So we went in search of leaf piles, and finally found some at a church in Payson. Some of  my kids thought they were too OLD and COOL to play in them, but after about 2 minutes all 6 of them were rolling around, having a blast. We had a tonne of fun just wrestling, throwing, jumping and rolling in crispy yellow maple leaves. This is one of those days I'll remember as being spontaneous and fun, all of us together on a beautiful fall afternoon.  LOVE IT!!!!

7 wierd things

My sister Beckie tagged me:

Her tag is to think of 7 unusual things about myself, then tag 7 other people and see what happens!

1. I am allergic to potatoes....unusual or what?

2. I like to eat stouffers macaroni and cheese almost burnt right out of the carton....yummy comfort food!

3. I really can't stand fruit with seeds, like raspberries, blackberries, etc. strawberries are ok!

4. I have a real phobia of mice, snakes and Dr's. (bad experience when I was little, funny since I've had 6 kids!)

5. I have fainted in very bizarre places, the chapel in church; the carthage jail; a busy pizza place, all when lots of people were around and it was very obvious and VERY embarassing!

6. I still LOVE the original Star Wars, and the little girl in me still wants to be Princess Leah.

7. I love to play with play dough, but I HATE to get anything sticky on my hands, like finger paint, or raw meat or dirt.......AHHHHH!(it's THE worst!!)

I tag: Heather, Tara, Shannon, Lori, Denice, Shelley, Becky Chis

Fall Festivities

My favorite time of year is Fall! I love the crisp air, I love the beautiful fall colors and most of all, I love Halloween! I have loved it since I was a little girl. We have lots of traditions that we do for this fun holiday. Some of which include visiting at least 2 pumpkin patches, going on hayrides, Gardiner Village to visit the witches and Halloween parties galore! There's no stress involved with Halloween, just fun and treats! What a great way to start off the BIG holiday season!! I LOVE IT!!!!!!!! Happy Haunting y'all!

Cruisin' Baby!!!

We think cruises are the ultimate in vacationing!!!  Here are my top 10 reasons why they are so great!

10. Being rocked to sleep by the (mostly)gentle swaying of the boat!

9. The entertainment, the comedians are really great! I don't know how those dancers can do it on stage when I can barely walk down the hall to my stateroom! This is our 2nd cruise with Jon's staff and the 14 of us definitley make our own entertainment too!!!

8. The little Cambodian dude that cleans our room. Dang, I would love to bring him home with me, he cleans like every 1/2 hour AND leaves chocolates on the sheets every night!!

7. The shopping. On the boat is fun because I can usually persuade Jon that I really NEED those cubic zirconia rings that are 2 for $39. I think bartering off the boat is fun too, and I never need to worry about the little ladies begging to braid my hair, there's not enough of it to braid!!!!

5. Getting sunburnt on the deck and people watching all at once. There is nothing funnier than some people's idea of a sexy bathing suit....I'm telling ya!

4. All the great accents you encounter on a cruise ship, I love the Australians, Hungrians, Britains, Phillipineans, etc. Half the time we're all wondering WHAT the HECK they're saying, but I feel cultural for a few days!!!!!! (I know they're thinking we are such stupid, fat Americans!!)

3. All the exercise we do to burn off all the calories. NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'd rather drink pina colada's.

2.I love the ports of call, even when there is a hurricane to interupt the plans. They are so amazing! I love learning the culture and doing things I would NEVER do, like kayaking in the ocean (10 years ago if you would've told me I would do this, I would have rather died!!!) and ziplining through jungles (THAT was very cool, except for the maneating spiders:)

1. FOOD!! It's completely out of control the amount of food we eat on cruises. My favorite, by far are the souffle's. I love them!  ( I'm pretty sure each little souffle has about 1000 calories, OH WELL!)I also had this mushroom pot pie thing on this cruise, that was delicious. I asked for the recipe and they brought me the cookbook. I was so pleased to know that it had pancreas and adrenal glands of baby calves in it.  (well, I guess if I had to know........)Hmmmmmmm, oh well, it was still dang good!!!!! (think I'll pass on making that one for Thanksgiving dinner this year:)

Anyway. cruises are so fun. I always can't wait to go, I love it when we're on the boat and in port, I get scared and feel infinitley small when looking at the immense expanse of ocean,  but I love, love, love the sunrise and sunset on the ocean too, and I'm always so happy to come home. Vacations make me love my kids more, my home more, my day to day routine doesn't seem so hard after a vacation and life seems renewed!!! We need more of them!!!!!!