My New Do

Well as you can see I got my haircut. Some of you may be thinking "It's about time". I have been wanting something different for awhile now, but it's hard finding someone you trust to cut your hair when you move. I have been looking for quite some time and I think I finally found that person. I went in and told her I wanted something new and was thinking about some side bangs and this is what I got. I am happy with it and Mark is getting to like it. His first reaction, well it's shorter than I thought it would be. What is it with men and long hair?

Blow Dryers and Make-up

The other day Madison wanted to go play outside. I told her she needed to blow dry her hair before she went outside. I went to get my blow dryer and she told me she had her own. I was racking my brain trying to figure out what she was talking about because I was pretty sure she didn't have her own. She went to get it and brought back this bubble blower. She proceeded to dry her hair for about 5 or 10 minutes. It didn't do much good. I finally convinced her that it would dry faster if we both blow dryed it. I'm just glad the bubble bottle was empty, or I would have had a big mess on my hands.

Another story about Madison and her obsession with hair and make-up. I am almost embarrassed to share this. Last week when I took her to nursery there was a new teacher. She started to whine a little and I told the nursery leader that she would be fine after I left. Then the door opened in Sunday school and there she was. The Primary President brought her in and said she wouldn't stop screaming. This has not happened for a long time and I couldn't figure it out. I took her in with the sunbeams and she was fine. The next week when we got to church the first thing she asked me was who her teacher was. I told her I didn't know so she went and asked someone else. It was going to be the same teacher it was the previous week. I didn't talk to her much about it until the last few minutes of sacrament. I told her who it was and she immediately started crying. I tried to console her and tell her how nice her teacher was. In between sobs she said but she doesn't wear make-up. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. All this crying and screaming was about make-up! I took her to class and hoped she wouldn't say anything out loud. The nursery leader actually said, "I don't think she likes me". I am thinking to myself if you only knew. I stayed with Madison for a few minutes and then quietly left. She was fine and on the way home she said she had fun. I reinforced the fact that her teacher was nice and again she said but she doesn't wear make-up. I simply said, "That's okay" and she seemed to agree. I hope this is the end of this, but I guess we'll see on Sunday.

Raking Leaves is fun to do....

Well I have a confession. I don't think I have ever raked leaves in my entire life. I guess maybe my brothers raked all the leaves growing up and we have never had a house with big trees so I never had to worry about it. Now I can proudly say I have raked leaves and lots of them. Mark's parents have huge trees in their backyard and we had the opportunity to rake them today. They have about five really big pine trees and the needles are not fun to rake. Needless to say their backyard was covered with leaves and pine needles. I have a made a mental note to myself that I will never have a home with large pine trees. So if I ever mention it please remind me. It was hard work and I have blisters on my hands to prove it. Despite the hard work this was a fun activity for Gavin and Madison. Now they don't have to grow up saying that they have never jumped and played in piles of leaves.

Good News

Well it has been a year since Mark finished his last radiation treatment. He just had a C.A.T scan last week. We found out the results today and everything looked good. We were so grateful! Every time we have to wait for results like that all of the memories come flooding back. Mark is always really confident but there is a part of me that still gets really nervous. Mainly because this was definitely not something I would have thought would happen to us. Now I can actually say that I am grateful for this trial. We have learned so much and are so much more aware of those around us who are experiencing trials. We can actually sympathize (to some degree) with others who are experiencing the same thing. It has been such a humbling experience and I am so grateful for how blessed we have been! I love Mark so much and have been amazed at his optimism and strength. He is such a great husband and father and I look forward to spending eternity with him!

The Fort

Jason left yesterday so I let Gavin and Madison have a sleepover the night before. They spent the night making this fort. The only casualty was the piggy bank, it got knocked over and shattered all over the floor. Oh well, Gavin and Madison will never forget the fort they made with Jason. It was so nice to spend some one on one time with Jason before he leaves on his mission. We left the airport yesterday, turned the corner and Madison said, "I miss Jason already". Gavin didn't say much of anything because he was sound asleep. He didn't want to miss any time with Jason so he was up at about 5:30 every morning running downstairs to make sure Jason was still there. We had such a good time and look forward to spending more time with our family at Christmas.

St. Louis Zoo

Jason came to visit us for a few days, so we took him to the St. Louis Zoo. We had so much fun and I must say this is the best time of year to go because all the animals were out. My kids loved the penguins although we went when they were feeding them so the smell of fish was quite potent. We were fine if we plugged our noses. They loved the black bears, polar bear, hippopatumus, elephants, and giraffes. The giraffe was so close that my kids got to feed it leaves. It made me a little nervous because Madison would pick the smallest leaves and I thought for sure the giraffe was going to eat her hand along with the leaf. They rode the carousel and we couldn't leave without stopping at the gift shop. Don't worry we didn't end up buying the monkey masks because I didn't want my kids to act any more like monkeys than they already do. And to be honest they reminded me too much of the monkeys from the Wizard of Oz and that is not my favorite part of the movie. We all had a great time and it was nice to have Jason around. I'm sure he was exhausted, my kids wouldn't let him leave their sight. At one point he had Gavin on his shoulders and was pushing Madison in the stroller. Only because they wouldn't let me or Mark do either. They sure love their uncle Jason.

Halloween Fun

We have had a busy couple of weeks with our ward Halloween party, classroom parties and parades, carving pumpkins, and of course trick or treating. But we sure had a lot of fun!