Costume Time!

For Halloween this year, Emily decided to be a "pink cowgirl" (costume courtesy of Grandma Haroldsen), Mike changed his mind last minute to be a cowboy, too (his usual costume from Aunt Jana), and Natalie announced she was going to be a ghost: "Whoooo!"

"Can we go yet, Mom?"

"Yee-haw and Yippee!"

(Emily & Mike, 4 1/2 yrs)

"Whoooo!"

(Natalie, 2 1/2 yrs)

Our community trick-or-treat was Sunday afternoon, but it was "wicked cold" so the kids probably went to about 5 houses, total.... We have a ward party and "trunk-or-treat" on Friday night, though, so they will have another chance to dress up (and get more loot).... They are still at the age to be more interested in dressing up than the amount of candy they get, anyway, so they are having fun!

Where Did Our Summer Go?!

Well, obviously the update-at-least-once-a-month hasn't been happening... However, in my/our defense, we basically spent the whole summer prepping our old house to sell (May-July), finally selling it late in July (yay!), house hunting like crazy, buying a house (Aug 29) and moving... I'm sure you can imagine the details have been tedious and wearisome...


Anyway, it really has been worth it --- our new house is wonderful! We finally have 2 bathrooms and enough bedrooms to go around (4, all upstairs). We also have a "living room" and a "family room" on the main floor, as well as an "eat-in" kitchen and "dining room". The basement is unfinished, but perfectly adequate for storage and laundry (and workshop space for Matt). The location is great, too: nice neighborhood, really good schools, 4 miles from Matt's job, etc. We did have to switch wards (at church), but we're still close enough to keep in touch with old friends, and the new ward has been very welcoming.


My camera disappeared for a while during our move, but here are a couple pictures outside the new house:

(Mike & Em (4 1/2) and Natalie (2 1/2) helping sweep up leaves, October 2008)

...In back of the house we have a nice patio (not pictured), a bit of grass, a built-in swingset (above) and a bit of a treeline.... (Our part of the trees goes back maybe 3-5 yards? I'm bad at guessing distances...)