Farm Bureau Discussion Meet

This past week(Wed., Thursday, and Friday), we spent in Layton, for the Farm Bureau Convention, Zak participated in the Discussion Meet part. A Discussion Meet is a 30 minute competition, where 4 people discuss an agricultral topic, and they are judged on the points they make and how well they converse with each other, points are taken away for being argumentative. On Wednesday he did 2 round robin rounds- where all 23 people participated, after those 2 rounds it was narrowed down to 8 people, Zak was one of those 8 who got to do the third round. After the third round they narrow it down to the final 4. Zak made it to the final 4- which is huge! The final 4 round was on Thursday, and about 150 people were there watching this discussion, Zak's parents even came to watch this. I think Zak did awesome, I thought it was between him and one of the girls to win. That night they had a huge award ceremony, with all sorts of awards. It was so nerve racking when Zak went up there on the stage to find out who won (the winner receives a brand new four wheeler, helmet, insurance on the four wheeler, $500, and all expense trip to the National Competion for the Discussion Meet- which would be Seattle, WA). But Zak was named as 1st runner up, and he received $300, we were all a little sad he didn't win, but hey, he did pretty good, he will give it another try next year.
The girls were pretty good through all of these sessions, where you have to be very quiet. There was 1 sessions they weren't good through, so the 4 people are up at the front of the room, discussing their topic, and the judges are there and a few other people, Blyss farts and it is really loud, so of course both Hallee and Blyss start laughing, and Blyss in the loudest voice, had to announce again that she farted, I was so embarrased, I had to take the girls out for rest of the time, because that sure wound them up!

The Final 4

Our Family after is was all over

Zak had to go to several other Farm Bureau meetings so we went swimming a couple of times for some entertainment

I Swore I Never Would-

I have got to stop saying, "I swear I never will....", because all of those these keeping coming to reality- first I swore I never would live in Utah- which now I do, and it is not so bad. Another thing I swore I never would do is own a minivan-

It is a bit dirty from all of our traveling on crappy roads- It's a Nissan Quest

Yes, we bought a minivan! ( I am officially apoloigizing to all of those I made fun of, for owning a minivan). I really can't believe we own one. With a third baby on the way, we decided we needed a little bit more room, so I took our Explorer in to see how much a 3rd seat would be to put in, our Explorer wasn't set up to have a third seat- so it would have to be especially made, their estimate was between $3,000 and $4,000- we decided -no way! So since then we have been looking at other cars- at first I was just looking at SUV's with a third seat- first I realized what a pain it would be, to be flipping up seats to get to the back seat, and second- they are expensive. Finally, Zak got me talked into trying out and looking at minivans- well he won- they are so much easier to get into, have lots of room, get great gas mileage, and don't cost as much as an SUV- so it fit within our budget. Plus we have automatic/ power sliding doors- which is awesome- I push a button and they open. We bought it on Friday- we actually thought about this one for an entire week (took it on 3 test drives) and decided it was what we wanted- we took it to Idaho for a quick trip on Friday, we came back from Idaho on Saturday, so that we could make it to Zak's Christmas work party- we had it at Maddox's- so we had to go through Sardine Canyon on very, very crappy roads- and the van did awesome- Zak swears it did better than the Explorer did.
So yes- we are OFFICIALLY UNCOOL NOW! We love our van- and we brag about it!

Well, What is It?

I guess we don't like to break a trend, and we really like pink.... IT'S A GIRL! We took Hallee and Blyss with us to the ultrasound, Hallee has been praying and praying for a baby brother, so I thought we better take her, just in case it was a girl that she would understand. Hallee was about in tears, she kept saying I already have a sister, I don't want another one, I want a brother. But she seems okay with it right now. Zak and I were both a little disappointed, we got our hopes up for a boy, but we are excited for another girl- I get to deck her out in bows!

Everything looked great! The next thing is name picking, we can't agree on a single name- so if you have any suggestions we would love to hear them.

Here is a picture of me at 20 weeks- half way done.

Here's the Costumes

What a fun Halloween! Zak's parents were able to come down and visit us for a few days. The girls loved having them here. We went to our Ward's Halloween party had a great dinner, fun games, and some good trick or treating. The girls-especially Blyss wasn't very happy for awhile because we had to wake them up from their naps, since the party started at 4:00, but Blyss finally perked up and was happy by the time they did the trick or treating part. After we got home we went trick or treating around the neighborhood.

Minnie Mouse

Sleeping Beauty- I made this costume for Blyss

The two of them after the ward party.

MoRe HaLLowEEn

Last night we carved pumpkins, Hallee was into helping clean out the guts of the pumpkin, but Blyss on the other hand would not touch it, she kept saying it was, "Yucky." Zak told Blyss that she was such a princess, and Blyss replied, "I am a princess." It was so funny, she is such a girly, girly!

Zak cleaning out the guts, while Blyss watches

For preschool today Hallee went as Minnie Mouse, she is using her dance costume from last year, and I just made the ears, she looked so cute!

SoMe HaLloWeEn FuN

We were invited to an adult Halloween party! This is the first time Zak and I have every dressed up for Halloween since we have been married. I was a cowgirl (only thing I could come up with, using clothes I had)and Zak was a mile post marker. The party was so much fun, everyone dressed up in great costumes, we had great food, and played really fun games.

The party was in a really cool old barn, which added to the fun.

On Saturday we went and checked out the pumpkin walk in Logan. It is were people use pumpkins to make scenes. It is incredible what people come up with for ideas. Alot of the pumpkins had incredible face detail. We went with our friends and had a great time.

Cows, with pumpkin udders

Keebler Elf scene making cookies

Michael Jackson scene

garden made with pumpkins

Hallee as Mermaid

Is it Pregnancy or am I going Crazy?

I find myself not knowing what I'm doing lately. One day I couldn't find my cell phone anywhere- it was in the fridge (How did it get there?) Another day I couldn't seem to find Blyss' sippy cup, I knew I had put it back in the fridge- where was it, in the cupboard with the cups and it was full of milk.
I also got pulled over by a police(which was the 1st time ever) and received my 1st ever ticket!!! If anyone knows me I'm obssessed with going the speed limit, so I don't get pulled over and get a ticket- and I am a backseat driver to Zak telling him to always slow down. Zak had a very good laugh over my ticket, which I cried over for 2 hours and was very mad about it. (I was going through Preston, and following the car in front of me, not even paying attention to the speed limit, so the car in front of me was speeding as well- but I was the one pulled over and got the ticket- the police officer came to my car asked for my stuff, I gave it to him, he went back to his car, and came back and gave me a ticket- which he started just reading to me, he didn't even ask or tell me why he pulled me over!!!!! That made me so mad, that he wouldn't even ask or tell, he just gave me a ticket)
I sure hope I get my mind back soon, because I can't even really think!