I'm a little slow, but here are some highlights from last week:

On Wednesday night, Kennedy's dance team had their first performance at the Festival of Trees in Idaho Falls. They did so awesome! They only just learned this dance, and they really looked so darling. Kennedy has really started to PERFORM in the last year or so of dance, really smiling at the audience, it's so cute!

Unfortunately, Dustin was on call last week and got called out just in time to miss this performance. I really would have doubted the call was legit if I had not answered the phone. This performance is the WORST of the year to try to watch. The venue is WAY to small for the crowd, and it's usually pretty miserable. Plus chasing a two-year-old by myself...whew! Dustin lucked out...

My cousin's little girl, Hannah, is in Kennedy's class and they have become little buddies. Aren't they beautiful in their new costumes? Good job, aunt Lori!

I was horrified to discover that my camera batteries were dead, THANKS for the pictures, Debbie!

The best part was that the kids got to see Santa! That is nice to have done already. Kennedy's make-up was getting in her eyes, so she looks sad, but she was really glad to be chatting with the big guy. Hudson even got over his apprehension to tell Santa that he needs a "new Luigi" (the little yellow guy from "Cars"...umm, ebay, I guess???) I was proud of him for being so brave. Just shows how much he wants new cars... Kennedy asked for an American Girl doll. I'm guessing she'll be pretty thrilled (IT CAME TODAY, YEAH! am I on top of things or what?? I've never been this far along in my shopping by Thanksgiving)

On Thursday, Kennedy had her "Thanksgiving Feast" at school. The kindergarteners get to invite family and eat lunch at school. She totally guilted my parents into coming up for it (read about it here), and she was so excited! Dustin was able to come, too, and wild little Hudson tore up the place while we ate. It was fun, she was very proud of her family and introduced her grandparents to some of her cute little friends.

Grandpa Jay, Grandma Josie, and Kennedy the little indian...

You gotta love school lunch!

Kennedy was very excited to show off her classroom to Grandparents and Daddy (I see it every Thursday, you recall)

I thought this little turkey she made was so cute. I love that she said she was thankful for our dog, Tahoe. She is usually so annoyed by him...

Us on our 9th anniversary, Thank you so much for coming up, mom and dad, and for babysitting while we went to Twilight at midnight. We felt like kids again! And I promise, if it hadn't been so crowded, or a movie that I didn't want to miss a minute of, we totally would've made out in the theater...

TWILIGHT!!!

SO, I loved it. Now, obviously, it's not the book, word for word, but I think they got the point across. I don't want to spoil anything...you know how it's going to end anyway...But I think they knew that there is no actor on earth who could be like Edward, so they went with making him a little more realistic. He is a little bit akward at times,and I his looks definitely grow on you. Bella is a little bit stammering,but very much like I pictured her...although I think she put's a little bit more effort into fashion than she gives herself credit for in the book...a little bit. But it was still very romantic, and I particulary loved the baseball scene. Their relationship progessed too fast, I thought, but obviously, the movie was only 2 hours, and I was ok with it, because I felt like, since I read the book, I knew what was left out... I'd be very curious to hear what someone who hadn't read the books thought about it...is there a person like that out there?

So, the midnight premiere: I twisted Dustin's arm into getting there at about 10:30. We were off on our estimate at what time people would start lining up by about 6.5 hours. Yes, the first people in line had arrived at the theatre at 4 pm. Idiots. That was pretty much the theme of the night. I know they were excited, but idiots, everywhere. Loud idiots. Poor Dustin was one of about 6 guys in the whole place. He reminded me a couple of times that if this wasn't my anniversary present...(part of it anyway, he gave me an awesome swirly wrought-iron thing for the kitchen wall, too...I love it) He was a very good sport about it, though, all told. We got there and line was horrifically long...Luckily, when they split it into two, one for each theatre, we sidled into a spot up front. Yay! It was quite an experience. Dustin probably would've rather been anywhere but there, but I thought it was fun! Let me know your opinions when you see it!

9 *Blissful* years...

I never do these tags, but since today is our 9 year Anniversary, here goes:

Husband Tag

Dustin William Chambers-

-Where did you meet your husband? At high school! But it is kind of a cute story. The summer before my sophomore year (YOUNG, i know) Dustin bought hay from my dad. My dad asked him if he knew me, he didn't. He figured I was a "sweet spirit," since my dad was trying to get me a date (which I don't understand to this day, he always got on my case about being too-boy crazy), so later in the school year, he saw my name logged onto the school network and sent me a message, out of "charity." Little did he know, I was quite the hottie in high school and didn't really need the charity :)...but we e-mailed back and forth quite a bit before we finally met, and it's cheesy but I loved his personality. Turned out, we had lots of friends in common, and it was the beginning of something beautiful!

-How long did you date? From October 1996 to November of 1999 (if we had met 4 years later, probably that answer would be 3.5 months...)

-How long have you been married? Nine years today!

-What does he do that surprises you? No matter how many times I completely blow our budget, on clothes, house stuff, shoes, etc...he ALWAYS forgives me. And I am ALWAYS surprised.

-What is his best quality? He makes me laugh so hard, (and no, Jenna and JAmi, it's not always at your expense) and we can talk the whole 3 hour drive home from Utah and never once turn on the radio. Physically? hmmm. everything, but I do love his eyes. and his butt. sorry, being honest.

-Does he have a nickname for you? not that I can put here.

-What is his favorite food? anything and everything! His favorite is probably a big nasty burger from Big Juds and home-made choc. chip cookies. He's probably the better cook of the two of us, and I try not to be jealous and just feel lucky.

-What is his favorite sport? He likes to play Basketball and is awesome at softball, but is not into professional sports, although after growing up with Garret in the house, it was a little wierd to get used to, but nice!

-When and where did you kiss? Under the plum tree in my back yard, after about 2 months of dating...

-What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? Go to the movies together, road trips - without kids, preferably! and I love to walk around the lake with him on summer evenings after the kids are asleep...and other things...

-Do you have children? Yes! Kennedy and Hudson, don't know if that's it or not...we'll see.

-Does he have any hidden talents? I don't know how hidden it is, but he is a really awesome cook and is a wizard with Gorilla glue and all of Hudsons broken toys.

-How old is he? 28

-Who said "I love you" first? he did,after only 3.5 months! totally no contest.

-His favorite music? Probably Nickelback. He likes a little of everything, just like me, but his tastes are sometimes a little heavier than mine...

-What do you admire most about him? He is always so willing to help someone in need, and I'm usually good at finding him needy people! He is such a hard worker and really takes care of our family, in every way possible.

-What is his favorite color? I think blue? But in cars, definitely red.

-Will he read this? Yes, he makes fun of it a little, but he secretly LOVES our blog. He created our playlist with such care, and loves to check our comments every night...

-Who do you tag? Anyone who wants to brag about their hubby.

Happy Anniversary, Dustin! You know you are the best thing that ever happened to me. Ever. My life is heaven because of you.

PS - I'm heading to see Twilight in 3 hours! If I'm not too tired I'll blog about it after...at 2 am...maybe it will be tomorrow...

His face on a billboard...

I'm sure this has been one of Dustin's life long dreams...to see his face on a billboard:

This sign is up on the highway just south of Rexburg, and I love it! We pass it everytime we go to Idaho Falls, and the kids see it and yell, "there's Daddy!" On our way to dance last week I had to stop and get a picture. He is on the very back row, 5th guy from the right. You can't really tell, but he's the best looking guy on there, for sure...

Kennedy's school pictures

Kennedy just got home from school, and she brought her pictures! I think they turned out so cute, I had to hurry and post one...

I just wish they'd take them before recess...her hair looked better first thing that morning, I'm sure! Overall, I'm pretty happy with them. I can't believe she is old enough to have school pictures!

Girls weekend

I had such a fun weekend! On Thursday night I headed up to Island Park with a group of friends from my ward for a girls retreat. We stayed in my friend Tammie's amazing cabin, and it was so great to have some girl time. We scrapbooked, gabbed, ate, and just generally relaxed and had an awesome time. Thanks for inviting me along, girls!

Dustin took the kids to see Madagascar 2 while I was gone, plus he went to Pizza Hut and McDonalds with them. I don't think they missed me at all, they were partying! He doesn't document their every move with the camera, like I do, so I don't have any pics of their weekend, but I'm sure they were looking a little scraggily, anyway, so probably not a bad thing....

The kids are so loving McDonalds right now, and, even though the food makes me cringe (they do have a decent chicken salad now, though, so it's not so hard on me), we have been indulging them a bit lately. It's been pretty cold lately, and they love to play on the playplace so much! It's nice to take them somewhere that they can work off a little of that energy! We took them there last Saturday for breakfast before errands and they were in heaven...

Anyway, I got home Saturday evening and man, was I happy to see my family! I was so happy that Dustin took over happily so I could go, but I sure missed them! Hudson is quite the Daddy's boy, so he was fine without me, which is good, but made me a little sad...Kennedy left me the sweetest voice-mails while I was gone, which made me a little homesick, but I got a lot done! 25 pages! woo-hoo!

Dustin took me to the new James Bond movie that night, and we loved it! He is such an awesome hubby and daddy, we are so lucky!

Chambers Home Show...

A couple of weeks ago, our house was on a home show. The local cheerleaders put it on every fall for a fundraiser, and we were flattered when they asked to show our home. We've been to it a couple times, and you really never know what you are going to see. Usually, there are a couple of Good Ones, and the rest are normal, but still fun to see. We were pretty sure that our house would definitely be one of the Good Ones. We got free tickets and had to be out of the house, so we checked out the other homes on the show. Unfortunately, this year, every other house was Awesome, Beautiful, Huge and Brand-new (where is all this money from? in Rexburg???)
Even though this house is pretty much our dream house, and we have felt so spoiled living here, we came home feeling sorry for ourselves, and wanting new furniture, TV's and appliances...Pretty pathetic what those dang home shows can do to you...However, I've since had many compliments, so I don't think we were completely shamed...
Anyway, I took pictures, because A)this is as clean as it could possibly get 2)what if we ever sell this place? pictures ready... and D)it's just what I do. I've since had much pressure to post the pics -you know who you are- so there you have it. Enjoy a walk through our clean house below.

PS - its better in person, so come on up!!!

Home Show Pics - I've been pressured...

Funny Hudson, sweet Dustin

Hudson is talking so much these days, I just had to get a quick video of him this morning, it was so funny...

Also, I just have to tell you what an awesome husband I have (sorry Andrew...)

First, he is taking vacation next Friday so I can go on another scrapbooking getaway...yay! I am a little nervous, he is going to have to get Kennedy ready for school on Friday morning. Hmmm. One bad hair day in a term never hurt anyone...I'll be sure to have him take a picture...

Last night he got me Twilight tickets! We are going to the 12:10 AM showing on the 21st...Our 9 year anniversary is on the 20th, I told him that was all I wanted. Should be a nice way to celebrate. Edward is SO romantic...whoops, I mean Dustin is! ;)

Sorry to make you all so jealous of me...have a great weekend!

Tricks, Treats, etc.

We really had a great day yesterday. I was really wanting some company, some family, ANYBODY to come and spend the fun day with us -Jeff and Jill, having you here last year ruined me, now I want visitors every holiday!- but we ended up having a great time here.

We had "magic" orange milk at lunch (a sneaky drop of food coloring in the cup before you pour + the kids say "Happy Halloween!" at the right moment = MAGIC!), pumpkin casserole for dinner, and tons of fun trick-or-treating.

Kennedy LOVES it when I dress up, so I did the easy thing again, I was a "Salem Witch." Dustin didn't dress up, but made sure to tell all of his buddies he hoped to be doing his "best broom impersonation later...." (if you are reading this, sorry Grandma, aunt Jill, anybody from my ward...) We hit the trunk-or-treat at our church, and then headed over to our old neighborhood to let the kids go door to door with their friends. I really loved taking them both this year.

It didn't take Hudson long to understand that "trick-or-treat" in his sweet little voice earned him a piece of candy, and he needed no prompting to say thank you. He was so grateful and happy, I'm sure he thought it was the best day of his life. He absolutely loved wearing his costume, and loved hauling his little pumpkin full of candy. I had to sneakily empty it a little a couple of times because he was struggling under its weight. It was pretty cute to watch him wobble up the steps and knock on the door. He is good buddies with little Braden Pocock, and they were an adorable pair, laughing and running together.

Kennedy and her "BFF" (she really says that...OH-KAY) Brittany Pocock had such a blast trick-or-treating together. They thought they were so big because we'd let them get a few houses ahead of us (the boys were pretty slow!). I'm so glad they had friends to go with, they loved it. And oh, boy, the candy. After we cleaned up and got Hudson to bed, we let Kennedy have the pleasure of staying up late to watch "The Addams Family" and sort and count her candy. I am "managing" Hudson's loot for him, so we did a little trading. She is very assertive (and watchful!)when it comes to candy, but still a sweetie and very willing to share.

Hope your Halloween was as fun as ours!