MURDER HIGH REUNION - 1985

Dan and I threw a murder mystery party for Halloween this year. Everyone had such a fun time a few years ago, that they wanted to do it again. This year we chose an 80's theme - and just like last time everyone went over the top with their characters/costumes.

We decorated the basement with neon colors, records, cassette tapes and 1980's movie posters. We had 80's style games: Twister, Perfection, Connect Four & Rubik's Cubes. We had an array of 80's style snacks including; Bottle Caps, Nerds, Pixi-Sticks, Zotz, Chick-O-Sticks, Candy Cigarettes, Hostess Snacks and Jello Pudding Pops.

Characters at the party included:
Danny Drums and Sally Sax - the marching band duo turned famous for their music work in the movies
Joe and Natalie Nebraska - the jock and head cheerleader
Bryon P. Keaton and Myra S. Keaton - the math nerds who become rich
Cindy Crawfish - class flirt turned model
Mike and Mallory Majesty- the prom king and queen
Molly Ringworm - drama queen turned Hollywood actress
Steven Spielson - Hollywood Director
Pamela Abdul - the pom pom captain turned Hollywood choreographer
Judd Jensen - class stud
Nick and Nancy Nixon - class president turned politician
Bobby Bright - valedictorian turned lawyer
Terry Johnson - hall monitor turned traffic cop
Bailey Babble and Randy Reporter - class gossip and newspaper reporter
B.A. Barricade - punk, turned private security

The entire evening was a riot! There were many colorful characters at the party. Rusty with his orange jumpsuit and black Mohawk. Ryan in his actual basketball shorts from high school. Heidi was hilarious with her math nerd/cheerleader image and braces. Dan wore gold MC Hammer pants and Erica had a "beautiful prom dress!" She actually carried her own red carpet with her everywhere she went. There were lots of leg warmers, off-she shoulder tops, ratted hair and jelly bracelets. James had the perfect nerdy image and Chip has a ridiculous light pink tuxedo. Jaime had on her cheer leading outfit and there were a few mullets as well.

The murder of Steven Spielson was no surprise as no one liked this famous director. He thought he was so much better than everyone else at the party(even taking calls during dinner from Jennifer Aniston - to prive he was famous), but the question was, who would do such a thing? There were many suspects, as many disliked him - was it the musicians who were not paid for their services, Natalie Nebraska who was afraid her affair would come out, the politician's wife who was trying to covering up her husbands indiscretions with Spielsons girlfriend, the actress who had secrets that only Spielson knew? Ultimately the truth would come out as the night progressed!

What a fun evening with friends, nothing like Halloween to spice things up a little bit. Definiatley not your average date night (Dinner and a Movie) IT WAS LIKE, SO MUCH BETTER - TOTALLY RAD!

FALL BALL

Madi played softball again this fall and really started loving the game! She was able to play with a couple of friends from school, Sierra and Angelica (aka: Billy and Jello) Sierra's dad was also one of the coaches. They named their team Smoke because of the color of their jersey's. It was kind of interesting to yell "GO SMOKE," when the team was doing well!

I saw a lot more confidence in Madi this season, she was better prepared both up to bat and in the outfield. Sometime during the season Dan took Madi to the batting cages and a lady corrected Madi's swing and told her what she could do to improve. It helped tremendously! Madi even ended up purchasing her own bat and stated she wanted to play in the spring!

WHO IS THE HOLY GHOST?

Recently I have discovered that Reagan is always by my side. She follows me around everywhere and since the other kids are in school, we tend to do most things together. She even follows me into the bathroom. It seems as if I am never alone because she is always there, right beside me.

After making this discovery I started telling people that she was my consent companion - like the Holy Ghost. One day I told her she was my little Holy Ghost. She immediately responded by saying "I'm not the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost is in your hear, right here." (She used her hand to symbolize where her heart was.) I then asked her, "Did you learn that in primary?" She told me "No," and then said "Grammie taught me."

I thought it was one of the cutest things she has ever said. I guess my mom's Family Home Evening lessons on the 4th Monday of every month do register with the kids, even thought it seems like complete chaos.

LABOR DAY WEEKEND

Jaxson had his first football season game this weekend - in Kamas of all places! So we decided to stay the holiday weekend in Park City. We had a free two night stay at the Canyons and decided it was time to use it.

We had a fabulous time hanging out with the kids (even though our sleeping quarters were pretty small) - we swam, played tennis and games, watched the food network with everyone in the bed, went to a matinee (Spy Kids) and ate a lot! We also headed over to the Olympic Park and did the Alpine Side and Zip Line. The zip line was less than exciting because it was so short (I guess once you have been zip lining in the Caribbean - nothing else compares). We did however stop to watch the ski jumpers practice which was incredible!

Overall a fun weekend out with the family!

WOULD I DO THAT?

I have to start this post out by saying, I have never had a child quite like Reagan... She is super inquisitive, very strong willed (or spirited),funny as all get out, sticky sweet at times and gets into so much trouble!

Monday afternoon I was upstairs folding laundry, Reagan was by my side as always and I asked her if her wanted to go play in the playroom. She said "OK" and within moments was back at my side with a couple of bean bags. She asked if they belong to her and I said "Sure." She was very excited, I wasn't sure why because we have had those bean bags since Madison was a little girl. She wanted to know if she could keep one downstairs and I said that was fine, because she has a toy box in the family room. She began asking more questions like, how am I going to get it up there. I was confused by this comment because the toy box was on the floor, so I just responded by saying "You'll figure it out." She disappeared and within moments she was back at my side saying "I pushed the 8 and the 5." I had no idea what this was in reference too, so I kept folding clothes.

I couple minutes later, Madi called up the stairs and asked if Jaxson had put a "EDY" (warming corn bag) in the microwave this morning? She told me that the microwave was smoking and he may have left it in there too long. I told her yes; while I was coming down the stairs; however I was confused because the microwave had not been on and it was 5:00 PM.

As I entered the kitchen, the whole room was full of smoke and you couldn't breathe. I looked in the microwave and found the bean bag that Reagan had taken downstairs sitting on the shelf in the microwave, burnt to a crisp. The once tan colored bag, was now black, burnt open with charred beans inside. The bag was smoking and had orange sparks coming of the bag ready for the makings of a fire. The microwave was dark brown and the rack in the microwave was black. i quickly picked up the burning bag (with my fingers, not the smartest idea) and moved to to the sink to extinguish the flames. While i was doing this, I ask Madi to open the doors and windows - at this time we are both coughing and choking up from the smoke in the house.

The microwave had 1 minute and 12 seconds registered left on the timer when Madi opened the door. From my calculations, if Reagan hit the 8 button and then the 5; the microwave had been on for 3 minutes and 48 seconds. (The buttons 1 - 6 have a express start and begin the microwave immediately) This meant when she pushed the 5 button the microwave began for 5 minutes. In 3 minutes and 48 seconds, while she was under my care, my daughter almost started my house on fire! What am I going to do with her?

It is now Wednesday, and we have left our windows open for days, cooked cinnamon sugar in the oven, boiled lemons in the microwave, turned on all the fans and my house still smells like we have had a fire. Its lovely!

This moment takes me back to a couple of years ago when we turned on the fireplace and the house smelled terrible (like burnt plastic). All of a sudden something yellow started dripping out of the fireplace. I didn't know what it was, so we turned off the fireplace and I looked on top of it and noticed several of Reagan's plastic silverware from you kitchen, shoved back into the fireplace - melted - fumigating our home. I waited for the fireplace to cool down and I tried to get the silverware out, but it was stuck! I turned the fireplace back on to melt them again and I scraped and scraped the silverware out of there with a knife. WE never quite got all the residue out. Like the microwave incident, I tried burning it out by turning on the fireplace and opening all the windows to let the smell escape. To this day every time we turn on the fireplace, it still reeks of burned plastic.

I guess I am grateful all my children are not like this cute little one! (and grateful to Madi for finding our soon to be fire in the microwave.) i just wonder what would have happened if she hadn't of caught it when she did.

GRANDPARENTS DAY

Sunday was Grandparents Day, so I invited my parents over for dinner. While I spent the afternoon preparing dinner and making a cake, the kids started preparing too. Madi wrote both of my parents a sweet card; while Jaxson memorized a little rap, that he performed for them that night. Reagan had made a door hanger at preschool with her picture on it. It said "You are Special to Me". Reagan also asked my parents if they could share her door hanger with Nana and Grandad. It was really cute!

Because it was a special occasion, we ate in the dining room and had their place settings decorated with the small gifts and poems. After dinner, we played some games and then I pulled out my Beautiful - Nothing Bundt Cake (my version) and we sang Happy Grandparents Day to you!

It was a fun evening - my kids love their grandparents and they love spending time with them.

FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL

Reagan started preschool today! She is growing up way too fast, I can't beleive that next year at this time - I will be sending her off to kindergarten.

She is so excited for preschool, she has several friends in her class in our neighborhood (Kate, Mia, Addison, Alison, CJ and Hallie), plus she loves she new teacher Miss Amy! I love her too and I love that she gets so excited to go to school. She is going to be a busy girl this year with preschool, tumbling, dance and playgroup!

MOAB - SUMMER STYLE

We purchased discount tickets to take the family on a river rafting adventure in Moab this summer. I knew taking them to Moab would be more like a float trip, but with small children, I thought this would be the best way to introduce them to the river.

The Galloway's and Sanford's also purchased tickets, so we all went together - it is more fun to have a big group to go river rafting with anyway, so this worked out really well for all of us.

Lucky for us, our cousins own a condo in Moab and allowed us to rent it out for the weekend. We had a hard time finding a date during the summer that would work and ended up going in mid August (really hot time to be in Moab).

We celebrated Madi's birthday while we were in Moab, she was supposed to bring a friend; however she got sick right before the trip and she couldn't find anyone else to come with her, with such short notice. She was disappointed, bu I think overall had a good time anyway. She received a iphone for her birthday which she was not expecting and ended up being extremely happy about this gift) We also took her out to dinner on her birthday that night and had leftover cupcakes from her party that night.

While in Moab we hiked through Arches National Park, we spent most of the day at Sand Dune Arch, playing with the kids. The entire party dug into the sand and buried the kids in the sand. They loved it! We also started carving sandstone, it was so funny to see everyone sitting there trying to carve sandstone pieces, while sitting in the sand. We also climbed the arch and explored all around the arch too. Jaxson and Jade and little climbers and scared us a little because they have no fear! The weather was actually manageable because we spent the afternoon in the shade of the Sand Dune Arch.

Later that evening we all got flashlights and hiked to Delicate Arch, he were told that seeing the arch at sunset was breathtaking and we knew hiking the arch a night would be less hot and easier for the family. Unfortunately we got a late start and we were hiking in the dark (good thing we brought flashlights). When we got to the arch the only way to see it was to shine the flashlights all around it. We got some pretty cool pictures, but I don't think the kids really realize how beautiful this arch is! While handing out at the arch, there were mice running around everywhere, you would see them when you would shine the lights around (A little creepy, I must say). My favorite part of the hike was walking with Reagan (she was amazing and hiked the entire way and never asked to be picked up - what a trooper) She talked our ears off, saying the funniest things. Madi and I just laughed and laughed all the way back down. She talked about how she didn't want to break her elbow and why she didn't want to break it, then she would completely change he subject and talk about something else.

We spent Saturday on the river and had the best river guide! She was very experiences and was so good with all of the kids. He let the kids play in the water, swim the rapids and threw most of them in the water at one point or another. Reagan loved every minute of it - especially swimming in the water. Madi was a little nervous at first; however I think her nerves subsided the longer we were on the river. Jaxson loved it as much as I thought he would. The one comment Reagan made that cracked us up, was when I asked her if she was having a good time and she responded with "No, I want bigger water!"

On the way home we stopped at Dead Horse Point, the kids tried catching a lizard and we took some amazing pictures.

TEENAGE SURPRISE

Madi is turning 13 this week; however we will be spending her birthday in Moab. (she wasn't very happy about this at first; however we told her she could invite a friend to come along) Because our plan was to be in Moab for her birthday, I told her we could plan her party after we got back. Little did she know I had a big surprise for her before Moab.

I had been planning a surprise party for her for months and going to Moab created the perfect opportunity for the surprise. Melissa had Madi babysit for her the day of the party, so I could get everything prepared. I spent the day making black and white cupcakes with purple sprinkles and Hershey's candy bars on top - Madi's favorite candy bar. I also decorated the back yard with exterior lighting and purple Chinese paper lanterns. We rented a large blowup movie screen so the girls could watch a late night movie in the back yard.

The theme of the party was black/white and purple - Justin Bieber colors of course. The invitations were sent to her friends by stealing Madi's phone at night and grabbing all of her contacts. I had to text all of her friends outside of the neighborhood and ask them to forward me their addresses. What made it difficult, is Madi has code names for all of her friends, so I had to ask her questions and find out who was who without giving away my plan.

I told Madi we were going to have taco's for dinner, she was so excited, so when Melissa dropped her off - I broke the news to her and told her that I invited Grammie and Papa over for dinner, so there was a change of plans on the menu. She was so disappointed. I told her to come into the backyard and this is when her friends all yelled Happy Birthday! (She had no idea - the funny thing is, she heard the music playing in the backyard when Melissa dropped her off, she started to go to the back and Melissa told her to go into the house.)

We had a BBQ and a chocolate fountain, then girls all made locker magnets out of bottle caps. We played some games including the spoon on a string game, which was a big hit. After which the girls all watched You Again. We brought the popcorn machine out and served popcorn to all the girls. They all had big pillows and air mattresses on the ground to sit on while they enjoyed the movie.

I sent all the girls home with a berry lotion from bath and Body works and thanked them for "Berry" much for celebrating Madi's birthday!

It was so much fun planning this surprise for Madi - her friends are all so sweet and fun!

OUT OF THE MOUTH OF REAGAN...

We are always laughing at Reagan and the things that come out of her mouth. Here are a couple of funny moments that have happened over the past month...

Reagan had one of her good friends Kate Bentley over to play one afternoon. Dan and I both happened to be home working, when Kate started to cry. Dan was the first one on the scene and Kate proceeded to tell Dan that Reagan hit her. Dan asked Reagan if she hit Kate and her reply was no. He then said, "Why would Kate tell me you hit her, if you didn't?" I was coming up the stairs as this conversation was in progress. Dan then said "Reagan, you need to tell me the truth, did you hit Kate?" Reagan's reply was something I will never forget. "Well, the truth is, sometimes bad things happen!" I looked at Dan and our eyes met, as if to say, did she really just say that. It was hard not to bust up laughing. I pulled her into her room in private and repeated Dan's question. She then looked at me again and said "The truth is, sometimes bad things happen." At this point I was a little angry and said "I know bad things happen, because you make then happen. Now tell me the truth." She shrugged her shoulders and said "OK, I hit her." I asked her why and she told me "Kate said Ariel's dress was pink!"

Reagan is a little story teller, she loves to tell you princess stories and the inflection in her voice is hilarious. Her reenactments of the stories are very precise and they can go on and on and on. She specially loves to tell you stories at night before she goes to bed. Her stories often go like this... Once there was a beautiful princess and she had not awful parents. But there was a mean witch who told her that she would die before her seventeenth birthday when she pricked her finger on a spinning wheel. But the blue fairy saved her and said you will not die, but you will be asleep until true loves kiss! I am going to have to record her one of these days, because she continues to crack us up.

We were driving home from Costco one Saturday afternoon and Reagan asked where we were going. We told her we had to go to the grocery store. She didn't want to go, so she matter of factly stated "How about you just drop me off." I find it funny that our four year old thinks she is old enough to stay home by herself and didn't think it was out of the ordinary to asked to be dropped off at home.

Last night we went to a magic show at the Sandy amphitheater, the show was a little lackluster; however Reagan kept everyone in stitches with her commentary. During one trick, they uncovered a picture and Reagan immediately said "It's Jesus!" Dan told her it wasn't Jesus and that it was an angel. She replied back "But her hair looks like Jesus." Then she put the two together and said "Jesus is a fairy!"