This was Halloween . . . and various other activities

Okay, so most of you know that we are total Disneyland fanatics, but we usually say that we go so often because the kids love it so much. Well that's not the case this time. Launey and I went to a timeshare presentation in Midway a few months ago and scored two free plane tickets to LA and a free hotel room for two nights in Anaheim. So, we packed up our things, dropped the kids off at their grandparents' house and flew to sunny California. And yes, it was sunny. In fact one day it was 98 degrees, at the end of October! We had a great time and we really appreciated our parents for watching our adorable kids while we took some time to reconnect. . . . with mickey of course!

Launey loving the Disney Sweets!

The two of us on the infamous Splash Mountain


I found a load of treasure!



Launey got locked up for it :(




I am not sure where this picture is but it is somewhere in the happiest place on earth.





We scored some free mickey ears, yes I know we look like geeks.

Launey apparently very frightened as we waited in line for Indiana Jones

How cute is this Jack-o-Lantern!

Okay, on to the children. These pictures are actually from our annual Ivers Family Halloween Bash which took place about a week or so before Halloween. I have actual Halloween pictures but the are on my memory card, in my camera, in the car. So, these will have to due.




Brielle was the cutest little ballerina ever!

Tanner was SUPER TANNER. He didn't want to be anything for Halloween except "just Tanner" but we got him to amp it up a little bit.

Luke was totally in his element dressed as a zombie, check out the zombie pose!

One more picture of my tiny dancer. Please ignore the messy shirt, it got that way from a variety of Halloween activities.

Yee Haw, we went to Hee Haws!

Okay, so every year since Luke was a baby, Halloween time has marked a few special occasions, one being our family outing to Hee Haws. We absolutely Love Love Love Halloween and everything that accompanies it. We try to budget a little extra money every fall so that we can take advantage of all of the wonderful Halloween activities life has to offer. This year we got to go with my cute brother and his adorable wife, Karson and Linzy. We did the corn maze, poked the giant pig, shot cobs of corn out of air guns, jumped on hay, and slid down many exciting slides. We had a great time and I highly reccomend the outing to everybody.

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FOOD FABULOUS FOOD (storage)

Hi all! Ok, we hear over and over that we need to get our year supply of food storage right? Well, I know that it is important and I completely agree with the necessity of it, but in the past I think I have done it all wrong. For example, just recently I ran out of flour on a nice Sunday afternoon. I then remembered that I had a #10 can full of flour that I had canned when I lived in Logan oh about three plus years ago (it was with you Paula and Emily D.). So I went downstairs to retrieve my stored food and to my dismay nearly every single item I canned that day had expired. Now luckily I have come to find out that if it doesn't taste, smell, or look bad it is still okay to eat, so I have been using the flour anyway. Well, that little experience got me thinking of how easy it is just to waste money on food storage. So I decided that I wanted to learn how to put it to use. In my experience, if I use my food storage supply to actualy cook with, then replace the item I use with a new can, it helps me rotate my food storage, and gives me a better idea of what items my family actually use.
To make a long and painful introduction short, I have been blogging about food storage recipes, and I would love for you guys to link to my site, if it's not too much to ask. You see, I am not a master chef in any sense of the word so I would love to get ideas and input from all of you. So if you would like to link to it the address is http://cookmyfoodstorage.blogspot.com. I would love to get your tips and pointers about anything to do with food storage and I will publish them on my site. For instance, Lynsey I just read your post about the frozen corn and strawberry jam so if you would like to give instructions on the process along with some of your cute pictures, email me and I will put it up.
Thank you soo much for your help and support! Happy Blogging!

Life Is Precious

I have been reading a blog called the Nie Nie Dialogues. I am sure that many of you have heard of this blog and may know what I am referring to, but if you don't, I strongly encourage you to check it out. I am not even going to try to paraphrase because I am sure that I would do the whole thing a severe injustice. However, I do want to share this. . . . life is precious. I know that I don't say it, show it, or realize it enough. I truly am so thankful for every moment that I get to spend with my wild and crazy children and my knight in shining armor.
I love Luke's obsession with coloring and drawing. I love how he uses big words even when he doesn't know what they mean. I love that he comes up to me often with a big hug and an "I love you mom" (He really does that!). I love how "devastated" he seems when he reports to me that he was "a little wild" in preschool. I love his big brown eyes and his eyelashes that go on for days. I love that he knows that when he is scared or when he has lost something, he can turn to his Heavenly Father in prayer and his problem will be solved. I love his faith and his knowledge. I love how much he loves cars and his desire to know every little thing about every little aspect of them. I love that he worships his daddy. He is a good boy and I am so thankful for everyday that I get to have the opportunity to be his mother. I love you big guy!
I love Tanner's cute little chipmunk voice and his lisp that accompanies it. I love that he calls Launey "Da" because he is too lazy to say dad. I love that when we try to teach him how to pedal on his bike he is far to content simply ringing the bell to even give pedalling a go. I love his adorable smile. He truly has the sweetest smile in the world! I love his intensity (some people would call it his temper, but I think intensity describes it better). I love his towers made from soup cans. I love that he is constantly telling us that Wow Wow Wubbzy is his favorite. I love that he feels that it is necessary to remind us multiple times throughout the day that "I Tanner, I 2 and a half!" I love his wild hair and that he has to jump or run everywhere he goes. I love that he wants to be just like his big brother, and I love his big bear hugs. I love you little guy!
I love Brielle's wrinkled nose. She makes the funniest faces! I love that she laughs out loud when I smile at her. I love how she is so content to entertain herself with a flip flop and a little car. I love how it feels to hold her. I love love love rocking her to sleep when she wakes up at night (even though I really don't like getting out of bed to do it). I love it when she snuggles. I love to see how happy she is when she gets in the "tubbies." I love all of the pink and the flowers and the absolute sweetness that seems to surround her. I love how she waves. I love how her smile melts Launey's heart. I love her slobbery kisses. I love you my tiniest princess.
I love my husband! He is my prince. He is my sanity and my rock. He is my source of optimism. He is the father of my children. He keeps my life exciting. He is my eternal companion. I love how he respects me. I love that he treats me like his princess. I am not complete without him. I love you Mr. Ivers!
I am so thankful for Stephanie, and her sister Courntey's blogs. Because of them when Tanner refused to take his nap today, I hugged him and I held him. I didn't scold him and scare him into bed by threatening to take away his little blankie if he didn't sleep. I just loved him. It is also because of their blogs that I realized at about 10 o'clock last night that I hadn't given Luke a real true "you are so loved" type of hug all day. I had given him a quick kiss when I sent him off to preschool, but I am pretty sure that is all. So, because their blogs really got me thinking about what was important in life, at 10 o'clock at night, long after my kids had been tucked in tight, I hugged him tight, and I told him how much I adored and loved him. Life is precious. I am thankful for everyday I have to live it!

Happy Fall!

I am going to have to admit that I have been suffering from a severe case of blog burnout. I don't know why but I would think about posting on a daily basis, but I could just never bring myself to do it. I think the problem may be that I can never seem to simply post a message, I always feel like I have to change the background, design a header, change the font color, then post on Luke's Colorful World. My computer is painfully slow, so the whole process tends to take the entire morning. Finally today, Brielle decided to take an unprecedented morning nap and the boys have been drawing for hours, so I am finally doing it, I am POSTING!

We took the kids to the petting zoo at Thanksgiving point a while ago, so some of the pictures will be from that exciting adventure. That day marked a major milestone in little Ellie's life, she had her first pony tail! Not the tail of an actual pony found at the petting zoo, rather I gathered every tiny little whispy baby hair I could find on top of her little head and stuck an elastic around it. So, while you are gazing upon the lovely photos of our petting zoo adventure, take time to notice the cutest, and tiniest, pony tail in the world.

The kids loved the petting zoo. They could have stayed there for hours! It was a fun little outing and it was quite inexpensive too. That is always a plus! Tanner said the his pony's name was, Tanner Horse. What a coincidence that Tanner boy just happened to ride on Tanner Horse. And yes, I did let Luke wear the dreaded red cowboy hat! It had been tucked away under his bed for a couple of months, but "luckily" he found it and he hasn't taken it off since. I resigned to the fact that I need to choose my battles, so the red hat is a permanent fixture in our lives! At the end of the adventure Tanner grabbed my hand and said "it's a good day mom," and it was.

The aftermath of the ponytail

The Great Outdoors!

We have been trying to enjoy every last ounce of summer that we can before it disappears before our eyes. So, we took the kids up to Bridal Veil Falls and let them play in the water for a while. They all loved it. Even Brielle loved to stick her tiny toes in the water. I was shocked she liked it so much because the water was freezing! Luke and Tanner had a great time, but of course they wanted to be a bit too adventurous for my taste from time to time. They would have hiked all the way to the top of the falls if it wasn't for their paranoid mother.
They have also been running through the sprinklers on a near daily basis. They absolutely love it! I figure it is a great way to run off some of their energy, and it waters the grass, so how could I complain. Launey and I have decided that to them, it really doesn't matter whether we spend money on a trip to Disneyland, or Lagoon, or if they are playing in our own backyard for free. They seem to have just as much fun splashing in the water at home as they do on vacation, (I on the other hand am a different story ;). I kind of miss that about my own childhood, it is so easy for kids to find such pleasure in simple things.
It kind of reminds me of Elder Ballard's talk in this past conference where he encourages us young mothers to find joy in the moments. Every time I really try to concentrate on that I find little moments of joy everywhere. They are certainly fleeting, but they are there.
A few weeks ago, Launey took Luke to get a "quick haircut" which he paid 14 BUCKS for, and it was terrible!! That alone put me in an incredibly foul mood which I was not about to get over. Then, I was sitting outside listening to my boys play. They were throwing rocks from our yard into the field behind our house and Tanner would say, "Good frow Wook," then Luke would respond with, "Thanks buddy, your throwing really far too." Their little words of praise to each other was enough to get me out of my melodramatic bad mood. It really was a simple little moment that brought me great joy.
Sorry for the tangent, I had no intention of making this such a long post, but when things come to my foggy brain, I better write them down because it doesn't take long before I forget them. Anyway I will quickly wrap this long obnoxiously boring post up with a few recent pictures.
These are of Brielle and Me. I took the picture of Brielle on our front yard because of the funny face she was making from touching the grass. Then I remembered the picture of myself as a baby making a similar face. I just thought it was fun to compare the two. The rest of the pictures are from Bridal Veil Falls.

What a Whirlwind!

Wow, I have always known that summer is busy, but it seems that it has been a little extra busy this year. On Thursday, my favorite brother, Karson, married the cutest girl in the world, Linzy. So we were happily involved in a lot of the wedding festivities. Unfortunately I don't have the pictures yet, but trust me, the bride and groom were adorable.

We have also been to the zoo, partied at Mona days, I was out of touch with reality for a couple of days while I read Breaking Dawn (LOVED IT) and we went to the demolition derby since my last post. Luke looks forward to the derby all year round. He is totally in his element there! Tanner has always liked it too, but he lacks some of the ferver that Luke seems to have. Ellie even seemed to really enjoy it. People around us were surprised that the loud noise didn't bother her at all, but I assured them that with brothers like hers, the noise was nothing new.

Ellie recently turned 7 months! I can't believe she is that old! She now has two tiny bottom teeth, and is starting to get on her hands and knees to crawl. She has been doing the army crawl for a couple of months so she gets to where she wants to go just fine, but I am sure that her new mode of transportation (actual crawling) will be happening right around the corner.

Tanner, what can I say about Tanner? Last week he proudly announced that he didn't hit or push in nursery because he bit Sammy's fingers instead. Yesterday the boys went to church in my parents' ward and I swear when Launey, Ellie, and I sat down in Sacrament without them, there was a twinkle in his nursery teacher's eye. He is going "pee pee" in the potty really well, unfortunately we are having more of a struggle with the dreaded number 2, but I guess we will just keep pushing along, no pun intended.

Luke has been loving his new bike riding abilities and practices them often. He is still just as content as ever to play with his cars for hours. He gave a talk in primary last week on baptism and did a marvelous job. Two days ago our fire alarm went off for no aparent reason. Luke has an intense fear of fire, so he had a terrible time trying to get to sleep because he was so scared that there was going to be a real fire in the house. He probably got out of bed ten times after we intitially tucked him in. A few minutes after his last venture out of bed, we heard him talking out loud as he was lying there, but neith Launey or I could make out what he was saying. He was asleep shortly after that, so it wasn't until morning that he told us who he was talking to. He said that he was so scared that there was going to be a fire that he said a prayer and said, "Heavenly Father, is there going to be a fire in my house tonight?" Then he said that Heavenly Father whispered in his brain the word "No" so he calmly fell asleep. Don't you just love the faith of a child! I have no doubt that his little sincere prayer really was answered.

Anyway, sorry for the long post I guess I had a lot to catch up. I will post a few of the many pictures from the past few weeks :).

Ellie and me on her first zoo train ride, doesn't she look excited!

Launey and the kids, for some reason the appear to be a little less excited

Luke and Tanner are up there on the fire engine. The got to ride on it in the good old Mona Days parade!

I love this precious picture. They wanted to go ride the inflatable slides in the Mona park so I told they to stay together. They held hands even without me telling them to do so. Isn't this just priceless!!