Happy Halloween

Kelsi was a little piggy for her first Halloween. The fabulous 5 babies have been narrowed down to three due to the departure of the McKenzie and Browne families. Grant, Nicholas & Kelsi were the cutest barnyard animals at our trunk-o-treat!

Kelsi and her two gal pals Emma and Ava!
oink, oink

Thanks, Grandma & Grandpa Manderino for Kelsi's "spooky" new bib!

A few weeks ago I was notified that my high school class was celebrating their 10 year reunion. That really made me feel old, and I must be because when I think about high school, I feel that it was a lifetime ago. It made me reflect on the last 10 years of my life. The good years, the not so good years. All the friends that I made and those that helped shape me into the woman that I am today. There are a few things that I would change if I could go back in time….calling my grandparents more often, apologize to a few people, but overall I would go through every little thing again, sorrow and all if I knew that I was going to end up where I am today. Looking back over my life, especially the last 5 years or so, I can really see the Lord’s hand in my life guiding me through big decisions and small ones as well. I won’t bore you with the details, but when I think about how my life and how John’s life were before we met each other, there were so many things that HAD to happen in each of our lives for us to meet each other. Some things that had to do with challenges and choices of other people (thanks, sis!) in order for John and I to have met. (If you want to know the details, let me know separately so I don’t bore everyone). I really feel that he was my miracle. And now that we have our little Kelsi….SHE is our miracle. There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t thank my heavenly father for my wonderful husband, for entrusting us with our little angel Kelsi, my comfortable home and my loving family and friends. I have been truly blessed. I was listening to a cheesy country song the other day that talked about a guy who wrote a letter to his teenage self and one line goes something like “You’ve got so much up ahead, you’ll make new friends, you should see your kids and wife….these are no where near the best years of your life”. All I could think was AMEN. I look forward to what the next 10 years have in store.

3rd Annual Pumpkin Carving night

Last weekend we got together with friends to carve pumpkins and have yummy soup and donuts (Thanks, Evans fam for including us on your tradition the past few years!). John and I have had a really hard time getting into the spirit of Halloween...which is odd for John especially. Hence, the smaller pumpkins than usual and my lame triangle eyes.

Trisha and I were able to leave the boys and the kids and head up to Spokane for dinner and The Phantom of the Opera. It was a great show. It is funny to see how many people were in "prom" attire. Big deal in Eastern WA! Phantom was the first musical that I ever saw back in junior high and is definitely on my list of favorite musicals.

Kelsi's hair

Kelsi's hair is insane. It is so long and thick (I wonder where she gets that from?), which is fun and cute, but I have to do SOMETHING to it everyday, or she can't see. Here are a few cute pics from this week.

LONG OVERDUE...

In July, John (with the help of a couple of his friends) built us a 10X10 shed. It is wonderful for storage. The dogs also liked to lean up against it for shade during the day. Everyone wins. Nice work John!

Kelsi did not help with the shed, but I had to include a recent picture of her. Her hair is SOOOOO long.

Standing for something

I have been extrememly hesitant to post anything about this years upcoming election and the issues that are before us. I have many friends that disagree and in some cases strongly disagree with my views. I am concerned that my views will be seen as hurtful to some, and that is not my intention at all. With that being said, I decided to "stand for something". I wanted to write a little something on Prop 8 that is being voted on in CA next month. About 7-8 years ago I walked door to door assisting a similar propostion (22) which passed and it stated that Marriage was to be defined as between one man and one woman. Recenlty the courts in CA have overturned the decision made by the people and once again the people will be voting on how to define marriage. I believe that marriage should be defined as between one man and one woman and anything else is not what our Heavenly Father has intended for us on this earth. If the prop fails to pass, I worry about the implications that it will have on our society. The effect that it will have on religious freedoms, what children are taught in schools and the intolerance that will arise over time for those that hold similar religious and moral views that I hold, etc. I encourage anyone who lives in CA to vote YES on Prop 8 because marriage is not just a temporal contract, it is a sacred. There are many websites that talk about the implications of Prop 8. One of the basic ones that give some light on the topic is :

www.whatisprop8.com

I love you all, those of you that really know me know that is true. I just couldn't sit on the sidelines anymore.

My sister Tamar has been telling me about her friend who makes the cutest bows and she has a contest! I checked out her blog and Tamar was RIGHT. They are ADORABLE! You can check them out at http://kimsprojectsandideas.blogspot.com/ and she has an etsy site as well at wishhappy's shop!

Road Trip

John no longer works on Mondays (YAY for 4-day work weeks!) so we took a trip to Western WA. We stayed with friends in the Bellingham area. I didn't get too many people pictures because we usually forgot the camera or one of us had to stay with sleeping Kelsi in the car. Here are a few of the pretty scenery.

Trees, trees and more trees. There was no shortage of foilage on our trip.
Deception pass that leads to Whidbey Island where John used to work pre-Karina.
View out to the Pacific from Deception pass
This is Kelsi on the way to western WA. She was SO Happy the entire way there. The way back was a different story. She was DONE with her car seat.

Tagged once again by Lacey

Ten Years Ago I Was...

1. I was a Freshman at Ricks College

2. Trying to figure out a creative way to ask someone to MORP

3. Experiencing life on my own for the first time

4. In a dead end relationship

5. Making some life long friends

Five Things on Today's To Do List...

1. Grocery shopping

2. Fold laundry

3. Touch up paint in my bedroom

4. Make every effort to go on a walk

5. Go to the gym

Five Snacks I Enjoy...

1. Chocolate Chips

2. nectarines

3. peaches

4. Chips and Salsa

5. Granola bars

Five Things I Would Do If I Were A Millionaire...

1. Pay off our school loan

2. Travel the world

3. Go on a service mission

4. Build myself and my family homes

5. Create a charity for auto immune diseases

Five Places I Have Lived...

1. Rexburg, ID

2. Fairfax, VA

3. Santa Monica, CA

4. Culver City, CA

5. Clarkston, Wa

Five Jobs I Have Had...

1. Tutor

2. Administrative Asst

3. Recruiter

4. QA Analyst

5. Mom

8 Things Tag...

8 Things I am PASSIONATE About...

1. My family

2. The gospel

3. Education

4. Friends

5. Music

6. Journaling/Blogging

7. Health

8. Finding old friends

8 "words" or "phrases" I say way to often...

1. What?

2. fine

3. Bum bum

4. babe

5. sure

6. Maybe later

7. No!!

8. KELSI!! (in a warning tone)

8 Things I want to do before I die...

1. Go on a church mission

2. Ensure my children know that I have a strong testimony of our savior Jesus Christ

3. Do something that scares me

4. Be completely out of debt.

5. Travel Europe

6. Learn to sew

7. Make a differance in the world.

8. Not take anything for granted

8 Things I have learned From my past...

1. Write down your goals and your actions to achieve them. If you don’t they are just dreams.

2. Never let anyone tell you that you can’t do something

3. Your parents are always right

4. Don’t try to be someone that you aren’t. The world will miss out on something great if you do.

5. Treat others with the same respect that you would want in return.

6. Don’t sell yourself short. Never settle, even if it is for a short time.

7. Heavenly Father answers my prayers too, not just others.

8. Don’t try to change people. It is impossible to do if they don’t want to change. Just be their friends.

8 Places I would love to see...

1. Italy

2. Greece

3. Andes

4.Cabo

5. Niagra Falls

6. Sacred Grove

7. Nauvoo, IL- pretty much the church history tour

8. Grand Canyon

8 Things I Currently Need or Want...

1. Kelsi to take her nap (she is so tired)

2. Health

3. A shower

4. Clear cut answers

5. a clean organized house.

6. peace of mind

7. Want to lose the last of my Kelsi weight

8. My family and friends to know that I love them

10 months

I was looking through my blog and I can't believe how much Kelsi has grown over the last month! She is a talking queen and she seems to have a lot of conversations with herself. The inflections in her voice are so cute. She says mama and dada and even though I am pretty sure she doesn't know what they mean, she says "k" and "peese". I say "please" to her all the time so I am hoping that she is copying me, but I know she doesn't know what it means yet. She just got up and started crawling a week ago. No army crawl, just straight crawling. She pulls herself up on anything she can and recently started to love the camera. Everytime I point it at her, she just GRINS! She also loves watching herself in the videos. I took her measurements today and she is 21 lbs and 29 inches long. She has 5 teeth and eats finger foods (finally)...even though she doesn't want to feed herself. BATH UPDATE: Thank you to all who offered advice, I tried so many of them (bubbles included...which she is afraid of by the way...I didn't realize that it would make a humming noise which scares Kelsi), and I am happy to say she likes her baths now. After 2 weeks, she just snapped out of it. She is out of the toddler tub and now loves to play and pull herself up. The only thing she HATES and whines at is when I rinse her hair, but I don't think that is super uncommon. YAY for little victories! We love our little Kelsi.

A little crawling action....

A little hello to the Grandparents!