Happy Halloween!

Halloween is sure FUN but I am sure ready to see it go! We've been so busy this weekend doing all sorts of Halloween activities...I have eaten WAY too much candy and I'm starting to get the "Halloween clutters!" Aka...all of the Halloween crap is starting to bug me. :)

 We started out with trick or treating at the library on Thursday.  

 Friday we went to Boo at the Zoo. We had such a great time there. I hadn't ever been to one even though I know they do this in Boise every year too. It was a beautiful evening and the whole zoo was lit up with tons of Halloween lights. Such a fun family activity!

 Saturday was the Halloween party at the church and we all dressed up for the occasion. This year we went with a Star Wars theme. Dallin and Parker wanted to be Darth and a Storm Trooper. I bought their costumes at Walmart and got their light sabers and all guns at the dollar store! SCORE!

 I made my costume out of a $2.00 sheet I bought at Target! Woo Hoo! I also made Landon's Yoda ears out of a dollar store baby blanket. For a girl who DOES NOT SEW...this was HUGE! I was literally doing a dance around the house when I finished sewing them. Nate thought I was nuts.  I also made Landon's robe and made a vest out of a blue DI shirt for Mr. Solo. I love breaking down how much I spent on each costume because it's kind of a game for me to see how CHEAPLY I can put Halloween costumes together. So, here is the breakdown:

Darth: $11 Walmart costume, $1 light saber

Storm Trooper: $11 Walmart costume, $1 gun

Yoda: $3 fabric, $1 Yoda ears, $1 light saber

Princess Leia: $2 sheet, $3 ribbon (for belt), $7 wig $1 gun

Han Solo: $4 blue shirt from DI $3 duck tape for red stripes down leg, $1 gun

GRAND TOTAL: $50 for 5 costumes! Not too shabby!

  Saturday night we went over to Aunt Davian's! We had a delicious chili dinner followed by trick or treating with all of the cousins!

It has been a great weekend! We're not going out tomorrow night but we'll hand out candy to the trick or treaters that may come by! (Not sure if we'll have any...we are in Idaho Falls after all!)  A big THANK YOU to my husband for being a good sport once again and dressing up to HUMOR his crazy wife!

500...Whoa!

Just a couple more posts and I will have made it all the way to my 500th post. That is so absolutely CRAZY! It blows my mind that I started this blog when my Landon was only 3 months old. I've never been a very good journal keeper or scrapbook person. For some reason the blog thing clicked and here we are 3.5 years later! I'm so glad I've stuck with it. For some reason it has never become a burden or "just another thing to do." It makes me happy. Honestly, there are few things that make me as happy as when I look back through the years and see the silly, mundane, and sometimes heartfelt moments that we call LIFE. I love that my children will have something to look back on one day to remember the experiences we shared as they were growing up.
This blog has been an answer to prayer on many occasion. It reminds me that I am blessed, and that what I do each and every day has meaning and purpose. It has been an outlet, a place to vent, a place to share, and a place to cry. It makes me laugh when I read about the crazy things my kids say and do.  I will admit it makes me a little sad to see my boys growing up so fast but it helps me remember me to live each and every day to the fullest. I love the quote, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

SO....if you've been along for the Starnes Family blog ride for all these years.......I want you to tell me which (if any) of these 500 posts was your favorite or most memorable??  I'm even talking to those "non-commenters" and stalkers out there! If you don't...I'm setting my blog to private and NO ONE gets an invite. (hehe...such a scary threat!)

More craftin'

I made a few cute things in the last few days. I'm kind of on a crafting kick as of late. I guess that's what happens when you don't have a big calling and you don't have a small baby anymore. Come to think of it...that's probably why my Christmas cards are already ordered and half of my Christmas shopping is already done!

I painted an old gross frame black, printed off this cute Boo template and added a bow. Turned out pretty cute. Even better....total price FREE!

 Next I made this darling pumpkin out of a 2x4. Added a little scrapbook paper, a bow and VOILA!

Lastly....I've done something I have NEVER done. I made some flower BOWS. YES...that is right. The girl with ALL BOYS made something girly and cute. I've steered clear of learning the art for some time now....I guess I just thought I didn't have anyone to make a BOW for (other than myself!) It was fun, and knowing how to do it may come in handy if my sis has a little girl! :)

This week is supposed to be rainy and freezing. Bring on the infamous Idaho Falls weather we've been warned about for the past 5 months! Yikes.

Corn maze mooning.

Tonight we went with some friends over to Shelly, Idaho and tried our first eastern Idaho corn maze!

Other than the extreme DUST, we had a great time. The boys were all showing each other their "dirt boogers" on the way home. Like I said....lots of dust.

I thought it would be fun to race my husband on the inflatable obstacle course. I'm not sure what I was thinking. First off.... I'm  too OLD to be doing such things. My husband is OVERLY competitive. (Bike racing comes to mind.) Plus we were surrounded by a bunch of National Guard recruiting guys. Was Nate going to let his wife show him up? Absolutely NOT.

Was there any possible way I would win?

Ummmm...NO.

Nate kicked my trash.

And I got all jacked up.

I flew over the mountain thing....like Dallin is doing in the above picture. I landed on my shoulder, heard a loud POP and now I can hardly move my arm.

I'm an idiot. I'm pretty sure everyone saw my rear end too.

O well, no one to blame since it was MY idea!

Other than my shoulder, and the momentary mooning experience it was a really fun night.

 Time for some advil....it could be a LONG night.

School Photos

A few weeks ago the boys brought home the infamous photo packets. I remember those  elementary school days. I'm pretty sure there were 2 options as far as school photos went.

Package A- Economy Package. 1 8x10, 1 5x7, and some wallets.
Package B- Excess Pack 8 8x10s, 16 5x7s and 1200 wallets.

If your parents loved you they would purchase Package B. You didn't want to be the only child in line whose parents didn't choose B. Your family really didn't have enough family members and friends to send more than 2 5x7's and a few wallets to? Package A was pretty much the "leprosy pack."

The boys packets had choices A-Q ranging from "mom washes out ziplocs and reuses them" all the way to "2nd home loan" package.
We opted for Package G or the "one year of college tuition pack"  aka 1 8x10, 2 5x7s, and 14 wallets.

I love how there was also a "retouching" option. This really has to make the kids feel good. It's pretty much a pass to go ahead and de-uglify your kid.

I'm pretty sure I've already paid medical professionals enough money for the scars on their faces and the brown tooth in Parker's mouth....so they BETTER be in those pictures darn it!

Ahhh...school pictures. Memories to last a lifetime!

* I love how I bought Parker a cute new skateboarding shirt that I thought would go perfectly with his eyes and backdrop yet he FORGOT to take his ugly old black sweatshirt off for the picture. Nice Parks..I appreciate that.

Our new pet??

The Starnes family isn't a pet family. We tried to be....you might recall that horrible experience a few years back. If not, you can read about it here. We tried a couple of beta fish for awhile but accidentally killed them when we went out of town for a weekend because turned the heat off. Yeah...they froze to death. We're pretty much awesome with pets.

I hate cats. I'm horribly allergic and they shed all over the place. So WHY is there a cat in my house right now as I write this???

How did we get to this point?? I'm trying to figure it out myself.
Meet "Jack" the cat. (Which I think is a GIRL btw). He/She belongs to our neighbors. To be honest with you, I think they forgot that they own this animal.

The poor thing comes over to our house ALL DAY long. It cries at our doorstep each morning and waits for the chance to come BARRELING into the house. If he gets into the house he goes right over to the kitchen looking for some morsel to eat off of the floor. It sleeps outside over by our window well and pretty much freezes at night. I think the cat is just looking for a warm place to curl up and take a rest.

Each time we come pulling into the garage...the cat can sense it or something. The cat greets us when we get home and bids us farewell when we leave. My boys absolutely ADORE this thing. It is an extremely mellow cat and puts up with a TON of abuse. He/She is toted around like a baby, covered with blankets, participates in wrestling matches, has been forced to "jump" on the trampoline with them, yet it still returns every day at the same time...ready for more. It is a miracle that the cat hasn't clawed or bitten anyone.

Jack is a pretty sweet and smart cat. Did I mention it knows how to open doors? Even my cat loathing husband has a little soft spot for Jack. I guess if Jack wants to come over for some "play dates" with my kids its fine once in awhile. He keeps them entertained for hours which helps me get some things done around the house. Oh, and Jack killed a spider in my basement today....if he keeps that up, he can come over as OFTEN as he wants. :)

Did I really just say that????? What is wrong with me???

Day trip to Mesa Falls.

This weekend we had lots of visitors! Mom, EE, Nat, James, the boys and I headed up to see what Mesa Falls looks like in the fall. It was so beautiful! I loved seeing all of the bright yellow leaves as we drove up into the mountains. It was a fun weekend spent together!

Parker's black eye

Meet my cute asian son......Parker.

A perfect pumpkin picking fall day

Today has been so great. Landon and I picked Parker up from school and we went over to the little red barn to pick our own pumpkins. I made the mistake of buying pumpkins at Walmart for the boys and they were NOT too thrilled about it. "But....but I want to pick my OWN pumpkin like in BOISE MOM!"...followed by nonstop crying and whining.

The red barn is so darling and even though it wasn't QUITE as much fun as Linder Farms and there were NO delicious mini-doughnuts....we enjoyed it very much! I think my favorite part was the fact that it is an honesty policy as far as payment goes. You pick your pumpkin and your veggies and you pay the black lock box in the front of the barn. How neat to live somewhere where people have trust like that.  Awesome.

Parker picked a green pumpkin (squash) and called it a "PICKLE PUMPKIN."

I picked the smallest pumpkin in the whole field. I figured no one would ever choose such a small and insignificant pumpkin. $1.00 for a teeny tiny itty bitty pumpkin??? Worth every penny....we ALL have worth right??

On the way home we saw some friends heading to the park. We ran into ANOTHER friend while we were there. We played and played in the sun of a cool crisp October day until someone had to go #2. We had to high tail it home. Isn't that always how it goes? 

A beautiful day. Can't wait for my sis, mom and grandma to come this weekend!  

Halloween decorations!

This past weekend we headed down to UT to hang out with the fam. My mother in law went ALL OUT for Halloween this year and therefore inspired me to get my rear in gear and be a FUN mom. Seems like hardly any of our neighbors have gotten into the "Halloween Spirit" so I have been pretty unmotivated to get all of the crap...I mean, decorations out! :)

First off (and totally beside the point) I think my boys are pretty darn cute.

Ok....back to the decorating! I made this cute wreath that I saw on the cover of Women's Day: So EASY and way cute!

I'm loving the silhouette of the raven. I put these babies all over the house.

My banner turned out pretty cute too:

Here's the table:

And then the scary bottles:

Then there is the most beloved decoration EVER: The flying bat. This was honestly the best 5 bucks I've ever spent. The boys are OBSESSED with this thing! It flies in a big circle and the red eyes light up.

I love decorating for holidays...it makes me happy and I love seeing how excited the kids get. :)  Happy Halloween decorating!

Our expanding family!

Bet I know what you're thinking........but NO. The Starnes family isn't getting bigger but the ROCK family is!!!!

My brother is engaged! James and his girlfriend are getting married in 6 weeks! WHOA! We're thrilled and can't wait to welcome SIERRA ROCK to the family! (Pretty sweet name, huh?) Needless to say, our Landon boy is pretty much elated. He absolutely LOVES Sierra. They have been best buddies ever since Lake Powell. Sierra is easy going, fun, hard working, and puts up with my brother. We love her!!

AND my sissy is having another baby! YAY for more cousins!!! Could she break the BOY streak we have going on.....we shall see!!!

Such GOOD GOOD news! Life is great!

Somewhere over the rainbow.....

We may have to put up with a little more WIND over here in Idaho Falls but the spectacular rainbows

 definitely make up for it! Breathtaking.

Recipe for a CRAZY FUN night!

1st-Gather a  bunch of couped up Starnes family members who have been laying around the house for the past couple of days listening to conference who NEED to get out.......
2nd- Drive 8 minutes away to the sand dunes that you had no idea existed until a few days ago. Seriously....I thought I had this town figured out....obviously not so.

3rd- Take tons of pictures of yourselves jumping off the dunes

4th- Laugh and laugh until its time for bed!

First up: My handsome and HILARIOUS husband:

This next picture is the best. I had NO idea he had such mad ninja/cheerleading skillz!

 Here's Dallin:

 Parker:

And the always cautious Lando:

Then there's MEEEEEEEEE! Can I just say how FREEING this was?? I think the next time I have a bad day I'm driving my butt over there again for some dune hops. What a blast!