Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Halloween in Casper

Three weeks after moving to Casper we were celebrating Halloween! Statton wanted to be a pirate and Cassidy wanted to be a mermaid. Madison had no choice she was going to be a witch. I found these costumes online and ordered them a few weeks weeks ago. Statton picked his out himself. Cassidy had originally told me she wanted this one but as we looked at others that were not as modest she wanted those because they were pretty or reminded her of her barbie movies. So I convinced her to get this one and I would dye her hair red to look like Ariel. When we first got the costumes Statton of course loved his and Cassidy was so upset because she couldn't swim like a mermaid and the skirt was so long she was stepping on it.(I think she really thought she was going to be a real mermaid and swim like one.) So with some pinning and tucking we were able to make it work and after spraying her hair red she was a happy mermaid.










They are all very cute in their costumes. I felt silly about Madison's white shoes but footwear didn't cross my mind for her until I put her costume on that day. Sorry Madison! Other side note. My original thought was to spray Cassidy's hair and then I was going to twist the sides around her little seashell headband. I didn't want to spray the seashell headband red. Well once I got to spraying it with the red dye it didn't want to move and if you tried to move it flakes of red would fall and make a mess so I opted to leave it.


Moving to Casper gave me the opportunity to look up an old college roomate that I had at Utah State. Krista and I lived together for 3 semesters before she got married and then I got married and moved away so we lost touch. So it's been fun for us to see each other again and we were laughing about how after almost 10 yrs we just act like were good friends with no time lost. Krista invited us over to go trick-or-treating and participate in their tradition of decorating candy apples. So we met at her house and had some pizza and then the kids got to work decorating.


Statton's finished apple.





Cassidy's finished apple.


Cassidy loves Krista's little boy. He's about 6 months old and was a puppy.


My little witch.


Here was all the kids right before we left to hit the neighborhood. (Top-bottom L-R)


Kate and Cassidy Madison Statton Jonas holding Landry





Just a few pics of the houses we hit up. My kids have never been door-to-door trick or treating. We usually hit the trunk-or-treats. So this was a fun change for us.








You know it's cold when you can lick the snot off your face!









There were so many fun decorated houses in the neighborhood. Statton came away from this one just in tears because he didn't like the scary witch. After some consoling he was good to go. There was one house with a woman all decked out in a witch costume and the kids were pretty leary about going to the door so Blair had to take them up to the porch so they could get their candy. Ah sweet innocence. The kids had a blast and loved trick-or-treating. They also loved all the candy they got in their buckets. The next day they were both asking if they could go again because it was so fun. Next year babes, next year!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

We love Halloween!

Halloween is one of my favorite times of year. I love the decorations, the costumes, baking fun treats, everything! So when I came across these cute halloween pajamas I couldn't resist. So I snapped a few photos of the kids in their new jammies.



I also loved them because they glow-in-the-dark. So it was absolutely adorable to see Madison glowing like a little skeleton baby in her bed. Cassidy's didn't glow-in-the-dark and I tried to tell her that at the store and tried to convince her to get the ones that did but she insisted on the ones she's wearing so needless to say she was pretty upset at bedtime when her jammies were the only ones that didn't glow. She cried and told me that we had to go back to the store and buy her the ones that glowed but I told her I wasn't buying her new jammies and she would just have to wear what she picked. She was over it by morning.





Statton still likes his jammies and wants to wear them every night. I let him go about a week and then he has to get them washed and he hates wearing anything else. Getting geared up for Halloween!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

We loved Meeteetse!

I have to say when Blair and I first drove into town I was a little hesistant about living here. Then when I was talking to the guy renting us an RV spot and was told the closest grocery store was 30 miles away I really didn't know how I was suppose to live like this. Honestly I cried all that night and I think Blair was a little concerned about me. Well I have to say being LDS certainly has it's benefits because you really get to meet some nice gals. Brenda was the first to befriend me and we planned a lunch date at the park with our kids and she invited some of the other girls from the ward. Then some of us planned to walk in the mornings at the local school's track and we had fun walking and talking while our kids played in the sand(long jump pit). So when Blair told me that his job had finished and we had to be moving again I was heartbroken. I had met some wonderful gals that I loved hanging out with and just the most amazing down-to-earth girls. Thanks to Brenda she arranged for all of us to get together and have dinner the night before I was leaving. It was such a fun night! We met for dinner at 7 and I didn't get home until almost 11pm. That's why I make this post so I can always remember those wonderful gals from Meeteetse!
Larissa Lapierre, Amberli Shumway, Brenda Allen, Kristen Heward, Jennifer Loveland, Catherine Leithead. (Thanks Amberli for getting one of drunkards from the bar to take our picture!)

Since we werent leaving until that afternoon the next day I took the kids over to Brenda's so they could see some of their friends one last time.




Statton, Ella (holding Lily), Lucy, Cassidy, Madison, and Anastyn. We missed some of the other kids since they were in school or gone that day.


We really ended up enjoying our time here and made some great friends!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Madison's Teeth

Well Madison's bottom teeth just barely were breaking through when she turned one. Her top teeth came through a few months later. These pictures were taken on Sept. 9. I was trying to get a picture of her cute teeth coming through and her brother and sister wanted to get it on the fun.



Statton actually helped me get this picture he pried her lips up for me and then let go so her teeth were exposed long enough for me to get a shot. Thanks buddy!
What a happy little pair. Notice the death grip on the ducky. She loves that thing and packs it around everywhere.



What a great bunch of kids I have. For as much as we are moving around right now they are always so willing to do whatever. I just hope they can survive having me as a mom. Great patience is needed when you have children. Still wouldn't trade them for anything!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Visit From Grandparents!

Well we had a busy September. Labor day weekend Blair's folks came and played with us. We met them in Cody on Saturday, had lunch and walked the shops and bought Cassidy and Statton a pair of cowboy/cowgirl boots.(gotta fit in) Went to church on sunday and decided to take a drive up to Kirwin. It's an old mining town that's only accesible a few months a year.


Cassidy just loved Grandpa Heward and always wanted to hold his hand. Statton found a big stick and walked around with it the whole time.

All these buildings are now boarded up and but it use to be a thriving town. From what I read the town was prone to avalanches and many people were killed. I believe that's why they eventually left because they got tired of it. It's tried to be revived a few times but never quite got going.



I also read the Amelia Earhardt and her husband fell in love with the area and she wanted a cabin built here. Her husband had just started on it when she took her solo flight across the atlantic and never returned. He then abandoned the building of their cabin. It was only a few boards high.

This was the mine shaft.

Monday was Labor day and Meeteetse has a parade in the morning. The kids had fun picking up the candy.

Madison was happy to take whatever candy someone would give her.



This boy makes me laugh. He was so insistant on wearing shorts with his cowboy boots. For some reason it works and he looks adorable.




This is our Bishop. What a nice guy! He just got put in a few months ago and I believe it's the first local bishop the ward has had in a while. The last few have been called from Cody, 30 miles away.


Look at the loot! These kids got more candy then I knew what to do with.




We were so excited to have Grandpa and Grandma Heward spend the weekend with us!


I made Blair go run in the races for the 30-60 year olds. It was pretty funny to watch.


Even better was having Lynn go run in the 60+ race. Well we finished off the day by going and having a bbq lunch in the park and then we sent Grandpa and Grandma Heward back home to Idaho. The kids cried.


The following weekend we got to have my parents and Grandma Merz (my mom's mom)come to visit. Since they arrived on a friday evening we had Saturday to play so we went to Thermopolis and went to the Dinosaur park. After that we went swimming, had a picnic in the park, and more swimming.

I can't believe how big my kids are getting. I think if I could freeze them in time this would be it. They still love ya, listen (most of the time), and can somewhat do their own thing. I love it!






Grandpa Darrington packing Madison and walking with Statton. Blair and Grandma Darrington (Grandma Pam as the kids like to call her) in the background.


This dinosaur was huge. It almost touched each end of the museum. The description on him is below.






Madison with Grandma Darrington. Sunday we went to church we fed them lunch and sent them back to Idaho.We had such a good time with both sets of Grandparents and happy to have people want to come visit. The kids certainly enjoyed it and also cried when my parents and grandma merz left.