HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

 This year for Halloween our next door neighbors invited us up to an uncle's cabin at Bear Lake, along with several other families from our ward. There were ten adults and sixteen kids. It's a good thing the cabin was huge! We had a PHENOMENAL time. We headed up on Friday afternoon and stayed up way too late talking. Saturday morning we headed to the beach so the kids could play in the sand and so we could take family pictures.

 The five wives (top). And four of the five husbands.

 Of course the kids were bound to get their feet wet, even though it was only 45 degrees outside.

 The beautiful view from the cabin.

 And our two favorites of the family pictures. Which do you like best?

Saturday night since the kids weren't going to get to go trick-or-treating we had a candy hunt for them. Afterward we had scripture story time brought to you by Adam. He has the best expressions and the kids LOVED it!

We are so grateful for the friendships we have with each of these families! It feels so good to have friends that we get along with so well, that share our beliefs, and that have strong marriages like we do. Thanks for the great time everyone!

The other day we got a letter in the mail from the city saying that our building permit for the basement was about to expire and that we needed to request an extension by writing or we'd have to pay for another permit. I asked Scott if he could take care of that and this is what he asked me to mail tomorrow:

"We have just received your notice that our building permit #123 for our basement will expire on ... Thank you for reminding me of my procrastination. As if I didn't need more reminders from my wife. I appreciate the non-nagging tone of your letter as opposed to what I've been experiencing day-in and day-out from home.

Even with the unappreciated long hours that have been applied to backbreaking and endless work to finish our basement, I find that I'm still unable to make this deadline. Amid the I-told-you-so's from my wife, I've found the humbling strength and courage to request an extension. I don't see this project going past the new-year (which begs the sarcastic reply, "which year?")

Please allow me to extend the deadline for our inspection to allow for me to pull my dignity from the gutter and gain the self-pride I so desperately need.

Thank you.
Scott Chamberlain"

All I have to say is, Scott really needs a creative outlet somewhere (why does it have to be this?) and I sure hope they get a good laugh at this in the building permit office.

Our first "Fall Break"

 We called it "UEA break" when I was a kid...but now that Annicka is officially in school we had our first fall break. We decided to live it up. Scott took work off on Thursday and we had a great time playing with Daddy that day. Friday we decided to hit the pumpkin patch, without Scott, but with a bunch of cousins. The kids loved it!

 What giant pumpkins!

 Of course we almost lost Indie in the corn maze a few times.

 After the corn maze the kids got to play on a Halloween themed play ground, as well as a bouncy castle and slide.

 Then we picked out our pumpkins to take home.

We decided to make a "pumpkin man." It even got used as a center piece for the ward Halloween party on Saturday night...it won "bishop's pick" in the pumpkin decorating/carving contest. (Okay, there were only about five pumpkins that were entered.) Now it is out on the porch.

And then we had family movie night with our recently purchased copy of "Beauty and the Beast." That is my all time favorite Disney classic. 

To top off our fun and crazy filled weekend I was sustained and set apart as the new Relief Society President in the ward today. That's right, I'm not joking. I, Karin Chamberlain, am now the RS Pres. Pray for me! I still feel like I am dreaming, though I am glad to finally be set apart. I had a lot of anxiety this week and now that it's official I feel like I can get down to business. I feel like I've already been given special blessings this week and I know they will continue as I try to do what the Lord wants. So, needless to say, I will be very busy in the months to follow. I will try to keep up the blog, but it might need to be something that gets put on hold...maybe I'll pass the baton to Scott...then again, all you might get from him are shots of the kids picking their noses with snide comments like, "mmmmm, yum!" or "did you get it?" Oh, well, either way.

Hamily Fome Evening

 Yes, at our house it's called Hamily Fome Evening. This is just an example of the kinds of things Scott comes up with. After our short lesson on Temples the kids wanted to build a fort. Daddy is the king of fort building.

 Park and Indie inside the fort!

 Grandma joined us for FHE this week and Scott HAD to make her play a game of NBA jam on the Wii.

After the kids were done with the fort we piled all of the cushions, pillows, and blankets on the floor and the kids took turns flying into the pile. Can you tell how excited Annie was for it?

Indie

Before you look at the pictures below, let me preface...Indie was not injured during the taking of these pictures...

Of my three children Indie has been by far my "busiest" and by "busiest" I mean the one that has been into everything and kept me on my toes the most. I feel like I am constantly finding him in dangerous situations and/or doing his best to disorganize my organization. Anything that is put away must immediately be pulled out, and if a door to outside is open for a split second he is gone, and sometimes I don't even realize it. We have found him a few times down the street at the small park (please don't call DCS on me). With two older kids as well as neighbors that are in and out all day I have to keep a close eye on him. The only rest I get is nap time....oh, how I love nap time! So, for the last two or three days I have been documenting some of the things this kids does during his waking hours.

Pulling out the DVDs, right after I've put them away.

 

 Yes, he climbed up the back of the couch and decided the counter was a good place to watch "Meet the Robinson's."

 Trying to get down from his highchair, all by himself. I have found him dangling off the side a few times.

 Pulling out the paints...thankfully he doesn't know how to open those yet.

 Emptying the contents of my middle drawer.

 Yes, those are fruit snacks. A box of 80 of them.

 And these are corn nuts. He found the opened bag on the table and decided he needed all of them on the floor so he could sample their deliciousness.

 This is my favorite thing he does right now. He gets a big blanket, sits on the floor, pulls it over his head and plays by himself under the blanket. I guess he doesn't feel like he's getting enough privacy. The best part is that he'll stay under there for 30 minutes or more.

And that is my Indie. As crazy as he is, I can't get enough of him and love this kid to death! He is always cracking us up.

Those little moments

I mentioned in an earlier post about my good friend Amber Giles and how she had to be put into a medically induced coma almost two months ago (for more detailed info check out the blog set up for her in the above link). The doctors didn't think that they would be able to save her after she had been in the coma for five weeks. They were down to their last option to try and wake her without seizures. Even if she did come out of it, they prepared her husband and family with the possibility that she would likely have brain damage. She came out of her coma about two and a half weeks ago. And she is a miracle. There is no brain damage, she is all Amber and her recovery is remarkable. She is already walking and eating on her own and she's been told she will be home within the next week and half! At first they told her she'd be lucky to be home by Christmas. I've been to see her a few times and every time I go she is hand over fist better than the time before. And I am incredibly uplifted by her faith and her strength. She is one of those special people who genuinely loves everyone, and you can feel it when you are with her. I want to be like that. I want everyone I meet to know of my love for them because they can feel it. I want everyone to be able to feel of their Heavenly Father's love for them, because they can feel it through me. Anyway, this whole experience I've had while she has gone through this has given me a new perspective on life and I can only hope and pray that I can hold onto it. It has made me appreciate my family so much more and to enjoy and relish almost every moment I have with them. Like this impromptu picnic in the backyard:

I know that my Heavenly Father lives! He hears and answers everyone of our prayers, if only we are willing to trust him and put everything in His hands and then listen. He is a God of miracles! He is a merciful and a loving God! Amber is just one example. And my life is better for knowing her and my faith is stronger because of her. Thank you, Amber, for being such an amazing friend! And for the few of you out there who read our blog, I love you, too! Thank you, for your love and friendship as well! Our lives are better for having you in them!

Park's Obsession

Park is the kind of kid who has spurts where he is obsessed with different things. When he was two it was numbers and letters (yes, he knew all of his letters, both upper and lowercase by the time he was two) shortly thereafter it was cars, cars, cars. As of late it has been telling time. When we are driving in the car he can see the digital clock and he has to tell you what time it is every minute it changes. Well, yesterday Scott and I were painting the kitchen (pictures to come later) and Park was running in between our bedroom and the kitchen looking at the clocks. After about ten minutes of this he said, "Mom! Your clock is beating the kitchen clock! Your clock is the winner and the kitchen clock is the loser!" Apparently our bed room clock is a minute ahead of the kitchen clock. Oh, and did I mention that he is also obsessed with who wins and loses EVERYTHING?