A Happy Home is Filled with Love and Laughter

Halloween 2011

Beej & Chris

HALLOWEEN

As you can probably see by all the pictures, we had a pretty eventful Halloween this year. We started out by carving a pumpkin at home. I LOVE Holidays and all the traditions that come with them. I had just finished working a 12 hour shift but I just had to carve a pumpkin with Kaylee Sunday night.

Kaylee tried putting her hand in the pumpkin once or twice, but she hated the slimy feeling.

so we used a big ladle spoon...

Kaylee then tried a small wooden spoon...

This picture is a little blurry, but I love it because it shows how she unzips her pajamas every night. In fact, we don't put her in these type of pajamas anymore because she will just end up being totally naked sleeping in her crib; which of course means the sheets and all of her blankets are soaked in the morning. ;) ha ha silly girl.

Needless to say...we had a fun time carving our pumpkin and then enjoyed some yummy roasted pumpkin seeds that daddy made for us.

Parker Family Trunk or Treat

My mom's side of the family always does something for Halloween and this year did a trunk-or-treat at my Aunt Becky's house. It was awesome. I had to work till 7:00pm and it started at 6:30pm so I didn't miss too much. I didn't get a picture but they turned part of their backyard into a "graveyard". It was all decked out and pretty scary. I seriously was sooo impressed!

Awe our cute little lobster

ha ha I love this picture because they are all exhausted.

Grandma Scott- the "pink witch". My Great Grandma Byington gave her that title shortly before she passed away. My mom and dad were really close to her and would take us to visit her and my great grandpa Byington on Sundays. I always thought it was cool that I can tell people that I knew my Great Grandparents.

My niece Brooklynn and Kaylee trunk-or-treating

Sister-in-law Kierston and Grandma Parker

Brother Johnathon & Kierston (I made their costumes) and their kids

Kaylee and her cousin Desiree

Grandpa Scott with Carson & Brooklynn

Mindshare Family Halloween Party
Bj's work has a competition on what area can decorate the best for Halloween for when the kids come in to trick-0r-treat. BJ's area won for the second year in a row! woot woot! I didn't get any pictures but trust me it was pretty cool. :) They even had a room with small kid bounce houses! Kaylee of course had a blast. We then headed straight from his work party to Grandma & Grandpa Scott's ward party.

Grandma & Grandpa Scott's Ward Trunk-or-Treat

We ate some soup and walked around in all the rooms of the LDS church building where they had a haunted house, cotton candy, fishing, cupcake walk, face painting, and a few more activities.

"CHEESE"

Connor and Camden just a few months apart in age

Ooop here is my costume
"Lady bug"

BJ
"Angry Bird"

Kaylee "fishing"

Halloween Day

Avalon Care Center

Because Kaylee definitely doesn't have enough candy, we went trick-or-treating at my new work Avalon Care Center. And by "we" I mean Connor, Kaylee and I. BJ was still at work. I was brave, but the kids did awesome!

Kaylee was loving this "trick-or-treating" idea more and more

Someone brought a real life snake! ugh

I didn't dress Connor up for this activity because he was asleep when we left, and like I said he did awesome while Kaylee went around trick-or-treating.

Neighborhood Trick-or-Treating

Remember how I said I love traditions. Well I just HAD to take Kaylee trick-or-treating around the neighborhood for Halloween even though she had already been 3 times by this time. But seriously she just loved it! We walked around our whole neighborhood. I would skip houses that I didn't know to speed things up. But Kaylee wanted to keep going and going. I finally had to pick her up and carry her home because she wanted to keep going. lol And yes- she did sleep really well that night after all that walking.

This house left candy at the door for the kids to take. Kaylee just kept knocking on the door waiting for someone to answer ha ha

We tried to trick-or-treat at her uncle JC's house, but they weren't home yet.

Here is a cute video of Kaylee trick-or-treating on her own.

After Halloween Party at Grandma & Grandpa Scotts House

Grandma & Grandpa went all out with yummy treats Halloween night. My brother Johnathon had the night off (he is really busy with Firefighter school and work full time so we really don't get to see him much) and asked all the siblings to come over to watch a movie while the kids are down. I didn't think it could happen- but we had all 7 grandkids asleep while we watched the sixth sense. I am NOT a scary movie watcher so this was big for me. And I guess it wasn't as bad as I thought ;)

I got a new job! Wait...make that two new jobs!

Beej & Chris

I went from not working at all for 6 months to now juggling two RN jobs?!? Ok let me explain.

I LOVE being home and would be happy as can be being a stay at home mom forever. However, during that 6 month time without a job I started looking into what I needed to do to keep my RN license active. After reading through my patriarchal blessing and a few prayers, I felt that I needed to have a part time or PRN job instead of just doing the education hours online. It was a difficult decision and not one I took lightly. So after deciding this- I started to look around. I was very picky. I only applied for jobs that were most convenient for me and my family. I didn't want to have to rely on state daycare (not that those that do this are bad- it just wasn't for me), and knew it would be hard to find someone I knew that was willing to take both of my kids that already didn't have kids of their own to take care of. I don't mind asking someone to watch Kaylee and Connor every once in awhile but I just would rather it be BJ watching them- so they can get some one-on-one time with him. Daddy time is always a good time! :)

After searching I came across a Clinical Instructor job for C.N.A's on ldsjobs.org. It didn't say the hours online but stated it was a 7 week job and was Part-time/PRN so I applied. I applied on a Thursday and hadn't heard from anyone so I called on Monday to verify they got my Resume. Mike was who I spoke to and to my surprise he had not received my Resume through his e-mail. It was blocked for some reason. After talking to him on the phone for a few minutes he told me to go into the Farmington District office to get fingerprinted so I could be ready to start the job in a few weeks. I was so confused and said, "So are we going to have an interview then as well." He said, "No need for a formal interview, just come on in". I went in and HR started asking me for my Social security card and what bank I wanted my money directly deposited to. I said, "I am not even sure if I am hired?" Mike came in right after I said that and said, "You are hired". lol So pretty much the job just fell into my plate. Like I said it is a 7 week job now and then again in April/May if I want to do it again. I am the Clinical Instructor for high school C.N.A's. It is through the Davis School District and this will be the first time they have done this. The C.N.A course is usually done through the Davis Applied Technology College, but they are now changing their criteria to 18 and older, so the Davis School District took over for the high school students. It is actually really nice for them because instead of having to travel to the DATC in Kaysville, most of the schools have a RN that teaches the course right inside the high school building. It is a pretty sweet job. I work at most two times a week. The hours are either 6-10am or 2:30-7:30 M-F with a rare Saturday. I assign all the C.N.A students to C.N.A's at the different facilities (which are all in Bountiful! Sweet!) and then go around and check on them every once in awhile. I then usually pull them off one by one or sometimes two by two to go over some things on their check off list and the rest of the time I usually read or hop on facebook with BJ's I-pad. BJ is amazing and goes into work at 5am on the days I have to work at 2:30 just so he can get his full 8 hours in at work before he comes home to watch the kids. I was really worried about him doing this, but he insisted it was fine since it is for only 7 weeks. He is such an amazing and supportive husband!

SO...while I was doing the Clinical Instructor job at a local care center in Bountiful (Avalon) I ran into a girl that I went to high school with. She is a RN at Avalon. I then ran into a girl I graduated nursing school with that is also working as a RN at Avalon, and actually does the scheduling there. She was just working the evening med pass from 6-10pm once a week. So I told her to hook me up. Just as I had said that the D.O.N (Director of Nursing) walked by, so she introduced us and said, "She is looking for a job". Well the D.O.N told me to write down my availability and bring it to me the next week (mind you- this is my first day working as a Clinical Instructor). Apparently two RN's were going to have surgery and they needed someone to take over for them while they were out. She said, "I can't guarantee you a lot of hours. It would end up being a PRN job." Perfect! I came home and told BJ about it and said how it is a great opportunity but I already have a job and don't need another one right now. But after talking and praying about it- we decided to tell them I could only work weekends and if they still wanted me then I could take it knowing it would only be PRN. Yeah it would be two jobs now, but only for a few weeks and then I would have a pretty sweet PRN RN job that is less than 10 minutes away from my house and a job that I could turn to if BJ lost his job or we had something big come up. So I went in that next Wednesday and gave them my availability. The HR lady had me fill out a new employee packet (again I had not had an official interview) and then said they would call me later. The following Friday they called me in and the D.O.N. didn't ask me any questions except for when could I start and what days do I want to start training! I then started training that following Sunday. Yep it happened that fast! We then payed a $1200 car repair and $100 repair on our garage spring. It couldn't have been better timing. We are just feeling so blessed right now.

I just have to share this as well- because my husband is just more amazing than you will ever understand. So I have been training the last two Sundays for 12 hours during the day and have been missing the kids and BJ soo much. I was really starting to worry about this job taking away too much from my family. I then came home to this:

He made a nurses hat and wrote on there what an amazing Mom, Nurse, and Wife I was; adding quotes from Richard G. Scott and my Patriarchal blessing. He put it on the RAV in our garage so it was the first thing I saw when I got home from my first training day at Avalon. I just started to cry. Can I say it again..I just feel soo blessed. I have a husband and two wonderful kids that I couldn't even describe to you how much I love and appreciate.

Idaho Memories

Beej & Chris

A few weeks ago Connor and I had a unique opportunity to go up to Idaho to help place a headstone in the Samaria cemetery for my Grandma Scott's brother and sister that had passed away many years ago. And when I say "help"- I mean sit there and talk to my grandparents while my dad and uncle do all the work ;)
Daniel Price passed away shortly after birth and is not actually buried at this cemetery which is why it says "In Memory of", and Baby Price doesn't have a name because she was stillborn. My Grandma Scott has been wanting to do this for a long time so placing a memory to her siblings was very special to her and I was happy I could share in her joy.

I seriously love my Grandpa Scott. He is always working hard and serving everyone around him. He is so respectful and loving to his wife and has set such an amazing example to me of how I want my marriage to be when I am older.

Ahh the foot grave. I have talked about this before, but in Samaria when we go visit the graves we always make it a point to race to find the "foot grave". The guy (B.W.?) had to have his foot amputated so he buried it and had a headstone made for it. Later on where his foot used to be (Phantom pain for those that know what that is) was hurting him. So he went and dug up his foot and changed its position so it wouldn't hurt him anymore, and apparently it helped. So here is a picture of the famous "foot grave".

Kaylee stayed home with BJ while Connor and I had some bonding time together. :)

L-R (Cousin Heidi, Aunt Sherrie, Mom, Brother Nathan)

My Grandma Scott is so fun to be around. I feel like I can talk to her about anything and she makes a point to remember and ask me about it later. She has such an amazing memory! My grandma is also a crazy good cook and has a great sense of humor. When she says something to my grandpa and he can't hear her, instead of getting frustrated she just teases him and takes advantage that he couldn't hear and says something silly to him.

Kaylee and Mommy Date

Beej & Chris

I just love my Kaylee girl and knew I was going to be gone all day long the following Saturday with Connor and my parents up in Idaho, so I decided to take her out on a date just the two of us. I will admit I have those hard mommy days where I just need a break and am frustrated and losing my patience with the kids, so you would think that getting away would be the solution right? Well it is not. Even if it is only for a day or a few hours I still miss my kids terribly. What can I say- I love being their mom even on the hard days :)

As soon as BJ got home from work I printed off a $2 off coupon for Kangaroo Zoo and took Kaylee out for our "mommy daughter date". Kangaroo Zoo is 5 minutes away from my house. 2 years and younger cost $5 so with the $2 off- it only cost $3 (not to mention I was free since I was just watching)! For those of you that don't know- Kangaroo Zoo is an indoor activity area that is filled with bounce houses and slides. This was my first time going there but Kaylee had so much fun, we just might have to go again.

This just cracked me up. Kaylee found a little table with 5 chairs that she would carry over and make a line and then would bring them all back to the table.

This is a good picture of the room. It is filled with fun things to play. Kaylee was in heaven. She would just run from slide to slide and kept looking back at me as if to say, "Is this ok? I can really just play on all of this!?" I loved it. I let her go and do whatever her little hear desired.

She was so brave and would climb up and go down all the slides she could.

Kaylee could go on almost all of the slides except for one. The place where you grab onto to climb up was a little to high for her. But she wanted soo badly to go on this slide. She tried and tried and tried. I kept telling her, "It's ok Kaylee. This one is a little big for you. How about we go try another one." She would walk away but then go right back and try again. She finally walked back and literally threw her socks off and RAN to the slide and tried one last time to climb it, and guess what.....

She did it! I seriously was sooo proud of Kaylee. She has so much drive and determination. She won't let anything stop her from accomplishing what she sets out to do. She had this same determination as she learned to play with lego's just after a year old, or as she just recently learned how to put on her shoes by herself. She will get frustrated but try and try and try again until she figures it out! Way to go Kaylee!

After a good workout from Kangaroo Zoo, we headed over to the Pizza Factory for some yummy dinner. When I went up to the front counter and they asked, how many? I just smiled and said, "Just the two of us." Kaylee then cuddled up to me while we waited for them to call us back. SO fun!

Yummy!

Dinosaur pizza!

Kaylee did awesome. She was pretty tired by the end and we couldn't get our waiter to come help us get out of there so that was hard, but once I got another waiter to get my a to-go-box and paid up at the front.... all was well. I can't wait till we have another Kaylee mommy date night!