Black Cats and Ghosts

Happy Halloween everyone!! We took the boys trick or treating this evening and then trunk or treating at the church afterwards. The kids made out like bandits. Lots of sugar to go around. I sure love the excuse to do something crazy and "be a kid" again...even if for a little while. Here is the breakdown: Mike-skeleton Derrinda-Zombie Dallas-Jason Cody-Skeleton Elijah-Amazing Spiderman Brandon-Power Ranger

43 Years

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad. We had a nice little visit with them on their anniversary. Brandon was tired and didn't want his picture taken though.

Catch up Time

Dallas and Cody were wrestling before church on Sunday and Dallas accidentally elbowed Cody in the eye. Wonderful thing to happen before church.

Black Cat 5 Miler

We had a fun little adventure this evening as we bundled all the kids up (plus Kingston and Kylee) and drove to Point Defiance for the annual Black Cat 5 mile run in Tacoma. It was pouring down rain!!! It was fun seeing everyone in costumes though-Mike looked good with his makeup on with his skeleton costume. Juliet looked great too with her 80's hair and colorful outfit. The kids were all troopers while we stood there in the rain cheering for everyone. Mike ran the 5 miles in 28:15. The group of 2.5 milers were coming in at the same time so I actually thought Mike got 1st but unfortunately he got 2nd. Afterwards we went to the tent that was set up and got some oranges and warm apple cider. The boys, including Mike, were soaked and freezing so we decided to head home as there weren't any prizes for anyone but the winners. We had to stop by Fred Meyer on the way home to buy some carpet cleaner for our shampooer as right before we left Cody was chasing Elijah with his Halloween mask that has fake blood that swirls around the inside of the mask, well anyways.., Cody somehow broke it and I had red dye spots all over the carpet. Needless to say I was shampooing the carpet this evening after the boys went to bed. Enjoy the pictures!! Before:

After:

Here is the costume after it was all done in it's entirety--

Costume Making

Today I've been busy trying to make a skeleton running costume for Mike on Saturday. He is running the Black Cat 5 mile run at Point Defiance on Saturday with Aaron and Juliet. It's a night race and the course is suppose to be outlined with glow sticks. Should be pretty fun. I probably have to work that night but hopefully someone will get some pictures for me:) Maybe my awesome sister in law Lisa will be there:) lol This is the progress so far:

Pumpkin Time!!

We finally got around to carving our pumpkins on Saturday. I actually had Saturday off so we decided to take the kids and do something special. We carved pumpkins and then we bought discount tickets at Safeway to Fright Fest at Wild Waves theme park. It was pretty fun for the kids as they don't ever remember going to Disneyland and riding the rides there (and of course Brandon wasn't even born yet). We painted the boys faces and got there a few minutes after opening at 6 p.m.

First off Mike, Dallas and Cody went on The Wild Thing roller coaster which had a 360 degree loop-we watched and waited while they stood in line but it was hilarious when they were finally on the ride. I could see Codys head looking down at the ground while going through the loop:) I couldn't help but laugh. After that we headed over to the childrens village where there were lots of rides that all the boys could go on together and the waiting times were only a few minutes. Dallas and Cody went on a lot of the rides together when a partner was involved and they really enjoyed the teacups and the kangaroo bounce. Brandon and Elijah went on a roller coaster which was actually pretty fun -I got to ride it also. Lots of fun little rides. We are glad we were able to take the boys and have some fun making memories like this. We stayed until closing at 11:00 p.m. and got home shortly after midnight. The boys were pooped! The next day I was a little sore from being thrown around so much. I'm just not young like I used to be:( Mike even commented on how even the roller coaster made him a little nauseated. It will be fun to take the kids to a park like Knotts Berry Farms or Six Flags when they are older and tall enough to ride all the rides!

What some people will do for a date:)

Mike came and asked me after work last night if I would come in during lab today so he could scan me. Dad was nice enough to take the boys to school this morning for us and Juliet said that Brandon could come and play with Kingston since Mike's table was reserved from 9 a.m.-10 a.m. We got to the school and after waiting for our "reservation" we were able to start. It was fun seeing where Mike goes everyday and meeting some of his fellow sonographers to be and one of his instructors, Leigh. Everyone was super nice. Mike was very professional as he prepped his work station and had me lay on the table. There were five tables and everyone was occupied with people laying down and the students sitting next to them scanning their abdomens. I layed there on the table for about an hour while Mike scanned different parts of me. He scanned my aorta, liver, gallbladder and veins. This first one is a picture of my aorta:

This is my ivc-inferior vena cava

These are my liver (at different angles):

These last two are of my gallbladder-it's pear shaped.

Afterwards we met Juliet at Sound Sound Running and Mike and Juliet were able to pick out their free shoes that they won from the Stuff the Bus 5k a couple weeks back. The best part was it was ANY pair of shoes. The both got some really cool shoes.

Emerald City Open Cross Country Meet

Mike, Juliet and Aaron decided to do this race up at the Woodland Park Zoo this weekend. It was fun seeing all the college teams and running clubs who take running to the next level. Mike had prepared the boys since the night before saying that he wouldn't be winning this race but he did do great keeping up with the pack. Mike went out at 5:30 the first mile and then finished the 8k in 28:53. It was a really difficult course, lots of hills the whole way. We are sure proud of our daddy! Mike decided to run with his neon green, Stone 5K,shirt so that we would be able to see him better. Aaron and Juliet both did well also. It was fun cheering for everyone. We are glad we were able to go out and do fun things like this as a family. After we left our gas light went on in the van so we had to get some gas. We pulled over at the 7-11 to fuel up and I ran inside and got the boys donuts and chocolate milk-after that the boys thought it was the best day ever!! I'm glad it took just donuts and chocolate milk to make them feel like they were the luckiest kids in the world:)

Spooner Farms 2012

The boys didn't have school on Friday due to teacher inservice so after Mike got home from class we surprised the boys and took them to the pumpkin patch. They have been begging to go so we finally caved after realizing we didn't even get the kids pumpkins last year. There were lots of pumpkins to look at and the boys had fun picking one out

-we will probably get around to carving them next week.