Girls just wanna have fun.......and be a little crazy

On the first weekend of November, all of the girls in my family ( me, my Mom and sisters) took our annual trip to SLC without kids or hubbies. We do a lot of shopping, eating yummy food, movies, talking, (unfortunately, a lot of politics this time, oh well, tis the season) laughing and yes being silly and crazy. My youngest sister, Breck had the idea for all of us to do our best crazy person face for a picture (she was the one with the camera). We all took turns and were laughing hysterically after viewing each one, while riding to our next destination. When it came to her turn, she didn't want to do it until we convinced her later to do a crazed impulse buyer face after shopping at the mall. We all thought it was hilarious and perfect. When I had Breck e-mail the pics from our trip to me, her crazy person pic was missing. She decided she didn't look good enough and deleted her picture. Silly girl. So I only get to share the rest of ours, and too bad these pictures aren't larger, (this is as big as I could get them to post for some reason) so you can really appreciate their greatness. :) I'm sure these pictures won't be near as funny to everyone else as they were to us at the time, you know how it goes.

The gang at the hotel. I could not, for the life of me figure out how to remove the underline. I am so good with computers, let me tell ya.

Becky

Kristin

Mom

Me, in case you didn't recognize me since I do not usually behave in such a way ;)

Mom, Kristin and I riding in the backseat

The sisters posing by a "Twilight" poster with some random guy who insisted on being in the picture with us because "he loved the books too". Strange moment. Yes, I did read the books, and I did indeed enjoy the movie, obviously not as good as the book, but I thought it was well done. I am a fan, but I wouldn't consider myself obsessed. I do not own any "Twilight" paraphernalia. Just thought I would get that out there.

Happy haunting!

I know that I am always a little behind on my posts, but at least I've been getting them posted, right? Yes. So our Halloween was a ton of fun, and the weather could not have been better. The girls didn't have to wear anything more than what you see in these pics, which is very rare for a Utah Halloween. Claire was a purple fairy, and Stella was a fairy princess. For Stella we have been dressing her up in Claire's old costumes from when Claire was little, it saves time and moola. But I will make a recommendation for all those mom's with little girls: do not dress them up in fairy or princess costumes when they are too young to understand or care. When they get older, you'll experience PLENTY of princesses and fairies, especially if you have a real girlie girl like my sweet Claire.
So, Claire had a Halloween party at preschool. Next, we trick-or-treated downtown on main street. Then later in the evening we let the girls trick-or-treat our neighborhood. Lastly, we went to the Aggie game with some friends. Since we didn't get a chance to see Adam's family on Halloween, we decided to extend our holiday through Saturday and let the girls dress up again. We took the girls trick-or-treating to Adam's Grandma Lula's house, then to Adam's Dad and Kathy's house in Hyde Park. On the way home we hit one of Adam's clients home. The girls got way too much candy, (of course) but it was fun to drag out the festivities a little longer.

Wings

Claire's design for Stella's pumpkin. (To the right of Claire.) For some reason her drawing just makes me giggle, I love seeing kids creativity in action.

When Claire wore this costume, she hated the wings and crown and refused to wear them. Stella actually didn't mind them one bit, and actually cried when we removed the wings to strap her in her car seat. They really do come with their own personalities, that's for sure.

A sweet moment with Dada.

Claire in action.

Adam and I dressed up as Goth's for our trunk-or treat activity at the church. I didn't take any pictures there. (It bugs me when I leave my camera home.) A girl at the activity took our picture, so I will see if I can get a copy to post.

Howl- oween preparation

The night before haunting, we prepared our pumpkins for their Halloween debut. The Saturday prior, Claire carved hers at her friend, Maggie's house, in preparation for display in the trunk of our car, for trunk-or-treating. After Stella went to bed we let Claire take charge of Stella's pumpkin, since hers was already done. (Poor Stella, she misses out on so much while she's snoozing.) Stayed tuned for a sketch of Claire's design of what Stella's pumpkin should look like, on our next post.

Helping Daddy with his Jack-o-lantern.

The finished product. L to R:
Adam's, Amy's, Claire's & Stella's (just in case you couldn't figure it out);)

All lit up......... SPOOKY!

A few questions for Barack Obama supporters (by Adam)

As the political messiah prepares for his probable victory in 6 day's I thought I'd pose a few questions to Barack supporters. These are simply questions designed to enable you to not feel silly 10-20 years down the road. Here are a few of his idea's and personal annoyances that I feel will cause a slight flushed feeling across your cheeks (perhaps comments like..."yeah...I don't know...you never can tell" etc) when asked about voting for this years Democrat presidential nominee...years in the future. I will oversimplify mostly but I don't want you to skip the post. For my critics don't worry, I will also post your take on the messiahs platforms.
1. "I'm going to give 95% of Americans tax cuts and will increase tax's on those making over $250,000" Obama.
Obama supporters reaction: This is justified. The wealth gap in America is only getting wider and I'm sick of seeing tax cuts given out to the wealthy. This "trickle down" economy Conservatives talk about should be called "trickle down my leg" because it's not fair.

Translation: I will take from those that have more and will give that money to those that have less.

Reality: If you go after the engine of the U.S. economy (Small and Large business's who make over $250k a year) and raise their tax's, then redistribute that money to the lower and middle class, you are not helping anyone. In fact you are hurting everyone. Let me explain. First of all successful business owners are not stupid. They will adapt. They will hire fewer people, invest less and consider out-sourcing much more. Hard to argue this is a good thing. Also the people of Sherwood Forest (Robin Hoods citizens...you and me...employees) will have a harder time finding a good job because business's are hiring less, and I doubt you can expect any raises anytime soon. Why else is this approach assinine? Please people, who owns these companies? You know the ones your politicians love to rail on...Walmart, Exon Mobile etc. News flash, they are publicly traded companies, (most big ones are) if you attack a company you are attacking millions of Americans 401(k)s, IRA's and pension plans. Perfect example; Exon Mobile is the most widely held stock in Americans retirement plans. So those "obscene" profits help boost the stock value of millions of us. Is that such an evil thing?

Obama fans will argue that his plan is still more "fair" to more of the masses. That may be the case if your definition of the word "fair" results in all of us being equally poor. You see in a free market capitalistic society you can only have two outcomes with redistribution of wealth. Either we are all equally poor or we are all unequally rich. Thats just a fact. I just happen to feel that the definition of the word "fair" is to frankly have the government stay the heck out of our lives and pocket books. Obama's plan is nothing more than trickle up poverty. He's a fresh face who is fun to listen too but his policies are rehashed democratic socialism at it's best. If you still feel he can make it work look at the countries around the world that have tried the wealth redistribution approach. Basically anyone in Europe and South America. For a real recent example look specifically at what this socialistic approach has done to Argentina's economy over the last few years. We've seen this movie before...we know the ending.

Obama supporters response: Maybe we should be more like these other countries, after all France is frankly awesome and south America seems so quant.
Reality: All of these countries struggle with very high unemployment, low gross domestic product (which means they don't make a lot of stuff to sell unless it's plastic toys...for the most part). The US has by far the strongest economy in the world, hands down. You and I take this for granted every day of our lives. So the question I have for you is. Why try a failed recipe to fix something that is not broken?

Another question: will looking back at this global warming alarmism in 10-20 years feel a little like looking at high school year book pictures. You know the ones with the "claw" (ladies) or the Patrick Swayze look (guys)?

Reality: The wheels are falling off the man made global warming train...get off while you still have your dignity.
On that note. Please people, you live in a fairytale land if you think you'll live to see the day when gas and petroleum products are not used in massive quantities in the U.S and around the world. If you do then I have an exercise for you to try. Look left...then look right. You see all the plastic surrounding you?...yep...petroleum. Do you feel the heat coming out of the vents?..natural gas or electricity, derived by coal or oil provides that. You see the food on the kitchen table?...How do you think it got there? Better yet, how was it grown? Do you think it was hand planted and hand picked? Please let's not be energy discriminatory. After all, that would be politically incorrect.
Frankly we need it all and more...for the rest of our lives.

When can I start watching T.V again?

Reality: If you are on T.V your chances of having Obama mania are about 194%...it's getting old. Every person on Dave Letterman to Ellen to Oprah to...you get the point. Google the phrase "media bias". It will reveal "journalists" are 5 times more likely to deem themselves liberal than conservative. How am I supposed to avoid having this hype shoved down my throat by scours of retarded people on T.V.?

Who will be the brunt of thousands of T.V personalities jokes?

Reality: With Bush gone who will provide all the new material...expect a high rate of unemployment applications in the comedian and T.V personality circles. But don't worry...they will be treated "fairly" Obama will have a check to them soon. Thank the Lord...I mean Thank Obama.

I'm done.

The Pumpkin Walk

On Friday, we met Claire's preschool class at the pumpkin walk. Her preschool made a display for the pumpkin walk, the theme was fire safety since that is what they recently learned in school. Each child got to decorate their own fireman/woman pumpkin for the display.

Here's Claire's, I love the hair do.

a portion of the display, can you spot Claire's pumpkin?;)

Claire as Ariel. The people in charge need to make some new posing boards, or whatever you call them. These are the same as last year, and I'm sure even years before that.

Stella as Yoda. Claire was the photographer here, while I held Stella up. It's kinda hard to see her sweet little face. Claire loves being behind the camera.

I wanted to get the girls together here, but by the end of our trip, Stella was so over it. When I set her down on the hay bail, she had a little melt down, arching her back and all. Thanks Claire for your consistent cooperation.

Happy baby

I just love these photos of Stella. I know it is hard to believe sometimes, but here's proof that Stella does smile, and she is happy. :) Those of you that know her, know that she likes to scowl a lot or have a worried look on her face. This is the other side of her. Nice cheesy grin huh?

love those little teeth

This smile cracks me up, she looks a little crazy happy.

Laura and Drew

Last week, (Sept. 25-30) we had an absolute blast hosting Laura (Adam's sister) and her boyfriend, Drew. We packed in a ton of fun activities during their visit. On the day of their arrival, (Thursday) Adam and Drew played 18 holes of golf at Birch Creek (yes, it seemed to take all day, 18 holes takes forever) while Laura, the girls and I did a little catching up. On Friday, we did a kid-friendly mountain biking trail up Logan canyon on the river trail. Saturday, Drew participated in a mini triathlon at USU. (He registered for this the day before on a whim.) Next, we went up to Tony Grove and hiked around the lake. Finally, we went to Bear Lake to visit my parents and do some sailing. Sunday, Laura and Drew hiked up Green Canyon while we attended church. The rest of the day was spent visiting friends and family (Grandma Lula, Bryan and Kathy (Adam's father and his wife) and their family. Monday was a major calorie burner for Laura and Drew. First, we (Laura, Drew, Stella and I) hiked up to the Wind Caves (so beautiful). Drew hiked with Stella in the kid's pack all the way up for me, thank you Drew. Then, after we picked up Claire from preschool and while Stella had her nap, Drew and Laura mountain biked the Jardine Juniper trail, which is about an 11 mile ride with a consistent, very steep incline. Finally, to top off our week of fun, we went water skiing on the beautiful, murky, full of flesh eating bacteria waters of Benson. Thank you to Mark Schmidt and Chris Garff for providing the boat and ski's. Since all good things must come to an end, Laura and Drew took off for SLC, then home to California on Tuesday morning. Here are the pictures from our adventures. I know there are a ton, but I already eliminated a bunch and these were my favorites.

Adam, taking a break from the bike....... soooo hard core.

Laura, with my fam at Tony Grove

Stella enjoying her ride around the lake

Diva Claire learning about our tech obsessed world while playing with Laura's i-phone. This picture scares me, it is like looking into the future of Claire as a teen who won't give the cell phone a rest for even a second.

The captain of the ship (Grandpa Perkins) at Bear Lake and his first mate.

Laura and Drew, part of the crew. We did get a good sailing wind after patiently waiting. We were leaning pretty good and traveling at about 6 1/2 knots, the wind was short lived but definitely worth the wait.

Claire insisting her father test the waters by her side

Taking the plunge. No, they did not enjoy Bear Lake's frigid September water, but Claire just had to be miserable and misery loves company. ;)

The Wind Caves

Drew and Stella resting at the top of the trail at the wind caves, Stella was spent.

Such a beautiful time of year to be enjoying nature, I am so glad Laura and Drew got us out, enjoying "Logan's bounty", as Laura put it. Good times.