I have an announcement...

After reading this, you will probably say that we need a hobby. And you are right. We do. However, we put a lot of thought and effort into this. So without further ado.... (drumroll)...

We named our van. We love her and she is part of the family. She has passed all rites of initiation to be in our family: 1) She has been thrown up on. 2) She has been yelled at. 3)She endures carpool. 4) She has been on a family vacation to Utah. 5)She knows the way to Wal-mart. 6) And, she is usually concealing some sort of chocolate.

So, in keeping with family tradition, our van is a girl and she has a "Y" in her name. Her name is Monty Ray. But we call her Monty. (In case you don't get it---it is a Mercury Monterrey.) Bryan and I figured that since we love her so much and she will probably be around for a while she deserves a name. Of course, the girls love the idea. But I am now worried that we have jinxed ourselves and I will get in a wreck. Then the girls will cry because they will think we have lost a member of our family. Good times.

Our Halloween festivities

Halloween doesn't just involve trick-or-treating at our house. It usually starts with trunk-or-treating at church, a trip to the pumpkin patch, and several other candy filled activities. This year we added pumpkin carving and dipping apples to our week-long extravaganza. The girls decided weeks in advance what they wanted to be for Halloween and these costumes were exactly like they wanted them. Taylor's rock star costume won her a prize for best girl costume at our ward party. (I think it was the fake eyelashes.) And Payton's vampire costume won her the prize for scariest girl costume at the Daphne ward party. Hayden was a witch for a second year in a row. She used the same custome but had a new hat and we added purple tights and a purple sash. She is still sporting a light green face and black eyebrows today. We weren't able to get all of her make-up off. It might have something to do with it being eyeliner instead of regular Halloween makeup. I think I have learned by lesson for next year.

I must be insane.

I let the kids help me make caramel apples yesterday. We had all four missionaries over for dinner last night. So, we wanted to do something fun for dessert/family home evening treat. I thought caramel apples would be fun. They were for about one second. The kids didn't even want to eat them when we were finished. And I am still finding caramel stuck to every flat surface in the house. The missionaries thought they were yummy so I guess it was worth it. I think I will just buy caramel dip and slice the apples from now on.

16 days and counting

Only 16 more days and the Benhams will be here. That means there are 16 short days until we will consume ourselves with fartin' around (Lynne will be my beans,) eating a whole bunch of whatever we can get our hands on, then we will "git some shoes," and, of course, play butter cleavage. Life doesn't get any better than that!