Trunk or Treat

And finally, Halloween Night! Whew! Rion and Hailey had fun at school with their Halloween parties and costume parade, and then off to the church! There was a chili cookoff at just before the Trunk or Treat. We had a lot of fun seeing how dressed up the ward got. I borrowed a kitty litter box idea from Elise, and I must say, it was sure fun! I needed larger candy though. It was hard to find some of them. Ah well. The kids got a kick out it anyway.

Cute little witch

Napolean Dynamite

Lion and giraffe

Chase wasn't really feeling well at the trunk or treat, so he didn't want to go car to car. But he still got a few things in his bucket.

And then at home, Eric decided to try on Rion's shirt. Woo woo!! Check out those muscles! (sorry, honey, I just had to put the picture in here!)

Halloween at Work

We actually got pictures of Eric's office for Halloween. How fun!

Eric's boss, Scott. Nice mullet!

Mimi and Drew

Kitty and Hippie

The "Big Cheese" and Native American

...and then there are Eric's costumes...and yes, that is supposed to be plural!

Bob the Builder (check out that cell phone and his tools!)

Plastic surgeon


Partly cloudy with a chance of rain!

And then he was also "smarty pants", with Smarties taped to his pants. He didn't get a picture of that, though. Always a ham!

Happy Halloween!

Wishing everyone a safe and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Halloween Party at the Blacks

Josh and Karyn decided to have a little Halloween Party for Kael since he'd be with his mom on Halloween. Here are some pictures from the fun party. Rion was a crack up! He was Napolean Dynamite, and I think he played the part a little TOO well.

Here is their dancing contest.

Back and Forth

Rion: "You can't go to the moon, Hailey. It's in outspace and you'd need a rocket to get there."

Hailey: "Yes I can. I can fly to the moon."

Rion: "No you can't. Prove it."

Hailey: "I only fly at night when everyone's asleep!"

Halloween Party

Tonight was the annual Christopherson Halloween Party. We had lots of fun getting to know everyone, and the food was YUMMY!! I tried my Apple Berry Salsa and Cinnamon Chips again tonight. It was a HIT! I'm definitely going to have to make that for the Warren Christmas Party in December. Here are the photos!

Gymnastics in the House

Let's just say that it's a good thing the house was clean! They were having so much fun doing head stands and hand stands.

Weird Bugs

I sure have seen a lot of weird looking bugs this year. This one caught our attention today. Very cool!

Pinewood Derby

Tonight was the Pinewood Derby. Rion looks forward to this every year, and this year, he designed his own car!


Using Legos!



While he didn't win any races, he sure had a blast! I think next year he'll keep things a little more simple.

Halloween Moon

Isn't this the perfect Halloween moon? I took this picture this morning when Eric left for work around 6:40. It was so dark through the view finder, though, I wasn't sure exactly what I was taking a picture of, and the flash is useless for pictures like this. Hence, the little bit of roof in the shot. I enhanced the photo a little so we could actually see the cloud formations, and left the roofline in just for giggles, but I'm pleased with how well it turned out!

Oops, I did it Again!!!

Craigslist struck again about a week ago! I found this cabinet for only $35. I used some craft paint (less than 1 large bottle) to repaint the whole thing, then distressed it a bit. It only took about 24 hours to be able to put it in my kitchen. That wall is now complete! Finally!

Hmmm, now I just have to figure out what to put IN it!

Last Warm Weather Activities

It has been COLD the last few days...somewhere in the range of the mid 40's during the day, and certainly freezing at night. I turned the heater on officially night before last once it hit 63 degrees in my house. So, to celebrate the change of seasons, I decided to post a few "end of warm weather" pictures.

Now that my garden is offically gone, the kids have decided it's their turn to play in the dirt. Gotta love that hard hat!

Chase is absolutely obsessed with hitting balls with clubs, bats, anything long. I think he's going to be a great golfer!

My nieces were here a little over a week ago. Chase managed to find the little pool upside down with a bit of water in it, so what should he do?...how about stick his head in the water!

...and get Rylee to do the same thing. (Most likely so I wouldn't get mad and decide to just run and get the camera.)

Good bye summer!

Tongue Tied

For many of you who don't know, Chase is tongue tied. You know that little piece of skin under your tongue that connects your tongue to the bottom of your mouth? Well, Chase's is connected at the tip of his tongue. When he sticks it out just right, it looks like he has a forked tonue. (Amazingly, though, he was my best breastfeeder! Which happens to be why the doctors never wanted to cut it.) In spite of this, he has still been practicing the art of sticking it out. Here are the results...

He can sure stick that thing out pretty far! I'm amazed!

Entertaining Simple

I just found this TOTALLY awesome book by Author Matthew Mead. Yes, of course, it's an entertaining book, and I found it on a blog called Restyled Home. (Yes, I was blog hopping again.) And the best part is....it's an Entertaining SIMPLE book. I'm all about simple!


Here is a picture of the ingenious man who wrote this book...(Matthew Mead)



...and look at some of these fabulous creations! I mean, I'm no professional entertainer, but I think I can even master some of these ideas. As Matthew puts it, "Entertaining Simple is about restoring sanity to entertaining, without sacrificing style." Sanity is a good thing!

Needless to say, with the holidays coming up, and the annual Christmas Party on its way, I'm stoked about this book and hope to get it some time in the near future. For anyone else that wants to purchase this book, you can get it at virtually any bookstore across the U.S. and Canada (yes, Canada, in case the Vadnais' want to check this out!) or use the following link to Matthew's website.

http://www.entertainingsimple.com/index.php?option=com_flippingbook&book_id=2&Itemid=1

11 Years and Counting!

Today is Eric's and my 11 year anniversary! My how time flies! I'm so grateful to have him as a husband. He's smart, witty, spiritual, and a great husband and father!

So cute together!




















We started writing in March '97 after Trina asked me if I knew an Elder Warren who was serving in Idaho. Nope! I didn't know him then, but I do now! hee hee hee

This is the picture that first got me interested in writing to him...

Just kidding, it was actually this one...he's so CUTE!

At the end of March, I went home for my grandma's funeral. I went to meet this "Elder Warren" in person, and brought him some of my favorite peanut butter chocolate chip cookies...of which I found out he was allergic too. Go figure!

He kept writing to me, even though I tried to kill him, and we were able to time our letters to each other perfectly! On May 22, 1997, he went home. After a brief visit down to CA in June, then his family reunion on a houseboat in August, we were smitten! Eric proposed on August 22nd at the Oakland Temple...a couple of hours after we already had our marriage license! You would think it wouldn't be as exciting getting engaged after already having your marriage license, but he pulled it off beautifully!

We were married on October 3, 1997 in the Oakland Temple. What a beautiful day it was! Pictures are forthcoming since I didn't want to actually take a picture of a picture for these. I will need to get out the scanner.

Happy Anniversary Eric! I love you!

Sleepy Time

Tonight I was out visiting new sisters in our ward with Lisa (RS President). When I got home just before 7:00, these are the scenes I came home to.

#1

#2
#3

Wow! How did that happen? And before 7:00pm none the less! Hailey and Rion spent the night at friends' houses last night since there was no school today. They must have been up late. Chase didn't have a nap since he didn't get up this morning until 10:00.

Hailey got up around 7:45 because she was hungry! She fell asleep on her bed around 5:30 after getting in trouble.

Rion got up somewhere around 7:45 and went straight to bed. He is still there right now. I hope he ate something before he fell asleep!

I woke up Chase right when I got home since I could tell he hadn't been asleep very long. We sat and ate chips and salsa for about 15 minutes to get him truly awake.

Silly kids!