Oh how the years go by....

Do you remember that song by Vanessa Williams? 

"Oh how the years go by
Oh how the joy brings tears to my eyes..."

As I contemplate turning 30 this weekend, this song is really ringing true.  How can I be turning 30?!  Remember when a year seemed so long?  Now the years just fly by.  My kids are growing like weeds, and I am aging like one!  (More on that later...)

And the crying, oh the crying!  I used to NEVER cry.  I was so stoic.  I still try to be, but that lump in my throat is really starting to take over.  I was reading "The Giver" last week, and read the phrase "Thank you for your childhood".  This is turn put me into a tail-spin of picturing my children graduating from high school, and me thanking them for their childhoods.  I was flying to Vegas while reading this, and spent the majority of my flight crying as I thought of how quickly my children were growing, and how I am so thankful for their precious childhoods.  Ug, here comes the lump again!  Moving on!

I really should be proud to be 30.  I have reached the expected milestones. 

Loving husband: check

Offspring:  check

Mortgage:  check

Career I love:  check

On the domestic side of things, life honestly couldn't be any better than it is right now!  

I also have some of the greatest friends in the world.  (If you are my friend, and not in any of these pictures, please know that you are included!)

I think I have more friends than I have ever had, and really good friends at that.  They are so fun!  Love you all!  Add in the awesome relationships I have with my family and Todd's family, and I am super blessed.

 

But still, I am getting OLD!  And I don't like it.  I don't like knowing that my physical fitness and beauty have peaked.  It's all down hill from here.  I will now spend the next 30 years trying to stay young.  Exercise, diet, wrinkle cream, and Spanx are my future now.  It's hard to admit that body-wise, things can only get worse.

I also hate knowing that I am getting more prone to disease.  And not to get too down about it, but if I die at the age my dad did, my life is more than half over.  My bones are getting smaller, but my stomach is getting bigger.  For the rest of my life it's just trying to stay balanced and healthy.  It won't get easier, just harder.

And did I miss all the Young Women lessons on enjoying middle age?  Because all I remember are the ones about temple marriage and raising a family.  So now what?  Sure I look forward to being a grandma and traveling with Todd after retirement.  But what about middle age?  Where were the lessons about loving your life even though all your kids are teenagers and hate you?  

This will definitely be an adjustment for me.  

Rationally I know that the next 30 years will bring much joy.  Even now I find myself getting happier and happier the older I get.  So why does it bother me so much to be getting older?  Who knows.

But it sure does bother me!~

VEGAS and HALLOWEEN!

This really is the year of little getaways for me!  This past week I flew to Vegas for a whopping 40 hours!  Hilary and my mom were there for a CURVES convention, so I tagged along to see Donny and Marie, and do some serious eating and shopping.   :)  My mom bought me the white sweater I am wearing above, and let me say that I am obsessed!  I love it!

I am not a fan of Halloween at all.  A:  It's not a real holiday.  Doesn't celebrate anything.  B:  It's gross.  I don't even allow my kids into the Halloween stores because of all the disgusting, bloody, and inappropriate things they will see.  C:  If you lose a family member in the month of October you will see how disrespectful it is to decorate your house with tombstones.  Not to get all high and mighty, but it really makes light of sensitive topics.  So I hate it.

However, I know I am in the minority big time with this one.  So we obviously still celebrate Halloween.  It is fun to see the kids get excited and all dressed up.  We had a blast at our ward's Trunk or Treat, and I was such a fan of it I wonder if we will ever go trick or treating again.  :)

The girls and I even got an honorable mention for our witch costumes.  :)  Now I am happy to see October go, and look forward to several real holidays coming up!

Scariest Halloween Party... EVER!

Honestly, I was TERRIFIED! 

Questions like:

Where will everyone sleep? (and) How early will they wake up? tormented me!  But despite my fears, we went ahead and had the all our nieces sleepover.

And guess what...

It wasn't scary at all.

We have wanted to do this for a long time, and I dare say we will do it again.  We made smores and told ghost stories.  Then went around the circle and had everyone make up one part of the story.  I used to love doing this as a kid.  And no campfire is complete without a little singing.  :)

I was even cool enough to find a glow in the dark ball, and let the girls play catch after it was dark outside.  Then after a little stargazing, it was inside for a scary movie.

This picture cracks me up.  Ty and Halle have the same look in their eye!  

I was honestly pretty worried about how the morning would go.  But 3 out of the 7 kids didn't wake up until 8:30, and we didn't hear anyone until 6.  So that was way better than I had emotionally prepared for!  All the kids were really good, and had fun coloring in the morning while I made breakfast.

We hope the kids had as much fun as we did!

Kick-Off Party!

Did you think I meant football?  I'm talking about Fall.  One of my favorite times of year.  The cooler temperatures, the warmer food, the decorating, the decreasing amount of yardwork... One big kick off party to the real prize, Christmas season!  I really should be working on my many Christmas projects since I always have a goal of being 100% ready for Christmas by Thanksgiving, (a goal I typically reach by the way) but I have so many cute pictures to show off I just had to blog instead!

We are having a great Fall!  Starting off with ANOTHER weekend in McCall.  This times we took the kiddos and met some cousins and grandparents up there as well.  It was wonderful!

Yes, this is going to be a picture intensive post!  The week after our trip to McCall, we headed down to my mom's house when the girls had a couple days off from school.  As always, we had a great time.  The girls love helping my mom in the kitchen, and we had some seriously yummy food!

We also had a great FHE with our good friends, the Dunns, at the pumpkin patch.  It is tradition to go with them, and it gets more fun every year.  Only hitch this year was Jen and I couldn't get on the hayride in time since we were chasing our babies around.  So there we stood in the dirt watching as our families rode off into the sunset, literally.  Neither of us had any money, so we couldn't even sit down and enjoy some hot cider.  I was just relieved that Todd made it in time since the girls got on there really quick.  There is NO way my anxiety could have handled that!

Yes, Todd and I are now the proud owners of a parent leash.  Ty loved it and it was much easier than trying to maneuver a stroller around the pumpkin patch all night.  Definitely will be using it alot in the future. 

And aren't you just dieing over how cute my girls are dressed?  :)