Trick-or-Treat

We had a great time trick-or-treating around our neighborhood with some friends and loved watching the kids reactions to all the candy and costumes (some of which brought tears to Tess and frightened Jacob).



Jacob has counted his candy, and Tess's, about a zillion times! He is quite the negotiator and tries to convince Dan or I to allow him just one more piece. Dan and I enjoyed collecting our "parent tax" on their loot!

Tess is such a social cutie-batootie! She made new friends at each door and received extra candy because of it! I love my little love bug!

Now on to the next HOLIDAY! I love this time or year!

Tag, Your IT!

I was "tagged" and thoroughly enjoyed reminiscing about the year 1998! I thought I would include some pictures that go along with my first "tag of FIVES". I hope you enjoy it, I definitely did!

Five things I was doing ten years ago (1998):
1. Still in High School! Thinking it would NEVER END!
2. Waking up too early for morning seminary!
3. Moved to Rochester, New York, to serve a mission with Lizzie, Mom and Dad.

Dad, Mom, Me and Liz in Palmyra

First Fall in New York

4. Giving tours with my favorite sister missionary (LIZ) at the Smith Farm during the Hill Cumorah Pageant.

My Mission Companion...couldn't have had a better one!

5. Becoming best friends with Cara Gilbert.

Five things I have to do today:
1. Attend a Primary presidency meeting.
2. Clean the Bathrooms.
3. Do a lesson for my online BYU Independent Study cooking class.
4. Continue trying to potty-train my mischievous little red-head!
5. Plan Sharing Time for Sunday.

Five Snacks I Love:
1. Rice Krispy Treats
2. Chocolate covered RK Treats
3. Candy
4. Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Carmel Apple
5. Gum (Yes, I love sugar!)

Five Things I'd Do If I Were A Millionaire:
1. Buy a beautifully decorated home!
2. Fly my mom out to watch my kids while Dan and I go on an exotic vacation!
3. Buy a Christmas Tree Farm
4. Go visit all of my siblings!
5. Put the rest into SAVINGS!!!

Five Places I've Lived:
1. Fayetteville, North Carolina
2. Mannheim, Germany
3. Ft. Lewis, Washington
4. El Stinko... I mean El Paso, Texas (no offense intended!)
5. Aiken, South Carolina

Five Jobs I've Had:
1. BYU International Admissions
2. Counselor
3. Cook
4. Teacher
5. Maid

Five People I Tag:
1. Marianne Gessel
2. Karen Rich
3. Allison Breinholt
4. Annie Jenkins
5. Celeste Goodson

Fall has Fallen !!

I know this will make you all jealous ...we had an AWESOME weekend in Boone, North Carolina (the heart of the high country). We went for our annual apple picking/camping extravaganza. Autumn cannot officially arrive until the Barnhurst's have picked apples in North Carolina! So, if Fall has arrived where ever you live, you can thank us!

The main event of the weekend was apple picking in the mountains ( for those of you out West, YES there are mountains east of the Mississippi...Dan made me write that!). We also went cave exploring, to Oktoberfest at a local ski resort, enjoyed lots of yummy eating at the campsite, and endless s'mores (the kids personal favorites). I was in heaven since everywhere we drove we saw beautiful mountains covered with Christmas tree farms! We had a great time and are happy to share some of the photos with you.

Be sure to check out the video below the slide show...Jake loves school buses and was SOOO excited to ride on a school bus from the parking lot to the resort for Oktoberfest. The best part was the BUMPY ride. The video is of Jake's cute reaction ( I only caught the end)!

We Love Visitors!!!

The Ballard's at the D.C. Temple

Best Friends at Arlington Cemetery

Washington Monument

This past weekend we enjoyed catching up with friends from Aiken! The Ballards are great friends and our boys are "best buddies". We enjoyed a long weekend of site seeing in D.C., yummy food, and therapeutic laughter! Thanks for making the trek up here, we love you guys!

You are going to SMILE!

I wanted to post these pictures to share the smile I get on my face every time I look at them!! We babysat for some friends awhile back and had a blast! For the few hours they were here the kids did not stop laughing and smiling because of my fun and goofy husband! Dan had them eating snacks like they were different animals, we all danced to the "Funky Town", made home videos and then read some funny books! Thank You Dr. Seuss!

You're SMILING aren't you!!

Our "Baptism Week"

Dad and Kids after Jake's Talk (Yes, that is Tess's happy face !)

BIG NEWS...Our little Sunbeam was assigned to speak in Primary this Sunday about baptism. We were all pretty excited about the topic. We have actually had lengthy discussions about this topic in the past year or so because Jake does NOT like to put his head under the water. In fact I still don't think he has ever done it- even after a summer of swimming. When he was 2 we told him all about baptism and I made the mistake of emphasizing that we had to go "all the way under" to be baptized properly. Once he found out that that included his head he was sure that baptism was not for him and I had visions of a traumatic baptism day 6 years down the road....

Anyway, we were pretty excited to talk about it again and had a Family Home Evening this week to prepare. The pictures below are from our FHE lesson, the highlight of which was showing the kids how we are baptized.

Then yesterday, Jake gave his FIRST talk in Primary. He told us before his talk that he was not scared and, sure enough, he got up and knocked it out of the park- with a little whispering in the ear. (I'm not biased or anything).

I took a video of his talk. I know what you're thinking..."Gasp, you're not supposed to record church!!!". You're probably right but I couldn't let the moment pass by...and I asked the Primary President if I could.

There are three "stars" in the video. Jake (the talk giver), Becky (the ear whisperer) and the little boy in the chair to the left of the video. You might want to watch the talk twice- once for Jake and once to watch him. He's pretty funny. It's a good thing the microphone on our camera isn't sensitive enough to pick up burping noises. Becky is the new second counselor in the Primary Presidency and at the end of the video you can see her awesome conducting skills (no downtime between the activities...the second rule of maintaining "control" in primary!! The first rule is bring snacks !!!) Enjoy!!!!

The Main Event

Do the Bunny Hop (Hop, Hop, Hop)

Eat Your Heart Out, Thumper !!!

Alright...this is going to be short, sweet and to the point. I just had to add the video I've included below. Recently, Becky has been going through some boxes of girl clothes we got from a friend and found a bunny costume. Well, when Tess saw it she had to put it on and, consequently, wore it around for the next day or so. It really made us all laugh. You don't often see a bunny-rabbit with a carrot top. She is a little nut and certainly livens things up around the house.We took a video of her in the costume "hopping". I "hop" you enjoy it !!!

All We Need Now is Some Rabbit Food !!!

Check out that Tail !!!