Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween to all our "Scoop" family and friends!  We had one of the best Halloween's ever (even with the wind and rain!).  Nerm looked awesome!  Not too shabby for a last minute costume if I do say so myself.  Ha Ha  Being that Halloween landed on a Sunday this year, our neighborhood (most of our state actually...just a perk to living in Utah!) celebrated on Saturday night.  Rosie dressed up as a nerdy basketball player.  She was hilarious!!!  She left for work before I could get her picture and was out of costume by the time she got home to throw her big bash, so I didn't get a picture...but trust me...it was a good one!

We hope you have/had a hauntingly happy Halloween no matter when you celebrate it!!!  And maybe next year we can celebrate it together!  Now THAT would be a party!!!!!!!!

The Heat Is On!

Sorry Honey, but it had to happen sooner or later!  Last night was an amazing storm.  The wind blew; the thunder rolled; lightening cracked; the rain pelted down and then turned to a slushy mess; and first thing this morning when I got up the heater went on!  I hate hate HATE to be cold (I'd make a horrible pioneer!) and I have really waited as long as I could before turning the heater on.  (Promise honey!)  We fought it long and hard but I think the cold season is finally among us.  Wish us luck!!!!!

Mrs. Porters Class Presents...."MAGELLAN"

"Nerm's" little 5th grade class presented a play to show us what they've learned about explorers this term.  What a fantastic way to teach history!  They had a great time and did an awesome job.  I didn't realize Tanner was such the actor!  He had enthusiasm, pizazz, and died on stage like a pro!  And I can't tell you how much we learned about Magellan that we'd never known before.  (Whoopy ti yi yo - strong brave Magellan.  You'll find the East Indies you just don't know where!  It was a catchy tune!!!!!)  Hats off to Mrs. Porter and her 5th grade class!  Despite what we heard over the summer from friends and neighbors (we were told she was way hard and both of us would CRY every day!....Sheeeesh people!  Scare us both to death for no reason....and you couldn't be further from the truth!  She IS tough, but I've never seen a teacher so dedicated, sympathetic, and devoted to her kids), Mrs. Porter is incredible and has been absolutely the best teacher Tanner has had in a very long time!!!  I wonder what it would take to move her up to sixth grade next year???!!!  And we can't wait to see what they present to us next term!!!

"Mommy-gram" Day!

So if you haven't heard yet, it's Breast Cancer Awareness month.  We take this pretty seriously in our family after having a few friends and family brave the battle, losing my Aunt Lila, and going through my own little scare with a lumpectomy a few years ago (happy 40th birthday to me).  Lucky me now gets to have a Mammogram every year!  Yeah!  Nicki came up with the term "Mommy-gram" (among many other phrases and jokes which we won't go into right now.  Let's just say between both our sense of humors and quick wit we took this topic on for days!)

So here's a gentle nudge for all you mommies and non-mommies alike....no matter what your age.....to get those "girls" checked out.  If you're not over 40, get a breast exam.  If you ARE over 40 then get your hiney in there and get your mommy-gram!  If I can do it, so can you.  And it's not half as bad as you think it is.  AND you can take yourself out for a little treat or for a happy present afterward!  With that said, off I go for my appointment.  And I'll be thinking the whole time what my reward should be when I'm all done!  Hmmm.....food or shoes....food or shoes???

All in the name of ice cream (and teenagers)!

I guess I need to preface this little story by telling you that earlier in the week "Bruce" had a little surgery on his big toe for an ingrown toenail.  He's doing great and things seemed to be going just fine.  He had to fore go participating on the cross country team this week, but he REALLY didn't seem to mind.  So....we're all sitting there watching a little T.V. after the dinner/homework routine when all of a sudden......DING DONG....the doorbell rings.  Bruce literally JUMPS out of his chair and with a huge very red smile on his face says, "Oh, that's for me" and practically runs to the door.  We hear a cute little high pitched "Hi!" from outside as the door proceeds to practically slam shut.  Then we just hear "Nerm" YELLING, "She's HOT!!!".  LOL...hilarious!  Apparently someone had a little sympathy for the Bruce-meister and was bringing him ice cream.  It was sweet.  It was cute.  It was funny.  And yes, it made me feel old to know that our middle little guy is actually old enough to have little events like this in his life!!!  And frankly it just plain scared me to know that Nerm is THAT into girls already to actually yell she was "hot"!!!  Oh, and by the way, when it was time for family prayer "Rosie" came downstairs and let us know she was upstairs in her room studying with the window wide open and could hear everything, which made Bruce turn even MORE red if that was at all possible.  We didn't tell him we were sitting on the couch right next to the window in the front room and could hear everything as well!  (Giggle) Too cute!  Although he didn't even share his ice cream!

Mrs. Porter's Awesome Explorers!

No!  It's not quite Halloween just yet.  And no, this isn't Robin Hood.  Meet Jaques Cartier the famous French explorer who claimed the land of Canada for France!  Tanner's class is studying famous explorers and they were all assigned an explorer to research and give an oral report on.  He did an awesome job and even went as far as to do a little "ad-libbing" (he's such a ham!)  He was a little nervous (mostly about wearing tights to school - ha ha) but he did a great job!  I wish I had a video camera!!!