Thanksgiving!!

We kidnapped Matt several times over his Thanksgiving break. We spent one day in Indy. We went to the zoo where my children were head butted by walruses (through the glass). We went to the Children's Museum which was PACKED, and The Indianapolis Motor Speedway! We went on a tour of the race track, unfortunately we only went 35 mph instead of the 230mp

We spent Thanksgiving with friends here in Bloomington. As you can see, we had quite the feast. All I had to make was rolls, raspberry honey butter, and Ritz Cracker Stuffing. That was our 4th dinner! I was more stuffed than the poor turkey!



Matt had the whole week off from school. We had so much fun having him around! We made a list of all the things we wanted to do and we did them all and then some! His greatest desire was to make a paper mache volcano! It was AWESOME!!! It was a 3 day process with building, painting and errupting, but oh so fun!

We have so much to be thankful for. I am humbled by the amazing people that we have in our lives. I feel so very blessed that we are here in Bloomington for this incredible opportunity. Everytime I think about the way things worked out with our house selling, I am extremely grateful. I am so grateful to be a mom, I have amazing kids! I am also grateful for my incredible husband. I am so proud of Matt for going after his dreams and working so hard at it. Life is good!

Walmart Bingo

I stole this from one of my very favorite people (thanks Shawnee!).
I think at the Bloomington Walmart you could EASILY get blackout!

Thank you CVS!

So my friend Jenner, the CVS queen, told me about some screamin' deals! CVS is a drugstore here in these parts. When you buy certain items, you get "Extra Care Bucks" back to put towards another purchase. I went in this morning with $15 in bucks from last time and LOOK what I got for $3.17!!!! It all added up to$93! OK, some of this stuff I am going to have to learn how to use, but hey, it was nearly free!

I was reading Cooper a Star Wars book and we were reading about the planet Naboo. Cooper said, "Hey, we went to Naboo!" You know Nauvoo, Illinois! It totally cracked me up.

Ruby and I were reading in the Book of Mormon where Nephi's brothers wanted to leave him to be devoured by beasts. She asked what that meant. I told her how animals go nibble on dead things and mentioned the ginormous racoon we had just seen in our dumpster. She thought about Nephi getting eaten by racoons and said, "At least they would have washed him first!" I love being a Mom! These people sure crack me up!

I realize that I am behind on our 4th street restaurant quest updates. We tried Thai Siam's lunch buffet (4stars), the Indian buffet (4 stars), and Dats Cajun Food. I think Dats was pretty tasty, but I am not sure because I burned my tastebuds off because it was so stinkin spicy! We went there on a hot date last night and then saw Twilight! Loved it! I kind of want to bite Matt's neck and see how he tastes now!

Tag...your it

Rules:
1. Post rules on your blog
2. Answer the six '8' items
3. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving them a comment.

8 favorite TV shows

1. I NEVER watch tv! I am changing it to favorite smells!
2. My kids after a bath.
3. Rain.
4. Bread baking.
5. Cool cement.
6. Matt's deoderant (when it is working properly!)
7. Sunday dinner at Morrissa's :(
8. My mom's cedar chest.

8 things I did yesterday (sorry, I chose today! Much more exciting than yesterday)

1. Slept in!
2. Made Waffles
3. Cleaned the house
4. Took Cooper to the doctor. He has 5 patches of POISON IVY!!!
5. Went to the WonderLab with the WHOLE Rich family!!! Matt has a break! All 4 of us climbed to the top of the grapevine structure. We made awesome bubbles!
6. Played at the YMCA. Matt gave me bball pointers, currently I can't hit the broad side of a barn when I shoot.
7. Ate a KitKat :) my very favorite!
8. Hung out with the ladies while the boys watched the Utah/BYU game. Go UTES!

8 things I look forward to

1. Hanging out with Matt over this break!
2. Hanging out with Matt over the Christmas break!
3. Warm temperatures.
4. The end of "The Core" (it's getting closer!)
5. Seeing my family in VA for my nephews wedding at Christmas.
6. Christmas parites
7. Having a house again.
8. My next visitor, whoever you are!

8 favorite restaurants

1. Cafe Rio :(
2. The Ethiopian on 4th street
3. Anything Indian
4. Market Street Grill
5. Paradise Bakery
6. Soup Kitchen
7. Panera
8. Anywhere with my hot date!

8 things on my wish list

1. That Nike/iPod thing that measures the distance while you run.
2. My family/friends to come visit!
3. A date with the mister!
4. Enough money to stop worrying about money
5. A house!
6. My family to be happy.
7. An immersion blender.
8. To be best friends with my kids when they are grown (now too)

8 people I tag

1. Kara
2. Holly
3. Jenner
4. Lori
5. Shawnee
6. Jedda
7. Celeste
8. Kristen
& anyone else who feels like it!

11/21/87

November 21 always makes me stop and think. 21 years ago today, my brother Mike shot himself. It is crazy to think that I haven't got to hang out with him for that long! Mike is one of my heroes. He was amazing, one of those people that everyone loved to be around. He had the greatest costumes and was oh so handsome. He was hilarious and always up to something with a sparkle in his eye.

• Our gas gauge in our 79 Camero didn't work so we had to record the milage so we didn't run out of gas. In the little notebook he wrote, "I hope you enjoy your ride in the car, but if you don't get gas you won't go far!"
  
• Another time one of my brothers had brought home the gerbils from school to take care of over the weekend. Apparently one of them ate the other. Mike walked out with the carcass on a Ritz cracker and said, "Everything is better on a Ritz!"
• My mom was really frustrated one day and told Mike that he needed his support. A few minutes later he handed her his jock strap, you know, an athletic support!

It is so weird that he has been gone longer than I was able to hang out with him here. I miss him incredibly and love to tell my kids how awesome Uncle Mike was. Mike and Matt both did graphic design. They both have a ton in common.

I am so thankful to KNOW that Mike is just fine and that one day I will see him again. I love knowing that my family is ETERNAL.

LOVE YOU MIKE :)

Barbarian Boy

We have already had 2 Thanksgiving meals and still have a week to Thanksgiving! We had a Partners Club dinner, Coopers school had a feast, and the Kelley Kids Club had a Thanksgiving potluck. Cooper loves the drumstick! I love that it is bigger than his own thigh bone! Matt saw it and wondered where he got the icecream cone from (Matt is lacking in the sleep department!)

We love our neighborhood grocery store KROGER! They had lots of great samples last weekend and face painting.


We made these cupcakes for our Family Home Evening treat or Happy Home Evening as Cooper calls it.

Edinburgh

One of our dearest friends, Grammy Nora, was in Indiana this week!!! I can't believe how excited I get when a friend comes to see us. We met her in Edinburgh which is about an hour from Bloomington. I have known Nora for most of my life. She is one of the funniest people I have ever met. It felt so good to laugh. She took us to Ruby Tuesdays (one of Ruby's personal favorites!) and spoiled us at the outlets. I feel so blessed to have so many AMAZING women in my life! Thanks for everything Grammy Nora!

While we were looking around at the stores, my kids would hide in the racks of clothes (see above picture). The highlight of the evening was Cooper pulling one of the racks to the ground in Eddie Bauer! It's a good thing he is so DARN CUTE!

The weather warmed up this week a bit, but it has rained for 4 days straight. All those beautiful leaves I have been bragging about are gone. It is crazy, now there is all this new stuff to see that I have never seen before because it was covered by trees.

Here comes winter!

The Partners Club went to The Latest Glaze this week. This is my little creation. We had so much fun. I am going to be on the leadership committee for the Partners Club next year. I am really excited. I feel pretty dang lucky to belong to such a great group of people.
We went from wearing t-shirts up until yesterday to ARTIC winds today. We went to the last tail gate party of the season. I can't believe what a big deal these are here. There are thousands of people who pay $15 a parking spot to come and freeze their knees off. BRRRRR!


I was so proud of myself. I drove me and the kids up to INDY as everyone calls it here. I am terrified of driving on freeways when I have no clue where they are going. I did it!

Brown County State Park

Cooper and I visited Brown County State Park. It was BREATH TAKING! There are trees everywhere, and they are all amazing. Cooper took this picture. Too bad the 30 I took of him didn't work!

Halloweening

Our backyard!

Looking up at the owl that wanted to prey upon my children, with a UFO landing behind us.

These pictures are out of order, sorry I don't know how to fix that. We have the most beautiful wooded area behind our house. The trees have been so dense that we couldn't go back there. We ventured in there today. The kids spotted an owl, sitting in a knot in a tree. He looked like he wanted to eat us!
We had party after party this week. Seriously,this in one happinin' town!

• Trick or treating to all the Greek frat/sorrority houses. (Cooper was invited to throw a pie in this HUGE frat boys face. It was hillarious! Man, he has a good arm.)
  

• Coopers class party.
• pumpkin carving for Ruby's class
• Teter-Treat
• Faculty Auction
• Ruby's Class party
• Kelley Kids Club party and trick or treating in Elletsville (the picture above- I am SOOO thankful Ruby didn't drop beautiful little Ella Jean)
  
• Pumpkin Launch (ready, aim, fire, KERSPLAT) Awesome!
• Sugar Cookies-a Rich family tradition
• Graphing trick or treat candy-another Rich family tradition, notice how I am passed out on the side of the picture!
  
• and all the normal stuff!
  

Ruby is the Flamingo on the far left. She is in love with the race car driver in the middle.

Mummy wrap! He better not try this at home!
I love all the expressions in this picture.
Cooper is the Ninja on the front row. He has told me several times that "injas don't have mouths". HI YA!
Making sugar cookies. Yummy! I should know, I ate about 10 of them.