Halloween

So I'll start with the pumpkin patch. We took all the kids last Saturday to the pumpkin patch, there was a childrens charity who let us bring our kids plus the foster babies for free. So we jumped at that chance and we had a great time. Except the corn maze that Jim took the kids on, (I hate mazes so I stayed out with the babies). I could hear Abbey screaming hysterically the entire time because she couldn't get out. I guess next year, she'll be out with me!




As we were looking for our pumpkins, we quickly realized that every single one was almost rotten! Regardless, we each grabbed one and brought them home. When it was time to carve them, the thought of carving almost rotten pumpkins really grossed me out, so I decided to let the kids paint them instead. They are always asking me to paint, so it worked out well, and actually I prefer painting anyway. It was much more fun!

here are the babies wishing they could come outside and paint. I love this picture!

On to Halloween... I loved the girls' costumes this year! Kimrie was Hermione, and my mom made her cape. I thought it was so great! I think she looks just like her!

Mallory was Gabriella from High School Musical on graduation day. Very creative I must say

Abbey was princess Alexa from the Barbie Diamond Castle movie. I made her dress, it was quite a project, but I enjoyed it. I am particularly impressed with the sleeves I made out of womens tights.
Usually it is absolutely freezing in Colorado for Halloween, but this year during the day it was 75 degrees, and at night it was in the 60's. After all that effort for warm costumes....
You'll be happy to know that Jim was able to yell at 2 different sets of teenage boys. Some of you know that he hates Halloween, especially when old kids come trick or treating. The first time he yelled at kids I was "lucky" enough to be at the neighbors house with the girls, I just acted like I had no idea who that crusty old man was yelling at kids. If I recall correctly, he said something like "Get outa here! You're too old for this, you don't even have a costume on! The next episode made me laugh so hard, at 9:30, some idiot boys rang the doorbell 5 times. Jim throws open the door and yells "Are you kidding me?! It's 9:30 get outa here, don't ever come here again, you are too old for this, get outta here!!" (I know I spelled "out of" wrong, but my way makes him sound like he's in the mafia.)
Now, I don't want you to think that Jim went rogue on his hatred for teenage boys out trick or treating. I wanted to beat up a few myself.





That aside, we had a great time, and I hope it is that warm again next year!!

zzzzzzzzz

Ok, even I am getting bored with my Seattle trip posts. So, now that I have Halloween to add, I will finish up with our Seattle trip. On our last day, we were able to go to a beach to get family pictures. My sister in law Marylyn took some really great pictures of us as a family. That is where poor Jim comes into the story. Not one of the pictures of Jim was good, he even hated them all. Unfortunately we all found that hilarious when looking at the pictures later. I must say though that I had my share of hideous pictures, especially the one where my dad said I looked like Gilbert Gottfried! I will include that one of me even though it's embarrasing. All weekend I had been hoping for a picture at the Puget Sound, I even bought shirts to wear. It was rainy most of the time, except for that last afternoon when it was so beautiful. Even though Jim hates himself in the pictures, I think they are beautiful, and Marylyn did an awesome job as the photographer! Thanks Min!

Wow, to that good lookin couple!(with heavy sarcasm) This is the one where my dad said I looked like Gilbert Gottfried. Google him, you'll see!(sign me up for some botox!)

Of coarse all the girls are photogenic

creepy!

Check this out! it's called make me a baby or something, you take pictures of you and spouse, or celebrity or friend, and it'll make a baby. It's fun, and just changing pictures of Jim or I changed our "babies" alot. Actually two of them kinda look like alien versions of the girls. The dark one is how I imagined my kids to look. I never thought I'd have light haired kids!
http://makemebabies.com/viewbaby.php?bid=6749480
http://makemebabies.com/viewbaby.php?bid=6749689

Travel log day 2

Here we are to day 2 of our Seattle trip. Our second day began with Jim going out to breakfast with all the brothers, dad and grandpa Frank. They ate a sinfully huge meal that included complimentary bananna bread. While they were out, I took the girls with my mom and grandma Vonda on a ride to see the old neighborhood. That was so fun, I showed them where we used to "walk"the dog, and by walk the dog I mean get in the truck and make the dog chase the car down the windy road to jump in the sound. Repeat 2 times. That dog would try to beat the truck up the hill even if it was the third time up. It was so fun to show the girls where we used to live.
Then, we went back to grandma's and I cut my mom and grama Vonda's hair. (You'll see a pattern here...) Once finished, we went over to Andy's and I did more hair!

Here I am doing Marylyn's hair, so in all I did 6 haircuts and 4 highlights/colors. It was alot of work, but I am very protective of my families' hair.


While I was playing with hair, everyone else was getting ready for the big family party and Peter's blessing. We had all 5 of my siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles over, and it was great!

So, before the blessing, we were able to take zillions of pictures as a family,




I can't help but notice that everyone else has beautiful hair, and I look like I just took a hat off. Oh well, at least my face looks greasy too. After the wonderful blessing, we had a great Texas bbq meal, mixed with Kjeld's sushi which was amazing, and I ate 6. I've been craving that sushi ever since. Speaking of Kjeld, his wife Jessica is a photographer, and she took the most fantastic pictures that night, here are a few... THANK YOU JESSICA!!!
(her blog is epiclifephotography.blogspot.com)






So, this is day two just a really nice day spent with family. Not too much craziness. But watch out for day 3 there is plenty of hilarity, unfortunately it is all at Jim's expense, so I may have to be censored!

Please use the restroom before viewing

I haven't laughed this hard at SNL in years.. We watch this at least 4 times a day when we need a pick me up

Maybe it's just me, but do you ever feel like the Judy of your family?!!

p.s I am not advertising for W the movie....

Seattle trip 1st day

I've been wanting to post on our trip to Seattle for a week now, but it's going to take forever. So... I'm going to post by day. I know the anticipation of each day will be almost unbearable for you, so I'll try to hurry.
First of all, we're thinking of you Aunt Kathy! Feel better!
Personally, I was so excited to have my girls with me in my hometown. I couldn't wait to show them all around, and be tourists with them. I always get a little nostalgic when in Washington, but I know that can't be helped because it is so gorgeous there. Anyway, you must always start a trip there with food from Ivar's, so luckily our awesome friends the Gunnells were willing to meet us in Seattle and eat lunch. Unbeknownst to them, all the Bjorn's were game,even Nekell with her 2 week old baby Peter! So we all went downtown. Here we are at the wharf eating Ivar's. Could this be any better? Thanks Chris and Tanya for coming!!

While Jim and I were talking with Chris and Tanya, my mom and dad had the girls out feeding those mangy seagulls. It was actually quite funny. Those stupid birds are so overfed, and so over fighting over food, you practically have to force food down their gullets just to entertain the kids. I'm sure this bird was thinking "D@*&%, it's my turn again! I just had to go, where's Vinny, it's his turn! Shoot, I need a smoke break!"

After the great food, (I ate a huge bowl of clam chowder, and a full basket of fish and fries.) It was just slightly too much! It set me off on an epic eating episode the whole weekend. But hey, that's what vacations are for! Anyway, we walked up the wharf looking at the fun shops, of coarse showing the girls the mermaid and chocolate slugs. After that, we walked up to Pikes Place market, which Jim kept calling Pike's Peak market. I only mention that because it really got on my nerves. That was so fun, of coarse we saw the flying fish and all the gorgeous flowers that were dirt cheap. I'd forgotten what it's like living somewhere with color. The only colors we have here in CO is beige. (it seems) The colors were so vibrant, of everything you saw! So here are the girls holding these amazing flowers for $4!


We wandered around Pikes Place market for awhile, here I am trying a chocolate covered twinkie. It would have been awesome if it hadn't been made 2 months ago.

Here is my brother Andy and I with Gavin (this pic is revenge for my 70's man hair picture at the reunion)

So anyway, after wandering in Seattle for a few hours, we headed to Ikea for a record breaking quick browse, then home to Andy's for dinner. On the way home, Nekell, Marylyn and I stopped for pizza, and while there we accidentally picked a fight with a brace face 15 year old who wouldn't break $100. When she so rudely said she couldn't take anything over a $20, we demanded to know where it says they couldn't take it. She, (with a seriously bad attitude,)pointed out at least 3 signs stating the store couldn't take bills larger than $20. After all this, she had the nerve to fight with us about the chicken wings. Some people's kids are so freakin rude. So after going home, eating, and realizing we needed more, Marylyn and I sent Andy and Jim to get more because we were sure we wouldn't be welcome back there.
And that's the first day, combined with playing with Annika, Analiese, Gavin, Peter and Aniva. Whew!

Up to posting again

So I finally feel up to posting about our trip to Seattle. The reason it took so long is I've been thinking so much about our neice Hannah, and Mara. It's been one year since Hannah's passing, and almost 2 weeks since Mara passed away. It's just been weighing on my mind, and the thoughts are too many to post. So, here is a picture of Jim and I with Mara and her dad Brian. This was taken less than 24 hours before she died. I hate that I have a cheesy grin on my face under the circumstances, but it truly was such a pleasure and honor to be with them. They are such a beautiful, wonderful family! I'll never forget as we were leaving, Mara lifted two fingers to wave goodbye to us. It was such hard work for her to do that, she is so precious! It's such a small world that we even met the Adam's family. The week after Hannah died, my brother called and told us that their good friends' daughter Mara had the same form of extremely rare cancer as Hannah. There are only 200 cases in the U.S each year. We just feel blessed to have known these little girls, and have learned so much from them.