10-31-2009 Saturday - The Biggest Fright on Halloween Night!

At the end of the night on Halloween, we were cleaning up and Holly put Sasha and Heidi outside to go potty. About five minutes later she called for them to come in but Heidi was nowhere at all to be found! She had been scared all day already with the loud noises, the costumes and so many people at the house. We even kept her in this carrier while trick or treating earlier this evening. She had been frightened by the compressor in the yard that we had on for the haunted house and had jumped through the backyard fence. Well, 2 1/2 years ago, Sasha had been attacked by a coyote in front of our house and we were so afraid that Heidi was done for. The kids took flashlights and hiked on the back hills of our house while Jeff and I took the cars around the neighborhood. We looked for 2 hours and there was no sign of her anywhere. We said a prayer and took the sobbing children up to bed at about 2am. But on my way up, I walked to the backyard one last time and called for Heidi. I heard some wrestling in the bushes on the bank. My heart skipped, but then I thought, oh, it's probably a bunny or a rat. I called her again, and there she was! She ran to the fence shaking with her tail between her legs. She probably had been hiding this whole time in the bushes but was too afraid to come out! She wouldn't come through the fence though. She was so scared of the compressor (even though it wasn't on) that I had to pull her through the fence posts. We all were so happy - crying and hugging our little Heidi! We said another prayer of thankfullness that Heidi had come home safely. And Monday we are putting up chicken wire on the fence so there will be no more escaping!!!

10-31-2009 Saturday - Happy Halloween!

Luke was a skeleton pirate, Shera was a witch, Noel was Little Bo Peep, Holly was a vampire slayer, and Drew was a ghoul. Holly's friend, Robin Cornish, joined us as Mother Earth, and Andrea and Lucus came too as a cowboy!

We went trick or treating down the street and stopped at our favorite house, the O'Bryants.

Noel's friends, Carissa and Aubry joined her later to go trick or treating too.

We had the haunted house all set up before we left at 6:30 and there was already a line forming out on the driveway!

Lots of friends and neighborhood kids came. We probably had close to four hundred people go through it! The line went down the driveway to the sidewalk and we finally closed it up at about 11pm. Jeff and Drew worked on putting it together for about two months of Saturdays and a few evenings too.

My mom and Jeff manned the video screen and animatronics while Shera, Luke and I kept the line under control and let people into the haunted house. Drew worked the inside - scaring people while they were in it! It went really smoothly. The only complaint was how long the line was. We heard the wait was an hour at one point. But, hey, it was free and the kids loved it. I only felt sorry for the parents that would wait with the kids and then chicken out! I have to say, it was a real scary and gory haunted house though - not for the young ones.
Happy Halloween!

10-30-2009 Friday - Halloween Festivities!

Drew was the Brawny Lumberjack at a Young Adult Singles Halloween Party last Thursday night.

Jeff's work had an 80's theme on Friday and he dressed up as Miami Vice's, Don Johnson. Everyone guessed who he was and he looked sooo hot!!!

Sasha had her "So Cute" costume on for the weekend!

Heidi's outfit was absolutely adorable on her too!

The whole family (including the dogs) went to trunk or treat Friday night.

Then we came home and had a huge Halloween Party! We let the kids invite their friends from school and church and the neighborhood. We invited Jeff's coworkers, ward friends, and family as well. We probably had about 150 people here including the Elms family from Orange and my cousins all the way from San Bernardino! We had our haunted house going and it was a big hit.
It was so crazy I forgot to take any photos. But we were so tired at the end of the night we left everything and decided to clean up the next day. This is a little of the aftermath anyway.

This is our Headless Horseman in front of our house!

10-29-2009 Thursday - Carving Pumpkins!

This was Luke's first year to cut and clean his own pumpkin by himself! He was so proud!

Cutie Noel, scooping out the seeds!

I got a kick out of this scene - Drew and Holly using the safe pumpkin carving tools and Shera has the "Big Knife"! (Wouldn't ya know?)

Holly carved this free hand by herself! It had a little hanging man and moon above the tree too.

We always watch "It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" every year while we carve our pumpkins.

It's become a big joke that I always try to get out of carving a pumpkin. So, this year I did my own version of a "carved pumpkin" with mini brownie eyes and nose, marshmallow ears, and a banana mouth. Jeff still teased me!

Here they all are...

And here's their guts... All ready to eat... Yummm!!!!

10-27-2009 Tuesday - Fall Festival

Don't you just love those last minute finish making the costume evenings? If you are a mom, then you know what I'm talking about!

Noel wanted to be Little Bo Peep at the church Fall Festival Dance Tuesday and we still had to make her corset. We had twenty minutes to cut, sew, hammer in eyelets and get her to the dance!

Here's Jeff threading in the ribbon to tie her corset.

Noel's friend, Kaitlyn, came with her. Holly was supposed to go too, but she had the flu with a 102.6 fever. She stayed home instead... But the girls had a great time and Noel got a lot of compliments on her make-shift Bo Peep costume!

10-22-2009 Thursday - Holly's In a One Act Play

Last week, Holly performed in one of the IB One Acts at school. It was called, "How It All Played Out". It was written and directed by Sean Mabry, a senior here at Mission High. He is entering it into some national competitions. It's about a playwright who imagines her characters come to life and she has to deal with her inner turmoils that are portrayed in these characters. It was really well written and an excellent performance by everyone in it. Holly's drama teacher, Mrs. Kathy Harris, said she did a wonderful job! It was a great experience for her.

10-17-2009 Saturday - Holly Sings At The Walk Against Drugs

Holly tried out to sing the National Anthem at the City of Mission Viejo's Walk Against Drugs. This was the 21st year of this event and she was thrilled to be selected!

So we had to get up very early for the sound check at Mission Viejo High's football stadium. We were there at 7am and the program began at 8am. Here is Holly putting on her 4" shoes right before it started. (Crazy Girl!)

She was introduced by the sheriff in charge of the event and sang at the very beginning to start it all off. Holly had gotten a head cold just three days before and we were concerned she wouldn't be able to sing at all. But she pulled through and did a great job - especially considering she had a sore throat, sinus problems and stuffy ears. That is one of the big problems with being a performer - there is only so much you can do to protect yourself but sometimes it's just out of your hands!

She was so cute sitting up on the stand.

Our home teacher, Brother Bob Moncur came to watch Holly perform too!

There were a few thousand people that walked from MVHS down La Paz Road to Newhart Middle School. It's about a three mile walk you take through a wilderness glen. It's really pretty.

The cops stopped the opposing traffic as we walked across Marguerite Parkway. It was pretty cool to be part of a big red procession against drugs. (And stopping a long line of cars as we went through the intersection! The kids got a kick out of that!)

Even though it began at 8am, we were having a mini heat wave. It got up to 90 degrees on Saturday!

By the end, Luke was ready to stop and sat down at the bottom of our last hill and announced he wasn't going any further. Holly told him he could just live there then. Ha! Ha! We were at the very end of the line when we began the walk because Holly had to change into shorts. Then we got caught up to a good area. But, alas, I didn't wear good walking shoes (flip flops!) and I tripped and stubbed my toe. That was not good - and I had to rest and clean up the blood. That got us to the very last place again! :( But we finally made it and I came home and took a nap and rested from all my accidents that weekend. Whew!!!

Here she is...

10-16-2009 Friday - A Bit Of A Crash!

Friday night I was driving down to Trabuco High School to pick up Jeff and Noel from the football game when I got hit by a little blue car. It tried to cut a left just in front of me and we nearly hit head on!

Luckily, no one was hurt and neither of us had passengers. Well, I had the puppies with me, and they were in the front seat. But the air bags went off and that saved us. I never knew how much air bags smoked. It smelled like fireworks in the car.

Jeff and Noel were picked up by Holly and then came to me. The neighborhood there was so great. They brought me a bottle of water, leashes for the dogs and treats and water for them too. Unfortunately, both cars were totaled. We loved our Suburban - it was a great car and we'll miss it so much. But I'm so thankful that we walked away from it. I am banged up a bit and bruised some and the air bag actually burned my arm too - but nothing super bad at least. I went home, iced my arm, took a bath and went to bed to get ready for
another big day...

10-13-2009 Tuesday - Bougainvillea Down!

This was the best photo I could find of our bougainvillea in our backyard. It is huge and goes across our top balcony along our house. This photo was taken March of 2008 for Drew's senior year Mormon Prom.

Well, the whole thing fell down during the night in our last storm. We woke up to this on Tuesday morning! Quite a shock! The dogs didn't quite know what to do and were tip toeing around it.

It was too big to try and put it back up. So we cut it off and left the main trunk of the vine. Hopefully, it will grow back and we'll keep it less bushy in the future. The kids were sad to see it go because they had made a little tunnel on the back side to crawl through. Luckily, we had no bird nests or feeders in this one right now!

10-10-2009 Chefs Shera & Luke!

Shera and Luke made everyone lunch and dinner yesterday. We got to order what we wanted for lunch and they made the dinner for us. I ordered cheese and crackers and juice. By the time dinner was done we had 2 dishwashers worth of dishes. ( I should have taken a photo of the kitchen) But they got to be creative and I didn't have to cook! Hooray for Italian marinated uncooked egg noodles heated in the microwave! But Drew did tell me he was ready for me to start cooking again soon! LOL

This was my check for lunch. They supplied the money for me to pay. Wouldn't that be nice in real life?

10-10-2009 Saturday - Dove Chocolate?

I just love Doves!!!

But in the house???

We love our doors open, and we have about five bird feeders.
But I've decided the two don't combine well.

The flying dove - wish it was the chocolate kind!

10-5-2009 Monday - Family Night at Pumpkin City!

Yay! It's Pumpkin Season again! So for family night, we went to Pumpkin City!

The kids love playing the games and winning the prizes.

Holly and Jeff had a battle with the blow-ups!

Luke and Shera did go on a couple of rides too!

Pumpkin line-walkers.

Q: Why is a moon on an outhouse?
A: Back in Colonial times when many people couldn't read, a man's outhouse had a star and a woman's outhouse had a moon. The cutout gave them light inside the room. It is thought that the men let their outhouses fall into such bad shape, that it was the women's that survived.
(No surprise there!)

This is about as close as we get to farming & camping these days!

We had a big pumpkin just like this in my elementary school playground. It always brings back great memories each year when I see it here!

10-3-2009 Saturday - General Conference Weekend

We enjoyed the 179th Semi-Annual General Conference of the LDS Church this weekend. We played Conference Bingo, worked on photo albums, ate, and napped. Our home teacher of 13 years, Brother Moncur, asks each of us every October and April visit, which was our favorite talk. That is always a very difficult question to answer with so many great talks to choose from our church leaders. But this time I can easily pick that it was Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk and testimony of the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ. Our whole family was so moved by his conviction - I loved it!

Here is Jeff relaxing during conference.

We missed Saturday morning's address to go to a very touching funeral. The kid's voice teacher's 39 year old daughter, Heather, had passed away from the swine flu. She left her husband and 7 year old son. We went down to Fallbrook and attended the ceremony which was in their horse corral. It was probably the most unique funeral I've ever attended. We were all asked to wear jeans and boots. Heather showed horses and dogs (she has the #2 Bassett in the U.S.) and loved hard rock, so they had an animal parade and showed her animals during the funeral to the music of Billy Idol. We all clapped to the music and watched. They told all sorts of funny stories about Heather. Her son showed us a collage of his mommy and I couldn't stop crying. At the end of the funeral we all clapped to the tunes of ACDC.
(Side Note: Get your vaccines this year.)

After the funeral, the kids got to feed the horses and of course, the questions started coming. Now, if you have a daughter, then you know the question that I'm talking about... "Can I have a horse daddy?????" And daddy's answer is always the same, "If we move up to Utah and buy a cabin, then you can have a horse." End of discussion...

Sunday morning I thought I would try to make homemade cinnamon and orange rolls for the first time. The girls helped me make them all the while listening to Luke complaining that he didn't like orange rolls. I cut the cinnamon rolls very unevenly (see back tray) but I got the hang of it and I think the orange rolls looked quite spectacular!

The best part was that they all tasted great! As we were all digging into our rolls, (I made 40), I asked Luke mid-meal, "So you must like the orange rolls afterall, you are eating a second one now I see." Luke shook his head profusely and said, "No, this is my third one!" We all started laughing. Home run!

9-29-2009 Tuesday - Shera's Achievement Days Night

Last night, Shera had recognition night for her church Achievement Days. She had to get up in front and explain a talent she's developing and then share it. All of the girls were so cute and funny - because none of them wanted to go. Finally, they began to take their turn. Shera got the nerve about in the middle of the night.

She played a song on the piano and I completely forgot to tape it. I only took this photo and enjoyed the piece. It was really cute and she didn't make a mistake. She did a really great job. And so did all the girls. Way to go Shera!

9-26-2009 Saturday - Nightmare Night!

Nightmare Night!
And that is what this show was called that the kids made for us - complete with tickets, seats and lighting with special effects!

This Saturday was a down day for me as I was not 100%. But the kids had a great time choreographing three songs and putting together a show for us.

It took them the whole day to do it, but it kept them out of my hair and Jeff was able to work on his haunted house. Little did we know what this choreography consisted of until we were watching it!

Jumping off the shelves, dancing all over and jumping on the bed! Definitely not the norm around here!

Can't help but think of Twilight when I see this move by Shera! Whoa!!!

So here's one of their fun movie dances. They are so excited for me to share it here and put it on You Tube. Go check out the other ones on my account: CarolStarr1

9-21-2009 Monday - Luke And The Twins

Luke had a play date with his two best buddies, Drew and Dillon, who happen to be twins.
They are cute little boys at Luke's school. They were in the same class last year for 1st grade and played all the time! But they consider themselves to be triplets actually because all three were born the same day.

My only problem is I can't tell them apart! We went to Chuck E. Cheese's and let them play crazy to get all the energy out. Boy, are twins busy - but cute!

9-19-2009 Saturday - Tropical Holly!!!

Another theme dance but this time at San Clemente. Holly got into the tropical feeling by wrapping a sarong around her top and a big shell necklace with a flower in her hair! Ah... to be young again...

9-12-2009 Saturday - Jungle Holly!!!

I had to post this photo I took of Holly right before she left for the Mission Viejo Stake Dance on Saturday night. It was a jungle theme and she went for the "jungle huntress" look. She put her hair extensions in and did up the makeup. I love the pouty lips and hand on the hip "don't mess with me" attitude! I think she hit the nail right on the head!

9-12-2009 Saturday - Saturday Morning Computers???

Remember Saturday morning cartoons?
So do I...
But this Saturday, I had a realization that my kids don't watch Saturday morning cartoons, even when they don't have anything to do or anywhere to go...
Instead, Shera was looking at our family photos on my computer...

Noel was playing music on her computer...

And Luke was playing games on the family computer...
All at the same time...
Oh well, at least they are active little kids - so I don't worry too much about it. Later that day, Luke was playing with a friend down the street, Shera was working on her scrapbook, and Noel was helping Jeff build the haunted house in our garage.
So much for cartoons :)

9-11-2009 Friday - Never Forget...

These sobering photos are from the 9-11 attacks. Like all Americans, I will always remember when and where I was on this life changing day. I received a phone call from Jeff as he was driving to work. He told me to turn on the news. I immediately did and proceeded to call my father in Hawaii. It was about 5:30am at the time and I knew I would be waking him up. But I knew this was different and a historical terrorist attack was happening; he would want to know. My brothers were visiting him and we all watched the television while on the phone as the second of the twin towers was hit and both fell to the ground.

I will never forget...

Thank God for our Police, Firefighters and the Military keeping us safe.
We can never repay you for what you do...

9-10-2009 Thursday - It's The Most Wonderful Time of The Year...

I think my favorite commercial of all time is the dad riding down the aisle on the shopping cart with his kids at Staples... Do you know that one?
Yes, I made the kids quickly jump out of the car after we were all loaded to get at least one photo before school! All the kids had a great first day. They love their teachers and they all have friends they know already in their classes. Whew!

Holly left at 5:30 this morning to help with ASB and the new freshman, so I didn't get this photo until tonight when she was in her pajamas! That's my girl!!!

Here's the best commercial ever... :)

8-31-2009 through 9-6-2009 Mexican Riviera Cruise!

Last week, our family went on "The Mariner of the Seas" cruise ship down to Mexico for a family vacation. We went with our friends, the Cadden family. We had a group of 13 of us and had a fantastic trip! There was always something to do and someone to do it with!

This was our beautiful ship! They had all sorts of activities like rock wall climbing, miniature golf, basketball, cinema, and in-line skating. There was also a salon and spa, different restaurants, shops, and even a Johnny Rocket's and Ben and Jerry's!

We were lucky enough to have a balcony at the back of the ship and the Cadden's were right next door to us.

The kids swam a lot too. There were 3 pools, 5 spas and 1 whirlpool on board!

And they even had an ice-skating rink! This ship was totally decked out! (pardon the pun) :)
They had a big circus ice show that was amazing to watch also!

Tom Cadden was good enough to pick these kites up in Cabo San Lucas for us to fly. What an adventure for the kids to run all over the top deck flying kites and watching nose dives that dented the ship! Eventually, unfortunately, our kites were lost at sea. :(

Jeff kisses Shera on formal night.

Beautiful Noel and her dad.

In Puerto Rico, the kids got to hold an iguana and a funny little green lizard on their head.

All the kids slid down a natural waterfall slide and jumped on a rope swing in their clothes. We didn't know we'd need our swimsuits as we just rented a car and driver for the day to show us the sights. Here is Noel holding her nose while sliding into the water and Carissa is watching above.

We went to the flea market in Puerto Vallarta too. We had to cross a suspension bridge where the river was going quite fast and it was quite deep too.

In Mazatlan, we rode horses on the beach, swam and had delicious Mexican food on the water.

In Cabo San Lucas, we got to go parasailing. This is Holly coming down from her ride.

We took a catamaran to Santa Maria Bay and went snorkling and fed the beautiful tropical fish. We also saw several flying fish too!

We went by the arches at Land's End and it was so beautiful there! Cabo has gorgeous rock formations! Adios!

8-27-2009 Thursday - Our Puppies Birthday Party!

Today was Sasha's 12th birthday - 84 in dog years! Heidi's 2nd birthday is on September 6th, so we celebrated hers at the same time!

Noel made them a funfetti cake with homemade frosting and crystal sprinkles with a candle for each of them. And yes, we also sang them "Happy Birthday"!

Sasha knew exactly what was up and dug into her piece immediately. Heidi was a little more reserved and Holly had to hand feed her. Talk about spoiled!!!

Luke wrapped the gifts for them which included one of his old spiderman blankets and two stuffed animals.

They also got some T-Bone treats that they got really excited about!

And lastly, we got a special treat from The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, white chocolate covered dog biscuits! Happy Birthday girls!!!

8-25-2009 Tuesday - Summertime Fun!

Some random fun things we have done for summer...

Luke went to play with his friend down the street today and as I watched him walk down the hill, I realized that he truly is in summer mode! He still had on pajamas and two different shoes! What the...???

Holly, Jordan, Jennifer, and Katie went to Disneyland!

I love summer clouds...

Time for haircuts and prepping for school.

Mattress sledding is a great indoor activity!

Shera plays house with Heidi.

The girls play groomers with the puppies too...

Our vegetable garden is growing strong.

Large zucchinis are flourishing!

8-18-2009 through 8-22-2009 - San Antonio Girl's Trip!

We went on our annual all girls trip this year to San Antonio, Texas! It was so much fun - we all had an incredible time!

We had breakfast in our room each morning. The girls loved that!

We stayed at the Watermark Hotel on the riverwalk which was beautiful! Our room was the middle window above the arch.

Our first morning there, we explored the riverwalk. It is part of the San Antonio River that has been diverted into beautiful waterways throughout the city. Walkways are right down along the river with restaurants and little shops on each side. There are water taxis and boat tours too which we took.

Our first stop of course, was to visit the Alamo. We saw a fantastic re-enactment IMAX movie of the battle first that really brought the whole story to life for us. We felt like we were there - we all cried.

I loved how the heroes of the Alamo were remembered on plaques, marble monuments and pamphlets to take home. David Crockett was killed where the American flag now stands and we found a Richard Starr who was killed there too. I would love to know if there is a relation.

The lighting was so pretty on the Alamo. We also took a tour called "The Ghost Hunt" which took us all around the city and ended up here to hunt for ghosts. The girls got a kick out of it!

We went through "The Maze of Mirrors" and a laser challenge across the street. This picture was actually taken in the dark, but the camera couldn't take it without a flash in so much darkness.

Here is a portion of the river where it is more quiet and serene. They dye the water during different holidays. During fiesta days, the water is red!

San Fernando Cathedral is the oldest cathedral and sanctuary in the United States. Commander James Bowie (the bowie knife) who died at the Alamo was married there.

We went to El Mercado and shopped and ate a yummy mexican lunch there.

The King William Historic District has gorgeous mansions built by German merchants who became very rich in the city. Some of these masions are on the river.

Rudy's. Best barbecue ever! Need I say more?

We visited some of our best friends, Alyssa, Grant and Olivia Griffeth. They live just outside of San Antonio.

We went down Mission Drive and visited the five missions in San Antonio. They are all working churches now and Mission Espada has a convent here as well.

We went to the Natural Bridges Caverns about an hour outside of the city. The lighting was so pretty inside. We went about 210 feet down into the caverns.

It almost didn't look real. I feel like this photo was taken at Disneyland or Knott's Berry Farm!

We went to the Japanese Tea Gardens at Brackenridge Park. Holly loved it there and told us her plans for the gardens at her home someday. She was so cute!

The riverwalk was so beautiful at night too. Everything is lit up so pretty. Our only complaint for this trip was the intense heat and humidity. Our clothes got soaking wet! I highly recommend for everyone to visit San Antonio for the history, the beauty, the shopping, the food and the nightlife! What a fun place to go!