Mom and Dad come to visit!

So my crazy parents came down for another weekend in Cali...I say crazy but I am so grateful to them for taking the time to jet set down and visit, even if its only a couple of days. Its still 3 days my children get to have with their Gramma and Grampa and that's better than none. And they enjoyed every minute of it!

We hung out at the house for a couple of days and enjoyed life in general, and then the last day we went to one of the most breath taking places I've been...the Sequoia's.

Its not as shocking as the first time seeing those giants (I'm sure Mom and Dad were blown away!) But still awe inspiring. Seriously...how can anyone question if there is a God out there who loves us, especially when he gives us that gift of beauty to enjoy...and its been standing there for hundreds and thousands of years...how can you question such a thing?

Cooper enjoying the hiking with Daddy

Grampa and Brody decided that this looked like a giant spider crawling over the log!

The kids with Gramma and Grampa

I love the fall colors!

We hardly get any pics of the two of us...I'm trying to change that.

All of us at the General Sherman tree.

My cuties...another gift of beauty from my Heavenly Father!

Cooper and a giant sugar pine cone.

And again the beauty of fall...I never really appreciated it until I moved down here. In southern Alberta the leaves turn yellow and then the wind usually blows them to the ground before you can really enjoy them. Here, they turn yellow, red, orange, purple, scarlet, brown...every fall color and all on the same tree...it is so amazing to me...I love it! It almost makes fall my favorite season..almost...flowers in the spring still have it beat, but its running a close second!

I am so grateful for the chance my parents had to come and visit us, and grateful for the fact that they love us so much that they will come to see us...just because.

Thanks again Mom and Dad....Love you always...

Halloween week!

So be prepared for picture overload!

So we were SUPER busy this week, crazy, running everywhere! But we had some Halloween and Fall Fun while we were at it!

Cooper discovered some new gloves...

Brody found a new 'mask'...

And we went to the Pumpkin Patch. We had never been before so I was pretty pumped, and the kids had alot of fun picking out their own pumpkins...

Brody checkin' out the produce...

Oh ya...Clint and Monique and Bryce came too!

My cuties in the Patch

Bryce and Coops in the Pumpkin wagon.

This is what happens when the boys are quiet...too quiet...

Then we had a Ward Halloween Party...

The kids had a lot of fun playing the games and going trunk or treating...

And Brody won 'Funniest' costume...can you think why?

Then on Halloween we had a Party and watched Monsters versus Aliens!

Cooper's turn with the 3-d glasses!

And here are our spooky jack o lanterns!

So we had a lot of Halloween fun..the kids didn't go out Trick or Treating, but lets face it, between Disney and The Ward party we have had enough candy to last us forever!

Hope you had Spooktacular Halloween!

Wordful Wednesday...What's in a name?

What's in a name?...Hmmm..

I got my name from my mom...her name isn't Jessica, but she just always loved the name. She also wanted a little girl with brown eyes so I guess she lucked on and got 2 for 2 on me!) So when I was born I was named Jessica Dawn Henry. If I had been a boy I would have been named Johnathan Scott...so I'm very glad I was a girl!

I have always liked my name. I like the fact that I am known to many different people by different variations of my name, but I'm still me, Jessica Dawn. For instance...

When I was little little, I would call myself Jeccitha Dawn. My grandmother loved it, so she still calls me Jeccitha to this day.

My Mom and Dad have called me many things...(I'm sure some were Never justified! LOL!) but the one that stuck was Jessie Dawn. Which is what most of my childhood friends call me. When I played softball it was shortened to Jessie D ( only fair since my mother's was Margie T!)

Friends call me anything from Jessica, Jess, J, Jessie, Jesser, Hey You!...but to my husbands family, I am Martha. Now where does Martha come from? My husband is a nurse, and when he was going to school the movie 'Meet the Parents' came out and Ben Stiller's character (a male nurse) was named Gaylord Focker. And the girl was Pamela Martha...my brother in law thought that was just great, so we are now known as Martha and Gaylord Focker...mostly just my husbands family though...many people hear it now and don't get the joke!

I really do like my name. But I think my favorite name that I am called most frequently is Mommy. Sometimes it comes with a whine "Moooommmmmmyyyy, Whhhhhyyyyy!" or a scream "MMMMOOOOOMMMY! SO AND SO HIT ME!" or a small cry in the night that Daddy doesn't hear (or chooses not too!) But this is the name that I use for my job right now. It reminds me of why I am here, what I am doing and frequently, who I am working for. But I like it....I love it, really....even on the crazy days....I like my Mommy name.

Mickey's Halloween Treat 2009...the year of the JOKER!

Bring it! says Wonder Woman!

So again we headed for Disneyland to go Trick or Treating (don't hate me because I get to go to Disneyland!) And this time we met with Jamie, Jody, Wyatt and Cole! They flew down to So Cal to play and we played with them for their last couple of days. The kids had a lot of fun playing and riding at Disneyland. And it was nice to be with family again if only for a short while!

So the last night, we planned on the Mickey's Halloween Treat. And of course we dressed up! And for us...you go big or go home! If you dress a kid up, no matter what you do they always look cute, but when you dress up an adult you need to really go all out or you just look silly! So Brody found a Hulk costume and he really liked it so we decided on Comic book family and since I couldn't find two more adult costumes that didn't involve red spandex...the other Godlonton's went as pirates! We all looked great of course (I'm slightly biased...) but you be the judge. Could we win a costume contest?!

This is Cole's Mean Pirate face...too cute to be mean, right?

The Three hooligan's waiting for Toy Story.

Little batman was really not in the mood for pics...and he didn't like his mask.

Cat Woman and little Batman.

Our very Creepy Joker.

The Pirate Family and part of the Comic book Hero's!

The Joker and all of the kids!

Gracie was so funny as Wonder Woman. She started acting like a Princess till we reminded her that Wonder Woman was tuff and then she had all sorts of Kung fu moves and she kept telling us to "Bring it" with her hands! It was alot of fun! Now what on earth are we going to go as next year?

Happenings at our House...

So we've been busy doing nothing...but its fun! Gracie is doing well in school and the boys are keeping Mom busy at home. We are so excited that next week we get to go down to Anaheim and see Jamie and Jody and the boys...we are even going Trick or Treating at Disney with them, YIPEE! But here are some pics of Happenings at our House the last couple of weeks!

We went to the fair for the hospital BBQ. BoBo the clown was there to make balloon creations for the kids! It was great till the wind started!!

This is Cooper man doing some Yoga! He likes workin' out with Mom in the mornings!

When the kids do thier homework in the afternoons, Cooper has got to get in on that...so he sits on the table and colors...usually all over the table!

Here's Miss Thang...I just had to take a pic this day because she just looked so cute!

And here's Miss Gappy... Daddy finally had to pull the front top tooth...she was pretty proud...and now she has a slight lisp which is a little funny!