Halloween 2012

For Halloween this year, we went to Grannie and Pops' Trunk-or-Treat on Tuesday and our Trunk-or-Treat on Wednesday.  Hyrum could have cared less about dressing up (as you can tell in the pictures) and he hasn't had more than half a pack of Smarties from all his wonderful loot (shhhh...he doesn't know).

It was a fun time.  It would have been better if Husband didn't have to work both nights, but oh well.  I enjoyed catching up with old friends and I'm sure enjoying all the chocolate.

Thank Goodness for Visiting Teaching

I love being a visiting teacher.  I love being visit taught.

Within the last few months, I was given new assignments and boy howdy was I ever excited about the sisters I get to visit.  It's been so much fun visiting with them and serving them and loving them.

One sister in particular has three kids under 4, a husband in med school, and is getting her master's in nutrition online.  She's completely crazy in my book, but I'm crazy too, so I understand where she's coming from.  

Once, as I was giving her the lesson on the importance of serving one another, I joked that I didn't know how to meet her needs because what she needed was more time and I don't have any time to give.  It took my genius husband to find the solution...trading kids for a couple of hours every week.

So, for the past month-ish we've been trading kids.  We each get more done in 2 hours with no kids than we would in 4 hours with kids, so it works out.  And let me tell ya...today I needed it.  

I woke up at 4:30 with leftover stomach bug from last night.  Too bad.  I had to be at clinical.  I thought I would be ok, until I was getting report and felt all sweaty and lightheaded and had to excuse myself.  I made it, though.  I took a little break, toughened up, and made it the rest of the day.

When I got home I thought I would be able to relax, get some studying done, and enjoy my boys.  Except that I forgot Husband was leaving for a campout, which meant that I needed to rush to the grocery store so that I could feed us for the next few days.  But on my way to the grocery store I remembered that I needed to water my neighbors flowers because she's trusting me to not kill everything while she's gone to her mother's funeral.  Seriously.  That is stressful.  So, the flowers made me late and I thought I lost my chance to take Hyrum to Mary's but she said, "No, bring him over!" and I breathed a sigh of relief as he ran into her house without any care that I was going to leave him there.

Homework got done.  Dinner got made.  My stress level decreased by leaps and bounds.  Thank goodness for visiting teaching.

In other news, Hyrum now purposely moves his bike so that he can climb on top of the speaker and play with the light switches.  Oh boy...

Devil Dash

Dad and Bryton had been planning to run the Devil Dash for a few months.  It's a 5k mud run with about 10 obstacles and lots of mud.  I really wanted to go watch and to get some good pictures of them.  That morning, Tony decided to join them spur of the moment.

BEFORE

DURING

THE FINISH LINE

The boys sure had a lot of fun and we had quite a few laughs.  I was glad I could watch them, and especially glad that my car stayed clean, despite all the mud.

More from Fall Break

The best part about Fall Break was getting the undivided attention of Grandma and Grandpa Brown.  They always make us feel so loved/spoiled.  Because Kemp, Whitney, and Jacie came down with a killer stomach bug, we didn't even have to share with them!  [However, we would have much rather shared, because we love those guys to pieces too!]

Hyrum spent lots of time in the back yard with Grandma.  She would take him out there whenever his little self desired.  Now he thinks he's being mistreated because Mom and Dad just don't have as much time as Grandma did.

Grandpa always loves to chase Hyrum and tickle him and make him squeal.  They had a real fun time doing that.

We're so glad the Browns came to visit.  We can't wait to see them in December!

Jack-O-Lantern

We're not much into Halloween around the Brown house.  I think Halloween is one of those holidays where you're a fanatic or you're absolutely indifferent.  I fall into the latter category.  The ward trunk-or-treat is enough for me.  No decorations, no pumpkin pie (no pumpkin flavored anything for that matter), and jack-o-lanterns are just a lot of work.  Well, except for when you have an 18 month old and you think that a jack-o-lantern would be much appreciated.  So, the Browns carved a pumpkin for the first time this year.

We had a lot of fun, and it helped that we picked out a little pumpkin and therefore less guts...  And my favorite part was trying to get a family picture with our lovely pumpkin.  I love it when my boys look stoned.

Kiwanis Park

While the Browns were in town, we headed over to Kiwanis park and rented a double surrey.  It had four sets of pedals and a perfect little seat to strap Hyrum into.  We were surprised how much work it was to move that thing, but we had a lot of fun.  We laughed and chatted as we rode around the park on a beautiful day.

And we made sure to stop and feed the ducks and pigeons...because there are always pigeons.

It was a fun little adventure.  Definitely a must do on a beautiful day in Tempe!

Bryton's Mission Call

Bryton got his mission call.  It came on Friday.  He was so excited!  We were so excited!  We've been waiting for this day to come along...

He has been called to serve in the Nevada Reno Mission, speaking English.  He reports to the Provo MTC on December 12, 2012.  He has 52 days to be ready to go!  His mission covers most of the state of Nevada, some of northern California, and a small piece of Utah.  If you want to learn more about his mission, you can check out the mission blog.

Signed by the prophet, Thomas S. Monson.

Congratulations, Elder Shinkle!  You're going to make an excellent missionary.  We're so excited for you!  Serve with all your heart, might, mind, and strength!