Halloween festivities

Happy Halloween everyone!  This season has been quite eventful for my little famliy.  First off Jaylee decides to get croup and a sinus infection... This means screaming for 4 days with constant holding needed.  Then we got lucky enough to have Carlee get a fever on Thursday night - the night before the Halloween parties.  I got up at 2am that night to make sure she was okay - she was still high so I gave her some meds and "thought" I was going back to sleep.  Jaylee decided she wasn't tired anymore at 3am and I was up with a screaming child the rest of the night.  No idea what happened.  Finally at 6am I couldn't take it anymore so I recruited Dave to help.  He said she was acting posessed... I think it may have been the antibiotics... she's never had them before.  Needless to say, it was a long day on Friday.  The girls had a great time at their parties and looked Great!  Chlo was the bat princess, Carlee the poison princess, Jaylee was the spider princess.  I got to walk with Chlo's class in the parade and I got to watch Carlee sing and do a parade.  They were both spectacular.  By the time we were done watching Carlee, Jaylee was beyond done (Lack of sleep I'm sure) so we went home and all of us took a nap!  Needless to say, pizza was ordered and delivered Friday night.  On Monday night for FHE we decided to paint pumpkins instead of carve them - less mess and not so time consuming.  Since both girls are AMAZING artists they were thrilled!  Both pumpkins turned out great!  Jaylee was excited to try her hand at paint until she ate the paint instead of painting with it. Sort of messed up her night...  Last Sunday the girls wore the CUTEST outfits to church.  Had to take a few pictures.  Don't they look adorable???  They had lots of coments on how great they looked.  They are such great girls!  Last night for Halloween we were SO excited to have Nate and Becca join us!  I was beyond flattered they'd want to spend their holiday with us!  We had Chili and breadsticks and went trick or treating.  My girls don't usually go because we enjoy the trunk or treat - since there wasn't one - we went house to house.  It was amazing how fast it got cold.  We only made it around our circle and went home :)  The girls LOVED answering the door for trick or treaters and would throw a fit if anyone else did.  Thanks again Nate and Becca for coming!  We LOVED it! 

On a side note - my brother got ENGAGED last night!  He was way cute about it and did a great job!  I'm excited to introduce my new Sister-in-law - Amber!  We love you Amber!!  These pictures were taken right after he proposed!

Family room transformation

Entertainment center after HOURS of painting :)

Looks good huh?

Showing off the new FABULOUS rug!

Looks like a mess huh?

Clean but nothing memorable...

I have been working really hard to improve the "Decor" in our house.  I'm ready for it to reflect more of me.  I've been able to take an amazing design class, which I LOVE!!!!  It's given me lots of ideas and inspiration. This week all I've done is PAINT furniture.  I'm glad I did it so I could learn something new - I learned I'll NEVER do it again!  Holy cow!  So much work!  It turned out awesome though - what a difference! Thanks to the muscles of my buff girlfriends - Crystal and Mindy I was able to move the furniture in the basement to paint. Couldn't have done it without them for sure!  I'll attach the "work in progress" pictures.  I still need to replace couches (when we find a money tree in the back yard) get a new chair and paint!!  I'd love to replace the blinds with shades, get some drapes and a few more accessories but that will also have to wait.  So far I think it's come really far!  I'm excited to see the finished product.  Thanks for all your design expertise Amber!  I owe you one!

St. George - again... :)

We LOVE being able to go down to St. George on a pretty regular basis - it's a great way to get away from home without a HUGE drive - although the 4 hour drive does seem to last for days...  On Thursday morning we got up and all packed to leave - we weren't in the car for more than 5 minutes when Chlo announced she had to throw up... we decided maybe we shouldn't go after all... I was SO sad!  After having a large lunch and still not throwing up, we thought we'd try again.  And then again... yep, she had to throw up...  Dave made the executive decision to keep going - Chlo had a bucket and if she was going to throw up it would be contained.  Once we had gone for about 45 mintues Chlo was fine and laughing with Carlee.  It ended up being a most fantastic trip!  We got to swim, shop, veg, eat out, relax and play!  What better trip could there be??  Jaylee learned a to say something new on our trip too!  On Sunday morning as I changed her diaper she made the sign for "thank you" and actually said "thank you"!  It was AWESOME!  She is such a doll!  Carlee is getting much more brave in the water and actually doesn't cry when she gets her face wet!  That is a HUGE improvement!  Chlo is still improving on her swimming and loves to show off her skills.  We can't wait to go down again!

1st graders trip to the zoo

Check out the wild animals at the zoo - aren't they scary??? :)

Chlo and one of her best buddies - Cyrus.

If you look behind Chlo you can just make out a tiger - very cool!

We had to stick with Nelson tradition and do a picture on the gorilla.

The little group of kids I got to hang out with for the day!  They were great kids!

Chlo and her most fantastic teacher, Mrs. Saxton

My favorite animal is the elephat and it was so much fun to see a BABY!!!  What a fun time to visit the zoo - so many baby animals.

Chlo enjoying her favorite part of the zoo today - the baby giraffe!  He was SO SO SO cute!

Today I was super lucky and was able to go with Chlo and all the 1st graders to the zoo.  I was a bit worried because the weather has cooled down pretty quick.  Didn't seem to affect us much - we still had a great time!  The bus ride up was crazy and I totally need an asprin after the noise. :)  It was fun to get to know our little "yellow" group better and see how Chlo interacts with other kids in her class.  We played the alphabet game on the way up and had fun talking about finding letters and the sounds they make.  Chlo said her favorite part was the giraffe - can't dissagree but I think the baby elephant was my favorite.  What a fun day to be able to spend with Chlo and her friends.  Thanks! :)

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

Jaylee is actually not sleeping, she's getting a back rub from dad - she stayed there for quite a while and just let Dave rub her back - it was quite silly especially because sitting still for her is a chore! :)

Dave took Jaylee with him to get the mail the other day - one of Jaylee's favorite activities.

I had to shoot this picture - this is how Jaylee sleeps - cute huh?

This last weekend we had to replace our fridge since it DIED!  Yes, quite frustrating.  It was obviously an exausting event for Jaylee - good thing grandma was there to help her and Carlee enjoy the massage chairs! :)

The girls posing with their pumpkin choices.

Picking out pumpkins for FHE - I think Dave had as much fun as the girls did! :)

It's been a while since I've done a post with pictures so I figured I'd better catch up.  Attached are a few little things we've been doing.

Fall boutique featuring - yours truly! :)

Crystal's Fall Boutique

Once again its here the boutique
you all have been waiting for!
Please join us at the Open House
at 89 Wrangler Ave. in Saratoga Springs
Thursday October 8th from 6-9pm
We will have refreshments and a variety of fabulous vendors such as:
Airbrush Tans 20$ by Stephanie Carleson
(Please call 801597-6842 to schedule your time)

Bottlecap Necklaces by Jana Harris

Bumble watches by Monika and Sadie

DeVyne T-shirts

Glitter Toes 20$-Stephanie Fairbanks

(Please call 801597-6842 to schedule your time)

Jeanz- Ed Hardy, 7 True religion and many more

Jewelry Jems by Brandy

Mary Kay-Mandy Pugh

Pampered Chef

Pursonality-Purses by Leesa Swenson

Scentsy Candles

Shindyz- Hair accessories and tutu's

Shoe Fetish

Simply Remembered Jewelry

BYU Game

Yes, this is me and Dave, not only at a BYU game and cheering for BYU but our oldest child wearing a BYU beanie - remember this - it doesn't happen often! :)

We had  a blast spending time with G&G Jackman.  Grandpa LOVED the king sized snickers bar that was in a mini cooler under his seat.  I was teasing him that he liked "see food" :)

When Chlo needed a football break she'd read out of her Junie B. Jones book.  This is the first chapter book she's ever read by herself.  She's pretty proud of herself - as are we!

Chlo LOVED the food - especially this YUMMY strawberry cupcake.

Eating at the Cougar Club tent is definitly a highlight.

Dave, Chloé and I were invited to a BYU game with G&G Jackman.  They have fantastic seats on the 23rd row back on the 50 yard line!!  As many may know we are HUGE UTAH FANS!  I have to admit though - there is something to be said about actually being at a football game - especially when you can sit so close and really see what's going on.  We LOVED it.  Chlo did a great job too.  She loved all the food choices in the Cougar clup tent and felt very grown up.  I was trying to teach her how the game was played and told her the teams had to be sneeky, like Junie B. Jones and get the football through the other team to score a point.  She actually got pretty good at knowing how many more tries they had to get a first down and loved it when BYU would score so she could help scream the "rise and shout" song.  I think the BYU cheering got to her though because half way through the last quarter she threw up! :)  She was fine after that and we finished the game.  Thank you G&G for letting us join in on the fun of the game!  Next time though, we will be wearing red:)