Halloween 2011

We started off the Halloween festivities this year on Saturday, October 22, at a friends birthday/halloween party. Then on Monday, October 25 we went to the Chapman's annual FHE pumpkin carving activity!

Then the carnival at the school was on Thursday night. (No pics of that.) Saturday the 29th was our ward Halloween carnival. This is our family that night, (thanks, Jess!):

And here are the kids on the REAL Halloween. Trinidee actually wore 3 costumes this year. She was Tinkerbell, a cowgirl, and Ariel. I guess it's a good thing we go to so many parties so they can use all of their costumes!

The weather was SO nice. It was the warm before the storm. We had snow the next day!

The girls were running door to door so fast, the boys and I couldn't keep up with them!

Our neighbors had this sheet hung up with fun Halloween movies playing. Ryker stopped as soon as we got there, stared, and stayed for a while. :)

After trick or treating, we went and hung out at the neighbors and had some yummy food and watched football. Thanks, Zierse's!

It was a good Halloween, but I'm sure glad it's over!

Chapman Reunion~ Park City

Over the weekend of September 16-17, we had our annual Chapman Reunion with Kevin's parents and siblings. We went to Park City and stayed in a timeshare there. We had lots of fun hanging out, eating good food, and swimming. But the best part was making this music video! Thanks to inspiration from a cousin's family, Glade and Madi produced and directed this one for us. It was a blast! I hope we can do it every year.

Myrna had just had knee replacement surgery, which is why she's in the wheelchair...

We also went on a "Chapman Chase", kind of like the Amazing Race, where we had to solve puzzles, do challenges, and find things around Park City, including a little Geo-caching. It was fun!

This was also the weekend of the big BYU-Utah game, so we watched it that evening. BYU didn't do too well. Bummer.

Thanks for planning such a fun reunion, Glade & Jessi!

Master Bedroom Makeover

So I've been working on this project since September, but I'm happy to say it's finally done!

I painted our master bedroom years ago, and I just chose these colors off of a paint sample book. I never REALLY loved the colors. And I just got more and more tired of it as time went on. After a while, I couldn't stand it. Especially after looking on Pinterest, and getting ideas and inspiration as to what I could do to give our room a facelift.

Click here to see my Pinterest board with the Master Bedroom Inspiration.

So here are the "before" pictures....

Kevin helped me paint the room one weekend. I chose a color that was pretty neutral, and a lot brighter than that red paint we had. It's a mix between tan and gray. I LOVE it!!

I wanted to do something with our boring bay window. I thought window treatments would be fun, but I didn't know where to start. I looked on Pinterest, and found my bay window inspiration! It's hard to find bay window curtain rods. So I just found a tutorial on a DIY rod, using a $2 piece of electrical conduit. Kevin, (being an electrician), already has the bender. So he bent it to fit the window.

Then we used this to spray paint it....

We just bought 3 brackets, and 2 end pieces to give it a finished look....

This is the window before.....BORING!

And after. Much better! The curtains are voile, and I bought them at Kohl's. I've also seen them in the Big Lots ad for $5. They are sheer and bright, and I love them!

I have an idea of what I want to put over the headboard, but it's not done yet. I'll have to post pics when it is.

I bought some fabric at JoAnn's for 50% off, and made these pillows to add a little bit of color to the room.

Overall, we spent the most on all of the new bedding. We bought a memory foam mattress pad topper at Costco, a Duvet to cover our down comfortor, shams for the pillows, new sheets and blankets, and a body pillow.

I also spray painted some of the picture frames black.

Now I LOVE to go in my room and just relax! I think it's so much more inviting than it was before.

And I will soon be posting about our next project, the MUD ROOM, which is almost finished. :)

2 fun ideas

Just wanted to quickly share 2 ideas I've recently tried.

For Ryker's Pre-school Halloween party, instead of sending him with candy to pass out, we sent him with oranges, decorated like pumpkins. All you need is a Sharpie! Brilliant. I got the idea from Channel 2 news.

And this fun idea I got from Pinterest. Cut out the letters from your cardboard boxes from cereal, granola bars, fruit snacks, etc. and let your kids go with it. It kept my kids busy for a couple of hours this past Sunday at Stake Conference!

Ryker's 4th Birthday

Ryker turned 4 on Saturday, October 15. It was a gorgeous, warm fall day! It actually reached 80 degrees in the valley, so we decided to go up to Snowbird where it was a little cooler. Please pardon the cell phone pics.

Snowbird was giving free rides on the tram if you brought a can of food. But when we got there, we were advised the tram was closed. So instead, they gave us wristbands for the fun bouncy house and trampoline activities. The kids had fun!

That evening, we went to Chuck-E-Cheese. I had a Groupon, good for a Pizza, 4 drinks, and 100 tokens. What better day to use it than on Ryker's birthday!? The kids LOVED it there. It's the first time I've ever taken them. We'll have to go back. All of the games were one token, and they had a blast. :)

And that night we frosted Ryker's Lemon cupcakes, and the kids helped decorate them. Daddy was on a flight that day to Pueblo, Colorado with his brothers, and they went golfing with their uncle Duane. Kevin made it back in time for the cupcakes, and then Ryker opened his presents.

Half of this stuff is just "re-gifted" from his sisters. They just take random toys and wrap them. He got the outfit he's wearing, the Zurg toy he's holding, and his favorite present, the NERF gun!

I wanted to get some better quality pictures of him, since I didn't take my good camera on his birthday. So on Oct. 20, I took the kids to Gardner Village, since I'd never taken them in October to see the witches. It was also UEA, and hunting weekend, so it was JAM packed! There were way too many people for my taste, but I still got a few decent pics of Ryker. :)

Ryker is such a sweet little boy. And he's so smart. He already can recognize many of the letters in the alphabet. He LOVES going to pre-school.

He rarely sleeps in his own bed. He will sleep in the family room or our room on the floor. He likes to stay up late and sleep in.

He likes Banana Cream Pie yogurt, PB & Honey sandwiches with the crust cut off, string cheese, cottage cheese, pizza, and of course, CANDY.

He is still obsessed with Cars, Toy Story, Thomas, Star Wars, and recently, his most favorite movie to watch is the Spy Next Door. He watches it over & over.

Happy Birthday Ryker! We love you!!!