Out with the old........in with the new.

It's amazing how much things can change in one week. We sold our house here in El Paso last week, and then a couple of days later bought a new one in Plainfield, Illinois. The new house reminds me a lot of our current house (the inside anyway) which is great because I am so sad to sell this house.

Basically we lose our awesome view, the balcony, and the winding staircase (my favorite part of my house), but gain some more space, another bedroom, another spot in the garage and a basement. I am SO excited to have a basement again!

Here it is:

From the front door:The kitchen:The master bedroom and bath:

Now if I could just find a way to bring the sun with me.............

Country First!

Vote for John McCain today!

Halloween: The good, the bad and the scary

It was a dark, cold, stormy night...wa ha ha! Ok, really it was a warm, sunny 83 degree day. We are so sad this is our last Halloween in El Paso! I LOVE Halloween in El Paso! The warm air.......no coats over your costume.......the smell of BBQ in the air..........adults trick or treating (oh wait, really I find that annoying.)

We had a really busy Halloween. Here are the kiddos in their costumes. We have two soda girls, two Batmen and a pumpkin:

Macy's little pumpkin hat didn't last very long. I bet you can guess why from this picture. I love that my eyes are closed in it as well LOL! :

After the kids got home from school we went over to the Halloween carnival at Conal's work. It was fun to see friends and the older 3 kids enjoyed the haunted house. However, something in the haunted house caused Alexia (who has never had this problem before) to have some sort of weird asthma attack. So, we had to head home for a few minutes for a breathing treatment. Then we were off to the ward party. They had all of these little booths and games for the kids. Conal did "pumpkin bowling" for the Elders Quorum. I wish my hands weren't so full with the kiddos (While Conal was running the bowling booth I took the younger three kids around. I swear Alexia is in no way sitting on Macy!)

because there were some really great costumes. My friend Carolyn was the cutest Sarah Palin! I never noticed that she look like Sarah Palin until she put on a suit and put her hair up. Then it was obvious! Also, the Bowdens were "Fannie Mae" and Freddy Mac". They were dressed up like homeless people and were going around giving people monopoly money.

After the inside party we had a trunk or treat out in the parking lot. It's amazing how much candy kids can get in a short amount of time at a trunk or treat. As Mandi says, we had to work much harder for our candy when we were kids!

After the trunk or treat we visited a one of Conal's co-workers and his cousin Lisa. These are both El Paso Halloween traditions for us.

As you can imagine, after a long day like this the kids were pooped out. Especially Jackson. It's hard work stealing candy from your sister's bucket and smearing yourself from head to toe with chocolate.