Are you ready for tomorrow night?

Remember how I wrote about the awesome cemetery in Quincy, IL where my sister lives. You can tell that we grew up in Southern California when one of the spots you take your sister when she visits is a cool old cemetery that you like. It reminded us both of the haunted mansion at Disneyland. There just isn't anything like this in So. Cal. Nothing old and shall I say romantically spooky. We drove around and picked out our favorite headstones. I was so glad I had my camera with me. I have been wanting to show you them and now that All Hallows eve is at our door - I thought the time appropriate.

I love this one.

Gloria's favorite is this house, always has to have the biggest and best. ha ha.

ooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. (in my best ghost voice).

one more of my favorite.

ahhh, Edgar and Edith. How sweet. You can get great name ideas.

Tomorrow I will be posting my festive neighbor Joe's Halloween decor. Remember last year? Is it possible to get more gruesome? The answer is yes!!!!

WE are carving pumpkins tonight. I try to get Dave to do it every year. I am one of those people who hates the mess. What a spoil sport I am. The weather is so incredible right now we can do it outside and I won't mind so much! OOH, maybe we can build a fire out back. It should be down to 70 degrees by tonight. ha ha.

law family.

check out this cute family.

has it really been a week?

I have been busy having fun with my sister Gloria and nephew Dallen. They came out for Leah's baptism. They flew back to Illinois this morning and we are so sad. Here are some of the highlights.There was alot of this going on. The kids actually swam in the pool everyday. Which is freezing by Arizona standards. Brrr. Glor and I stuck to the hot tub. I had Gloria read "Goose Girl" by Shannon Hale. If you haven't read it, come and borrow it from me. It is so good. Than of course you need to read the sequels, "Enna Burning", and "River Secrets." They are written by the same author as "Princess Academy." If you haven't read that then you have alot of catching up to do. They are all written for young adults. That's me. smile.I was reading (and still am) the third book in the Eragon saga "Brisinger." Again youth books, and thoroughly delightful. I highly recommend them.

Rebecca was so excited for Gloria to be able to go to her horseback riding lesson. It was at 6:30a.m. I stayed in bed, thank-you.

Friday night was the ward "trunk-or-treat" which is always so much fun. It is as much fun for me to dress up as the kids. At the last second I threw on my wedding dress and told Dave to find something for Frankenstein and I went as his beautiful bride. And no, my wedding dress doesn't still fit. It was hanging open in the back. ha.

A family pic from Leah's baptism day. It was so simple and beautiful. I just can't get over how strong the spirit is at baptisms. It strengthens my testimony every time I attend one. And of course, Leah was glowing.

So cool that Leah was able to get baptized on the same day as her good friend Devon. What special girls they are.

Before Gloria could leave, I had to edit Austin's (her oldest son) senior pictures. Remember, I had to cancel my trip out there to do them. So I had her look at Brianna Graham's website for ideas. She had the most awesome boy senior photo shoot that I knew Austin could pull off. HE is under the featured seniors (Dayton). Didn't Gloria do amazing? I will take some credit since I am her photography instructor. But this she did without me even there! woo-hoo! This was so fun that I think I will offer this service to just edit a photo that you have. The cost will be $25 per image. Here are the before and afters.

If you are interested you can e-mail me your pictures at heatherives@yahoo.com.

funny faces. funny stories.

On sunday we had our hometeachers over and in the middle of the lesson Leah asked the 17 year old boy and his father when a boy starts his period. Dave replied, "boys aren't very good at punctuation, and Leah you aren't allowed to ask anymore questions." I couldn't stop laughing.

Rachel is having some problems lately with pushing, kicking, hitting, pinching whatever person is near her when she is annoyed. I told her she needed to go and write me a paper on how she was going to stop this. I received this e-mail promptly.

Mom, I would like to start this paper to you by saying I am truly sorry. I know I cannot say it is a reflex for the rest of my life and I am trying to change for real from this day on.
I have a problem with hurting people and I think I will be able to stop by going to sleep earlier, drink a magic potion to not have hormones, and have lots and lots of alone time. Also if I don’t get myself into bad situations then I won’t get mad at everyone and go ballistic. I think I am nocturnal so I will flip my schedule so I can do things at night when I am the most happy. Or possibly I can control myself. But the real problem with me is every time I am with Leah I just freak out and get all mad! She always has some annoying thing to say to me to really grrrrr me ya know?!!!! I really just need to practice not hurting people and choosing to love over attacking!
I could also maybe just whenever I get the urge to hurt someone or something I can just hold back and maybe I can have a punching bag and I will just punch that a lot then not want to punch or kick because I will hurt so bad from getting bruises from trying but not succeeding. All I am trying to say is that I am sorry and will really, really try to do a lot better! (And I love you!)
Sincerely, Rachel Ives

As I was yet again frustrated by something I couldn't do on the computer, I sighed and said, "Oh Lizzie, my life is difficult." She replied, "so is mine, I have to clean my room!"

This evening has been filled with non stop hugs from Jacob as he finally saved his money and got a cell phone. Rebecca took advantage of his mood as well. She is always trying to get Jacob to hug and kiss her on the cheek and dance with her. He obliged her tonight. We gave Jacob a million rules for the cell phone usage and as usual he happily accepted any instruction we gave him happily. TEENAGERS LISTEN UP! If you want your parents to be putty in your hands all you have to do is obey, and be respectful. Just give it a try for a week! You can add in some compliments too. Jacob walked up from behind me at church and said, "oh, I didn't know that was you mom, you look so good." Totally working me, but I'll take it! I guess he could be being truthful since I rarely get done up except for church. He would kn0w me from a mile away in my robe or pajamas. ha.

so proud of this girl

Last night I photographed Rebecca in her happy place. She wanted pictures to put up all over her room. I have tons more to edit, but thought I would share one. Her teacher was freaking out because she is just learning to canter and Rebecca was doing figure eights through the cones cantering cueing the horse just right. Way to go Mary!!!

Sedona-or red rock country (as dave liked to say over and over)

Here we are driving into sedona Friday afternoon. We were too tired to be that impressed. We headed straight to the pool to relax and recover.

Of course, one of my favorite things on a trip is a yummy breakfast. The weather was incredible. We just wanted to sit there all day (still tired, I guess.)But we had a great adventure ahead. A helicopter trip, which is the best way to go when you only have a short time, and are too tired to hike. ha. Are you ready for the view? It was amazing!!

On our flight we were shown many native american ruins. How would you like a condo like this? I'm thinking that is a long climb to get back home to bed at night. Can you see the hieroglyphs?

Back on the ground we drove on over to red rock park.

Where we hiked (slowly walked) along the creek there.
WE realized that we didn't have a backpack so we searched the back of the car (that is never cleaned out) and found one of the girl's bags that they carry their coloring stuff to church in. I thought Dave looked rather styling with it. ha.
red rock country man. ha ha
On our way back to the big city we stopped by at Montezuma's castle. Incredible indian ruins.
Last but not least, we visited one of my favorite national parks. The outlet mall. I finally went to Naartjie (pronounced Narchie). It is a children's store that Natalie K. and Jenn W. kept telling me about. I was overcome and had to leave before I bought the whole store. If you want to have a photo shoot and can't think of outfits to wear, go here. Layered, colorful, comfy,and cute. I loved all the hats, scarves and tights too. Also, Dave had to drag me out of the Gymboree outlet. I have never seen one, and it was amazing. I was thinking I could just buy a doll to dress and carry around. Instead, I bought the cutest stuff for Summer H's baby.

Did you like my new bigger and better pictures? Finally figured it out (or rather dave did). I love that man more each day.

What my morning looked like....and yours?

Somehow this picture of laundry doesn't show just how huge it is!! Like 15 loads. One of the greatest things about vacation is the laundry pile -up, ha. Fortunately for me I had ms. jane eyre to keep me company.
Have you seen this? It is 4 hours of pure heaven. Love love love it. Done pretty recently by the BBC. Thanks Petra for loaning it to me. Afterwards, I bought it instantly. One time was just not enough.
Now I am off on another adventure. You know that country song that talks about "live like you are dying." WHile, I don't think I am going anywhere soon, I definitely going to party every last minute that I have with Dave. smile. Seriously, I don't think he is going anywhere soon either but it's a good excuse right? Dave is taking me on a scenic picture taking dream adventure up to sedona. I will definitely have great pics to share. ooooh, can't wait. Alone time, how sweet!