I'm working on a new blog.  Blogdrive has had its ups and downs (mainly downs) to the point I'm moving to a new host.  I'll let everyone know when it's up and ready!  Hope you all are enjoying the holiday season!

Well, we made it back from Utah yesterday afternoon around 3:00.  And we had a WONDERFUL time!  We ended up staying two extra days and had even more fun!  This might be a lengthy post but I want to share every detail that I possibly can, pictures included, so hang on...

We left last Tuesday (20th) bright and early at 6:00 am.  We had grand plans to drive to Cortez, CO that day, get up early Wednesday morning and get to Ryan's parent's house around 1:00 or so to surprise them.  Everything was going to plan until Ryan called his parents Wednesday morning after we left Cortez.  His dad answered the phone and Ryan told him that we would be leaving Albuquerque just as soon as we got the kids in the car.  Then....we lost reception because we were in the middle of nowhere Utah/Colorado.  I told Ryan that his dad is a smart man because he would either  A) figure out that we're lying to him and that we actually had already left or B) call my parents to see what was going on.  About 45 minutes later our cell phone rang and it was Jim!  Ha!  He said to Ryan, "Soooo, you guys are going to be here alot earlier than we thought.  You just left Cortez."  Ryan just laughed and told him not tell anyone else, not even his mom.  So we ended up surprising Lorraine which was priceless.  She didn't suspect a thing and was so excited when we walked in at 1:30. The kids were even more excited to see that Grammy and Pop Pop had a dog!  And that was great entertainment for them the whole time.  Andrew became fast friends with Fiona and constantly asked "Where's the puppy, Mom?"  (Maybe we won't have to get a dog if we go to Utah at least once year so the kids can get their "dog fix"  )

Thursday was spent in preparation for dinner that afternoon.  I was of little help since I was suffering from a huge sinus infection.  Ryan took me to the instacare Wednesday night so that I could get some antibiotics.  And that helped so much.  In hindsight I should have done that before we left for Utah, but I thought for sure it was getting better.  Anyway, Lorraine, Melissa, and Sarah (Tyler's wife) made a delicious dinner!  Ryan's sister Cassie and her husband Cole came that afternoon from Ogden and his brother Matt and his wife Ashley and their boys Heston and Porter came over.  The little cousins had a BLAST with each other!  They played so well together and it was so fun to watch.  After dinner we played games and watched movies.

On Friday we made plans to go up to Salt Lake to see my grandpa.  However, things changed when I got a phone call from my mom telling me that Aunt Kathy had just called and that Grandpa was on his way to the hospital because they thought he might be having a "small heart attack".  I lost it.  I just cried and cried.  But then the thought came to me that he was going to be ok and at least we were up here if anything should happen.  Fortunately, it turned out not to be a heart attack just some really bad pains coming from his rib cage.  (I don't know exactly the name for it, but that's how it was described to me.)  We changed our plans to go see him on Sunday afternoon.  And actually it worked well for us because Ryan's grandparents came down to Orem that morning to see us.  So we got to spend some time with them and they are just as cute as ever.  I always take a picture with them every time we see them.

That afternoon we had the "Bolt Family Pictures" taken down in the Riverwoods area in Provo.  It was beautiful but pretty chilly.  Ryan's brother Dustin took them and they turned out pretty good! (Thanks, Dustin!)

(Back row L-R: Tyler, Ryan, Cole, Tony, Jason  Middle row L-R: Sarah, Me, Cassie, Melissa, Matt, Ashley, Dustin holding Fiona  Front row L-R: Rachel, Andrew, Lorraine, Jim holding Porter, Heston)  This was by far the best one.  And then Dustin took pictures of individual families.  Here's a couple of ours:

 

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The bottom one is probably my favorite one.  Can you tell the kids were freezing?  They are just not use to Utah cold weather.  (And can you believe we actually saw some people wearing shorts?  At first it was kind of shocking, but then I thought back to when I was living there and sometimes in the winter I would wear shorts or short sleeve shirts with nothing but a light jacket or no jacket at all and think nothing of it. I'm a bit of a wimp now.)  And then he took one of the grandkids and grandparents and they were precious!

This was probably one of the better ones.  My kids had pretty much had it with the pictures or rather the cold at this point.  These next few crack me up.  Notice my kids compared to Matt & Ashley's.  It is so obvious which ones don't live in Utah...

Rach and Andrew look like they are going to become popsicles any second.  By the time these shots were done Andrew's lips were literally purple he was so cold. Anyway, it was great fun.

Saturday, Ryan, his dad and brother went to the very anticipated BYU/Utah game.  They were all dressed in their Utah stuff and I think they were pretty sure who was going to win the game.  But, alas, it was a sad game for us.  BYU won.  Ryan was still recovering from the loss the following day   While they were at the game me, Rach, Dustin, Melissa, and Tony went to see "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium".  It was a cute movie but not what I expected it be.  We were totally planning on taking Andrew with us, but he fell asleep about 45 minutes before so he and Lorraine stayed home.  And it turned out to be a good thing because I don't think that movie would've held his attention for very long.

Sunday we got up early to get up to Gardner Village in Midvale to have my friend Heather White take some family pictures.  It was a lot of fun as well.  It was completely decorated for Christmas and the kids loved it.  I'm still waiting to get the pictures back.  I can't wait.  I'm sure they turned out fabulous!  It was so awesome to finally meet her.  I have only known her through her blog and she is just as fun and cute and wonderful in real life!  I hope we can get together some other time while I'm up there so that I can get to know her better!  (Thanks Heather!)  After we left there we surprised Rach by taking her to "hallowed ground".  No it wasn't temple square.

EAST HIGH!!!  The site of High School Musical!!

She was so freaking excited!!  It was awesome!  She walked all around the front in just awe.  It was pretty awesome.

After that we went to see Grandpa.  He lives in the Cottonwood Retirement Community.  It is a really nice place.  We spent about an hour with him.  He just watched Andrew and Rach.  He had his typewriter (which is really old) on his desk.  And this is a funny story.  When I was little when we would to Grandpa and Granma's house in Bosque Farms we were NEVER allowed to touch Grandpa's typewriter.  Not that I remember Grandpa ever telling us not to touch it, but I remember my mom just pointing her finger telling us "Do NOT touch Grandpa's typewriter!"  I always thought if we touched it Grandpa would spank us.  So I was always deathly afraid of doing that.  But while we were at Grandpa's Rach and Andrew were absolutely fascinated with the old typewriter.  Probably because they had never seen one before.  And I could hear in my head my mom telling me, "Do NOT touch Grandpa's typewriter!"  So I was getting after my kids telling them, "DON"T touch Grandpa's typewriter!"  Grandpa was just getting a kick out of them.  And he said, "Oh Shannon, they're ok.  They're not going to hurt it."  WHAT?!?! I couldn't touch it, but my kids can???  You can tell where the great grandkids stand.  LOL  Anyway...After we had been there about an hour, Andrew says, "I go home now.  Bye." and walked out the door.  Grandpa just laughed.  I said, "Well, Grandpa I guess we better go."  He thought it was pretty funny.  It was so good to see him and visit with him.  I love him so much!  After that we headed to Midway to have dinner with Aunt Kathy and Uncle Dean.  We had a wonderful evening with them.  Uncle Dean gave us a copy of his newest book Before the Dawn  and it is awesome!  I'm almost done reading it.  I can't put it down.  In fact I was up until 12:30 last night reading it!  Highly recommend it!

Andrew was pretty much done taking picture at this point.  He did not want his picture taken anymore.

Monday we just hung out at Ryan's parent's house.  Lorraine watches Heston and Porter on Mondays and Tuesdays so they were over there for the day.  The kids had so much fun with each other.  That night we went up to Salt Lake for dinner and to see the lights at Temple Square.  It...was...awesome!  The kids had never seen the lights at Temple Square before and I think they were in awe.  Their favorite thing was seeing the life size nativity scene, hearing the Nauvoo bell ring (which we waited outside in the cold for about 20 minutes to hear) and seeing the Christus.  It was such a fun evening and a wonderful way to start the Christmas holiday. (I have pictures but I just haven't uploaded them yet.)

Tuesday Ryan and I got up and got ready to go to the temple.  We wanted to go to the Mt. Timpanogos temple since it had been a while since we had been to that one.  We pulled into the parking lot and there were I swear maybe 10 cars there.  I looked at Ryan and said, "I think it's closed."  He called his parents and sure enough it was closed for maintenance.  We were so sad.  But at least we got to see it.  Maybe next time we're up there we can go.  That evening I went to Lorraine's Relief Society Christmas dinner.  It was really nice and I really enjoyed myself. 

Wednesday morning we left to go home.  It was sad.  We had such a great time.  But it was time to come home.  The drive was good except for going over Soldier Summit.  It was snowing and semis were coming around the corners very fast.  Our windshield wiper fluid froze so we couldn't wipe off our window which made it very hard to drive.  We finally pulled over and Ryan got them washed off.  It was a scary drive, but Ryan got us through it safe and sound.  We drove to Tucumcari that night and drove the rest of the way in yesterday.  Now it's time to get out the Christmas decorations and get ready.  The elf made his appearance last night.  However, the kids didn't notice him until this afternoon, so he's had all day to "watch" unnoticed! 

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I survived the craziness!  Even with a minor sinus infection!  Halley and I did great at the craft show.  In fact we were even invited to be in the Enid Home Show!  We were told by one of the reps from it that we had very unique and different things (at least for Enid ).  Anyway we're still thinking about it.  But pretty cool anyways. 

We went to Tulsa Saturday afternoon to watch Ryan run in the Tulsa half Marathon on Sunday.  He did awesome!  His time was 10 minutes better than the one he ran in OKC this past spring.  He said it was alot harder though...more hills.  He wasn't expecting that.  But he had a great time.  I definitely decided that I am going to run the OKC half this spring.  I can't wait!  I start training pretty soon.

Well, I better go.  Still have to pack for the big trip to UTAH!!  We'll see everyone up there soon!  Have a great Thanksgiving!  We love you all!

After rereading my post, I thought it made me sound like a drug user.  But rest assured I am not.  I have what I affectionately call my "happy pill" (aka Prozac).  It makes a world of difference for me and ultimately for those around me!  As Rachel told me once "it makes me a happy mommy and not an angry one."  LOL

Anyhow, I'm surviving the craziness.  I'll let you know how things are going later!!

What else can I say?  It's getting into the holiday season and I have committed myself to a lot.  I'm insane, but I am on drugs!  Thank goodness for modern medicine (Ha Ha!!).  But seriously, though, I ALWAYS do this to myself.  That is...say yes to everything and totally overload myself.  This is what's up and why you haven't heard from me in a week or so (or has it been longer?).

Breathe in...and...go...

I have become really good friends with my visiting teaching partner which is totally awesome.  I finally have a friend after living here for almost 2 years.  We both really enjoy doing alot of the same things and totally understand one another.  It is so awesome.  The only sad thing is that they are in the military and won't be here forever (I'm not either, but I'm sure we'll be here longer than they will.)  Anyway, every year the military wives have a craft fair held at the expo center here in Enid.  And Halley and I are making some crafts to sell.  I can't believe we are are doing this, but it has been fun.  Did I mention that the craft fair is next Saturday, Nov. 17th!  And we just started making our stuff this week.  Yea...crazy, I know.  But wait it gets crazier...

That same day is our ward's Super Saturday.  I am on the enrichment board as a cooking specialist and sooooo I am doing a cooking class for it.  You see the insanity?  Oh and I forgot to mention that Ryan, the kids and I have to leave for Tulsa by 3:30 that afternoon because Ryan is running another half marathon the next day.  And we need to get his packet before everything closes.

And oh one more thing, we are leaving for Utah that following Tuesday (Yeah!!!!) for Thanksgiving.  So throughout this insanity I have to get ready for a week trip.  It really is a good thing I'm on drugs or I would literally be going insane.

Anyhoo...

I do have one funny thing to mention.  Andrew has been really into dressing up and pretending to be different things.  So in October I decided that I would hit all the "After Halloween" sales and get him set up with some way cool boy dress up items.  I got to Walmart the day after Halloween all ready to buy some fun wigs, dress-up props, etc.  All I could find were blonde mullet wigs!! Now, I wouldn't have really thought too much about it, but then the thought came to me that maybe the reason the mullet wigs weren't selling is because the majority of the people living in Enid have mullets and don't need wigs or Enidites don't consider a mullet wig a dress up item!  Needless to say I didn't buy it.  And I was very disappointed with my attempt at giving Andrew a fun dress up box.  Maybe next year. He's happy with his Boody costume.

That's it from here.  I got to get to bed.  I have to be up early to finish up some craft projects.  If you don't hear from me for a while just know that I am ok.  If I end up in a mental hospital I'll make sure Ryan lets everyone know

This is going to be a quick post, but I wanted to get it down before I forgot it.  This past weekend we went to Dallas for my cousin, Mike Milligan's wedding.  It was a BEAUTIFUL wedding and a TON of fun!  But kids, and I'm speaking of my kids of course, make a road trip interesting.  Take the following little snippets:

• On our way down to Dallas, we stopped at a LOVES convienent store.  This has become tradition in our family especially for Rachel.  She HAS to stop at a LOVES for a potty break, get a treat, and look around at all the stuff.  Of course, she ALWAYS finds something to buy.  We stopped at LOVES, I believe it was in Ardmore, OK.  We walk in and Rachel is just staring around the store with her mouth open.  She says to me, "This LOVES is the biggest one I have ever been in!  I'm just hypnotized by it!"  So cute!  I think she meant to say "mesmerized", but instead she was hypnotized!  Cute, cute!
• Then Andrew on our way back to Oklahoma kept asking the dreaded question, "Are we there yet?"  A bigillion times!  Just turned 3 and he has that question down pat.  But when we got to Ardmore, he asked this question for the...hmmmm....upteenth time and Ryan told him "No not yet."  Andrew then said, "Oh.  Just drop me off."  I guess he thought he might get home faster if he walked.  So funny!

Anyway, that's it for tonight.  I'll give a post later about the wedding and Andrew's birthday celebration!  He's 3!!  Can hardly believe it!

Yes, I know it's been a while.  I guess I just went through a phase of "Does anyone really care what we're doing?"  I know all of you (well, I'd like to think that all of you) would say, "YES!  We do care!"  But I just think we live a pretty uneventful life.  I read other blogs and they are chock full of excitement, drama, creative ideas, etc.  And our life is just not that.  We are a busy family just trying to get by one day at a time.  Our lives are hectic and mundane at the same time if that makes any sense.  Anyway, that is a reason I haven't blogged in 3 or so weeks.

But....it is my favorite time of the year...THE HOLIDAYS!  And I have found some way cute sites on the net with way cute holiday ideas.  And I wanted to share.

Once again I am Rachel's homeroom mom and I have been searching for some way cute ideas for the Halloween class party.  And I found some!!  Yay!  I am going to make these way cute Witch broom treat bags made from brown lunch bags.

And then I found this super fun game.  It's the Mummy Wrap game.  You divide the class up into groups of 4 to 5 kids.  Give each group a roll of toilet paper.  A child from each group will be the mummy for their group.  The other kids in the group have 3 minutes to wrap their mummy.  At the end of the 3 minutes each mummy will be judged and awards will be given for the "fastest wrap job", the "most covered", the "funniest", etc.  You get the idea.  I am so excited.  I think the kids will have a lot of fun.

And then I found some cute Halloween gifts for teachers, neighbors, friends.  I have been trying to find a cute non-candy gift for Rachel and Andrew's teachers and I found it!

Isn't this the cutest idea.  Actually it's not new to me.  My cousin Shelly had posted this idea last year I think for Christmas, but I had not thought about Halloween.  This person actually just used the rub-on stickers for the "Boo", wrapped a festive ribbon around the top and Walla...a cute non-candy gift!

Here are a couple of candy gifts that I thought were really cute too, if you want a candy type gift.

Anyway so there you go.  Some cute ideas for Halloween.  I must give credit where credit is due.  The treat bag idea I got from this fun site and the gift ideas I got from this cute blog.  (See what I mean....other people have way more exciting blogs than mine)  So have fun!

I've been published!!  About a month ago my brother Brett asked me to do a guest post for his website, Frugal Law Student on the Halloween advent calendar that I made last year.  So I finally put words to a computer screen to explain how I made this craft.  I was kind of nervous because I feel that I don't always explain things very well.  But everyone LOVES it!  And now if you google my name you can find about 5 or 6 websites that have linked to Brett's.  Even a french forum!  Crazy!  Who would have thought???  Check out his website.  It gives some great tips and ideas about living frugally even if you're not a law student.  Great website!

I feel so on top of things this year!  At least for Halloween.  I have both kids' costumes bought and ready to go!  Rachel decided this summer that she wanted to be Gabriella from what else...but HSM.  So I found a costume on CelebrateExpress.com, ordered it...bada bing...it's here! 

Andrew was a little more tricky.  Earlier this year he was saying he wanted to be "Boody" (That's Woody from Toy Story.)  I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to come through with that request since it's been like 10 years or more since that movie was really popular enough to have Halloween costumes.  But I did find a Buzz Lightyear costume in a catalog and really talked it up big to Andrew.  He went for it so I ordered it...bada boom...it's here!  However, as luck would have it Andrew and I found a Woody costume at K-Mart!  We were walking down the aisle looking at all the Halloween costumes.  Andrew spotted a Buzz costume and was so excited about it.  I happened to look over and saw the "Boody" costume.  I said, "Andrew!  Look what I found!"  Andrew:  "OHHH!  It's a Boody costume!"  He took it from me and was looking at it, turning it around to see the hat.  He looks up at me and says, "Mom, can you buy it for me?"  How could I say no.  He was so excited!  He keeps looking at it with awe then he asks me, "Mom, can I put it in the cart?"  I said "Sure!"  He puts in the cart carefully and then looks at me and says, "Tank you, Mom!"  My heart just melted!  It was so cute! 

We checked out and when we got into the car he was very concerned about where his "Boody" costume was.  He asked me on the way home, "Can I wear it when I get home?"  "Yes, Andrew."  "Oh, tank you, Mom!"  The minute we got home we put it on and he got Rachel's stick horse and was galloping all over the house!  It is the cutest store bought costume I've seen in a long time!  He wears it at least once a day and has even worn it all day.  I love this age when their imagination is so active!

I wish I could post a picture of Boody, but camera still not fixed.  Hopefully soon!

Sorry, it's been almost 2 weeks since the last time I wrote.  No reason.  Just...ummm...yeah...We're finally into a "routine" around here.  The kids are enjoying school (especially Andrew) and I'm enjoying my few hours of childless bliss!  I'm still waiting for a day where I can just come home from dropping him off and just lay on the couch and read or watch tv, but it hasn't happened yet.  Soon I hope.

Andrew LOVES school!  He asks everyday if he's going to his "cool".  He sings me the songs they sung, tells me about the "magic carpet" that they sit on for storytime, and let's not forget about the snacks.  That's VERY important!  He loves it all!  It's been a completely different experience for me this time than when Rach went to preschool.  It has just confirmed to me that every child is unique in their own way. 

Rachel is liking school a bit more.  She's still warming up to her teacher and getting used to the homework.  This week she did walk into the school all by herself which is a huge step for her.  I was so proud of her.  I think it's easier this year because she has friends that she can walk to class with.  She started dance and gymnastics and is really enjoying that.  And Girl Scouts started this week.  I'm the leader this year so I've been busy getting things prepared.  Rachel is a big helper for me with that.

A big accomplishment for me...I have Halloween costumes already bought!  Yeah me!  Usually I'm still working on costume the day before Halloween or I am having them "rushed delivered" 5 days before Halloween.  Not this year...the kids knew what they wanted to be so we got them. 

I've got to go get ready for the day.  I'm driving to OKC this morning to go to my mom's ward's Super Saturday!!  Fun Fun!!  Wish I could tell you what I'm making, but I can't since it is Christmas presents for our Utah families!!  Very excited about it!  I'll post more later

To come:

Buying Andrew's Halloween costume (so cute!)

The first sleepover

Coupons, rebates and recalls