Happy Halloween...

Trick or Treat! 

Tonight I met Buzz Light year, Woody, a Ballerina, an awesome Giraffe, and many other characters. 

Our Halloween officially began after our stake conference today with the following events...

Mike didn't want me to see what he was going to carve so I wasn't allowed to look until he was fully finished... It was easy not to look since I was fully enthralled in the design of my own pumpkin.

The beginning of stages of my pumpkin... Can you guess what I ended up carving?

 Mike diligently working on his pumpkin...

Can you see my design yet??

I ended up carving... SPARKY the ASU Sun Devil Mascot...

 I spent way too much time carving this thing... It took me two hours I literally did it all by hand and realized that we need to invest in a dremel...

 After carving pumpkins we decided to BBQ... well, Mike started grilling while I was finishing up my pumpkin... But I did manage to clean and set the table before dinner was done... so I did help him out.

 I love my husband... he is the best... I am so blessed to have him in my life.

 Kabobs and asparagus... DELICIOUS... I officially married a man that can grill just as good as my Dad... and that's a big deal because that was a requirement for us to get married.. ;)

 Mike decided to carve two pitch forks into his pumpkin... can you tell we are originally from Arizona and both attended ASU? :)

 See if I had a Dremel then you would be able to see sparky's teeth better... maybe I'll ask for one for Christmas... :)

Here is our house... does it look spooky? We enjoyed talking with one another in our front yard next to our fire pit while passing out candy to the little kids... we had so much fun and enjoyed some SMORES... another investment is to purchase "fire less logs" ... I mean "smoke less logs" Mike will never let me go for calling them fire less logs... :)

 Playing with my flash for my camera... (And, no the red mark on my neck is NOT a hicky... It is actually a terrible burn from my straightener this morning it is so bad the skin is peeling off my neck.)

 Calling family to say hi after our Halloween fun...

Happy Halloween everyone... hope your day was wonderful...

Trunk or Treat

So, last night was our wards Trunk or Treat. It was so much fun. I went as "A Local" and Mike went as an Eskimo... We didn't actually attend the Trunk or Treat together because Mike kinda didn't go.

Mike had the opportunity to be an eskimo at heart while he slept out in the forty degree weather for an overnight Scout Master Camp Out Training meeting... :) I hope he is having fun and enjoying using his awesome new camping gear that he bought at REI for a STEAL...

REI each year has this awesome ATTIC sale where they sell their returned items for amazing prices...

He will get back later on today and I can't wait to see him.

BACK to the Trunk or Treat, it was so much fun I got a ride with Courtney and Sam, they have this ADORABLE little 2 year old Bria my favorite quotes from her last night...

" I a Ballerina... I am a pretty Ballerina... "

" We are going to a party "

"Mommy, party... (points at a classroom door in the church building) party? (points at another door and then begins running to the next door) party? " It was so cute she was so excited for the halloween party she was running down the hall pointing at each door saying party trying to find the cultural hall where the real party was going on :)

" Mommy I need you to open this tooth brush, because Erin is cold "

We had so much fun, everyone looked great, the kids in our ward got enough candy to last them two weeks, and we went to a little diner for treats after the ward trunk or treat with some friends where we danced to tunes we picked from the juke box and enjoyed people's comical stares at us dressed up in our halloween costumes.

Thanks Courtney, Sam, Bria, Mauri, and Josh for such a great time last night...

Visitors from Tennessee!

 A week after our friend Eleanor left our good friends from Tennessee came to visit :)

Vietnam Memorial

Clint and Tanessa looking for his Dad's best friend...

Raymond N Taylor best friend of Clints Father who just recently passed...

Etching Ray's name for his fathers grave...

la Quinceanera at the National Mall... Beautiful...

"Are those geese real"

" What type of bird is on display next to the Buoots " 

Library of Congress... Jefferson's collection is amazing...

Picking wedgies is so much fun... lol

Tanessa and Clint are so much fun... 

Air and Space Museum anyone... "One small step for a man, one giant step for mankind"

American History Museum... never had so much fun, went and saw the first ladies dresses for Mike and Clint, and enjoyed seeing all the historic items from wonderful events and past wars...

What would a trip to D.C. be with out "The Doggies" Kaiser's best little buddies...

Thanks Clint and Tanessa for being so awesome, we can't wait to see you again, we are so grateful to have you in our lives.

Visitors!!!

So, Mike and I have been super busy working and serving in our callings. Mike was just called as the Scout Master for our Ward and I have been serving since our second week in this ward as the Young Women's Secretary. We are loving life and the challenges and triumphs that it brings and having visitors is always fun....

 This is my friend Eleanor her and I worked together at ASU she is so fun...

 Cool car show at Fall Festival we went to...

 Culinary competition put on by the Navy at Fall Festival...

 Men dressed up in different era's of uniforms for the Navy

 Silks a new acrobatic way to work out requires a lot of strength and ABS....

 Navy Bull Dog.... she is so cute....

 Flag on the active Navy base during our tour...

 This bell on the Navy base is only allowed to be rung during wedding ceremonies and baptisms....  Individuals that have gotten married on the base or baptized receive the honor of having there name inscribed on the inner part of the bell.... notice not very many get the opportunity for this occasion. 

 Mike in front of a house on the Navy base

 Erin in front of one of the Officer houses...

At the Potomac River... Kaiser wanted to jump in...

Even though this picture is blurry I like it a lot...

It was really muddy and silly me I wore flip flops.... Eleanor thought it would be funny to take a picture of me shaking the mud off my shoes.... there are more but this one was the funniest... :)

Eleanor and D.C. sky line... she is so pretty...

It was a lot of fun going to all the monuments with Eleanor her whole family is involved with the those who serve to keep our nation safe... it was so neat to hear reasons why men and women wear certain uniforms, different ranking system and to hear stories of her brothers serving... it brought such a deeper meaning and gratitude to my heart for our military men, women and there families.

I love this picture if you look close enough there is Mike smiling... :) He is so artistic with his photo's

Mike wanting to take a cool shot between the statues and me being a goof ball.... Mike says " this picture would have turned out so good if you would have smiled, why are you always goofy when I want to take pictures of you? " Erin says... " I get embarrassed when you take pictures of me because you make me blush "

Eleanor was telling me that in order to represent the United States colors and military flags you have to be 6 ft ___ something ...(i forgot how many inches)... Anyways we thought that these statues were only that tall but Mike informed us we were way off and that these statues were easily 8ft tall... lol we laughed and had to get a picture next to our "6ft" statues... :)

I love taking pictures of Mike he is so cute... :)

One of the spires to the Air Force Monument...

The following pictures touched my heart and made me cry the Men and Women who serve our country I will be eternally grateful for and will support them forever.

"Tell them that we gave our todays for their tomorrows"