Trunk or Treat

For those of you who don't know what "Trunk or Treat" is, it is what our church does when Halloween falls on a Sunday. Instead of doing Halloween on Sunday we get together on the Saturday and hand out candy from the trunks/back of our vehicles in our church parking lot. The kids dress up (and some adults as well) and go from trunk to trunk trick or treating. Some people go all out and even decorate the back of their vehicles and have scary music playing...it is fun!

Cole (Rubik's Cube), Tyson (Punk) and Brynley (Little Red Riding Hood)

Since I started sewing I thought why not make Bryn's costume...and I thought, how hard can it be...I mean really??? Ok, so not so easy, but I did it! Her cape was the hardest thing to figure out as I didn't have a pattern. 

I made up the bloomers pattern on my own (they were easy). And the bow on the basket I put a plain red ribbon and a plain black ribbon together and then with my sewing machine used the flower stitch on top of both of them with the red thread and had fun creating that ribbon for the basket. 

The cape was the hardest as I didn't have a pattern so I used this one from online that a lady came up with...and let's just say it didn't make any sense so I had to improvise. Good thing it turned out cute still. The skirt looks like a cheer leading skirt ha ha, but it looked cute as well.

 As you can see on Bryn's face she wasn't too happy about her cape. She didn't like it at first...

I was trying to take her picture when I told her to turn around and she began literally turning in it and realized how fun it was to twirl around with her cape on...that is when she decided she liked her cape now and had fun in it!

 Awww...seriously, she just melts my heart...look at that face!

I tried to draw eye lashes on her face beside her eyes (that is what that black stuff is) but she didn't hold still very well so it looks kind of funny ha!

Trunk or Treat...
 Before we left the house I decided that I should dress up as well. Since I didn't have a costume I decided I would just wear my house coat, rollers in my hair and no makeup...I would be a Mom (or what a Mom looks like when she is getting ready anyways)! Tyson was not thrilled about me doing this...so it made me even happier to do it ha ha!

 Here we all are! Kent wasn't with us as he was at a Flames game with Debbie in Calgary.

 Jeff and Melanie and their 4 kids Jade (witch), Logan (ninja turtle) Kori (Uniqua- from backyardigans), Avery (unicorn)

We met them at the church and the kids had a good time. 

The kids going from trunk to trunk getting candy. Once Bryn realized what they were doing and what they were getting she was all for it! The kids had fun, but were very cold by the time they were done.

Once Bryn was done getting her candy, she was cold so I put her in our van. She decided to help out with handing out the candy from the back of our van.

Whenever Brynley would give a kid some candy she would say, "tank you" (thank you) and smile...so cute! But, whenever a scary costume came up she would drop the candy and take off up to the front of the van ha ha!


It was a fun evening and I am glad I took the kids and went. I wasn't looking forward to doing it without Kent, but it all worked out!



Halloween 1980 style...
I came across a couple of Halloween pictures and decided I just had to show them In this picture is my sisters Emily, Becky and I.

 
Emily (ballerina), Becky (scarecrow) and Barb (Little Red Riding Hood). I was 5 years old in this picture.


hmmm...do you see any similarities???

 Our Bryn as Little Red Riding Hood 2010 style!


Barb as Miss Piggy in 1981

I LOVED Miss Piggy when I was little. I think I dressed up like Miss Piggy for 3 years in a row ha ha! I was 6 years old in this picture. 


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

 

School Halloween fun!

Tuesday morning Cole decided he wanted to be a Rubik's Cube for Halloween. Which meant we only had 2 days to make his costume before school on Friday...that is when they are supposed to do a parade at school in their Halloween costumes.  

Now, you have to know Cole to understand that he usually doesn't get into doing stuff like this...but he was really excited about this costume. So Kent and I decided we needed to make this happen if Cole was actually showing excitement for it LOL! Kent and Cole made it and it turned out really well!

Cole even got 1st place in his middle school for the best costume =) He was VERY happy about that!

Tyson was a Punk as you can see. His costume was easy as it was all from the dollar store ha ha!

Our boys ready to go have fun at school!

The boys had a great day at school in their costumes and had lot's to talk about when they came home. I love hearing about their days =)

Greatest husband E-V-E-R!!!

Since I have been doing a lot more "crafty" things lately our dining room was being over taken with all my sewing stuff and what not as I had nowhere else to do it all. So, Kent and I decided to make spot for me in our computer room so I will be able to sew and do whatever I need to do.

Drum roll please....TA DA!! 

So we got all of this done in one night. We had most of the materials we needed in the garage already. The counter top was from a job Kent did that they didn't want anymore.

 It is SO great to have everything I need and use in one spot now. There are some finishing touches I still want to do in there eventually. Like add one long shelf up top above the other shelves for my bigger items.

Some of my stuff. On the top shelf you can see a little black basket with ribbons sticking out the holes. That is all scrap ribbon I had that I threw in the basket and stuck an end of each ribbon out of it. This way I can see what is in it and pull it out easily when needed.

I was trying to use whatever I had in the house already to organize myself. So I thought this tiered metal stand would hold all my craft paints just fine.

This is our computer room/craft/sewing room now! It is the best room in the house =) ha ha

This peg board is perfect for holding all my type of tools I will be using and needing. 

This is from Ikea as well. I didn't want things on the counter so that way I had lot's of space to work on.

It was so fun setting all of this up. Having everything organized is awesome and knowing where it all is now (and in one spot) is even better!

These cute little glass jars are from Ikea. They can sit tilted or flat. I have them up on the shelf hanging on the wall there tilted holding all different sorts of "brads" in them.

This wire 4 drawer set holds all my "to do" projects. Each drawer is all the materials for that single project in it. Have I said how WONDERFUL it is to be so organized! And it tucks away so nice under my counter top.

This is the greatest room in the house! The room already had the red and white stripes on the walls (it used to be Tyson's room)...that will hopefully be changed sooner than later. My hope is to one day make this a really cute sewing/crafting space. I have so many ideas that I would like to do...but it all takes time!

Halloween Decorations

Can I just say...
I L-O-V-E HALLOWEEN!!

Bryn doesn't like all the Halloween decor in all the stores. When we go by something "gary" (which means scary) she closes her eyes and covers her ears with her hands and says, "gaaaaarrry!" I am a bad Mom, as I think it is hilarious when she does it.



Volleyball Fun!
Melissa (Kent's cousin, Derek's wife) invited us to come play volleyball with them at their church in Olds Friday night. 

Cole was at a friends house so he wasn't with us. Tyson came and he played volleyball for the first time and did really well...much to our surprise LOL! I didn't end up playing as I was tired and just wanted to hang out.  


"Ohhhh, babies!!!"
(this is what Brynley kept saying when she saw the babies)

There were 2 babies at the church when we were there. Ella and Daniel (they are both 2 months old I believe). Ella is Dean and Shiobhan's baby girl and Daniel is Melissa and Derek's baby boy. Dean and Derek are Kent's cousins that live in Carstairs about 8 minutes north of us.

 

Brynley trying to comfort baby Daniel

It amazes me at only 2 years old how nurturing and loving Bryn was to both these babies. 

When either one of them would fuss Bryn would come right over and say, "ohhhh baby" and then try to give them their soothers and put their blankets on them. She would hug and kiss them and then go play!

Brynley playing with baby Ella. 

She just LOVED being around these babies! It was so fun to watch her with them. 

Latest accomplishments!

Thursday in my sewing class I made a Strip-pieced Pleated Skirt. 

 

This is the skirt pattern we went by.

I was S.T.R.E.S.S.E.D about this project as I just didn't understand the pattern or how to read it...it was confusing to say the least! BUT, I DID IT!! It turned out SO dang cute and I am really happy with it. 

 I had a hard time picking out what fabrics I wanted to use. But in the end I think they all worked nicely together. There are 5 different fabrics used in this skirt.

 

 Once the skirt was made I had a lot of left over material so I decided to make these cute fabric bows I found online. They were super easy to make!

 I still can't get over that I am actually sewing things and making things. It is so satisfying when things are finished.

Here is Brynely and Daddy all ready to go to church. Bryn wore her new skirt and bow to church today. She looked so dang cute!!

Homemade Salsa... 
About 2 years ago Sheri and I bought everything we needed (canning wise) to make homemade salsa. Needless to say it never happened. So we decided we needed to FINALLY do it!

Can I just say, I was AMAZED at how simple and easy it was to make salsa. Mind you, Sheri simplified it even more by getting a food processor so we really didn't have too much work.

 This is the end product. It tastes really good and I am hoping this is something we can do once a year AT LEAST! Depending on how quickly we go through this I guess...as my family and I really like salsa!


Thanks Sheri, it was fun!

Thanksgiving Day!

We had Thanksgiving dinner with most of the Stanford family at Niki and Darren's house in Crossfield. They have a nice big home so there was lot's of room for everyone.

My niece Jade and I playing Uno while we waited for dinner to cook and other family members to arrive.

 

Jade, Kori, Brynley, Roel and Logan

Here is  picture with Thijs in it. 

Thijs was sad and not feeling well. Mike and his family weren't able to make it up from Lethbridge.

Little Miss Avery

We all sat down to eat and we look over and Avery had fallen asleep in the high chair.

Everyone arrived and we ate around 1p.m. Dinner was DELICIOUS and there was lot's left over even. 

It was fun to get together and play games and enjoy each others company.

Thanks Niki and Darren!

Happy Birthday 

this past week to Brynley (2), Niki (24), Tyson (10) and Thijs (1)!!!

Sunday Morning pics

 Sunday morning I wanted to take some pictures before leaving for church as I thought my family looked pretty sharp. As soon as I was done taking the kids pictures Cole wanted to take our picture.

 

 Kent and I

I think Cole took a pretty good picture of us!

 Mr. Cole

He wouldn't smile when I was taking his picture as he says he doesn't like his smile...hmmm, gonna have to work on that!

 Tyson

It seems like all of a sudden he is so grown up.

 How cute is this face?

 Those cheeks are SO kissable!

 I had fun editing these pictures. I am wanting to learn how to take better pictures so the more I take the quicker I will learn I guess =)

Birthday Dress from Nanny

Brynley loved this dress and when I put it on her for the first time Sunday morning she went right to the long mirror in the hallway to take a look. She was turning and looking at herself in it and smiling!

Debbie brought home this beautiful dress from Utah for Brynley for her birthday. She looked adorable in it! She wore it to church this past Sunday and we got SO many compliments on "how grown up she looks in that dress" and "how beautiful that dress is."

The back of her dress

At the bottom of the skirt all the way around it were these little rosette flowers.

Brynley having a melt down as she wanted Tyson's Nintendo DS XL. He had just got that for his birthday so there was NO WAY he was letting her touch it...she was T.I.C.K.E.D!! 

 

 I kept snapping away and taking pictures as she was having a her melt down and it made her even madder. I thought it was funny that I was able to get her doing this all on pictures =) Nice Mom I am hey LOL!

Gratitude talk

I was asked 3 weeks ago if I would give a talk in church on Thanksgiving Sunday (today). I said yes, but let me tell you it made me sick to my stomach as the one thing I really, really don't like is standing in front of people starring at me and speaking. BUT, I was raised that you NEVER say no when asked to give a talk or when asked o accept a new calling. Soooo, therefore I did it!

 This is what I felt like right before I went up to speak LOL!

I was asked to speak on Gratitude. I actually had slowly started making my talk and was not nervous really at all. I tried not to think too much about it. I told myself that if Cole can give 2 talks in 1 years time then I can handle this and to "suck it up!" ha ha

My talk went well...I was sweating bullets, my heart felt like it was going to leap out of my chest, and I felt like I was going to throw up...but, other than that it was all good LOL!

Glad I did it as it felt good and I know it touched a lot of people as they came and told me so...so that is always a good feeling...makes it all worth it! 

I even had a lady walk up to me and wrapped her arms around me and said (with a thick English accent), 

"you don't know me as I am a visitor in your ward, but I just had to come up and hug you and tell you I think we knew each other in Heaven." 

 She went on to tell me that we had similar stories and she was so touched to hear about me and my struggles with things that she had struggled with. She then said, 

"I think you and I were good friends in Heaven, we must have been...but not so smart as we both agreed for the same trials LOL!"  

We had a good visit and I was so happy she came and talked to me.

The bishop came up to me after wards and told me what a great talk I gave. And he told me that I had better be careful when I give such a good talk as it could lead to other things...oh dear!!

I can't figure out how to get my talk on here so if you would like to read it then I will have to email it to you =)

Happy 10th Birthday Tyson!

Tyson Jeffrey Stanford

9 lbs 2 oz 21 inches long

October 9, 2000

10 years ago we had thee best Thanksgiving Day gift...Tyson was born on Thanksgiving Day! 

Since Tyson was turning the big 1-0 we told him he could have friends over for a party! It is always hard to have a birthday party for Ty as it is usually around Thanksgiving and no one can come. But it worked out good this time as we had it on Friday, October 8. The only problem was that it was one of his best buddies actual birthday...but he came. 

Tyson had 3 friends (Palmer, Gavin and Paden) over and 2 cousins. His cousins Taylor and Josh didn't make it until later in the evening as they had hockey.

We made sure we did our traditional balloon numbers on the window.

Palmer, Cole, Paden, Brynley, Tyson and Gavin eating supper. Tyson requested Hamburger Stroganoff as that is his favorite.

Tyson saw this cake at Walmart (Oreo cake) and had to have it. It was huge and they hardly made a dent in it.

We sang Happy Birthday to Tyson and Paden (since it was Paden's bday that day). They were cute as they were holding there breath and blowing out the candles...they were both happy, happy, happy!

Paden and Tyson are good buds!

This is how much cake was left over. We barely at one row of it! Good thing it is Thanks giving weekend and we can take it over to have everyone eat the rest of it =) It was really good though...VERY filling!

Ty opening his gifts. He was one happy boy as he got the new Nintendo DS XL that he was wanting. We made sure we had a present there for Paden to open as well. He opened it up before Ty opened his presents.

Gavin, Tyson and Paden...silly boys!

Palmer, Tyson, Paden and Gavin. These boys were hilarious and ohhhhh-sooo similar! Palmer is quite the comedian and had us laughing a lot.

They played games and had tournaments. They went for bike rides and watched the new DVD Karate Kid. They all slept over and we made sure lights were out by midnight.

   

      Saturday morning we made pancakes for breakfast. The boys were all talking about how they were scaring each other all night long. I was shocked as we NEVER heard them...thank goodness!! Sounds like they had so much fun...and we are glad =) They all started filtering out around 10:30 a.m.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY Tyson!!!

XO We Love you XO