Halloween Reminiscin'

When we lived in Logan we participated in this little event where you would leave goodies and a note w/ a pic of a ghost on other people's porches, telling them that they had been spooked, ghosted, or whatever, and they need to ghost someone else now. I thought it would be so fun to do down here in the neighborhood and started prepping things to do so, just needed to pick up a few items from the store and I would have been good to go. Well, what do ya know - last night we hear our door bell ring and who/what is it? We had been 'ghosted'. So I guess I'm not the only one who knows of such an event - oh well, it's still fun, even though I didn't start it :).
So, anyway I was looking at old pictures of my little kiddos and thought it would be fun to post past Halloween pics (and cuz this is a good way to keep a journal w/ pictures - so here's our Halloweens of the past, with our kids.

Here's one for my homie . . . .

YAY!!! I am so proud to announce (as we just found out today, or I guess yesterday), that Dustin D Morris (my husband) has been accepted into the Nursing Program at Dixie State College!!! It has been a long, trying, difficult, trial-filled road (which I am now able to see that we needed to go through before we could get here), but we made it. Or I guess, he made it - okay - we made it! I am just so proud of Dustin, this is such a great opportunity/achievement for him in his life - he has worked hard and had some disappointments and downers along the way, but he kept his persistence up and kept on and it has now paid off. I am so thankful for Dustin and the provider he has been for our family. Even while going to school and being a busy bee there - he works and takes care of our financial needs and STILL takes time to play with the kids, take them fishing, take them for a slurpee, make them smile and laugh, etc. We all love him and are so proud of him and appreciate his hard work in life and making it all fit together. These are some old pics we took of him (when he was in the CNA class), now with newer meaning. I'm so proud of you Dustin and I love you forever!!

Free Handbag!!!

I saw this on a friend's website. This site is giving away 24 handbags in 24 hours! You can see them here.

Baby Tag

1- Where​ were you when you first​ found​ out you were pregn​ant?​
#1- At work in the bathroom
#2- At the doctor's office - trying to get some meds for depression
#3- At my brother's house (I already knew by how I felt, but others insisted I take a test)

2- Who was with you?
#1- I was alone in the bathroom - how awkward if I hadn't been (I was at work)
#2- A nurse (and my father-in-law) was waiting in the lobby for me
#3- Dustin, Brian, Ashley, Charly, Mason and Whitney

3- How did you find out that you were pregn​ant? ​
#1- I was late, had headaches, felt a knot in my stomach, and took a test
#2- Had to take prego test before I could be put on anti-depressants
#3- I knew by how my body felt, just as with Mason, I was sick, hot, depressed, moody, late, etc, so my family members said, just take a test, and I did - and it was positive :)

4- What was your first​ react​ion to findi​ng out you were pregnant?
#1- Scared, yet excited, and worried that Dustin wouldn't be excited
#2- Surprised, had just had a miscarriage, wasn't expecting to be prego again so soon, but excited
#3- (Sorry Porter) - I was pretty much sick to death - things weren't so hot in life when I found out with this pregnancy and I didn't feel it would be such a great idea to be bringing another baby into the mix. (But Heavenly Father knew more than I did) :)

5- Your Husba​nds react​on?​
#1- Excited - I told him to wait to tell - he pretty much just called everyone we knew.
#2- "It better be a boy." (He was excited and again told everyone)
#3 - Kinda some of the same feelings I had, but yet, still wanted to tell everyone

6- Who was the first​ person you told?
​#1- Dustin
#2- probably father in law - since he was my ride home from the dr's office
#3- well, I had already been trying to tell Dustin that I was, so after taking the test, I walked out and told everyone that was there

7- Did you plan to get pregn​ant?​
#1- Not necessarily, but it was all good
#2- Not necessarily, but it was all good
#3- Not necessarily, but it was all good

8- Was every​body happy​ for you? Pretty much

9- Did you go out and celeb​rate?​
#1- Yes - went out with my dad and step-mom Michelle (dad's idea - thanks dad)
#2- No, don't think so, had just gotten back from road trip up the east coast (ended in Palmyra, NY) and had spent two weeks after that in Utah (we were living in South Carolina) so we were probably pretty broke by then.)
#3 - Don't think so on this one either

10- Did you want to find out the sex? Yes on all 3

11- What was the sex?
#1- Girl
#2- Boy
#3- Boy

12- Did anyon​e throw​ you a baby showe​r?​
#1- Yes, My mom, my sister, Dustin's aunt and his cousins
#2- Yes, Grandma Nancy
#3- No

13- If yes, who?Ooops, I already answered this question..

14- Did you get any outfi​ts at the baby showe​r that you just knew you weren​'​t going​ to put on your baby? Maybe

15- How much weigh​t did you gain?​
#1-??
#2- ???
#3- WHOA!!!!

16- Did you loose​ all of the weigh​t that you gaine​d?​
#1- I sure gave it a good shot
#2- It's the effort that counts, right?
#3- Still working on it..

17- Did you get a lot of stret​ch marks​?​ No, I was pretty lucky. I got nothing with Charly, a tiny few with Mason and they were accentuated with Porter - but not too bad

18- What did you crave​ the most?​
#1- snow (I know - weird)
#2- sugar cookies or anything sweet
#3- all the holiday eatin'

19- Did you crave​ anyth​ing crazy​?​ No

20- Who or what got on your nerve​s the most?​ Anybody that would let out a "tooty" next to me . . us pregnant women can smell everything and that's the last thing you want to be smelling when you're pregnant.

21- Were you marri​ed at the time? Yes.

22- Did you have any compl​icati​ons durin​g your pregnancy?No, except with both boys I had some serious depression issues.

23- Where​ were you when you went into labor​?​
#1 home - had been in labor all day and had no idea - decided to go ahead and go in and get checked - it was the real deal
#2- my in-laws house (we lived w/ them at the time) Dustin had just left to go raccoon hunting, I told him I was in labor, he didn't believe me. The second he stepped out of the truck to begin the hunt, I called and said his dad was taking me to the hospital - he made it home in time to take me - I had to shower and shave my legs first. :)
#3- I was induced a week before my due date, so I was in the hospital

24- Did your water​ break​?​ Nope

25- Who drove​ you to the hospi​tal? ​
#1,2 and 3 Dustin

26- Did you go early​ or late?
#1- four weeks early
#2- three week early
#3- one week early

27- Who was in the room with you when you gave birth​?​
#1- Dustin, my mom, Kathy (Dustin's aunt, whom I have actually known longer than I have known Dustin)
#2- Dustin and my mom-in-law
#3- Dustin (Whitney 'my sister' and Charly were in the hall)

28- Was it video​ taped​?​ no

29- Did you have any drugs​ for the pain?​ Oh yeah

30- Did you go Natur​al or have a c-​secti​on?​ Natural

31- What was your first​ react​ion after​ givin​g birth​?
​#1- Excited to have the baby, but also thought - that was it? That was SO easy.
#2- So excited to have another baby, and a little boy
#3- Excited again, I had received a blessing while pregnant that discussed what a blessing/gift this baby is to our family.

32- How big was the baby?
​​#1- 6 lbs. 7 oz.
#2- 7 lbs. 10 oz.
#3- 8 lbs. 6 oz.

33- Did your Husba​nd cry? He may have gotten a little choked up

34- What did you name the baby?​
#1- Charly Nicole
#2- Mason D
#3- Porter Reese

35- Did the baby have any compl​icati​ons? ​ Jaundice, Jaundice w/ hospitalization, No

36- How old is the baby today​?​ Charly is 5, Mason is 2, Porter is 81/2 months

37- When is the next one comin​g?​ It will be a surprise to me.

38-​If you could​,​ would​ you do it all over again​?​ Absolutely! I love all of my babies and I couldn't imagine my life without them.

I tag all my girls (including in my peeps list) that haven't already done this!!!

And the truth shall set you free . . . .

So, I have a little fibber on my hands. Charly is getting into a pretty nasty habit of telling some white lies. I am scared to death of her teenage years - I better get into some serious therapy now so I can handle whatever she throws at me. It truly does scare me, but who knows, maybe she will surprise me and stick to the ways I am trying to raise her. She just loves to test things and walk that thin line now, I hope she will just 'walk it for the good' as she gets older. Yesterday she came home with a pencil that I had never seen before. It had already been sharpened and the eraser was missing so I asked her where she got it. She said, "oh, Ms. Bowman (her K teacher) gave it to me for being SOOOO good in class today." I said, "oh really, well I'm going to send her an email and ask her if that's true." Charly then said, "okay, Calena (sp?) came up to me on the bus and asked me if it was mine and I told her yes, because I wanted it." So there it is -two lies -one to Calena and one to me. I don't even know what to do about it. She tells little fibs like this quite often. Dustin told her that he is going to take her to talk to the bishop about her lying. Too bad this Sunday is conference because by next Sunday we probably won't remember that we told her she has to go to the Bishop, unless of course, she continues to lie - then it will be easy to remember. Oh my, oh my - my hands are full with this girl. I don't even know what to do about her and her lies - advice??????
Other than that - we are getting excited for Halloween and the holidays. We love this time of year because we get to decorate our house and it's all just so much fun. D got the kids those 'bubba' teeth and Porter had a hay day chewing on his (he's teething) it was cute and hilarious all at the same time. (Sorry - that was some dinner still left on his face/nose - not cooties.)
And of course - some pictures of our cherished moments - when the kids are FINALLY asleep!! Charly and Porter are so similar - when C was a baby she HAD to be in our bed, as does P now - so here they are together, where they drifted off, together. And little independent Mason - loves to be on the 'cout' (couch) with his dad, so there you have it.

Living the Single Life - Not So Nice

I always have such a hard time giving Dustin a gift that I know he will just love. Well I hit the spot for Father's Day. I bought Dustin a hunting license. He LOVES to go hunting and he was SO excited when he got his gift. It was great to finally give him something that I know meant a lot to him. So this past weekend he had an opportunity to go hunting. It was a holiday weekend and I was kinda bummed that he would be gone the entire weekend (Fri-Mon), but I still gave the OK. I knew how badly he wanted to go and how happy it makes him. So he went. He bought an elk tag for archery hunting. This would be his first time hunting with his bow. He was in Heaven the entire day before he got to leave; he could not wait. So needless to say, he got up there late Fri night, but early Saturday morning he got an elk quite quickly. He said it was almost boring - he just walked out, there they were and bam - it's over. I think the whole thing is kind of sad, but he does eat the meat, so what ya gonna do? So he had to wait a while to go get it and by the time him and his buddy were able to go try to find her they were not able to do so. Shortly after looking opportunity struck again and because he hadn't attached his tag to the first elk - he was able to get another one - TWO IN ONE DAY. He was thrilled. Beginners Luck, huh? It was pretty late at night and it was one big animal to haul down the mountain in the dark so they tied it up hanging from a tree (to keep it from bears and such) and were going to come back in the morning for it. Come morning, what do they find? A bear had eaten a pretty good bit of it. On the positive side, it only took them one trip instead of two to haul it down the mountain. Dustin was still pretty excited and was really happy to have gone. He already wants to go again, but I told him to slow his roll!!

So, single life at home - AHHHHHH. Mason tested me to the max this weekend. Sunday was a horrible day! It must have been something in the air because several of my mommy neighbors also stated that they had horrible days with their kids on Sunday. Please, someone tell me, what difference does it make if daddy or mommy takes the little two year old to nursery? Dustin can take him (Mason) and Mason will walk in like he owns the place - no looking back. I take him and he gives my leg a death grip and cries as if all the kids are lining up inside the door just to attack him. I did not have time to convince him that he would be safe and can go in. I was also holding Porter, my diaper bag, my lesson bag and fighting to get past/around the 500+ members in our ward that are piling into the hallway. Also because I had to go teach Primary class solo. It was a nightmare. I took Mason into my class with me and he just put on quite the show for everyone, I knew there would be no paying attention to the lesson. And to top it off, the teachers that teach the class next to us (same age kids) did not show up, so I got to add their class (and it's huge) to my class. Mason was dumping crayons all over, saying blee blee, bla bla to anyone that would look at him, it was ridiculous. Let's shorten this up. I finally got my bro to come watch him for the rest of my class - after I dumped Mason onto him I got back into class and the ten minute bell rang - I hadn't even started my lesson. Then my neighbors took him during sharing time. Thanks so much to those who helped because I was about to lose it. Lose it in the sense that I would have dumped my kids at church and taken off to who knows where and came back who knows when. Mason preceded to go nuts all afternoon at home. He continually strung food all over the kitchen and with Porter being so mobile now, I swept the kitchen, probably 10 times on Sunday. And Mason wouldn't stop picking on Porter and making him cry. It was just such a horrible day; I really lost my cool - yet realized I wouldn't want to be a single mom and Dustin really does help out a lot with Mason. He should - the two of them are so much alike.
Well, happy ending - Mason was such a different little character on Monday. Such a sweet loving boy all day. I decided I would keep him. And he showed his brother the ropes of tearing out some "lady things" from their boxes. OH CUTE BOYS!! Well, this novel is long enough. Sorry I always post SO MUCH. I've got to shorten this stuff.Mason made sure to put things in the proper place - ha ha (the 'nursing pad') and he was SO nice to give his brother a special hat. Ha Ha. How funny!!
P.S. I LOVE THE FALL - LET'S GO COUGAR FOOTBALL!!!:

School Days . . . I did it

Well, I was SO brave and I let my Charly girl ride the bus to school. I have even let her do it everyday. She started Kindergarten on the 12th, she was up at six am, eager and anxious to start this new phase of life. We didn't have to be there (I got to go with her on the first day) until ten, so I sent her back to bed. The next day, however, when I went to wake her up at seven to get ready for the bus, the fit arrived. She didn't want to get up and had decided that she doesn't want to go to school anymore. Oh, man, only in Kindergarten - we have such a long road ahead of us if she doesn't want to go to school already. After I finally got her to eat her breakfast and have a bath, she had a mood change. And actually, we had to go convince the neighbor boy to come out from behind the couch and ride the bus with Charly. He was scared too. She has enjoyed it thus far and is proud to tell me everyday that she didn't even get into any trouble. I am, so far, relieved. You know how they act at home, and can only wonder how they act when they are not around you. So, here are some pics of her first couple of days of school and of my brave little girly girl riding the bus. I only choked up a little bit, but was able to control it in front of the other moms that had far more sanity over their kids riding the bus than I did. I even made sure Charly had the bus number memorized so she would get on the right bus to come home - the mom's just laughed at me - thanks guys!! :)


These last few pictures are of the boys waiting for the bus to come pick up their sister and of Porter working on his sitting up skills. He's learning these things so quickly and much earlier than his sister and brother did. He's determined to be up and about - I'm not ready for him to be so mobile, but what can ya do when he is ready to get up and move? He is already just about to crawl and only started trying to do so about a week ago.