Happy Birthday, Ryan

It's been about 2 weeks since Ryan brought "The Beast" into our home. This mutant flu virus that has knocked us both on our butts. Not only has my blog been neglected, but you should see my laundry pile. I am sure Braxton is wondering if mom cooks anymore too. Hopefully, this week will be a better one. At least I am walking around without feeling dizzy now. Anyway, Ryan's birthday was Friday, so I just wanted to acknowledge my wonderful husband. He felt well enough to take Braxton to a movie on Friday night, so it was a successful birthday. Happy Belated Birthday to the love of my life who I can honestly say that I love in sickness and in health. Braxton made this card for Ryan. It's Ryan with a big slice of pizza.

HALLOWEEN

We had a great Halloween. Braxton was a clone soldier from Star Wars, The Clone Wars. He got soooo much candy and of course, we have a lot left over from our trick or treater candy because we didn't have very much traffic at our house. I was careful not to buy my favorite candy, so if there was leftovers, I wouldn't sit home all day and eat it.

Halloween Parade

Braxton doesn't have school tomorrow because it's the end of their first term (whatever that means), so today is his Halloween parade and party at school.

Here comes the principal leading the parade.

There's Braxton

He always rushes by

This is our neighbor, Kayla, her mom made this great costume.

Mr Dibble's Garden

Braxton's Principal, Mr. Dibble, owns a small farm in Layton, Utah. From what I hear, he has quite the garden. So this year at school, they decided to have Mr. Dibble's Garden where kids can decorate some veggies and display them at the school. They made the rules very clear...Parents Cannot Help. I had a lot of fun ideas in my Halloween mind, but Braxton wanted to do his own thing. So here is Braxton with his pumpkin. I love the pumpkin's pointy teeth.

Braxton really liked the helicopter on the right, so he asked me to take a picture. Very cute.

Frightmares

I love Halloween. It's something that I have inherited from my mother. We have season passes to the local amusement park, Lagoon. Every October Lagoon decorates with a Halloween theme and does the usual Halloween activities like haunted houses and such. They call it Frightmares. Since Braxton didn't have school today, we spent the day at Lagoon riding rides and enjoying all things Halloween.

Last year, Braxton was afraid of these chainsaw guys, but this year he was very brave, although he does look a little nervous in the picture. After the picture he turned to me and said, "That wasn't so bad." I liked that the chainsaw guys weren't trying to scare him and were joking around with him before the picture. Good job, friendly chainsaw guys.

I just LOVE this kid!!!

Dear Mother Nature, (Part 2)

Thank you for answering my letter with sunshine. We wore coats on Sunday and have shorts on today. I don't expect to wear shorts for much longer, but I do enjoy the sunshine.

Love, Myrna

Dear Mother Nature,

I know that I had requested nice, crisp fall weather, but this is not what I had in mind. It's a little too crispy for October. If I could just have a few more weeks of fall. I still have some bulbs that need to be planted and I haven't had time to dig out all our winter clothes. So, if you can hold off and not let it snow again until the day after Thanksgiving when I am putting up my Christmas decorations, that would be wonderful. I don't think that's too much to ask. Love, Myrna

An Adventure With Two Grandmas

Ryan was at scout camp this weekend and I was lucky enough to spend the weekend with my mother-in-law, Shelley. On Thursday, we had an extra special treat, Ryan's Grandma (Shelley's mom) came down from Wyoming to spend the day with us. So after Braxton got out of school, we decided to brave Chuck E. Cheeses. We had a great time. Grandma Louise even played a few games, she loved Deal or No Deal. I am happy that Braxton is able to make some good memories with his Great-Grandma Louise. I still remember my Great-Grandmother quite well. Aren't Grandmothers the best?

Braxton and Grandma Louise Braxton and Chuck

Grandma Shelley and Braxton

Happy Birthday Princess Jaiden Watetu

Today is my niece Jaiden's 5th birthday. Isn't she cute? I wish she lived closer. I keep telling my sister, Maureen, that she needs to bring her for a visit, but Maureen probably knows that if she brought her to my house, she wouldn't be going back to Canada with her, I would have to steal her. The few times that she has called my house, she never wants to speak to boring old aunt Myrna, she just wants to talk to Braxton. Happy Birthday Jaiden, we hope you enjoyed your Hannah Montana birthday party. PS: Happy Birthday to Dad and Brendan. Dad's birthday was yesterday and Brendan's was Saturday. A very busy birthday week for the fam.

Molly Brophy

People who know me well know that one of the things I really don't like about being a stay-at-home mom is being stared at all day. Our dog, Molly stares at me no matter where I am or what I am doing. She drives me CRAZY. She isn't staring because she is hungry, needs attention or needs to go outside. I really have no idea why she stares or what she finds so fascinating about watching me do the dishes. On the rare occasion that she isn't staring at me, I am fighting my daily battles of trying to keep her off the beds. As you can see from this picture, she knows she is busted but if she doesn't make eye contact, then I am really not there. I am sure as I write this post, she is sitting on my bed right now. She fights with our cat, runs away and digs in the yard. I decided instead of dwelling on the things that annoy me about this little dog, that I would think about a few of her good qualities. First of all, she loves kids and kids love her. I trust her around children, even though she may try to lick them to death. Nothing drives her crazy more than to see Braxton and the neighbor kids outside playing while she is stuck watching from the window. Second, she is my protector. She's a small dog, but anytime one of those creepy salesmen selling cleaner or whatever come to the door, she sits by my side and growls at them. They are all afraid of her. She also protects me from all of her enemies like the mailman, the UPS man, the UPS truck driving up the street, the neighbor's cat, the birds in the tree in our front yard, any helium balloon that Braxton brings home from a party and a random leaf that is blowing in the wind. (these are the people/things that she growls at). She is also Braxton's protector. Every evening after books are read and teeth are brushed, my boys wrestle. It's a funny thing to watch because while they are wrestling, Molly is barking at Ryan and biting his ankles because Braxton is yelling "Molly, save me". She's a happy dog. If I take out the trash, I am always greeted at the door by her acting as if she hasn't seen me in two months. We rescued Molly from a shelter about 4 years ago and even though I some times think about convincing my mother-in-law to take her to Wyoming to live on a farm, I am glad we did.