Breathing a sigh of relief.

I have never been so happy to have Halloween over. This year was one of the hardest years for me to stick to our beliefs. I have never been one to have a too hard of time for living what I believe. But with the birth of our children, and Kaitlyn going to public school I have been having a hard time sticking with what I believe.
We have chosen not to celebrate halloween due to the origins of it. So, we don't go "Trick or Treating" (I hate even the name of that.) And for years we have done nothing as far as dressing up. Well, the last few years they have had a fall festival at our church on a day other than halloween. That is fine. We go and participate the kids have fun. It is a fun time and an outreach into our community.
That part that has become hard the last few years is the actual day of halloween at school. They do a parade and have a big party. So, I feel bad when Kaitlyn isn't dressed up (she didn't for kindergarten) and misses out on the fun activities. The last 2 years I have let her dress up for the school parade, but then I feel guilty to not sticking with what I believe in. I mean if I am letting her dress up for school, but not go "trick or treating" or carve pumpkins or any of the other halloween stuff am I being a hypocrite?
It is just so hard to balance your convictions to wanting the best for your children. Not hurting their feelings or making an outcast out of them for their beliefs. I think some major prayer is in order before next years halloween.
I am so glad the day is over and that we can move on to celebrating things that are important to us...being thankful and Christ's birth!

SNOW!

Yep it snowed last night! I was working and was on the phone with a lady from the New York area. She was asking me about UT and how we must have better weather than where she is but we probably don't get all the changes of seasons. I told her that it was snowing at the time we were talking and she said..."I guess I'll stay put then". LOL! I thought she was really cute. (But I do believe that UT does have better weather than NY any day!)

Cookie got a hair cut.

Poor thing doesn't even look like the same dog! We tried to do it ourselves, but our trimmer wasn't working properly so I called all around and made her an appointment for Wednesday.
She had an appoinment yesterday for the vet to get her rabies vaccination and they do grooming there too and just happened to have an opening. We quickly jumped on it since she was so matted up. Well they took all of her hair away. Last night she even looked pink because of having so little hair left. Having no hair has turned her into a little lap dog because she is so cold. We'll have to get her a sweater soon.

She is already spoiled rotten. She loves to go for car rides and goes with us to take Kaitlyn to school. Since we car pool it is pretty funny to see 4 kids, me and cookie all pull up for school in my little Saturn. But it is a very short distance so I don't mind.
Other news besides Cookie. My brother in law's automotive shop just opened. He and his family have put in alot of hard hours to get it off the ground and we are so proud of you guys! We wish you all the best on your new adventure!

Pictures of our new doggie.

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Cookie has arrived! Yep, her name is cookie. The dog is supposed to be mostly for Aidan, all little boys need a dog. Cookie is a one year old Shih Tzu. She is really sweet, the first time we saw her must have been the first day in the shelter because she was really scared and didn't really know what to think of us. Today Aidan and I went to see her in her kennel before they called us back to the interview room, when we got their she was full of life and gave us both kisses on the fingers. We knew then and their that she was meant to be ours. So, we the interview was really more informational about what shots she has had and what was expected of us.
We brought her out to the car and she jumped right in the backseat with Aidan. And on the ride home she would go from me, to the passenger seat, to the back seat, to Aidan and back again. Aidan really giggled when she jumped in his lap.
As you can see she is in desperate need of some grooming. Her undercoat is pretty matted up and she needs to put on a little bit of weight. We were planning to take her to the groomers, but decided to do it ourselves since winter is coming and then would probably shave it all off. So, Aaron and I pulled out the shears and cut off as many of the mats as we could while still leaving her fur, and gave her a bath. She was really good, we were pulling and tugging and brushing and combing her and she just stood there. I don't think we will have a problem with her nipping at Aidan at all which I am thankful for.
Oh and one more neat thing about her, she has one blue eye and one brown one. It is really cool. She is such a sweetheart and we are glad to have her in our family. (PS Kaitlyn is having a playdate today, I am sure there will be lots of pictures with her and Cookie. We didn't intentionally leave her out!)

Another Aidan Funny.

Mommy: Aidan what would you like for Christmas this year? (Trying to be good and make up a list to send to my mom)
Aidan: I already told you I want a...a...a.... "TREE MA KISS"!
(Which would be a Christmas tree). Too funny.
I love that all that he will tell me is that he wants a tree ma kiss. That is always the highlight of Christmas for me, just the 4 of us shopping for and decorating the Christmas tree. Aaron does the lights, we all put up the various ornaments and I do the beads and the other household decorations. We listen to Christmas Carols and then when we are finished we turn out the lights and enjoy the fruits of our labor.
And if you all are thinking that it is way to early to even start thinking about Christmas I totally agree except that we are celebrating with my family the FIRST weekend in December. So with loosing a few weeks it had to be made up somewhere.
I hope you all have a beautiful holiday season and a very pretty "Tree MA KISS"!

Cruising.

So, we had a great time on our crusie. This is just my immediate family and my sister's boyfriend and my brother's roommate. We had a great time visiting with each other.
Aaron and I left a day early to make sure we would make it on our flight. We stayed at the Queen Mary which was really interesting. I did not realize how much history was actually involved with that ship. We took a tour and learned some neat things about it.
We had a great time visiting with everyone and getting to know Tom and Landin better.
We went to La Bufadora which is a blowhole in Ensenada Mexico. At the Blowhole there is a flea market and all the vendor's yell at you trying to get you to come to their "shop". I didn't much care for that, and once in the shop they would follow us all around. There were very few places that would just let us look around and not pester us, I told my mom that I wish that I would have found things to buy in those places as I enjoyed shopping there much more. We had lunch at a nice little restaurant which made the best fresh corn tortillas! They were so yummy! I did find some pretty good deals, and got myself a "Fucci" purse. (Fucci was our nickname for fake Gucci, my aunt bought a "Frauda" instead of Prauda).
Our only wish was that the cruise line itself would have been a little better. The food was not nearly as good as the last cruise we went on and the activities were so bunched up together that by 2:00 there wasn't much to do. Our next cruise will be on a different line for sure, but in hindsight it was actually good that there wasn't a whole lot to do because it gave us more time to sit and visit which is what this was all about for us.
We had an awesome time but it is soo good to be home to Kaitlyn and Aidan who we missed very much!