Happy Halloween! {Ghost bride & Sally}

Finally got to take pics of my girls in their costumes that I made. I love that they love Halloween as much as I do!
Lu was a ghost bride...

And Abby was "Sally" from "Nightmare Before Christmas"...

Dead Man's Party

Today we had our annual "Dead Man's Halloween Party" complete with food served from a dead body. It's gruesome but everyone loves it! Especially since it's Ryan's cooking.

New Daddy

I can't believe my little baby brother who I used to change his diapers now has a baby of his own. I can tell he is going to be the best daddy.

For a newborn isn't she gorgeous?

Baby Mattalyn

Well, my new baby niece is here and she couldn't be more perfect. She is tiny - 5 pounds 12 oz. and 17 1/2 inches long. They named her Mattalyn which is their names, Matt and Chalyn, combined. Cute huh?

Sorry if this pic is a little too graphic for some of you but it's my favorite shot. She came out and looked right at me and I caught it. I think there is nothing more beautiful than the birth of a baby and I hope you see the beauty of it too.

She's Having A Baby

My youngest brother is finally having a baby! We are all so excited, especially me since I get to photograph the birth story! They decided to have the gender be a surprise so we won't know if it's a boy or girl until Thursday when she has her baby. I'm so excited! Good thing we got these maternity pics in before it was too late.

My Niece

Can't believe my niece is a Senior in High School. Of course she wanted Auntie Sue to take her Senior pics so we took some while down in St. George. We found this cool abandoned water park where my parents live and had some fun.

Kick

We decided to make a spontaneous trip down to St. George. Ryan had to work so it was just me and the kids. On the drive down, I felt my baby kick for the first time. Yep, something is definitely in there! I had my son take a pic with my cell so it's not the best pic and I look huge, but it was the moment caught and that is what matters.

Vern

This is Vern. I made him for Lu while I was at the computer one day and she loves it. I keep him on my desk now and he's become my little friend. It gets lonely in my office okay? Need someone to talk to :)

Boo!

Nesting

I guess you could say I'm nesting since I have been working on getting all my projects around the house done. It took several hours since I am still really sick, but I got 2 rods hung, and all four 8 foot panels ironed and hung for the two windows in my bedroom.

Abby wanted to get in the shot so I told her to stand on the bed so we could see her reflection.

Fall Colors

So happy I didn't miss the gorgeous fall here in Utah while I was in France. No wonder so many people that live here say Autumn is their favorite season.

My Kid's Artwork

Ryan had two of Abby's artwork pieces from school out in the office. I saw how good they were and thought how fun it would be to frame them. Then I had an idea to do a collage on the playroom wall of all my kids' artwork. I dug up two old ones from when Michael was younger and got two of Lu's preschool paintings and then put them in these Ikea frames. Too cute huh?

In case you are wondering which was done by who, here it is in order as it appears on the wall:
Abby, Lu, Michael
Lu, Michael, Abby

Drug Free Week

Abby loves Drug Free week at school since they get to wear something fun each day. Today they were to dress up as what they want to be when they grow up and of course Abby chose a chef. It was still dark in the house this morning before we left so the picture isn't too great but at least I took it!

Little Monster

I want to get better at taking pictures of what my kids make at school so when Lu brought home this cute monster she made, I took a picture of her in it rather than just saving the paper. The picture is much better.

Lu was having so much fun doing it that her friend Lizzy and Michael wanted to get in on the fun too!

Baby Shower

My sister-in-law is having a baby the beginning of November so they had a Halloween themed baby shower for her. Tons of amazing decorations but these little pumpkins were my favorite! I'm going to make one for my little one.

The shower itself was great until Lu threw up all over the carpet twice. For a room full of pregnant women with bloodhound noses, it wasn't too pleasant. Luckily it was the end of the shower anyway.

Jack is Back!

My favorite holiday is Halloween. My favorite movie is "Nightmare Before Christmas" and it's my kids favorite too. I found this wooden sign at Kneaders when I took my kids there for breakfast today and had to get it. I already had the huge Jack figurine and added it to make it perfect. My new favorite decoration.

Jet Lag

I am having a hard time getting back on Utah time schedule. I go to sleep at 7 at night and wake up at 4am, wide awake. Usually I see the sun is starting to come up when I wake but the last couple days this is what I see.

Home

Home and I can't say enough how good it feels to lay in my bed and snuggle with my favorite kids on the planet. We decided to stay in bed all morning and just be together. We even had breakfast in bed and the kids loved it!

France Trip Summary

Since my 365 goes in order, you'll be seeing my trip from finish to start so I just wanted to say a few things first.

I tried, REALLY tried to only post a couple of pictures a day but most days it was too hard so I hope you don't mind I strayed waaaaay off one picture a day. I did take almost 2,000 pictures so the fact I narrowed it as much as I did is pretty good!

Lessons Learned
1. Get some of the Euro before you go. France has toll roads everywhere so we hit a couple on our way to the bank to get cash. That was NOT fun at all! The tolls are very expensive too so if you are driving the country like us, budget a huge chunk of change for that. We spent at least 300 on them.

2. I enjoyed the rest of France better than Paris. To me it was just a big, crowded city even though it was beautiful. So if you've just been to Paris, you haven't seen the best of France so go again and do it right!

3. The shopping may be great in France, but it's so incredibly expensive I'd rather just shop here in Utah thank you.

4. Most hotels in France have two twin beds. I don't need to elaborate ;)

5. Just because your husband has a converter for their outlets over there doesn't mean your hair dryer and flat iron work with it. Make sure you get one that will! I went the entire trip without being able to do my hair unless I got lucky and the hotel had a hair dryer that sorta doesn't work on my frizzy, curly hair. Yuck.

6. Even if you think you've taken enough pictures, you haven't so take more.

7.Yes, France has lots of amazing chocolate pastries but they are all DARK chocolate. This was a rude awakening for me, who loves milk chocolate and can't stand the dark stuff unless it's with mint. I was so excited to eat all the pastries and gave up after the first couple days. Even the chocolate flavored ice cream is really coffee flavored.

8. Last and hardest part of all for me, the food is very different there! Not all restaurants have menus in English or servers that speak English so it was difficult for me to find things I could eat that would sit well in my sensitive stomach. I got lucky most of the time and ended up eating a LOT of Mixte sandwiches which is a baguette with ham and cheese. I even broke down and ate at McDonalds twice since I knew what a Big Mac was!! Oh, and Starbucks in France has the most amazingly yummy doonies (doughnuts) I've ever tasted. Wish they had them in the ones here in America. Oh well, that is probably better for my waste line since I ate 2-3 a day in Paris!

Well, hope you enjoy seeing a few pics of my trip. I enjoyed taking them. One more thing to come is a photo project I did while there. Everywhere I went, I took pictures of doors. France has the most amazing doors and no two are identical. I'm going to make a collage of them and make it a canvas for my wall. Should turn out great! I'm going to make a book of them too if I have enough.

Paris - Day 15

Going home. I miss my kids so bad I can't stand it. I admit, I broke down a couple of times and cried because I miss their hugs and kisses. So excited to see them!

France has some of the funniest signs we have seen. Like the subway one that shows a guy getting cut in half because he got on the tracks. This was Ryan's favorite and we thought it fitting to finish our trip with this photo. This is the exit sign, it's everywhere. We just thought it was funny that for some reason the guy is always running to the exit. I guess when you are in a country where you don't understand what anyone is saying, you find humor in the little things.

France - Day 14

Last day, and didn't get in everything we wanted to but being pregnant it's been hard for me to go non-stop. Oh well, guess we will just have to come back ;)

Sainte-Chapelle
Cathedral with all stained glass on every wall.


Over 1,000 stories from the bible depicted on them.

Arc de Triomphe

Eiffel Tower

The Louvre at night.

France - Day 13

The Louvre

All the famous ones we saw...



My favorite


For the rest of the art I tried to approach the pictures differently. I tried to capture small parts of the painting that were art all by themselves. Here is what I got.







Then we went to Palais Garnier, which is the opera house that The Phantom of the Opera was based on.


And of course, couldn't go to Paris without taking pics of the Moulin Rouge!