Halloween has come and gone. It is hard to believe. I love Halloween and always have. I love the decorations, the candy, the costumes, and that it is the beginning of all my favorite holidays. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Brittany wasn't here this year. She is the one that always makes sure we carve our pumpkins. I was surprised Landon was the one that pushed us to do it. It wasn't until the 30th though! I was so tired, but couldn't let him down. The boys did the worst part. Cleaning the guts. I never do. I HATE the feeling on my hands!

Landon, Brylee and I did the carving...

I carved a skull and crossbones*Landon did a mean face*Brylee's had a happy face

Brianne and her friends(Brianne and Brandy are Barbies)

Sometimes I have to wonder about this boy:) He always knows how to make me laugh though. He left to go to a friends house to watch scary movies and came home dressed as a horse with a black fro on his head! My fav is when he layed on the floor. His head is the horses butt:)

Brylee the Candy Corn Witch

Sat. the 25th the Surgical Center had a Halloween Costume Party at the Shilo Inn. We had good food, a great DJ that had some wild and crazy games, great music, good prizes. My friend and co-worker Lori and I decorated and I must say the decorations looked amazing! I still did not have costumes for Val and I since I had just returned from my trip on the 23rd. We were going to go as Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky(stain and all), but Bill Clinton masks were impossible to find. Go figure! At the last minute I came up with Paris Hilton in her orange jail jumpsuit and her Police Officer. I even found handcuffs with bling bling! I love costume parties! We had so much fun!(At least I did) Val's mustache and beard kept falling off. Luckily I had a black eyeliner pencil and drew his mustache in! I had to try his fake one on. Looks like I have a fly away that needs trimmed:)

Lori 70's Girl-Assistant Director of Nursing(My partner in crime!), Greg Pimp-CRNA, and Paris:)

October 19th, VCU Dental School Tour

After my Chicago conference I flew from there to Richmond Virginia to spend several days with Brittany, Josh, Teegan and Camdyn. I had really been looking forward to this part of my trip. Even though they have only been gone 3 months, I missed them more than I could ever imagine. Sunday afternoon Josh took us on a tour through Richmond. We drove down Monument Avenue which was pretty cool. These huge monuments are right in the middle of the road! We saw the James River and of course had to get out and take a few pictures. We drove through Shock O' Bottom and Shock O' Slip. Okay, did I spell that right? I guess it is a trendy part of Richmond. I just liked saying the words:) I kept asking if Barack Obama lived in Shock O' Bottom. Brianne was getting pretty annoyed with me:) Made it that much better. Josh took us through the Dental building at VCU. No one was there so we really looked around. It looked like fun and "almost?" made me miss school. All the Health Occupations were in buildings surrounding. The Nursing building was huge! Josh and Britt tried talking Brianne into going to VCU's Dental Hygiene program instead of to Provo. I really think she should look into it. Looked fun to me!

Josh is in the class of 2012. This board listed the states or countries each classmate is from. We made Josh point to Idaho. Isn't he a good sport!

Josh's workstation in the dental lab. He has been carving teeth out of wax. They give him a tooth and chunk of wax and he has to make it look identical to the real tooth. Who would of thought!

Brianne looks pretty cool (Dorky) in Josh's loops:)

Yes, Josh is a good sport! This is a mural in their lunch room. I made him act like he was walking down the path. He even waved!

October 20th-Short Pump Mall

Monday we spent most of the day at the Short Pump Mall in Richmond. It is an outdoor mall and is beautiful. I loved the landscaping and all the fountains. The girls thought we would only be a few hours, but I knew otherwise. It was a good day. That night we went to a really old $2 theater in downtown Richmond and watched Wall-E. Brittany said the theater reminded her of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland and I will have to agree!

Notice the "short pumps" around the fountain:)

Teegan threw a huge fit when it was time to leave....

October 21st-Washington DC

I don't know how it happened but I became the "designated driver" the whole time we were in Richmond. (Only when Josh wasn't with us) When I told the girls I wanted to go to DC the first thing Brittany said was, "you're driving"! Thank goodness for their GPS. It was the craziest day ever!! I can't even begin to count how many wrong turns we took, even with the GPS. We got hit by a car, got a parking ticket outside of the Smithsonian, accidentally pulled into the Arlington Military base and almost got strip searched (We were laughing so hard we were crying) That was the worst wrong turn I've ever made! We picked up strangers and gave them a ride, we got honked at more times than I can count. Britt said it was good we didn't have Idaho license plates....can you even imagine! We put the kids in their stroller and back into their car seats so many times. When we were ready to head home it was right during rush hour. Brittany was freaking out because of the congestion. She felt claustrophobic and wanted to stop somewhere until the traffic was lighter. Brianne told her that if we got that stroller out one more time she would slash its tires! And I really think she would have. We did end up stopping to eat, but left the stroller in the car:)

We did a lot of "Drive By Shootings". There were so many places we wanted to go but knew we didn't have the time, so as we drove by the girls would take a picture:) I was amazed at how close together everything was!

I was the driver and Brianne was the navigator. Britt was the nanny in the back:) Our GPS 's voice was a female. Brittany said her name was Mandy. Mandy was our friend and our enemy that day!45 foot Right Whale. I'd never heard of a right whale before!

Teegan loved the Nemo fish:)

I have always wanted to go to the Arlington Cemetery and the Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier. The feeling there was so strong. It really made me appreciate even more the Americans that have given their lives so that we can have the freedoms we have. I have never had a desire to serve in the military, but truly admire those that choose that as a way of life. I was overwhelmed with how large Arlington Cemetery is. I really don't know what I expected, but not that.

October 22nd, Maymont Park/Bottoms Up

Our last day in Richmond. The trip flew by so fast. We did not waste one minute and were constantly on the go. Britt said she wished we had pedometers on so we could have tracked the amount of walking we did! Maymont Park was beautiful. It was the perfect time of year to go. The weather was great and all the leaves were changing colors. It was a lot of fun. We decided that morning we were only going to take a few pictures. Yah right...we took more there than anywhere else:) Britt got real good at setting the timer on her camera and finding an object to set it on so we could all be in the pictures.
Teegan loved the hugh fish in the pond, and they loved him. We fed them chunks of graham cracker until they were gone, then started feeding them fish crackers. Kind of creepy...fish eating fish crackers!!

How can you help but love this little girl! This is how she is all the time:)

I wish Lexie could have been in these pictures!

Pizza at "Bottoms Up"! The best pizza I think I've ever had! Thanks Josh...

So my anticipated trip is over and I am back to reality at home in Idaho Falls. It was the most tiring but fun I've had in a long time! I'm so glad Brianne was able to fly to Richmond. There is nothing more worth while as a mom to see your kids love being together. When Brittany dropped us off at the airport Thursday morning and we were tearfully saying our goodbyes, I heard Brianne tell Brittany she loved her. I can't even put into words how that made me feel. I am so proud of Brittany and Josh. Josh is doing such a good job in school and is so excited about the things he is learning. Brittany is such an amazing mother. She is so patient with her kids. Is so organized, and is always so happy. Thanks Britt and Josh for putting up with me and Brianne during our stay. It is a trip we will always remember!! And I really am sorry about your car!

I Love Chicago

October 14th I had the opportunity to go to Chicago for a work meeting. I was so excited because I have never been to Chi town before. My friend Shelley has been there many times so knew all the great places to shop and eat. She gave me a very detailed list of how to get on the train at the airport, where to get off, all the addresses of places to go and what bus to catch and where. It was very helpful. The train thing was very intimidating I will admit. I rode it into the city, but when I left opted for the cab to the airport. $50 instead of $2 but it was worth it! I had an amazing time. The shopping was to die for! I spent way too much money but am already feeling like I need to go back soon! Friday night the 17th, meetings were over, nothing to do so I bought a ticket to Wicked. It was a little weird going by myself but it was so worth it. I had heard (from Shelley of course) how good it was....It was better than I could ever imagine. When it ended, I sat in my seat and cried. Overwhelmed with how amazing it was. I'm sure people around me thought I had issues! No one else was crying.....it is coming to Salt Lake in May and I will be there:)

October 9th we took Landon and Brylee to a Pumpkin Patch so they could pick their pumpkins. It was the only day that week we could go and of course was the coldest we have had this fall. I picked them up after tennis lessons and we met Val at the pumpkin place. It was freezing! Land and Bry didn't have jackets with them. They jumped out of the car, grabbed a pumpkin and were ready to go. They weren't thrilled when I made them wait so we could get a few pictures! Poor kids....