sadness...it seemed to speak right to my teen angst and I loved it!

Hearing songs like Alive, Evenflow, Jeremy, Black etc. for the first time was like nothing I had ever experienced. My favorite music up to that point was from the likes of MC Hammer and Bobby Brown, I really enjoyed what was on the radio but had never latched on to one particular band. Pearl Jam was my first.

Because I associate Pearl Jam with my mother, Black is (for me) the absolute saddest song in the universe but that is a post in and of itself.

As I got older, my obsession with Pearl Jam only deepened. I remember spending most of my money in high school on Pearl Jam bootlegs and posters from Crandall Audio in Orem, I can remember the amazement of getting Vitalogy for the first time and freaking out at the scary detail of the album artwork, I remember the weirdness of No Code and loving it nonetheless. I remember the devastation of Yield coming out right after I went into the MTC. I kid you not, I would have dreams at night while serving a mission in Russia about listening to the album and my mind would create its own version of what the songs would sound like...weird, I know.

When Jaime and I were married, I was forced to select a song to be on my portion of our wedding video. You know, there are pictures of me on the screen and some sort of 50's song is supposed to play in the background. I chose Last Kiss from Pearl Jam...

Anyway, I have tons of memories of loving Pearl Jam. Again, there are a number of bands whose music and/or lead singers I adore but none compare to PJ. OK, on to the pictures from the concert...

The man, the myth, the legend... Good seats, huh?

Mike and Stone on lead guitars, Jeff on bass and Matt on drums. So good...

So intense, my favorite music is music that makes me feel something.

Mike was on fire...

So, a couple songs into the first encore Eddie pulled a local guy up on the stage who had written him a letter and wanted to propose to his girlfriend on stage. For some reason, Eddie actually read the letter and let the guy do it! I don't know how one gets a letter to Eddie but that is so cool! Anyway, Eddie let the guy on stage and he did his thing (she said yes) then he sat them down (see picture) and sang Just Breathe off of the new album to them. So cool...

Near the end of the concert PJ had Ben Harper join them for a song. I don't get the Ben Harper obsession but it was still pretty cool.

Anyway, the concert was a surreal experience. I heard some of my very favorite songs ever and had great seats and got to attend with my favorite person.

Here is a setlist breakdown:

Set 1
Of The Girl - this was a cool random song to intro with. I could tell it would be a good night for a fan right from the start.
Breakerfall - also off of Binaural, probably the least popular PJ album but a real rocker nonetheless
Hail, Hail - holy crap I love this song! I peed a little when this one began...
Severed Hand - off of the last album, trippy but cool
The Fixer - off of the new album, "the single". Strangely happy for a PJ song, welcome to the post-Bush era
Low Light - off of Yield, such a classic!
Marker In The Sand - again, off of the last album and really solid.
Even Flow - the first real sing along of the night, hard to get excited about but still good (am I a PJ snob? Yes.)
Unthought Known - probably my favorite song off of the new album. Really, really amazing. Eddie mixed the lyrics up a little but it was still great.
Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town - second sing along of the night but much better this time. HELLLLLOOOOOO!!!!
Got Some - My favorite "fast" song on the new album. This was a highlight for me.
Given To Fly - second pee instance of the night. This is one of my very favorite songs in the world.
Immortality - I was so excited to hear this live! So freakin' amazing!
Satan's Bed - a real treat. 2 songs from Vitalogy in a row!! No whip sounds but super awesome!
Amongst The Waves - a future sing along from the new album. Cool.
Do The Evolution - lots of stuff off of Yield. I love this song but Eddie mixed up the verses a little. Still fun though!
Blood - I used to sing this song during high school football games when my voice would get really hoarse. I screamed along...(scram along?)
Encore 1
Bee Girl - super rare treat here, just Eddie and Jeff.
Just Breathe - this was the one that Eddie sang to the happy new couple up on stage. This really is a beautiful song using an instrumental that Eddie wrote and put on the Into the Wild soundtrack.
Red Mosquito - with Ben Harper. Didn't care about that but I do love this song.
Daughter - not the last sing along but it was cool
Supersonic - off of the new album, about the love of music, apropos right?
Spin The Black Circle - another scream along! I think I like those more than the other types of "alongs"
Encore 2
I Believe In Miracles - so, I am not a huge Ramone's fan but I know this song from the Eddie cover on the tribute album.
Crazy Mary - this was the final pee moment for me. I loved this song live! Eddie passed a Corona around at the end.
Alive - the ultimate sing along. This one was cool because they turned the lights on and you could see 10000 people singing about how they were still alive. If you haven't seen the episode of Storytellers with PJ where Eddie explains about how the crowd has changed the meaning of this song for him you definitely should!
Yellow Ledbetter - the closer. Pretty dang cool, unintelligible lyrics and all. Near the end the crowd rushed the stage so Jaime and I left a couple minutes early to avoid the potential riot...I hated being those people but there were way too many drunk people in da house.

Well, that is pretty exhaustive, as all my posts tend to be. Can you imagine trying to live with someone who just goes on and on like this all the time!? Sorry Jaime...

Peace, I'm outta here.

Sleepwalker

So my sweet baby girl has started sleep walking. (Yeah I know she's 8, she's still my baby.) It started several weeks ago when she would wake up in the middle of the night and get undressed and go back to bed with just underwear on. And then it progressed to true sleepwalking. The first time she sleepwalked she came downstairs and just started rummaging through the fridge and then just went back upstairs. Random we thought but we just blew it off. It has happened several times since then. (Once or twice a week.) Sometimes its funny and sometimes its worrisome. One of the times she got up, she came downstairs and went outside!!! (Just into the garage that was closed but still...) She told Chet that she was looking for something that she left in the car. After several minutes of her looking, unsuccessfully, Chet finally coaxed her back inside and carried her back to bed. The night before last Chet and I were in bed and I saw her carry an armload of clothes into her bathroom. I stood at the door for a minute and waited for her thinking she would use the bathroom and go back to bed. Nope. She came out dressed for school with the exception of the underwear she had put on her head!!! She had it around her neck and was trying to put her arm through the leg hole! Chet said to her "Sweetie thats your underwear." and Liv said "I know!". Chet and I were laughing so hard but trying to help her get back to bed without waking her. (You're really not supposed to.) I finally got her back in her jammies and back in bed. So funny. :) It is quite concerning, however, so we have done some research on the matter and have found out that 1 in 10 kids ages 8-13 sleepwalk and they eventually grow out of it. Its usually caused by lack of sleep or stress. (I'm thinking stress since she still gets about 11 hours of sleep a night.) In the mean time we just have to deal with it by getting her back to bed and not waking her. I hope that for her sake that she grows out of it soon. She always wakes up sooo tired the morning after she sleepwalks.

My One True Love

Today is mine and Chet's 10th anniversary and I wanted to write something beautifully eloquent about why he is my one true love and soul mate but I am not very good at writing so I am going to list some of the reasons that he is those things.

Reasons why I love my husband:

He loves me more than anything in the world!
He loves his kids more than anything in the world!
He has an amazing testimony.
He is my best friend.
He takes me to Disneyland, pretty much whenever I want.
He is very hot.
He buys me flowers every week.
He buys me Pepsi.
He lets me sleep in.
He is smart.
He helps around the house.
He lets me be crazy sometimes.
He listens to me when I need to talk.
He teaches me.
He gets excited about his favorite music.
He works very hard every day at his job to provide for us.
He makes me laugh.
He makes me feel beautiful.
He is my best friend!

I am so grateful that after 10 year of marriage and 14 years together he is still the first person I want to be with. He is my best friend, my soul mate, and my one true love. Happy Anniversary Hounnh! Always and Forever olive jew!

Soccer Games

A soccer mom I am not! But I now have 2 kids that play the game and they love it. Friday night was Harris' first game. He was so excited! For his birthday (back in June) he got a really nice ball from his Auntie Lindsay and Uncle Jake. So he has had a lot of time to practice. I was so proud of him. He is usually very shy but he got right in there and gave it his all . He even had the ball a few times and once kicked it all they way down to the goal only to have it kicked in by another team member. He didn't mind though. He was just so proud of himself for getting it down there! My sweet baby boy is a great soccer player!



This is his game face. Can you see the focus? (Soooo cute!)

He loves his ball! He is taking it in for the coach to use.

Running for the ball with the coach cheering him on. (That girl was a beast! She made all the goals for the other team.)
Practicing with his team.

On Saturday Liv had her first game. She did awesome! She is a forward which means that she is always after the ball. (I think.) She got it several times and knocked a few people down to do it. :) Unfortunately they never scored. You see, their coach has never played soccer! So, he has no idea what he is doing. Fortunately one of the boy's mom played in high school and college, so at half time she went in and took over. (She is now the new assistant coach.) They did a ton better after that. Liv was in the whole game so by the time it was over she was exhausted! I think it will be good for her to build up endurance. She had a great time and hopefully with the new assistant coach they will make some goooooooooals. ;)



Here she is practicing before the game. She is right handed, but kicks with her left foot?


Kicking towards the goal.

I am so sad that this picture is fuzzy. Look at that face!!!

Yep, that is her in the front, in the yellow, in the thick of it with the boys!