This is Halloween!

Ah Halloween, you sure know how to pack a lot of fun into a holiday that is only supposed to last one night.  Any excuse to wear a costume I guess.

Our Halloween festivities started a week early with the school Mother-Son Monster Mash.  Wyatt and I went together (naturally).  Wyatt's costume was so cool this year (we bought it...by the way) he was a "headless boy".  He got loads of compliments, perfectly creepy.

I was a random 70's chick.  I was going to be a fortune teller but couldn't find my Mu-mu.  

After eating and visiting with some friends Wyatt and I had an epic dance off.  We mimicked each other's dance moves.  I think Wyatt won when he did a break-dance-butt spin.  I tried to copy him but he did a better job.  It was a fun night.

The following night was the ward Trunk-or-treat.  I am kind of burnt out on the Trunk-or-treat.  I feel like those parties are for years when Halloween is on a Sunday and LDS parents don't want to send their kids out on the Sabbath.  Or, if you live in a neighborhood where trick-or-treating is not safe or accepted.  For whatever reason, our ward has a Trunk-or-treat every. single. year.  and the kids get so much candy.  So, this year we talked our kids into staying home to watch a movie instead.  

Monday was a Family Home Evening at the corn maze.  We couldn't go until it was dark (wanting to have our Daddy there and all) so it was a little less fun.  We couldn't see where we were going anyway and we were all tired.  Next year, we will try to go during the day.  It was fun to make our way to the bridge and see how huge the maze was.  We had a pretty nice time.

And then the fabulous school-Halloween-party-and-parade day came.  This year the kid's teachers had a workshop day on Halloween so the schools were closed Friday.  Thursday was parade/party day.  Colter and I made it over to Adell's school for here parade.  I didn't get a good picture of her in the parade...too many kids.  But she was adorable and loved going to school in her costume.

Wyatt is in advanced band this year (it just means he is in the 5th grade) and the advanced band plays with the High School band during the parade.  It was super cool to see my little guy up there with the High School band, playing his heart out.  I know they practiced a few of the songs but not all of them.  He did a great job.  

Clare walked the parade with her little buddy.

Colter was not interested in dressing up.  I made him an orange jacket to wear and a bulldozer so he could be a bulldozer driver for Halloween.  He wore the box bulldozer once and was not interested again.  At least it covered his nakedness for a couple of seconds.

Friday it rained.  Yes, rain!  In a year of horrible drought we got rain the one day the kids were planning on being out all night.  Oh well!  We drove over to Will's work for his company party.  The kids got some candy there and participated in a costume contest.  Spoiler alert: Wyatt won.  

Will has been a "First Class Male" every year for the last five years...before that he didn't dress up at all.  I was a "Mail Order Bride" this year.  So that worked out pretty well.

By the time the work party was over the rain had let up so we headed back home for some neighborhood trick-or-treating.  We were not out very long.  Everyone was tired and the kids got plenty of candy without going far.  

And where was Lorien in all of this?  Well she and her homeschool friends decided to dress up as social media apps.  They planned and made their costumes weeks ago.  She went to a church dance Thursday night and partied with all her app friends.  Friday afternoon she headed over to meet the girls to get ready together and went out trick-or-treating without her family.  I never saw her in her costume and so the best picture I have is this one...taken from one of her friend's instagram feeds.  She had a great time and got way too much candy.  

Happy Halloween!  Until next year...

Las Vegas...Mormon style.

A couple of months ago Will told me he would have to go to Las Vegas for work in October.  Not one to let my husband run off to Sin City with out a fun-loving-companion I asked if I could tag a long?  

He agreed.

So on Monday morning (at 4:00 am!) we left our children in the care of Will's sister, Emily, and headed off to Vegas.  We were pretty tired but also excited for a few days of husband-and-wife time.  We hadn't been away without the children for a long time...I cannot really remember the last time we went away-away.  We also hadn't been to Las Vegas since Wyatt was a brand new baby...and we didn't do a whole lot of sight seeing then.  

Vegas did not let us down.  The city has changed a lot in the 11 years since we were last here.  The strip is packed with high-end shopping malls and new hotels.  We stayed in the Cosmopolitan, which is probably the fanciest (in an odd way) place I've ever been.  You know all the hotels in Vegas kind of go with their selected theme: Caesar's Palace is all ancient Rome-y, The Paris is...Parisian etc.  The Cosmopolitan was...I don't know.  It was a homage to old Vegas, indulgence and quirkiness...there was a pair of binoculars in our room...for peeking out our windows and into the windows of the other hotels...weird.  All of the decor was deep velvet and sparkling crystal.  It was different.  

Will did spend most of his time at a Solar Conference (the whole reason we were in Vegas in the first place).  I was left to relax and wander around the Strip by myself.  It was nice.  

One night Will did plan an awesome date night for us.  We had dinner up at the restaurant in the Stratosphere it is 107 stories high with a spinning restaurant at the top.  We ate a fabulous dinner while we watched all of Vegas turn below us.  After dinner we went to a comedy show.  It is a little tricky to find evening entertainment in Las Vegas if you aren't interested in seeing 1/2 naked people.  The comedy show was pretty great.  

This place does not do anything in a small way.  The hotels are the size of cities, you cannot eat a small meal, all of the stores are high-end and full of expensive merchandising and all of the people are there to party.  Even on a Tuesday night people were parting like it was New Years.  And gawking is A-OK.  Hotel's have restaurants that face out on to the Strip for maximum "people watching" (and they advertise this point).  People were not shy about giving anyone a head-to-toe look over.  No one politely averted their eyes in any situation.  Pan-handlers on the street, Show girls posing for tips and fellow tourists got the same up-and-down gawk.  

It was a fun trip.  Will got some important work done, we got to hang out together every evening and I got to walk around kid-free (which was super awesome because I don't know what I would have done when the "we bring girls to you" truck drove by if my children were there...).  But after four days were were both ready to go home.  The over-indulgent attitude of Vegas had been played out.  We both wanted a regular sized meal and to see our kids.  Too bad our flight got delayed until almost 10:00 pm.  

Emily, and her husband agreed to stay with our kids and run the house while Will and I were away for the last four days.  Seriously, Emily deserves a medal for stepping in and taking care of five kids!  Emily and Kenny are expecting their first child in the spring and to go from "just-dreaming-about-what-it-will-be-like-to-have-one-child" to "five-children-and-managing-their-daily-schedules" is kind of a big jump.  Emily was a champ and the kids loved having her here.  When Will and I left on Monday Colter could say about 25 words...most of which were truck sounds we counted as words.  When we came back Thursday night Colter was speaking fluent French.  Kidding, but he was speaking in full sentences and parroting every phase he heard.  Emily ran the Anderson-home show perfectly: children were fed, homework was done, the house was clean, and every kid made it to their various activities.  She is awesome!  She sent me this picture of Colter one afternoon and I cried for 20 minutes.  

Perfect moments...

For a while (about eight months) I've been working through a bout of depression.  I've struggled off and on with anxiety and depression for most of my adult life.  This last round was more serious and I had a harder time pulling up out of it.  In February I ended up crying in my doctor's office, getting on anti-depressants and seeing a therapist.  

Things are much better now.  I think I have a better handle on my life and I've learned a lot.  One of my favorite lessons to put in to practice is to appreciate the moment I am in--right at that time.  You see those licence plate covers all the time "I'd rather be fishing" "I'd rather be shopping".  On a street near Adell's school (the street where I park most frequently) a car has a licence plate cover that says "I'd rather be here...now..."  I smile every time I see it.  Which is a nice little gift because I am usually late for pick-up or drop-off and feeling like I am going to murder someone.  So, thanks licence plate cover owner.  You've saved many lives.  

Anyway, today I had two perfect moments.  Moments where I was so happy to be in that moment right at that time.  Even though I had several other things that I should/could have been doing I was able to stop and love these moments:

Lorien is working on an art project on perspective.  She has made it into a much bigger project than it needs to be but she is have a great time.  Additionally, she is including Colter and Adell in her project and the three of them are loving life.  She is taking photographs to illustrate perspective.  She is organizing the little kids into a tableau far away from her--then using her hand, foot or face she pretends to be a Giant.  There is one patch of grass in the greenbelt behind our house that hasn't been destroyed by the drought.  All four of us are sitting in the soft grass, in the shade laughing at the pictures Lorien is taking.  The air is hot but not unpleasant.  I am trying to make a grass-reed whistle with my thumbs and a blade of grass.  So far, I've only managed one whistle.  It is a lot harder than it was when I was a kid.  

Anyway, it is all delightful and I am so thankful to be here now.

Colter has been improving his communication skills.  He was labeled "verbally delayed" at his two year check up.  He was a big fan of the point-and-grunt mode of communication.  The point-and-grunt got him every single thing he ever needed.  Over the last month or so he has built up an impressive store of words...many of them are words for construction vehicles.  Some times it is tricky to understand him.  I perfectly understand his word for "Dump Truck" but we've received our fair share of shocked looks when he shouts it in public.  

Today Adell was sitting in my room and Colter ran in with two small baby dolls shouting "Be-be-a-MACK!  Be-be-a-MACK!"  I didn't know what he was talking about?  Adell said, "He wants to play Baby-smack."  Now if you think that game sounds violent--you are right.  The game is played by climbing up on to my bed, throwing a baby doll up into the air and shouting "BABY-SMACK!" Then jumping off the bed to pick up the doll.  

Fun.

Adell and Colter played for a few minutes and then Adell started coughing.  Since this summer when ever she starts to cough hard she can get overwhelmed and start gagging...sometimes the gags become the barfs.  Anyway, Colter (without any prompting from me) ran into the other room and came running back with a rubbermaid bucket.  He gave the bucket to the gagging Adell and said "Spit-up-buh-ket".  He knew what was going on and he knew how to help.  It was adorable.  Adell did not end up barfing but all the appropriate precautions were in place.

This particular moment was so precious because it makes me so grateful I had one more kid.  Adell and Colter have become sweet little friends...siblings really.  They play and fight together just like the big kids do.  This moment was a sweet one.