Halloween Fun 2010

Meet Agent "K", Gryfindor "student" (because he refused to paint a lightening bolt on his forehead and wear the glasses because he felt goofy wearing such things!), and the cutest Carolina Panthers and NCSU cheerleaders you will ever see!

We went to a very well-organized Ward "Hoe-Down" to celebrate. Cheeto and I decided that we didn't want to allow the trick or treating on Sunday this year. So we did the ward party and then with Lettie on Saturday night. The kids didn't seem to mind. At the ward party they did a father/daughter dance. A1 was out trick-or-treating around the church with the primary kids and youth so A2 got to dance with daddy! Precious!

Sissy and Dad also danced the father/daughter dance.

Another of the activities was musical chairs. I was one of the winners and received this duck. A2 now thinks it's hers, which of course is fine with me. She ended up playing with it most of the night. Cheeto will probably want to add his own two bits about how I won. :)

Typical.

"K" said he looked like 'Jenkees'.

G'ma C sent some fun things for the kids to celebrate Halloween.

They especially loved their silly bands! Thank you G'ma C!!!

Tia Lettie took the kids to another ward Halloween party with friend. We weren't going to oppose since it meant Cheeto and I got a date night! How could we pass that one up! :) Thanks Sissy! The kids had lots of fun get their faces painted and trunk-n-treating!

C earned his WOLF

C loves scouts. He usually only does what is asked instead of going the extra mile and completing as much as possible and I usually have to keep on him to get it done. But even at that, we are so proud of him! He is a great kid and are so proud of his accomplishments and example for his brother and sisters!

Frustration

I took this picture of my new running shoes because I knew after one run on the trails they would never look so pretty again. :) Cheeto got a gift card to Off 'N Running the first part of the summer. He had got him so running gear and such but one day he was in there they were having a shoe sale. He found these Nike running shoes for me. He called me and asked if I could leave the kids with Adam and come try them on. I kept telling him he didn't need to spend his gift card on me. But they were a killer sale. They were over $120 shoes on sale for less than $30. My running shoes were thrashed so I was in need of another pair. After trying them I graciously accepted them. Cheeto has had a running group training with him for his marathon. I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep up with them so I put them in the closet for awhile in hopes one day I would be able to pull them out and use them.
A friend let us borrow her P90X program during the summer. I love it! I have seen some fabulous results and the workouts are so different everyday that I don't get tired of it. I knew I was getting stronger by the day. Well, Cheeto and I have been going through some rough times the past little while. I wanted to spend some more time with him so I thought I should try running again so maybe it could be something we could together. I knew I would never be able to keep up with him, and that would be fine. I knew he would always wait for me to catch up here and there. And then a close friend seems to think she could get me to run a half- marathon with them someday. I invited myself to run with Cheeto on his short and easy run a couple of days before his marathon. We ran Palmetto to Nat Green trails. It was just shy of 3 miles. When we finished I felt so good. I wasn't even winded or tired. And I didn't even get sore then next day. I thought, HEY... maybe I can start running more and that p90x has been GOOD to me. I was in way better shape than I thought! Well, last Friday Leesa and Cheeto got me to run the Piedmont trail. It was a total of 5.5 miles. I felt really good for the first 2.5 miles but my knees started to really hurt on the way back. About mile 4.75 I went through moments of wanting to give up and walk it then to fighting back the tears. I was so proud of myself that I talked myself out of doing both. I finished the 5.5 tearless and ran the whole thing! But I paid dearly that night. We had gone camping and I did cry that night. My knees wouldn't function at all, on both legs. :( But by morning I was feeling almost back to normal.
So Monday night I talked Cheeto into running 3 miles with me. About 1 mile in my knees were screaming at me. I told Cheeto to lead. He of course was gone in a flash. It wasn't half a mile later that I twisted my ankle pretty good and another mile later that I fell and hurt my shoulder and both knees again. GRRRRR... those darn tree roots! I didn't have enough ice packs to ice all my injuries!
So now... here I am looking at my "killer deal" running shoes and wondering will I ever get the chance to break them in. Or will they just simply get dirty collecting dust in my closet? I get so frustrated that my body gives me so many limitations. I know there are others out there with the same frustrations. It's only my knees, my STUPID KNEES! Even after 5.5 miles I wasn't even sore the next day. I so wanted to be able to do this with Cheeto. To fight for something that I never thought I would have in me to complete. To have something that wouldn't cost us much to do together. We met golfing and have that in common but it's so expensive and takes so much more time away from the kids to do. I suppose my time isn't now. Patience is a virtue! I don't feel very virtuous! LOL!

Tree Monkeys

An afternoon last week Cheeto asked me to come out and find K.
Of course, this was a trick. Can you find him?

yep... way Way WAY up in C's tree!

Someone wanted to be like her older brother

Lundrigan/Arellano Hanging Rock Camp Out

Cheeto and I usually are experts at getting the impossible packed We felt so unorganized and unprepared. It's not like we decided the day of to go on this trip either. This trip had been on the calendar for weeks. (sigh)
A month or so ago, we were talking with our Lundrigan friends and decided we should try a camping trip together. Neither one of us had ever tried camping with another family. We felt like it was worth a try. We weren't sure how their older kids were mix with our younger ones. Turns out they have fabulous teenagers that enjoy playing with kids of all ages and are more than willing to help with whatever you ask them to do. It was a really cold weekend. Our kids have never camped in weather cooler than 75 degrees. It was nice to actually want to be around a campfire. It was an interestingly cold eventful night. A2 wouldn't hold still, she was like a cat sleeping on our heads, our feet, crawling in our sleeping bags for 10 minutes then to the outside, then our air mattress deflated, making it a really uncomfortable place to sleep, while our kids had nice foam pads to sleep on. Oh well... it was one night. All the other fun made up for it.

Thanks Lundrigans for a fun weekend camping!

Even C wasn't impressed with our packing skills this time.

Sassy either!

and then of course, A2 has the most room in the van. She was happy and comfortable!

Half the canopy had to sit in the front seat between me and Cheeto.

Grrr.... I hate when our packing job doesn't go as planned.

"I don't want to go to bed. I want to see what everyone else is doing."

Cold morning and he is running around without a jacket... crazy kid!

...while our other son is all snuggled up in his own little "tent"

Walking to the Hanging Rock trail

Lundrigans

Arellano's

First break of the hike.
I loved how all the kids young and old played and helped each other.
It was an awesome weekend trip.

It's really nice when older kids aren't too cool to play with little kids.

I look terrible in this picture but it's about the only one I have to document that I was on this trip. :) Oh well, we were camping right? I was grateful to make it to the top and very grateful I made it to the bottom. The day before, Leesa, Cheeto and I ran 5.5 miles on the trails. I have bad knees. I made the run. But about 2 miles in my knees really started to hurt and were REALLY hurting at the end. I could barely walk by Friday night. I really wondered if I would be able to make the hike with the family in the morning. It was a rough couple of hours but I did it and held back the tears pretty well. So frustrating!


We had left some camping gear at a friends house and stopped on our way out of town to pick it up. On a last thought, I asked if she had a backpack carrier for a baby. She said she did and allowed us to borrow it. Man, that was a lifesaver. There was no way A2 was going on that hike with us if we hadn't of had it. Thanks Susan! A2 pretty much slept the entire way.

Gordon taking in the scenery.

Lundrigan's sitting on the edge of Hanging Rock with Dad.

Mom sitting well away from the kids with her back to them saying a prayer.

I love that A2 is peeking inside this picture. What a view from the top!

Hang on girl!

They made it... those kids hiked a steep mountain.
I love Lundrigan #6's face!

A2 was very content digging in the dirt with Lundrigan #7's bucket and shovel.

(Lundrigan #2 and Sassy)
Yay... I'm afraid Sassy is a bit like her mother.

I was always one to choose sitting with the boys rather than the girls. Not sure how I feel about that one now that's it's my little girl. I suppose I turned out all right. ;)

Lundrigan #7 chillin' after the hike with his cup of Doritos Munchies.

.... and A2 still diggin in the dirt.