Halloween Highlights

Toby busted out an oldie but goodie for the ward Halloween party (he was this costume a couple years ago) But he decided to be something different on Halloween night

Athena (Pirate) and Arielle (Doctor) at ward party

Tobes being "a scary guy" thanks to Jim's artistic skills

Sorting candy is a science obviously - look at that organization!

Trick or Treatin' with the Parkes & Crowthers...Dr., Kiss band member, Grimm Reaper, Ballerina, Bronco player, Rockstar

Toby was too OLD to go with us- so he went trick or treating with friends

Halloween Veggie Tray

Ok, I know its cheezy to post this, but I'm into food lately and occasionally I make something that turns out kinda cute and I want to remember it :) We also had mummy dogs and Melissa's yummy mac n' cheese at the Parke's house

We came home to find Teddy with a laffy taffy wrapper stuck to his ear...hmmmm...wonder what he was doing while we were gone?

More sortin' ( check out Teddy)

Creative pumpkins from ward contest

More creative pumpkins

And more!

Our good friends who are in our ward and also in the anesthetist program: from left

Melissa & Aaron Crowther (Aaron is a senior in the program and Jim's "senior buddy") They were lifesavers helping us navigate the move, figure out where to live, which schools were best, etc etc.

Blake & Jaime Parke. Jaime is in the program with Jim. It is cool to have another couple from Utah who is LDS with kids in the program! They also live one street over.

We have lots of fun hanging with these guys and their families

We had a ward party on Wed. before Halloween- chili cook off (Jim & I actually found a meatless one to try :), pumpkin carving contest, games for kids and trunk or treating. Then Sat. night we had potluck at the Parkes then went trick or treating in the rain!

Teddy The Devil

We always joke that Teddy (our 3 yr. old cocker spaniel) is such a little Devil. He's really quite a sweetheart! He just has issues with : running out the door when kids come in & out and NOT coming back when called, jumping up on people when they come over 'cause he's just sooo excited to see them, trying to sneak food off the table if kids leave their plates unattended after mealtime and he pulls really bad when on a leash- to the point where we had to get him a head harness! It looks like a muzzle, but its just like a halter that horses wear that guides his head (and it works great!) But for all the mischief that Teddy gets into he makes up for it with his sweet personality. He is very loving, snuggly, good with kids, a great walking partner and has the softest fur ever. He's a keeper! So guess what he's going to be for Halloween?

Rural Hall 10K

Fun race with Kim & Stacie today. These are my new running partners in WS. Without them I'd never get out for those long runs on Saturdays. I love the running bond, nothing is off limits in conversation on long runs and you get to know people very well, very fast...LOL. Kim & Stacie also brought along their neighbor who was really a great girl as well. Nicole? Shoot...so bad with names! It rained on us, but we still had a great time. The race was publicized as a fast and flat course, ha ha! Not by Utah standards. There were at least 3 little hills. But it was a great confidence booster race. I took 1st in my age group! Got a nice engraved medal. I was stoked! Not a PR, but a good effort. I was very happy with this race.

Ramping up for Halloween

Jim declared that this weekend was pumpkin carving weekend. I told him they would rot before Halloween, but truly I thought it was cute that he was so excited that he just couldn't wait. Halloween is to him what Christmas is to me :) So we rented Beetlejuice (which the kids thought was boring), I made halloween M & M cookies (which turned out dangerously good and I ate way too many) and Jim & kids carved pumpkins. You'll see in the pics that Jim is very closely "supervising" the carving and just can't keep his hands off the pumpkins. Arielle also made the cutest little pumpkin pie in activity days this week- what brave leaders she has to make pies with 15 girls!

Park Days

One of the things we like to do on Sunday afternoons is explore local parks. They are all new to us and it so nice to be outside enjoying this gorgeous fall. Getting fresh air helps us to not go stir crazy on long Sundays. One of our favorite parks so far is Horizons Park. They have a frisbee golf course and great dog park. You can also see the mountains from the park which is a special treat. The stars must have been aligned just right on this day, the kids played so well together. When they stepped on the playground suddenly they weren't preteens anymore, but a couple of best buds playing a fun imaginary game :)

End of Soccer Season

What a great soccer season! Toby's team came out with only one loss for the season. They had a fun end of season pizza party at the school where about 80 classmates stayed after school to party with and congratulate the undefeated team. That same week they went out for their last game of the season hoping to seal the undefeated status and got annihilated! Keeps 'em humble I guess! He had a great time playing and learned alot. The season ended just as it started to get really cold around here, good timing.

How Jim Spends His Time

Yah, see that big pile of books on the floor?! Our friend Melissa (who's husband is a senior in CRNA school) warned me that my bedroom would become over run with books- she was right! When Jim is home this is where you will usually find him, surrounded by piles of books on the floor and bed

I'm so glad Jaime is picture crazy like me! She started a blog www.crnassomeday.blogspot.com that chronicles this great adventure. I've stolen the next couple pics from that blog- here Jim is in class

during the first week of school they spent the day at the park doing team building exercises

Here he is looking somewhat official (and thrilled :) He will start clinicals next week and I hope to steal some more fun photos from Jaime's blog