Halloween 2007

Halloween was so much fun this year. Sam really took to all the dressing up and of course the candy. We first set out to have a family theme. I was thinking that I could get Bryon to dress up that way. It didn't go further than the planning stages though.

Ethen wanted to be a death-eater and we got pretty close. He was really excited about his eyes glowing. Rebekah wanted to be something scary too. So much for all the fairies and princesses. She decided on a spider queen. I took my witch outfit from two years ago and hemmed it up for her. Sam was a last minute thing. I bought sweats and boxer briefs and turned him in to "Super Sam". Being a pirate was a work theme. Unfortunately, I was the only one that stuck with it. Bryon of course, was Bryon. For someone that really gets into Halloween, he sure is a humbug about dressing up in something other than just a scary mask. Candice and CarMarley came over and hung out with us, well with Bryon, since I took the kids out. Sam thought that every house we went to was going to end up a babysitter, so he was content to sit in the wagon and eat all the candy that Rebekah and Ethen brought to him. We did once side of the street and then took Sam home. Then we fired up the 4-wheeler and bundled up. I dropped off the kids every third house and picked them up when they had hit all of the ones in between. This is the BEST way to take your kids trick or treating. I didn't get tired or cold. Not surprisingly there were about 4 other wheelers out this year. Only in booney-ville right?

Pumpkin Carving

We almost forgot about this tradition.




We bought and carved pumpkins the day before Halloween. I ended up carving Ethen this year because he was grossed out by all the "GUTS" Rebekah dove right in and Bryon had to make it look like he was eating the innards. He does that every year. They all looked online for designs and we got some pretty good ones.



Ethen- T-Rex head (thanks mom)



Rebekah- Scary face (she got to use a real knife this year)



Bryon- Skeleton (he got to use a real knife too).

Sunday Funnies

Who needs to read the comics? I have a bunch of comedians in my house!!

Example 1-Ethen was eating lunch yesterday. He made himself a ham sandwich because Bryon and I were both too lazy. While he was eating it, he said that it was "so many freaks!". He said it about 5 times before I realized what he was acutally saying. Bryon had been using French words to describe what he was eating. "Se magnifque! (or however you spell it)" somehow was turned into "so many freaks".

Example 2- We were still eating lunch and Bryon said something sarcastic. I can't even remember what it was this morning. He does it so often that I think I start to block them out. Rebekah starting laughing at him while I scowled. She walked past me and started moving her hands like she was trying to help me say something and said "yes, he is funny... his name is Bryon".

Example 3- Ethen and I were outside playing a little baseball. He hit the ball really hard and was so excited. He asked me if he "was my best 5 year old at everything".

I love being with my family, who needs to pay for a newspaper.

I LOVE BRYON BUCHMILLER

Bryon is pouting because I put that I love Edward Cullen in the profile. Of course he is benefitting from this fetish. Edward is just like Bryon (except for the undead part), that is why I like him so much. He reminds me of the love of my life. Hopefully, we won't be so bitter now.

UPDATE
We have come to a compromise. Since we are both fixated with Vampires right now (Bryon is reading "I am legend" by Robert Matheson), he can express his fetish with Kate Beckinsale (Underworld). I think that will work out the best for the both of us.

The gun

This morning Bryon had his 22 pistol out. He has been checking out new guns online to see if we should get one for Christmas. He started talking to Ethen about gun safety. He explained that you should always treat a gun as if it is loaded, keep your finger off the trigger and always watch where you are pointing the barrel. Of course Ethen was excited to play with it, and Bryon let him experiment for a few minutes in order to curb his curiosity. Bryon told me that when Rebekah went hunting with him last weekend, they were target shooting and Bryon was giving Rebekah the same discussion. Of course she is older, so he tried to let her answer questions without telling her the answer. He started out with "You should always treat a gun as if it were..." Rebekah thought for a minute and answered"..your friend?".
We laughed for a while and then Ethen showed Rebekah how to check and see if there were any bullets in the chamber. He rotated the chamber with his finger. Bryon took the gun and said "or you could do this" and rolled the chamber down his arm from the elbow to the wrist.
Watch out, here comes Wyatt Earp!!!! What a geek.

The Master Mender

Rebekah and Ethen were asked by my Dad's family to participate in a play about the death of Jesus Christ. It was quite an ordeal with rehearsals in Bountiful each week (what a gas bill). They got to play my mom's children and sing a song to Jesus. They loved dressing up and putting on make-up (even Ethen). Ethen was the youngest in the play except for one other girl. You could definitely tell. He picked at the styrofoam stage and during one performance, just casually walked up the steps and joined Grandma. I about died. It looked so natural that everyone in the audience probably couldn't tell it was a mistake, but I sure could. My Grandparents were there for that performance and just laughed.
It was awesome to see the children grow in their knowledge and testimony of Christ during the process. They both gained a greater understanding of who He was. I couldn't help but cry when they were singing to Him the first time. It was hard not to think that it was them sitting at the feet of the "real Jesus" as (Ethen differentiated). That made all the trips and work worth it. I hope that they will remember that experience for a long time.

Play the video to see pictures from the play. If your computer has speakers, you can hear the song they sang too!

We are such cruel parents

In preparation for the deer hunt, the boys got thier heads shaved. Ethen was really excited. He likes to look like dad. I didn't cut Sam's hair for a long time before hand because I knew that we were just going to shave it. It was pretty shaggy at the end. I had already cut it 7 times in his first year.We decided to shave it a Grandma Patsy's house so that there were more people present for help. It was a good thing we did, because we needed all the help we could get.
He was not very happy about the whole ordeal.
Luckily he is still cute. He got over it pretty fast although it was a truly tramatic expeierence.

Happy 18 months Sam!!

Sam is 18 months old today. I can't believe that he is that old. We went to the doctor today for his check up. He hates the doctor!!! He screamed the entire time we were there. I wonder if they can really hear anything when they listen to his heart.
He said two new words today. He waved and "ba-ba" to the kids when they left for school this morning.
When we got back from the doc's I was unloading the car and he found a bottle. He then noticed another one on the table. He grabbed both and said "tooo". He was really proud of himself.

Favorite pictures of the kids

I love these pictures!!! I had a neighbor take them last year out on the yard. I teared up when I saw the one of Rebekah. How did I get someone so beautiful? Ethen's true character shines in all of them. He does have a couple of serious picture, but honestly, when is he ever serious. Bryon thinks that Sam's makes him look like a baby bird. OH WELL.
I am going to have the same neighbor take some more pictures here in the next little while. We need to have a family one done and I have the perfect spot picked out.

For Starters

Too many friends have these and I decided that it is a great way to keep up correspondence, so I am going to try.