It's the Busiest Time of the Year!

       Oh my goodness what a weekend it has been. I keep thinking that things are going to get better before they get worse. I love the holiday season but sometimes the constant go, go, go that it brings with it can really wear a person out.
       This weekend we kicked off our holiday season with four, yes four Halloween/Fall Festivals. Two of them were school carnivals and they were packed. The girlies loved every second of them even with the zoo that they were. They both loved playing all of the carnival games that were set up. P-nut was especially proficient at the ring toss games, and won some pretty amazing prizes. AJ was great at the skill games like bowling. Face painting was another favorite as were the balloon animals. Today we went to a kids party for my husbands squadron. That was an adventure to say the least they had it set up half inside and half outside on the lawn. The automatic sprinklers kept turning on, soaking all of the kids in their Halloween costumes and causing mass panic. Tonight was interesting, it was time for the Junior High Youth at my church to have a costume party and carve pumpkins. Surprisingly enough it was not nearly as scary as it sounded. The Youth were great, there were no problems, and the pumpkins turned out great.
       Next weekend we have more Halloween plans including a birthday party which should be lots of fun. Then some Trick-or-Treating on Monday night. After Halloween the festivities really start. I am hosting Thanksgiving this year for the first time all by myself and it is starting to panic me a little, so I am sure you will be hearing all about that as time goes on.
       Time for bed with a good book and a nice tall icy glass of water. Night all.

Zion National Park

Meal Plans haven't even been thought about yet this week. I usually get all of that together over the weekend and finalized on Sundays so that I don't need to do any shopping during the week. However since I was having an amazing time camping with my family and friends my meal plans are currently non-existent. The plan for today is to take stock of what we have in the house and to make plans from that. So when I do finally share them with you it will be a bunch of pantry and leftover style meals.

Now on to the fun part of this post. My camping trip this weekend. My family and three of my neighbor families (14 total people and 3 dogs) went to Zion National Park for a weekend away. I had an amazing time. It was so wonderful to get away from the desert that is Las Vegas and see some soaring sandstone cliffs and trees. For those of you that don't know I am from Northern Arizona so that type of natural surrounding is what I grew up with and what I am used to. We did some hiking trips with just our little family and some with the large group and enjoyed both times. I saw some wonderful wild life and landscapes all while filling my lungs with clean fresh air. There really aren't words to describe how beautiful it was so I'll just share some pictures.

It's Friday... Yippie?

As a SAHM with a husband who is currently half a world away serving in the military, sometimes I feel deflated on Fridays. I mean really, Friday is supposed to be the end of the work week, and the beginning of fun, family time, and getting your nose off the grindstone. In my world though Saturday is no different from Tuesday and Thursday, Little Diva is out of school those days, so I don't have to be anywhere. I don't look forward to anything, the Dirt Boy is gone, so he won't be here to make it special.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, too much. I love being able to be home with the girlies, and I am proud of my husband and what he does, but sometimes I just miss the carefree anticipation that Friday used to bring. Maybe it's time to revamp our Saturdays, time to make them something to look forward to, so that Friday has something special about it again.