HaPpY hALLoWeeN!!

So, one more post for today :D
HaPpY hALLoWeeN to everyone!! We hope you all had as much fun as we did! Unfortunately we were too busy this year to carve as many pumpkins as we did last year (we carved every weekend last October), and Dar didn't even get to finish carving the one pumpkin he started because he ran out of time. Oh well, there's always next year! Here's some pictures of our Halloween fun!

M&M Chocolate Pretzel Treats

Pumpkin patch with McSweeney's

Tracee's sweet pumpkin

My Oogie Boogie pumpkin

Darwin and his mini self at our ward Halloween party

My sweet witch costume, and my creature, Edgar (Eddy for short)

The Phantom

Us with the cutest devil baby, Reagan

Zombie friend, aka Matt Bradley

Darwin & Anna playing "Spoons"

Jaime-Lyn and Sandy, the Swamp Thing

I always wondered, "Can the Phantom drink sprite?"

Jared & Jared

The girls :)

This picture of the McSweeney family is posted for Christy & Jennie, from Tracee :)

Our host and hostess, Matt & Sandy Bradley

Even the kitty couldn't resist dressing up! :)

Thanks to everyone who helped make the Deming's Halloween a wonderful one! Thanks to the Bradley's for hosting yet another wonderful Halloween bash! We had a blast!!

Tagged

I know I've gone a little crazy with all the posting going on lately, but I guess it's my way of procrastinating on my homework (esp. my research paper I have due in 10 days that I haven't even started on yet, yikes!). But...when you're tagged, you're tagged, right? This is for Mel :)

7 Random Things About Me
1- My favorite animals are mooses. I don't know when/why I started liking them so much, but I have my own little collection of mooses. They are the coolest animals EVER!!

2- For some reason when I sleep, I rub my nose in my pillow. I never knew I did it until Darwin told me I did. Since then, I've woken myself up several times by rubbing my nose in my pillow at night. And sometimes, I've found myself doing it unconsciously as I'm falling asleep. I guess my nose gets itchy when I sleep?! Haha.

3- I LOVE watching Food Network!! Ever since I was little I loved watching cooking shows, although I absolutely HATED cooking (weird, I know). Before I got married I would much rather prefer to clean the toilet than to cook. Since getting married though, I love cooking now and I love trying new recipes. I'm working on perfecting my mad cooking skills :)

4- This one is really random, and some of you know this already, but I inherited overly clammy hands from someone in my family (not sure who, but I'm sure it's genetic ;). The thing about it is that for some really strange reason that I have yet to discover, my clammy hands get worse when I don't have socks on. Sorry if it's TMI :)

5- When I was in Elementary school and Primary, people used to ask me to sing solos all the time. I loved singing and was determined to become a singer when I grew up. After one of my friends started teasing me about my voice, I stopped singing in public, or even alone when I thought people could hear me, and I think I've lost my singing talent. I'm definitely not the singer I hoped I would be.

6- I sucked my thumb until I was in 2nd grade. My uncles used to tease me relentlessly, and my parents tried everything to get me to stop. They would put hot pepper nail polish on my thumbs, hoping it would get me to stop, but I would just suck it right off (maybe that's why I don't like spicy foods now though?!). I'm not sure what finally made me stop, but it took me until 2nd grade to do it.

7- I almost didn't graduate from high school. Not something I'm proud of, but true. Because of my chronic foot pain I had to be home schooled for a semester my junior year and semester my senior year. I HATED home school, but didn't really have a choice. I had to do work packets at home, but because my pain was so intense I had a difficult time focusing on anything. Thanks to my wonderful mom and my missionary's (Zach R.) mom, they helped me finish my packets so I could graduate. BIG contrast to my 4.0 gpa in college last semester, huh? :)

I tag: Nicole D., Christy O., Jennie O., Mom, Rebekah, Kirsten, Marci

Rachel's Challenge

This is Darwin today on this post. I just had to take a moment and write a little bit on an assembly we had last week. It was called Rachel's Challenge. It was an assembly about Rachel Joy Scott, the first person shot at the Columbine High School shooting on April 20, 1999. It was difficult not to get emotional at the sad, yet awe inspiring life of Rachel Scott. The motto for Rachel's Challenge is derived from an essay she wrote while a student at Columbine not too long before the shooting. It's title is, "You just may start a chain reaction." In her essay she writes about how if you go out of your way to help somebody else or make someone feel cared for, it can change their lives and it would start a chain reaction in caring for others all around you. Rachel emphasized this greatly in her life by going out of her way to show others that they are important. Once, she sat down next to someone sitting by themselves at lunch and became friends with them. Another time, there were some students picking on another student with physical and mental disabilities. Rachel went in between them, put up her fists and told them if they were going to pick on him again, they would have to fight her.

There were several things mentioned that I found very interesting during the presentation given by one of Rachel's neighbors. He explained and shared some of Rachel's heroins and role models, one being Anne Frank. Found in both of their writings and diaries, they make remarks about loving others, being kind, and all sorts of positive comments on life. It was interesting to learn that both Anne Frank and Rachel Scott died under the influence of the same man, Adolf Hitler. The students who planned and pursued the shooting were Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris. These two boys, although influence by multiple sources, were also influenced by Hitler's history and Nazi reign. The attack took place on April 20th, Hitler's birthday and 110th anniversary.

As I watched the assembly, I couldn't help but think that Rachel knew something like this was going to happen to her, and that her life would leave a legacy for many to benefit from. At a young age, Rachel traced her hands on the back of her dresser and wrote in the palm, "These hands belong to Rachel Joy Scott and will some day touch millions of people's hearts." This has been fulfilled through the many assemblies and the Rachel's Challenge program that has been established by her father Darrell Scott. She also mentioned to her friends out of the blue about a year prior to the shooting that she felt like she was going to die young. Other comments found in her diary were, "This is the last year. I've learned all I can. Thank you Lord." Shortly before the shooting she drew a picture found on the last page of her journal. It shows an image of eyes crying and as they hit the ground a rose starts to grow. Shortly after the shooting a man that had not known the Scott family had a recurring dream of a beautiful girl that was crying, and when the tear drops hit the ground, something started to grow. He phoned Darrell Scott and told him of his dream. Darrell went to the police station to get Rachel's backpack, that was taken in as evidence of the crime, took out her notebook and found this drawing in there.

Rachel Joy Scott lived a very special life that some of us could only hope to achieve. I'm sure that she will always be missed by her family, but I believe that their faith in the Lord and the knowledge of the type of girl she was will always comfort them. I extend the challenge to you to take some time and learn more about Rachel's Challenge and invite you to accept Rachel's Challenge by 1) Eliminating prejudice by looking for the best in others, 2) Dare to dream - Set goals - Keep a journal, 3) Choose your influences - input determines output, 4) Kind Words - Small act of kindness = HUGE impact, and 5) Start a chain reaction with family and friends.

"The Isty Bitsy Spider"

Did you know? Black widow spiders are considered the most venomous spiders in North America.

I just had to post this picture as proof that we found a black widow spider on our door step about a week ago when we came home from school. Luckily we had sprayed bug spray around all our windows and doors earlier this summer and the spider was nearly dead. My silly husband thought it was cool and kept poking it with his finger, totally freaking me out in the process. I finally convinced him to kill it completely--I know that makes me sound horrible, but the dang thing is poisonous!! This is the first one we've seen since living here for the past year and a half, but several of our neighbors have had them too close for comfort as well. Too bad the apartment owner is too stingy to spray for them. I just hope that it doesn't come down to one of the kids at our complex getting bit before something is done about it. Not a fun thought!

I Am a Child of God

We had our annual Primary program today at church. I always love watching the Primary programs, but the last two years I have been up on the stand participating in it. It's fun to be up on the stand with the kids, but I personally think it's more fun to sit down in the congregation and watch their adorable faces as they sing and recite their lines. We have such a wonderful ward, and I feel so blessed to work in the Primary and feel the sweet spirit that the children bring to Church each Sunday. The theme for this year was "I am a child of God", and the kids did a wonderful job at portraying that message to everyone in attendance. They put a lot of hard work into learning the songs and at least becoming familiar with their lines, if not memorizing them. I am so proud of the kids in our Primary for doing such a fantastic job with bringing the Spirit into our Sacrament meeting today!

How Can I Be?...my new favorite song!

I just happened across this song that my friend, Zac, who I went to high school with, sent out over Facebook probably forever ago. I usually don't look at everything everyone sends me on Facebook but I'm glad I decided to check this out. I absolutely LOVE this song!! Maybe you have heard it before, and I'm just a little slow. The power of missionaries singing is just incredible. I think the name of this song is probably, "How Can I Be?". If anyone knows the origin of this song, will you please let me know? Thanks! Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!



Here's another version of it, and possibly the author?

How to roast pumpkin seeds :)

Randomness...and loving it!

I'm just sitting here trying to focus on my Astronomy home- work, but missing Darwin already. He left this morning for an overnight camp out with the Young Men in our ward at Goblin Valley, Utah. He'll be back tomorrow, and in an attempt to compensate for him being gone I'm going out with my girlfriends tonight. Sometimes I find myself thinking about the amazing relationship Dar & I have and how extremely blessed we are that we found each other. As Dar likes to say, "we fit together like two pieces of a puzzle". It's hard to imagine what our lives would be like without the other one now. It feels like we've known each other and been together forever, and we look forward to the rest of eternity together with excitement and anticipation for things yet to come.

We have so much fun together all the time! I love the random things that come up every now and then, and how we just like to go with the flow. For instance, last night was totally random. We fell asleep watching March of the Penguins around 8:30pm - I know that makes us sound like an old married couple ;) but we were both exhausted from looking at Condo's and Townhouses for a few hours earlier in the day. (Nobody freak out on us...we're just looking right now. Nothing is set for us to be moving any time soon, but we decided we'd start looking because of the way the market is right now.) About 9:15pm I woke up and we moved from the couches so we could try to sleep better. Around 1:15am Dar woke up and said he couldn't sleep anymore--he really was wide awake. I went in and out of sleep for a while, and then realized that he had gotten up, but came back to get a blanket from our room. I decided to go in and watch a movie with him because I knew he was going to be gone tonight and I wanted to be with him as long as I could. So, at 1:15 this morning, after sleeping for a few hours, we started another movie, Hitch, one of our favorites. I think we fell asleep again around 4:00am, after we had finished Hitch and started Mary Poppins. I finally turned the movie off about half way through, and we were able to sleep for another few hours. Then, Dar got up at 7:15am to get ready to go on his camping trip.

It's so random to me, I love it! Fall asleep for a few hours, wake up in the middle of the night to watch another movie, stay up for few more hours, and then go to sleep again. Fall break has been really nice so far, and hopefully the rest of the weekend will be just as good. I just wish vacations could go on forever. Life gets so busy sometimes, and then when we do get a break it never feels long enough!

Introducing...

Michael and Brianna Hughes.

Well, it happened! My little sister exchanged vows with her sweetheart, Michael Hughes, on Saturday! The wedding was wonderful, and turned out beautifully. Crazy to believe that my parents don't have any more daughters to marry off :) I was privileged to be her Maid of Honor, even though I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Haha. It's the first time I've been part of a wedding party, so I'm sure I was lax in some of my duties, but I tried my best. Darwin was a HUGE help with being the emcee and helping to keep the "princesses" entertained. My nieces were the flower girls, and were clearly informed that the wedding day was "Princess Day". They were so happy and excited to get dressed up all fancy in their beautiful flower girl dresses. My cute nephew, Cade, who was adopted to a wonderful family when he was just a few days old, was the ring bearer. It was an open adoption and my family still keeps in contact with his family. I'm glad they were willing to come to yet another wedding in the family (they came to our wedding reception as well). Both of my grandmothers were able to travel here for the wedding, as well as several aunts and uncles. From my point of view, everything went fantastically. Here are some pictures of the joyous occasion (sorry about the lengthy photos, but how could I not post so many kandids?):

You'd think we were sisters or something ;)

Us pretending we're the special ones :)

Their cake lady, Mike's cousin, surprised them with a Groom's Cake. This is significant/funny because Mike manages a Little Caesar's restaurant.

This is the real cake...so pretty :)

Bri's beautiful bridal photo

My siblings have this thing about sticking their tongues out for pictures...you'll see this more later on in other photos.

Amaia becoming a Princess for the night.

Cade, my nephew who was adopted out to a wonderful family was able to come be the ring bearer. Thanks for coming, Morris family!

Bri's bouquet

The ceremony

Me looking like a nerd, not knowing what I'm supposed to be doing.

First kiss as hubby and wifey.

She's not happy, is she?

Love is all around

I love this picture of my cousin, Nicholas.

Cade taking a picture of Darwin taking a picture of him :)

Lots of picture taking going on.

I'm glad Dar got this picture of Cade & Amaia. They are half brother and sister. Both have the same dad, my brother, Tayton. Cade was adopted out, as I said before, and this is the first time they've met each other. They look alike, don't they?

This picture cracks me up.

Signing the docs. and making it official!

I think my dad looks a little too happy ;)

Handsome hunk, Liam.

Jaisy started taking pictures of people, that's why they're all at this angle :)

My mom :) She looked beautiful!

Bri with our baby brother, Skylar.

Goofy, aka Uncle Monkey as my nieces like to call him.

My wonderful hubby!!

Uncle Harvey, my dad's oldest brother.

I LOVE this picture of Maia!

Me with my Aunt Diana, my dad's sister.

Omie. I'm soo glad she was able to come out from NY twice this year!!

Me & G-ma Koon, my dad's mom.

Jaisy taking a picture of Bri's photographer.

My mom & her good friend, Carrie.

See the tongue thing?

The Princesses were having a grand old time picking the petals up off the floor.

Us being special again.

My mom was taking the picture and kept making us kiss :)

Cutting the cake.

They really were nice to each other, but somehow Bri still ended up with a cake mustache.

First dance as hubby & wifey.

Dancing with the parentals.

My Mom & Dad. They're so cute :)

Bri dancing with our good friend David.

Daddy-Daughter dance.

Jaisy & Amaia with their favorite Uncle Darwin.

Liam showing some skin, and some drool. That pretty much sums up the whole night ;)