My Beeeautiful Babies

We got family pictures done this week, and you KNOW I have to share them here on the blog.  There are so many good ones to choose from, I wanted to put up all 58 of them, but I suspect that would be a little annoying.   So I'm giving you the best of the best...except, of course, for the one that will be in the Christmas card.  I like to keep you all on the edge of your seats.

My incredibly talented friend Krista took these.  If you live in the Salt Lake/Utah County area and have been thinking about getting photos done, Krista is your girl.  The proof is in the puddin', people.  Just look at these shots.  Krista is a gem...and she's fast, too!  Click here to visit her blog and see more of her work. 

Once we got to the park, it started to get cold.  Look at their little shivering faces. :)

Lucas was so DONE at this point.  I love these shots of him.  Very "Lucas."

Thanks, Krista...you did a fantastic job!

p.s.  I had to add this picture of our cute little Charlie Brown tree that we bought and decorated today.  My kids love how scrawny and imperfect it is. So do I!  When we bought it at the lot, I felt like I was picking the poor, homely little orphan child that no one else wants.  Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

We Heart Embly

It's been six months or so since Emily first came into my office at BYU for a job interview.  I remember thinking that I didn't know if I'd ever met anyone so instantly likable and genuinely kind.   It took me about ninety seconds to know that she was the perfect candidate for the job.  What I did NOT know at the time was that this amazing person sitting across from me would ultimately become like a member of my family, and that my kids and I would come to think of her as nothing less than that.

Emily (known to us as "Embly," because that's how tiny Lucas says it) and her super good sport husband Rey--who we also love--came to play at our house just one last time last night.  Emily worked her last day for me this week, and is moving on to the next big phase of her life as a reporter and anchor in another state.  We are so very happy for her, and never doubted for one second that she'd wow the "real" news world with her talent and personality and pearly white smile.  

But gee, we're sad, too.

People come and go in our lives, and I've found that most do little more than that.  But then there are those few, just a handful really, who leave a mark with their presence...and a very empty space with their absence. 

Embly...the Reynolds family loves and adores you and wishes you the very best.  We'll miss you!  Thanks for introducing us to your happy little world of roller skating princesses and magic ponies.  :)

(I took this with my stupid phone cam and I'm so upset that it turned out so bad.  But it's still a great picture so I'm sharing it)

Trickertreat

What a week.  A non-stop party around here.  First it was my birthday, which many of you know if you've made it to your thirties and have children, doesn't really matter anymore.  Hence, I have no photos.  And that's just fine with me--the no pictures AND the not mattering part.  This was my last one in my thirties, so for those of you who might want to plan a big bash for me next year, just note that fact somewhere in your 2010 planner.    "Jacey's big 4-O."   I'll be over here holding my birthday breath.

I let my oldest stage a halloween party for some of her friends in our spooky basement this week.  It's spooky because it's unfinished--cement floors, 2x4's for walls, that sorta thing.  We did it up right (no pictures of this, either--I'm so lame).  Lights hanging from the ceiling, black streamers, yadda yadda yadda.  I spent my birthday night doing the decorating.  See above note about birthdays not mattering in your thirties.

Last night, of course, was the big night.  Trick or treating and buttloads of candy.  When I say buttload, I mean BUTT-load, because when I eat it, that's exactly where it ends up.  Of course, my kids all looked cute and fab in their costumes, but I'm gonna have to say that my costume really was the bomb.  I made quite the wicked Cruella de Vil.   I know a few of you will have some commentary on the appropriateness of my costume choice.

It took tiny Lucas a little bit of time to warm up to the whole trick or treating thing, but once he figured out how it worked, he was all over it like hairy warts on a witch.  I love how he worked the convenience angle by  hanging his bag around his neck.  It's like a feedbag.  Good boy.

This kid doesn't belong to me, but I'd love to adopt her...for a day or two anyway.  This is my niece, Emma, and I dare say she is the dang cutest chicken who ever flew the coop. You can't see the poofy-butt part of the costume here, but it's beyond adorable.  Seems appropriate that her mom would be "flipping the bird" to the camera in this shot, no?  (bottom left).  She swears it was not intentional.  She was just holding her purse. Hmmmm.

We also took a trip out to "the Red Barn" where they do hayrides out to their pumpkin patch.  Small problem:  it was an unexpected 35 degrees and overcast and even snowing a little.  I don't do hayrides under those conditions.  I still consider myself an Arizona transplant.  Baby steps.   So I bought the kids ice cream cones instead.  That seemed to make up for the whole hayride thing.

I can't forget  to mention Crazy Hair Day at school.  They both wanted spiders in their hair.  Ick.

This one's random, but worth posting.  The kids' new favorite thing to do when uncle Jim comes over is to have him hoist them up on top of the arch in our living room.  Ben was too chicken, but for some reason, the other three love it.  I think Ben's the sane one.