Happy Halloween 2010

"It's late and we are sleepy,
The air is cold and still.
Our jack-o-lantern grins at us
Upon the window sill.
We're stuffed with cake and candy
And we've had a lot of fun,
But now it's time to go to bed
And dream of all we've done.
We'll dream of ghosts and goblins
And of witches that we've seen,
And we'll dream of trick-or-treating
On this happy Halloween."

With Halloween being the Sabbath, we decided not to go Trick-or-Treating but we had plenty of family fun. After Church, we had a yummy dinner and decided to watch, Casper Scare School. Normally, we only watch Church videos or VeggieTale movies on Sunday but we made an exception for the Holiday. Annnnd... it DID have a good message about being kind and friendly. ;) We did make sure we had lots of candy to hand out to Trick-or-Treaters that came by our house though. Unfortunately, we only had like 6 groups of kids which is really low for our neighborhood. Maybe it was the holiday falling on Sunday or maybe most people have transitioned to the Trunk or Treat style of candy collecting.??? (I know PrairieHeights does one in the Parking lot of Kohl's and West Acres Mall has trick-or-Treating at all it's stores) Nonetheless- at least we were prepared!

After our Ward Trunk-or-Treat and our Partay last night, the kids had PLENTY of candy but ya gotta do some kind of treats on Halloween, right? In the morning, Liberty & I tried our hand at toasting Pumpkin seeds. They turned out pretty good if you ask me. I think I ate most of them though. I think we'll have to try some different seasonings so the others will eat them as well. Any ideas? Also, Brett did a Candy Scavenger Hunt in the front room for the kids. They had a lot of fun playing the Hot-Cold game to find it all. Thanks Love! You are such a fun dad!!! Finally, the Potters unexpectedly stopped by with some yummy home-made cinnamon rolls. So good!! Brett stuffed all their pockets with whatever candy we had left. LOL! (Sorry Heidi ;) Thanks for being such thoughtful, fun friends! Sure luv ya!

Hope your Halloween

was as SWEET as ours!

Halloween Partay 2010

We threw a little Halloween Partay tonight! (I know-SHOCKER!!!!... a Holiday, the Seamons and a Partay.. who woulda thunk?) This year, we enjoyed the evening partaying with the Ironroads, the Larsens, the Mausolfs, the Potters and the Tuckers (and Andrew Ray came over for most of it)! Thanks guys for coming! We sure luv ya!

After tons of rain, 40 mph winds and threats of snow this week, the weather turned out PERFECT! A bit chilly but dry and as warm as you could hope for in ND close to November. Thanks you Mother Nature! Before the bad weather, we had raked and scooped and saved 8 bags of leaves in hopes that we could use them for the Partay tonight. They were a big hit! They kids had lots of fun jumping into the pile and threoing them at each other.

We had a fabulous Chilidog dinner with hot chocolate in honor of Great-Grandma Crump. I'm sure she's smiling down on us for keeping her tradtions alive! (Luv ya Grandma!) People were eating all over the place- downstairs, the front room, the kitchen and the garage so this is the best it got for documenting the dinner enjoyment! Thanks to all for bringing the yumminess!

With the weather cooperating, we enjoyed what we could outdoors. The kids loved the zipline, the trampoline and all the trikes & bikes. Enjoy them while you can, my friends. It's gonna get cold quick! ;)

I have got come great girlfriends here in Fargo! I am so very lucky! They are all so unique and add so much to my life. Luv ya ladies!!! Also- our neighbors/friends, Tina & Taelyn got back from a party of their own tonight. They heard noise down at our place and decided to stop to see what we were up to. We, of course, loaded her up with candy and a cupcake! Thanks for stopping by guys! Your costumes were fabulous!

What Partay is complete without a Pinata??? Not one at the Seamons! LOL! All the kids got a chance to practice their "Ghostbust"ering skills. We got some powerful hitters in our midst! Then, everyone got to fill a baggie full of goodies. The Potters provided erasers and creepy crawly critters to add to the mix. And Kristen (Check out her Etsy site: http://www.etsy.com/shop/kristenskrafts) made all the kids Halloween necklaces. They were so great! All my girls plan on wearing them to Church tomorrow- I'll probably wear Justice's too!- I am a festive dress-er, don't ya know?! As Party favors, we got the kids a pair of vampire teeth, a stretchy skeleton, a Halloween pencil, and a festive straw so they added them to their treat bag as well. So much fun stuff!

It's become a tradition at our house  around Halloween to warm up the garage and carve Pumpkins with our friends. Thanks Honey for getting the garage all ready and warm & toasty for us! Yeah for the Bullet heater!

Everyone were quite the artists when they got into the garage! Even with the icky faces that Ryan and Jamison pulled while touching the Pumpkin guts- masterpieces were made tonight! {I know-Jamison- you owe me one;] LOL! It's so fun to see how different they all turn out. Great carving everyone!

And of course- part of that tradition includes the momentous "Lighting of the Pumpkins" ceremony! O.K.- not really but we do have everyone haul their pumpkins onto the front porch to be lit and grab a picture or two! We LOVE it! Awesome work everybody!

Happy Pumpkin Day!

Halloween Trunk-or-Treat

Darth, Flying Purple People Eater, Angel Moroni, Super, Candy Corn Witch, 50s girl, & Alice

Our Ward family had their annual Trunk-or Treat tonight. It was so much fun!!! [We got to adopt Liberty's friend, Sabrina for the night. She wants to come next year too!] Lots of people participated and they had tons of fun indoors & out! A big round of applause for the Activities Committee!!!

We started by braving the chill for the Trnk-or-Treat in the parking lot. The kids got lots of candy and loved seeing all their friends. Thanks everybody for the SUGAR!!! The Oompa-Lompa Trailer should have won an award- Wowzers- tons of thought put into that one!

Everyone had awesome costumes or Halloween attire.  (Way to go, Idaho! a.k.a. McKenzie ;)- You looked awesome- even if you did try to flash Brett- LOL!) I especially loved Scooby & the Gang, Thomas the Tank engine and Raggedy Ann & Andy! AWESOME!!! Man- We have some great friends here in Fargo!

Did I mention the great job the Activities Committee did? They had all sorts of fun inside for the Trunk-orTreaters. They had a Photo Op place setup and took your picture. (they're gonna email them to us!) They had tons of rooms/areas with fun activities going on. Some included a fishing pond, a donut hang, cookie decorating, Spooky storytime, a cupcake walk, and a CRAFT room! Victoria spent at least 40 minutes in there! She loved it! The kids could go back as many times as they wanted. Totally a blast!

There was even an amazing dance to finish out the evening! Thanks Brother West for being such an awesome DJ- we never thank you enough! Glory absolutely LOVED dancing. She was trying so hard to do all the moves like everyone else. And Brett is always out there- He's like a BIG kid! All my kids were bustin' a move out there. Ryan even made me go out for a bit and dance with Brett. It was a lot of fun so thanks Ryan for throwing me out there! Nothing like making a fool of yourself in front of a bunch of people you love. ;)

Yeah for the Trunk or Treat!!!

Friday Fargo Favorites #5

 

1. Geese Flying North
One thing that always makes me giggle in the Fall here in Fargo is to see a huge flock of geese fly NORTH! Aren't they supposed to be headed in the opposite direction? Brett thinks I'm totally wrong- but I swear I always see 2-3 flocks heading "home" to Canada in the Fall. Maybe they left something behind and have to go back to get it? LOL! I think they are big, beautiful birds! But... you definitely know the weather here gets bad in the Winter when the geese fly NORTH! (Maybe I should take a hint, right?;)

2. Albino Buffalo
Albino buffalo are very rare and regarded sacred by many Native American (look at me being politically correct to the Indians ;) tribes. Well- Jamestown, North Dakota not only has one but THREE at their National Buffalo Museum (http://www.buffalomuseum.com/). Every time we head for Bismarck, we try and spot them off the highway. Sometimes we get really lucky and they are all visible! They are ugly as all get out but HUGE and majestic in their own way. The oldest is named White Cloud which holds a special place in my heart because of how much I LOVE clouds here in the Midwest. Only in North Daa-kO-ta! (that's with my NDakotian accent- don't cha know)

3. Colder Weather- Death to the Mosquito
One thing we always look forward to in the Fall is when the weather turns cold enough to kill off the stinkin' mosquitoes. Mosquitoes here are vicious and big and never die (until it really freezes)! I always tease Brett that he needs to be meaner and tougher like me because whenever we go for walks together, they swarm around him and leave me completely alone. (Not even kidding... one time I walked behind him spraying him with bug spray while he swatted around his head like a crazy man. They didn't even touch me) A couple times a year, the City will spray for them. Sometimes they come by truck but mostly they come by plane. They fly so low that it sounds like a plane is going to crash through your roof. Gotta love Fargo!

4. Bismarck Temple
Growing up in Utah, I took Temples for granted. Afterall, from my front porch, I could get to 6 (I think since I moved away there are now there's 8 or 9) Temples within an hour. Wow! That amazes me. But now when we want to make it to the Temple, we plan a minimum of 9 hours to go to one session. [3 hour drive, 2 hour session, eat, 3 hour drive back] But I am so grateful for the Bismarck Temple. We got to go this week and participate in an Endowment Session for some of our friends. It made us realize that it's been 20 years this month since Brett received his endowment. (Wow- he's old- HOT but, old!!) It's been 14 years and 2 months for me. We are so blessed to be sealed as an eternal family by God's Priesthood power and to have Temples on the earth today. Thank You, Heavenly Father for sharing your "Houses" with me!

5. Wild Turkeys

Another thing we always see in the Fall is a herd (or is it flock?) of wild turkeys. They usually can be found on the side of the road on the way to Horace after they cut the corn fields down. There is sometimes up to 8 or so turkeys. They all look female to me (because they are the "non-poofy ones", at least that's what Lily tells me ;) But this week, on the way home from school, Liberty spotted two in our neighbor's front yard. She even made me drive backwards down the street so we could all get a look at them. Sure enough, they were munching on what's left of the flower beds. Where else can you get dinner in your front yard? LOL! They make me look forward to Thanksgiving dinner. I LOVE turkey at Thanksgiving! YUMMMY!

So... WHAT ARE YOU GRATEFUL FOR TODAY?

Fall into Fitness

The Elementary put on a Partay tonight! It was called "Fall into Fitness". They have been crazy health freaks this year and so it fit right along with their yearly theme. (The kids are no longer allowed to bring treats to school. Not even for their birthdays. They have a once a month Bday party with Principal Slette for those who had birthdays that month. "It's about the fun not food!" (Kinda lame but whacha do, right?) I understand that the polls say that the nation is getting a bit out of control on weight stuff but parents need to step it up a bit and stop turning all the parenting jobs to the school system. Be responsible and get you kids some exercise and help them eat as healthy as they can but allow a bit of sweetness in their lives as well. ;)
O.K.... off the soap box & back to the fun!!!! LOL!
Along with the PTA's help, the school threw a really fun night. They had tons of businesses from the community come (any that had a tie to healthy living) and participate in a Fitness carnival. There was WF Fitness Center (our friends own it- Yeah for the Lepirds!), American Gold Gymnastics, the Police Department, a crazy kick-boxing Postive Motion guy, Apex Therapy, Halftime by Sheri dance, Northwest Martial Arts, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Courts Plus, YMCA, MSUM Swim School, Fargo Force Hockey, Sam's Club, Subway, and tons more. They had hands-on demonstrations, games with prizes, door prizes and a Subway sack lunch for dinner. The kids had a blast!! Even the mascot came and signed autographed pictures of him doing healthy exercises [sporty things-baseball, hockey, basketball, etc]. After she warmed up a bit, Glory loved him!!!
Here's some of the fun we had!
Fitness Games & Prizes:

Hands-on Demonstrations:

Dinner & Hanging out with Friends:

Meeting Mascots:

"Wiley the Wildcat leaves PAWSitive prints. Do your part to be respectful, be responsible, be safe and be healthy!"

Bloomin' Seamons: Extra Addition

Here's the last bit of treasure we found in our garden as we ripped it out for the year! The backyard looks so barren now. I can't believe I'm saying this but the snow needs to come to cover the evidence of Summer completely gone! LOL! (OK.... nevermind- I can deal with the barren wasteland a little longer- Stay away, Frosty!! We're not ready for you YET!!!)

Enjoy our last bit of Harvest:

RED Date Night

As soon as we got back from vacation and frantically cleaned out the van, we dropped the kids off at the Tucker's for Babysitting group. Oh my heavens! What a crazy, fun weekend!
We met our dear friends, the Ironroads for a movie & dinner! We went to the new Bruce Willis movie, RED! So good! We laughed the whole time! It is definitely buying worthy! It was funny, a love story, had a great cast, and a perfect ending! I love movies like that! (It even killed off the icky lady from our favorite show- the Unit. Yeah!!! I totally realize it wasn't the same character but somehow I feel that justice has been served! LOL)

 Here's some of the cast:

Afterwards, we stopped by Qdoba to share a bit of dinner. Yummmy! We love being with the Ironroads! Thanks guys for getting out with us! Luv ya! Thanks Brett for still dating me after 15 years! XOXO!

Mini Fam Vacation in Bismarck: Breakfast @ the Dakota Zoo

One of the reasons that we went to Bismarck before it snowed was to get some more mileage from our Zoo pass. When I went looking for the hours of the zoo in Bismarck, I discovered that they were having a breakfast at the Zoo day today. Yeah for us! We got the member price and all ate an all-you-can-eat yummmy breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage and juice. They had like the most fabulous service we've ever had and we didn't even have to tip!

We first checked out the Discovery Center. We could have just gone home after that. There was so much to see! Lily was such a helper with Glory. Too cute!

It was pretty chilly but we braved part of the zoo. The animals were really active. What a great time to come! I just think animals are gorgeous! Heavenly Father sure has an amzing imagination to create them all. Brett offered Justice a dollar if he could catch a chicken. All he did was make his mom nervous and tick off a couple roosters. LOL! Brett also has such a way with kids... He scared their pants off with his "bear story" as we made our way to the Grizzly bear exhibit. Thanks, Honey! Liberty & Lily are all set for Bday gifts this year. They pointed out all the animals they wanted as gifts and then I would take pictures. A nice picture frame full of animals- piece of cake gift, if you ask me! Glory's favorite part by far was a little leaf blowing in the wind at the base of a tree. (I think she thought it was an animal because she sat there forever saying, "Oh cute!") The kids actually all LOVED the baby squirrel that crossed our path the best. Totally make us laugh- a blowing leaf and a baby squirrel and the playground- we could have just taken them all to my backyard!! Silly kids!

 Here's some of the amazing Dakota Zoo animals:

And we even got to take home our favorites:

 What a great day at the Zoo!

Mini Fam Vacation in Bismarck: The Temple

For the attending the Temple part of our vacation, Brett & Shay went to the 6 o'clock session and the Larsen's went to the one at eight on Friday night. It worked out perfect because it just happened that one of the families in our Ward were going through the Temple for the 1st time tonight. Brett & I got to be there. There were quite of few people from our ward on the session (including the entire Bishopric and their wives). It is always fun when you see people you know. We are so proud of the Burckhards and their decision to go to the Temple. Congrats guys!

After our session, the Kid Swap occurred in the waiting room of the Bismarck Temple.  The kids were fabulous! When someone goes through for 1st time, the Temple workers have them wait until the very end. So- we were all waiting in the Celestial Room for them. Brett & I definitely wanted to give Rita & Joe a hug so it took us a bit to get out to the kids. The Temple Presidency was great at keeping an eye on them. When I got out there, they were all very reverent, reading the Friend magazines and feeding Sophie snacks. Thanks guys- you are such great kids! When Brett finally came out (a little background info... when Brett was growing up and his family would go swimming- Brett was always the last one out of the dressing room. And let me remind you that he has 7 sisters!! I love that crazy man- although we can blame this one on the Bishop- he does like to talk. LOL!), we took them outside to go touch the temple. It's one of our favorite traditions and we hope that the kids always love the Temple and feel it's special power.

"As we touch the temple and love the temple, our lives will reflect our faith. As we go to the holy house, as we remember the covenants we make therein, we will be able to bear every trial and overcome each temptation."- President Thomas S. Monson

Then. we tried to get everyone loaded in the car but some of them wanted to walk all the way around the Temple. We let Liberty watch Baby Sophie in the warm car and the rest of us went on a little chilly trek. It was really dark by then but the kids loved it. They LOVED rolling down the big hill until they were completely dizzy! What fun memories!

Mini Fam Vacation in Bismarck: the Ramkota

At the beginning of the year, Brett & I made a goal to make it the Temple 6 times each before December. Well, we had only one more time to go to meet our goal for the year- so we decided to take the fam on a mini-vacation before the Winter hits. We invited the Larsen fam to join us on our little adventure. It was so much fun!
We ended up staying pool-side at the Best Western Ramkota for the night. We got there at check-in and definitely got our money's worth of swimming. We all swam for a couple of hours before Brett and I headed to the Temple. Ryan & McKenzie let the kids swim for a bit longer and then headed to McDonald's for dinner. They said the kids were so starving they all inhaled their dinners in a matter of seconds. (The pool was quite a work-out, I guess) After dinner & some time in the Playland, they brought the kids over to the Temple to make a swap so they could do a session as well. After the Kid Swap, Brett & I took the kids to Wendy's for a Frosty and back to the Hotel for some more swimming fun! The pool didn't close until 11 PM so we swam our hearts out! We were all exhausted but had a blast! Thanks Larsens for sharing our vacation with us!
Here's our Frosty Fun on our deck by the pool:

Here's all the Water Fun:

And here's what little Glory looked like (and we all felt like) around 11:00 PM. She was totally delirious! She kept walking around aimlessly with her lips shivering. Poor Baby!! I would ask her if she was ready for bed and she would walk away saying, "swwwimming, swwwwimming". It was hilarious! :

Yeah for the Ramkota!

Friday Fargo Favorites #4

This week's installment of...

1. K-Love
With such bad language and depressing or degrating music that can be found on the radio today, I found a bit of a heaven. I absolutely LOVE 100.7 K-Love. It has such uplifting music and DJs. They always have some encouraging thing to say to keep my spirits up! Thanks K-Love! 

2. DMI Wind Towers- 
Does the rest of the world really know what a "WIDE LOAD" is? I'm not sure if you do until you have experienced driving behind a DMI Semi hauling part of a Wind Tower. From one of their articles... "If the mountain won't come to you, you must go to the mountain, the saying goes. Considering how colossal wind towers can be—up to 100 meters tall, 16 ft. in diameter, and 300 tons one could be forgiven for not knowing which is the mountain—the towers or the wind. Alas, the wind won't come to the factory, so the towers must be transported from the factory to the wind." These things are so massive!!! I can't even describe them. I guess if you want to experience it- you just have to come to Fargo.

3. Gratitude
It might sound stupid but I am so grateful for Gratitude! If you haven't figured it out for yourself, let me tell you a secret. Gratitude has magical powers. ;) I have been bombarded from a million different directions about the benefits of gratitude lately. (Maybe I should take a hint, right?) Some of my favorite quotes are: "Gratitude is absolutely the way to bring more into your life" "Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues but the parent of all others."- Cicero "Gratitude is the open door to abundance." "Give it, Recieve it, Affirm it, Treasure it, Insirational, Thoughtful, Unlimited, Deliver it, Experience it!!!" AND "In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful but gratefulness that makes us happy!"

4. Quilting Friends

McKenzie and I dropped off 5 quilts to Betty (our Quilter lady) this week. YEAH!!! Well, for us-- not our pocketbooks! LOL!  (Disclaimer to Ryan and Brett: Do NOT read this one!!) I'll have to post pictures when we get them back in November sometime. Since moving to Fargo, I have learned so much and enjoyed such fabulous quilting friends. I am so grateful for every project we've done (and even those still in the "to be done" piles), the fabric we've discovered together, the stitches we have unpicked, the beds and backs of couches we have covered and the memories we've made! I have a wooden plaque in my front room (from one of my dear Quilting friends that left me!) that says, "In this Crazy Quilt of life, I am glad you are in my Block of friends!" So true, so true! 

5. Rush Hour traffic

Well...O.K.- There might be a couple more cars during real rush hour traffic but not by much. ;) I start freaking out when we slow down to 50 in a 55 MPH area. Oh crap! Even though, I LOVE this about Fargo, it has ruined me for all big cities and their freakishly crowded roads! LOL!

So... What are YOU grateful for today?