Family Fun at the Fair

Friday night we went to the little carnival at Sunset Station. We went last year and the kids had a great time. It's always fun for me to see the kids having fun. Lance tried out the bungee trampoline, and I thought he would be scared jumping so high, but he loved it. Luke also showed his bravery by climbing by himself to the top of the big blow up slide. Alex encouraged Luke the whole time, but Luke made it and had fun sliding down about 20 feet.

All the kids loved riding on the car ride. I will say that Lacey was not having a good time at the end. She didn't like hay getting in her shoes and she wanted to go on the slide and trampoline like her brothers and I wouldn't let her. And she was hungry. So by the time we left she was pretty grouchy. Despite that, I think that we will make this event a tradition.

Hafen Reunion Game Show Extravaganza

When the Hafens have a family reunion there has to be a game show. We have played Family Feud, Jeopardy, The Price is Right, and just yesterday, Wheel of Fortune. Every year I wonder how anyone can top that year's game show, and each time it gets more elaborate. Thanks Uncle Brad and Aunt Miya for providing the fun at this year's family reunion

Lots of cousins to play with!

My Grandpa Hafen is almost 90. I hope my children know how "great" he is!

Cute Kids

I cut Lacey's hair and I think it looks like she did it herself. What can you do when they won't sit still? Hopefully it will look okay when I take her to get her picture taken next week. Lance is always building things out of household items-tents, campsites, towers, castles (pictured). I have many pictures that are similar to this.
Luke has spent hours pouring over the Party City ad with all the Halloween costumes. He likes to wear a "cape" at all times.
Luke has also come up to me and said. "You're so cute." Of course I have to say, "No, you're so cute!"

I have two things to report. First, I gave blood the other day and the phlebotomist said that only about two percent of the local population donates blood and since the economy has been sinking, they are only getting half of the usual donations. It does take some time, but everyone should consider giving blood. The life you save may be your own. Second, today we went to Party City to get Halloween costumes. When we went out to the car I didn't have my purse. We went back into the store to see if I had left it at the counter or in the cart. My purse was neither of those places. We went back out to the car and I was looking around. Lance was concerned about how we were going to get home until he found some change he said we could use for the bus. Luke said, "Don't give up, Mommy." So I decided that we would go back in the store but first we needed to say a prayer to ask Heavenly Father to help me find my purse. We went inside the store again and one of the clerks called my cell phone number to see if we could hear it or if anyone answered. No luck. Then I decided to look around the store to see if anyone had taken it. I walked passed a cart that a girl was pushing and out of the corner of my eye I noticed my purse underneath a bunch of stuff. So I reached into the cart and grabbed my purse, and the girl said, "Oh, sorry, " like she hadn't even noticed it. Whew! We went back out to the car and said another prayer to thank Heavenly Father for helping me find my purse. I think that was a good lesson for me and the kids.

Hot Rods

Going to a car show would have never crossed my mind, nor would it have crossed Alex's mind except that one of the guys who works with him restores old cars on the side and told him to check it out. So we took the kids to Water Street and braved through the mob of people and classic cars to see what his friend does when he's not working on tires. Alex's friend said that when there's a car show he only gets about three hours sleep a night for two or three days because of all the work that goes into the cars. The boys liked the old cars and thought it was a treat to get in a '57 Chevy and pretend to drive.

The Great Eights

This tag has been going around for a while, and while others have said, "Answer this if you want," I was specifically tagged by Becky. I actually liked being tagged, so here are the Great Eights:

Favorite Shows (I'm going old school on this one)

Solid Gold
Fame
Laverne and Shirley
Facts of Life
The Cosby Show
Happy Days
Different Strokes
Smurfs

Favorite Restaurants

P.F. Changs
Applebees
Olive Garden
Wendy's
Baja Fresh
Tropical Smoothie
Carrabbas
IHOP

Things that Happened Yesterday

I substituted at Green Valley High School
Went grocery shopping at Super Wal-mart
Picked up the kids at Grandma Sharon's
Made Taco Soup for dinner
Watched the presidential debate
Put Lacey to bed early
Went to the gym
Fell asleep on the couch

Things I Look Forward To

Going to Polar Express in AZ
Smoking my brother Aaron in the Hafen Turkey Trot (again!)
Being Princess Leia for Halloween
Trick or Treating
Getting the kids' Halloween Costumes
The holiday season
The presidential election being over
Getting a new family picture taken

Things I Love About Fall

Changing leaf colors
Making my favorite pumpkin pie cake
Thanksgiving
Fall sales
New clothes for me and the kids
Twilight walks
Cool weather
College Football

Wish List

New flooring
To lose 15 pounds by my birthday
A new house-preferably in the same neighborhood as Rebecca Jones
The kids to go to sleep in their own beds
A mom's day off once a week
A pedicure
A facial
To eat chocolate and not gain weight

Okay I am tagging Jason and/or Mandy, Lori and/or Earl, Tammy and/or Greg.

Feed the Birds. . .Toppins a Bag

On Alex's day off last Thursday, I thought it would be a fun family outing to go to Sunset Park and feed the ducks. The kids were excited. We arrived with our loaves of bread, and those ducks and swans and geese they know a snack when they see it. In the first picture Lance is feeding a few of the birds, but it didn't take long for the pigeons to get in the game.

These pigeons swarmed Lance to get to the bread crumbs. It was a little disturbing to me, but it didn't bother Lance too much. It's weird feeling air from the flapping of bird wings. Luke on the other hand,was very upset by the whole thing.

Notice how Luke keeps getting higher and higher off the ground. After we ran out of bread we let the kids play on the playground which was fun for all

Where Did My Baby Go?

Every once in a while I'll look at one of the kids and think "How did you get to be four all of a sudden?" or "Where did you come from, two year old?" But when I put pigtails in Lacey's hair, instantly she looks like a little girl instead of a baby. She is growing so fast. At her 18 month appointment, she had grown almost three inches, putting her in the 90th percentile for her age. She's talking more and more and I think I might get rid of her paci at the same time as Luke's (maybe even before Luke's because she keeps biting through the pacifiers.) I just want to squish her and make her stay little.