Happy Halloween!

Tonight was a great night! The kick-off event was carving our pumpkins and the girls loved cleaning them out - which was a tough decision because they really wanted to both carve and paint them. Well, as push-over-parents we decided it would be OK to carve them first, and then let the pumpkins get covered in paint.


Ellie was quick to decide on a fairy princess. Unfortunately and due to a complete lack of artistic talent her vision became just a fairy wand. She was stilled thrilled and we were somehow able to keep her clean - right up until we were taking pictures when she leaned into the purple paint. Bless her heart!

Becca set off through the cookie cutters and after rummaging through them for a few minutes decided that heart would be great - particularly when covered in red paint. It certainly must have something to do with the red shirt. I had told Becca she could paint her pumpkin as soon as her bed was made, so of course she waited until Greg came home and coerced him into helping.

At Least

Thanks, Michelle for the great idea of the "At Least" game. Here is the list I made after Ellie's little mess yesterday:

At least nobody drank the Windex

At least it didn’t get in Sarah’s eyes

At least we don’t have to go to the emergency room

At least I have already called Poison Control about Window cleaner, so I don’t have to today

At least my kitchen floor is now streak free

At least I have chocolate in my house for moments like this (Thanks Michelle for this reminder)

At least I have a kitchen to clean

At least I have my family

At least Ellie’s love of cleaning products has the potential to turn into a love of cleaning

At least we have the gospel

"something good"

Yesterday morning was the first time in a while that I have been able to see the humor in Ellie's antics. Not that she hasn't been her normal, havoc causing self, I just haven't really been up to putting a humorous spin on it as of late. But yesterday she made me laugh. I was cleaning the upstairs and Sarah was in the playroom, but when I went in to check, Ellie was not with her sister. Here is the conversation that followed:
Me: "Ellie, where are you?"
Ellie: "Downstairs."
Me: "What are you doing?"
Ellie: "Umm . . . something good!"
Me (while walking quickly downstairs): "What good thing are you doing?
Ellie: "I'm, um, getting a drink."
Me: "No you're not, I'm in the kitchen, and you're not here."
Ellie: "Oh....oops."
Me: "What are you really doing?"
Ellie: "Umm...something not very good."
By this time I had found her in the laundry room with a bottle of eyeglass cleaner dumped on the floor. While I was cleaning that up, she climbed up into my cleaning cupboard and sprayed Windex all over the floor in the kitchen. Sadly, Sarah decided to come downstairs just then, and slipped on the wet tile. When I went to clean up that mess, she slipped on the other puddle in the laundry room--not her lucky day.

How now brown cow?

On our way up to Jackson Hole we took several pit-stops to help ensure a more peaceful, pleasant ride. One such stop occured next to a cow pasture. Greg rolled down the window, mooed at the cows and received a whole hearted moo in response. Becca, who sat in the back seat dumbfounded exclaimed, "Daddy, I didn't know you could speak cow!"
The entire trip was wonderful. We had a great time looking at wildlife, hiking, driving through Yellowstone, (although we gave up on Old Faithful just moments too soon), and just relaxing by the fire. All in all it was a great trip.

Two weeks later...

I can't believe it has been two weeks since I posted. With funeral preparations and thank-you notes, General Conference and birthdays, life around here has not been without event, but I haven't been able to put into words the feelings and emotions that have abounded over the last few days.
The girls have been their typical energetic selves, with comments and actions to warrant blogging, but we have been so busy that I'm afraid some of the adventures will be lost forever, but here are a few of my favorite stories that have been missed.

GRANDMA'S FUNERAL
Grandma was certainly loved. Her viewing was supposed to go from 6-8p.m. on Sunday night, but people arrived an hour early, and the line continued until 10:00 making for a nearly five hour viewing. The next morning at the Stake Center, every chair was set up for the funeral, and people were sitting on the stage, standing against the wall, and waiting out in the hall--it was packed. All of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren sang for the funeral, and the day after we sang, I asked Becca what she thought of performing in front of so many people. She told me that there were a lot of people at the funeral, but she was only singing for one--Grandma Welling.

GENERAL CONFERENCE--(or should I say Merry Christmas)
On Conference Sunday, we went to Greg's parent's house. We ate a delicious turkey dinner and sat down to watch the last session of Conference. I suppose the tryptophan in the turkey was a little too effective to keep me alert enough to pay attention to the speakers and to my daughter. While we were happily lounging in front of the television, Ellie, who obviously didn't get enough of the sedative, was busily pulling out all of Lorna's Christmas decorations. She pulled all of the mini-lights out of their strings, dumped a bag of confetti equivalent, pulled all of the keepsake ornaments out of their wrappings, and to add that final touch--as if she hadn't done enough--she found the glass ornaments and smashed them into tiny pieces with her fingers. Somehow she managed to come out of the ordeal without a scrape, which is amazing considering the fact that she was playing in shattered glass, and even more amazing because I didn't inflict any bodily harm to my little stinker :) Somehow, we got it all cleaned up with only a few minor cuts ourselves, and Ellie offered her grandma several heartfelt apologies at my bidding.

OTHER NEWS
Aside from the usual day to day issues, I also turned 30 on Saturday. I think one of my most clever gifts was from the Kearls. I received a giant bowl filled with Halloween treats with a card at the bottom that said: "Now it's time for your Halloween SCARE" and when I opened it up it said, "Happy 30th Birthday"

All in all we are doing pretty well. We are getting ready to leave for Jackson Hole tomorrow morning and we can't wait! I am sorry I didn't have my camera for the Christmas wonderland that Ellie created, but I promise to take pictures while on our trip!