10 things I am UNgrateful for...

This face.
JUST KIDDING!! I wouldn't do that. Here are some things I am grateful for:

A husband who will stay up all night talking with me even though he has to get up early and get ready for a long day of work.

Money. Sounds superficial I know but what I mean is...house, food, clothes, car, gas...I'm grateful we have enough money for our needs to be met and more!

A dad who has good work ethic, who taught me how to have a sense of humor and not be too pampered, who has taught me that supposabley-expecially-boughten have now been added to the English dictionary teaching me that we are progressive and capable of change. I am also grateful that he taught me to never sit on my tushy on a saturday and that he worked hard so I could have so many opportunties as a kid (and an adult)...violin, traveling, education, braces....

A mom who taught me to appreciate our beautiful world and all that is living in it, who laughs out loud and cries at the same time, and taught me that feeling sick is never a good enough excuse to get out of things. For giving me the memory of bribing me with a nice laffy taffy (since I was obviously pretending to be sick to get out of violin lessons) and then projectile vomiting pink all over my violin teacher's house later.

I am grateful that I had good friends who helped making good choices easy to do.

Kids who are healthy and laugh a lot.

I am grateful for in-laws. My family has more than tripled and I love every one of them.

I am grateful for my body and all that it is capable of doing.

Music.

Did I already mention Jared? I am really grateful for him. I really don't like to be mushy but I am so happy to have found him. He's kind, understanding, open minded, determined, fun, and cares so much to provide and protect our family. I certainly don't feel deserving of him but am so thankful to be with him.

I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am grateful to know that I have a Heavenly Father who knows us and our needs. I am grateful for the scriptures. I am grateful to have a prophet on this earth to lead and guide us.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Huh?

So, I was at the gym a few weeks ago minding my own business when a trainer came up to me and said
Trainer: "you were looking at me wierd like you didn't know what you were doing"
Me:"Really?!? That's wierd because I wasn't. My contacts are bugging me, maybe that's what it was."
Trainer: "Hmm, well, do you have a trainer? Because I'd like to give you a free session.
Me thinking: I really don't want a free session for two reasons 1. waste of time 2.eventually will be a waste of money after he convinces me I need a personal trainer all the time.
Me: sure.
Trainer: Well what day would you like, I'm pretty much open all week?
Me: How about Friday?
Later after my workout...five minutes later to be exact.
Same trainer: "Hey, do you need a trainer?"
Me: "really?!? you JUST talked to me."
Trainer: "oh, that's right...don't forget Friday."
Friday rolls around and I don't really want to be doing this so I don't go seeking him out but I decide I'll be willing if he finds me. I walk in and he looks right past me and I go by him again and he still doesn't acknowledge me. So I went on with my own workout. He soon calls me and leaves me a message to tell me I missed my session. I walked up to him and said
Me: "Sorry I missed my session"
Trainer: "you were working out here this whole time?"
Me: "Yep."
Trainer: "Do you want to reschedule?"
Me thinking: Heck no! You're a wierdo!
Me: "I guess so, how about Tuesday."
Sooo, Tuesday I wake up sick and I cancel. He calls me Wednesday to see how I'm doing and if we can reschedule for Friday. So I go in this morning, still feeling a little sick and I wait around for him. A different trainer I've never met comes up and says
Stranger Trainer: "Hey," (while giving me a high five) "How are you? How did you eat, mm, ea,mem,...eat Andy again?"
Me:"How did I eat Andy?"
Stranger Trainer: "huh, um, yeah"
Old Trainer shows up and says
Old Trainer: "What was your name again?"
Me thinking: "HUH?!?! Who is this guy?"
Stranger Trainer: "Have you ever had a trainer before?"
Me: "No"
Stranger Trainer: "Why? Is it because you think we're ugly?"
Me thinking: What on earth is he talking about? These guys are soo wierd.
Me: "Yes"
Old Trainer: "I've seen you running in here and you come what like 5 days a week?"
Me: "yeah, I'm pretty consistent."
Old Trainer: "Well, I don't really know what to do soooo, if you just have any questions feel free to ask me."
Me: "so....we aren't going to do anything then?"
Old Trianer: "Well, I mean, if you want me to take you through a workout I can, it's just....you seem to know what you're doing."
Me thinking: You're wack dude! I would've got more accomplished if I was at home sleeping.

And finally...the last post for October!

This was our first Halloween back in Utah and we decided to spend it the Astle way. We started at Grandpa's house with some soup and goodies then headed off for what Jared called "extreme trick-or-treating"...meaning we trick-or-treated for more than 20 minutes.

Jackson and Tanner were supposed to be Ninja's but for some reason they found dress up clothes and decided those were cooler. So Jackson is once again superman and Tanner is once again a lion. If you can't tell, Jared was "Dave."

Here's Tanner, Jackson, Parker, Marcus, Stanton and Addy.

Jackson showing off his muscles

Tanner growling

Tiffany, Mick, and Addy.

Heather, Jason, and Parker


I missed pictures of Paul, Cindy, Marcus, Jennifer and Stanton. They were all cute. Tanner was partial to Jennifer the Dalmation dog. He adopted her as his mother while trick-or-treating which meant she was stuck carrying his trick-or-treat bag the whole time...hee hee

My dad was dressed as a guy just out of knee surgery...the kind where they remove bullets. It sounds like he liked his costume so much he's going to dress up as that guy for a few weeks. I didn't get a picture of him or the bullet but here is a pumpkin he carved.

Five of many for October....

Jackson was the VIP for preschool last week. That meant he got to take a poster he made of himself, share his favorite treat, and had kids in his class ask him questions.

He was really excited about being the V.I.P He's funny because the idea of having attention really excites him, but when it's time to actually get all the attention he seriously shies away from it.

He got to sit in front of the class while the other kids asked him questions about himself. It was really cute. They kept asking him what his favorite color was and the first time he said "black." Then when he got asked the same question again he just looked at me like "Are they serious?? What do I say, it hasn't changed yet?" Jackson's a funny kid.

four of many for October...

To be perfectly honest, the first four years of Jackson's life have been a bit stressful. With the newness of having our first baby, then having Tanner quickly after that, and always trying to keep Jackson from killing Tanner, then always tring to keep Tanner from wrecking the world, it wasn't my favorite time ever. BUT, things have really gotten a lot more fun now that the boys have tamed down a bit. Not to say they aren't still boys...but it's a lot more fun now.

Here we are carving our pumpkins. I didn't want their clothes to get nasty...hence the unders.

Jackson quickly realized how icky pumpkin guts are.

My boys.

Three of many for October...

Last weekend after we picked up our kids from Shelly and Jason's we headed up to Logan to see my best friend Amy and her family. We got some yummy grub at the Bluebird then headed over to the pumpkin walk in North Logan.

The kids weren't really into pictures that night..so this is as good as it gets. Here's Jackson, Aden, and Tanner.

I think Noah's Ark blew all the others out of the water.


This was Jackson's favorite. You can't see batman very well, but he's there up in the sky.

I always love to visit Logan. It's one of my favorite places in the world and it's just an extra plus that one of my favorite people live there. We had a great night.

Two of many for October...

We had a very exciting suprise last weekend. Our sister-in-law Shelly called us and told us they had a few days left of their condo up at Snowbird and said she'd take our kids while we spent a nice relaxing couple of days up there ALL BY OURSELVES!!! Needless to say we had a GREAT time and we really really like Shelly :)

The condo was gorgeous and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. We went out to eat at a nice restaurant in Sugar House then headed up to Snowbird where we spent most of the evening soaking in our own private hot tub on the balcony.

The next morning Jared let me choose what we were going to do (since it was my soon to be birthday) and of course we went hiking.

Here's Jared taking one of his many breaks...

This picture makes me laugh...he's so proud...and he actually thinks we're done with the hike. Little did Jared know we were going to the top of the snow capped mountain behind him.

Here he is after realizing what he's actaully agreed to do...

About half-way there...

Almost there!!!

We finally made it to the top. It took everything I had to convince Jared to climb back down the mountain. It took everything Jared had to try and convince me to take the tram back down...luckily I still had some left in me after the hike, so I won that battle. (BTW-Jared is not posing in this picture...he actually collapsed and layed there for a looooong while)...

He finally managed to lift his head and enjoy the view.

Here's Jared after realizing what he's capable of and proud that we climbed a big huge mountain.

Thank you Shelly and Jason!!!! It was the perfect weekend! And of course I love you Jared. Thanks for going hiking with me!

One of many for October...

We went to Gardner Village to see all the witches. If we found all the witches we got to get a big cookie for a quarter. Here we all are enjoying our time out there.





A few days later Tiffany and I went back with Addy and Tanner. We visited the petting zoo first then tried to convince Addy to take some pictures by the witches but our convincing wasn't convincing enough...

Here's cute little Tan-man

This is my favorite picture of Addy...

Addy thought holding the pumpkin was fun and after Tiffany strapped her in the stroller we were able to get one picutre of them in front of witch with a smile.