Tricks or Treats

This year for Halloween, Jakob had class and we moved, so we did not host our annual Halloween party much to my dismay. It seemed as though Halloween just came and went before my eyes! Since we didn't have a party to host I went for simple but cute costumes. I'm not going to lie, I {love} my shirt. I picked up Jakob's for $1 at D.I!

Ethnie's very first costume. Alright, I don't think this really counts but shucks it was cute!

This year we had the wonderful blessing of having family here for Halloween! Chad, Janet, Violet and Lucia were here in Vegas for the holiday. We had so much fun! It's always wonderful having a sister to goof around with!

The Chad Tobler family. Aren't their costumes divine?? I'll admit, I was slightly jealous!! Janet was the Queen of Hearts, Chad was the Mad Hatter, Violet was Alice and Lucy Lou was the cutest bunny ever!! The best part was for Chad's costume Janet only brought the hat, wig, bow tie and gloves. The rest was thrown together out of Mom Tobler's stash and boy he looked FABULOUS!

The BIG Alice. Every time I'm call her "Little Alice" she'd correct me with a very stern look. It was adorable!

Lucia was by far the cutest bunny you ever did see!! The little bum in the back sagged and wiggled when she walked. We are so lucky to have such adorable niece's!

I had to scurry away to do an Ariel birthday party for an hour. Who has a party on Halloween, and not even a Halloween party but Little Mermaid?! Strange. I returned as a 6 month pregnant princess. Not exactly my best look I'll admit :).

Grandpa was a cowboy! He was so cute we had to give him a kiss ;).

Look at all of that candy! We had a lot of fun and Violet came home with quite the haul. She had to empty out her pumpkin once before we could continue. I hope everyone else had a wonderful Halloween full of tricks and lots of treats!

This is Halloween

We had some visitors come to Vegas for Halloween!! We had so much fun. To get us in the Halloween spirit we carved pumpkins. I would have to admit this is pretty much my favorite Halloween tradition.

Jakob doesn't like taking out the guts, so this year he simply left them in. It was a little graphic for pictures.

Here's Violet drawing on some eyes. Can you see the concentration going into this! What a cute little girl!!

Her final product with the help of Papi! So cute!! It totally brought about that fall spirit.

Ooops!!

Today was my last day in primary so I figured why not do something fun? I whipped up a game that involved tricks or treats. If they rolled a treat they got to wrap me up like a mummy, sing a song in a fun way, or play Sister Tobler says. If they rolled a trick they had to answer a Halloween riddle. Everything was going along just as planned, the kids were singing, I wasn't crying for the first time in the past three weeks (giving up our ward for the sake of a bigger home was quite the challenge for me) and they were having fun.

It was then little Deloris's (age 4) turn to roll the die. She got up excited as could be and rolled a trick. I then read her this riddle: "What do you call a witch who lives at the beach?" She thought about it for about a second and then shouted out full volume "A B!TCH!!" All of the other children laughed most of then not knowing what that was and started shouting "the word". I was so shocked I just stood there with my mouth open while all of the other teachers looked at me stunned. I mean what are you supposed to do when children swear in church. I quickly explained to them that, we are not supposed to use that word and told them the correct answer was a "Sand witch." I looked at my pianist and told her to just play a song so we could sing and move on. I was mortified, yet I was laughing so hard I cried. It was a fine finale as primary chorister.

We Moved!!!!

I am so excited to have moved! My camera was packed so we only got two photos of some faithful workers. Jakob and moved from our one bedroom one bath apartment into a 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bath town home. It feels so mice to have some room to breathe! It's only 3 miles away from our old place but we did have to switch stakes.

I am continuously amazed how we fit all of our stuff into a one bedroom!! I haven't bought anything to "fill" the space and the house is FULL!! I mean where did this all come from?!?! It is now time to organize and decorate. Christmas Tree anyone? We finally have room, only we'll be out of town again this year, so perhaps we'll skip the tree again.

It's time to find a crib, dresser and gliding chair for little lady!! Craigslist here I come!!!

From the Mouths of Babes

For those of you who have never worked in Primary or do not have children this post may perhaps be difficult to relate too. I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and I have been the Primary Chorister in the Palo Verde ward for the past year and a half. I often find myself thinking about the children that I teach throughout the week, wondering how I can teach each and every one them about our Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ through music. I get to work with the Nursery (ages 18 months - 3 years), Junior (ages 3-7) and Senior Primary (ages 8- 12). Trying to help them memorize the words of songs and keep them entertained is a challenging task. There are many prep hours that go into being a chorister. Quite often however I find that I am not the one teaching them, they are the ones teaching me.

There is nothing so sweet, pure and loving as a child and they never cease to amaze me. It's moments when a 3 year old stands up in front of 200 people and sings a solo or when a little boy who after weeks of practicing finally learns the words; runs into my arms in front of everyone exclaiming "I DID IT!" with a huge smile spread across his face. It's moments when they drive me insane because they simply will not listen and others when they bring the spirit so strongly it brings tears to my eyes. It's their testimonies that sparkle and let the light of Christ shine through. Each one has such a strong spirit and unique personality and it has been my pleasure to have been able to serve them. I had such a wonderful group of children to work with. I am so thankful for my calling, each child has been etched into my heart and they will not soon be forgotten.

Feeling Festive?

Never have I ever had a talent for painting my nails. It is inevitable that one side always looks smashing and the other you want to hide in your pocket. However I figured that since it's Halloween and I have seen so many cute nail ideas via Pinterest that I'd give it a go. It took a fair bit of time and I was super sick of the smell by the end of it but I am so pleased with how they turned out. So festive!!

P.s. I've almost broken the habit of chewing on my fingers. I've only had this horrible habit for the past 8 years. It's been hard but I think I've done it! Woohooo!!

Think Outside the Box

Lately I have seen nothing but boxes. Lots and lots of boxes. With just over a week until the move (Halle-stinking-lujah) we are busily packing up our lives. Throughout this process I have learned a few things:

1. Even though I am hoarder I am very capable of giving things away. Throwing things away is still a challenge but the thought of my old belongings becoming someone's new treasures makes me feel good in my heart hence the large box full of donations located by patio door that is overflowing. Not to mention the 5 previous bags that have already made the trip to the thrift store.
2. I thoroughly despise living out of boxes. Of course it's the random junk you never use all of a sudden out of the blue you need. For example, I hardly ever iron anything. Jakob wears almost all of his dress shirts fresh out of the dryer simply because ironing things is such a hassle. For the first year of our marriage we didn't even own an iron and the only reason we ended up investing in one was because my Grandmother was coming and just about everything she wears needs to be pressed. So one of the first things in the box was our iron. And as Murphy's Law, the dutch version states: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Let's just say I was digging through that perfectly packed box for the iron. Things like this annoy me. I just rather have it easily accessible! Needless to say I am excited to unpack. :)
3. Never plan to move on Halloween weekend. It is always busily jam packed with activities. What were we thinking? LOL
4. The first 3 boxes are packed with excitement and the thrill of an adventure which is long gone by box number 7. Especially when you're the only one packing and you aren't supposed to lift the box you just packed because of the baby so, until your husband get's home to neatly stack them, they lay in the most inconvenient places. I'm not sure why I never learned to start off with them out of the middle of the hallway, or center of the kitchen, that light blub never clicked on.
5. I am a master tetris packer. Those boxes are packed to capacity my friends and boy I am proud!

I can't wait to be in our new home sweet home!!! Only 10 more days!!!

A Kick For Daddy

Every night Jakob usually stumbles through the door at 10:30 or 11:00 at night. By that time our little lady is sound asleep and so Jakob has yet to feel her kick. Last night Jakob was home a little earlier than usual which is always a treat. We turned on a movie and he placed his hand on my belly to see if she would kick for him. I think he expected it to be powerful instead of just a little thump. At first he looked at me discouraged and said he couldn't feel anything but the pulse in his fingers. I told him he had to be patient. He finally felt that little nudge and he was so excited! I love seeing how his eyes light up and the smile of pure joy spread across his face. It makes me fall in love with him even more, I didn't even think it was possible to love him more than I do. I am the luckiest girl in the world.

Loving Nature

This weekend Stu, Cortney, Ryan, Jakob and I celebrated Ryan's 25th birthday by going camping. Who goes camping 5 months pregnant?! I DO!! I think our biggest accomplishment by far was packing the FJ. We fit 2 tents, 5 sleeping bags, all of our cooking supplies, food, fishing gear, camping chairs and 5 peoples personal items all in the back of one FJ. The five of us then piled in and drove 2 hours to our destination.

Baker Reservoir! Pretty eh? We found a camp, set up a four person tent to fit all five of us and headed to the waters edge to start fishing.

This is Ryan's first cast of the day...

... whoops! He broke his line and lost all of his weights and hook! Silly boy!

Fishing with the baby bump!

Cortney fishing with marshmallows. She's so cute!

My first catch of the day! A STICK! I was talented enough to collect several sticks throughout this trip!

After about 10 minutes Ryan decided he didn't want to hold his pole any longer. He set up his contraption and smiled, we all laughed and said if he actually caught anything he was going to lose his pole. Luckily he didn't catch anything.

Jakob didn't get a fishing license, he hates fishing, so we went on an adventure and found mud! Lots and lots of mud!! May I direct your attention to my black and white polka dot boots. Not only are they super cute they were perfect for romping around in the mud and water! I am still a little kid at heart!

Jakob's shoes were not so mud friendly so he found a stick to keep him away from questionable areas.

We saw a lot of tracks. Can you see the two sets here?

Once we returned from our adventure we heard some yelling. Cortney caught a fish with a marshmallow!! It was a pretty good size one too!

Jakob gutted it and Stu chopped off it's head and tail. Yuck! It's a good thing that women think about sanitation, the boys didn't bring anything to keep clean or wash our hands. Further reason to why God created both man and women you just need both!

Time for some dinner: trout with onions, and a hint of lime and of course hotdogs for those of us who are fussy. (That would be me!)

Cort has never been camping before! It kind of boggled my mind! Maybe I'm just spoiled and have gone almost every year since I was age 8. This was also her first time roasting a hotdog over a fire! I'm telling you this girl has got to get out more!

The boys trying to keep their bums warm.

Five people in one tent makes for some cozy cuddling. I was so toasty warm, poor Ryan almost froze to death. Next time I'll bring extra blankets!

The master chef creating 4 layer breakfast (I don't know why it's called that when it has 6 layers: sausage, onion, eggs, hash browns, cheese and biscuits.)

Yummmmmm! So good!

A now warmer Ryan getting some grub!

A new fishing spot which was much prettier for pictures.

Fun fact, Cortney is terrified of bee's. She is so scared them, on the day of her wedding she didn't want a veil over her face because she was afraid a bee would fly up it. Our new spot had a plethora of bee's. Needless to say Court didn't fish for very long. Poor girl!

Stu waiting ever so patiently.

I am doing the fishy call! "Here fishy, fishy, fishy." Laugh all you want but it actually worked. The silly fish came by and stole my bait off my hook. I bet he was laughing at me too.

Jakob's perch. He wouldn't let me explore or rock climb in my "condition."

The fishermen & lady.

Eventually Ryan once again left his pole to fish for itself while he went off roading. It was a little bit frightening to watch.

Alas, no fish for me. I have never caught a fish before and it's on my list of thing to do before I die. Perhaps I'll have to head out to the ocean where my brother-in-law Jeff seems to get rather lucky. Then again maybe I'm just not patient enough. It was a wonderful camping trip filled with laughter and great memories! I think I'll hang up my camping shoes until after the baby is born though. Sleeping on the ground is hard enough when you don't have a little one inside of you. Not to mention I've been camping twice throughout the duration of the pregnancy. Yes the great outdoors will have to wait until after March! Happy birthday Ryan! We love you buddy!!!

Half Way There!

Warning: Viewer discretion is advised. Bare belly image ahead.

Another month has zoomed right on by! To be honest I am quite glad. There are so many things I am looking forward to that are right around the corner. I suppose I should learn to "live in the moment" before all my moments have zipped on by. It's just so hard being patient! For our far away family here is our monthly update.

How far along? 20 weeks HALF WAY THERE!
Total weight loss/ gained? 7.5 lbs
Maternity clothes? No just yoga pants and my single pair of jeans now formally known as ol' faithful!
Stretch marks? Nope, lotion, lotion, lotion!
Sleep? Sleep is getting better, I still dream all night long and about the strangest things!
Best moment this week? Finding out we're having a little lady! We're so stinking excited!
Missing anything? Time with my husband! What a busy boy!!
Movement? On and off, a little more frequently, last night I think I had my first stretch my skin movement. It felt like I was being poked with the end of a broom. So weird.
Food cravings? Still anything salty, I love milk, juice, curly fries and chicken tenders!
Anything making you queasy/ sick? Just the random sneak attack sickness thing. It's so random. For someone who was hardly ever sick in the first trimester you'd think I'd be perfectly fine now!
Have you started to show yet? Oh yes, I think I officially look pregnant and not simply fat!
Gender? It's a GIRL!
Labor signs? No way!
Belly button in or out? It's out, I don't think it'll go out much farther, but what do I know lol
Wedding rings on or off? On baby!
Mood? Super happy: healthy baby, healthy momma, new apartment, and it's a girl?! Who wouldn't be happy?
Looking forward too? The move & finally shopping for baby things!! Bring on the tutu's and hair bows!