My Turn!

A-Attached or Single: Attached
B-Best Friend: Mandie Payne
C-Cake or Pie: Chocolate Cake
D-Day: Saturday (unless I have to work)
E-Essential Item: Cell phone
F-Favorite Color: Purple
G-Gummi bears or gummi worms: gummi worms
H-Hometown: Born in Mission Veijo, CA Raised in Orem, UT
I-Indulgences: Anything chocolate
J-January or July: July - Love boating weather
K-Kids: 4 boys
L-Life is incomplete without: my family
M-Marriage Date: April 20, 2000 (one year anniversary of columbine- nice huh?)
N-Number of Siblings: 3 brothers and 2 sisters
O-Oranges or Apples: Apples
P-Phobias or Fears: Bees or Wasps
Q-Quote: "Inconceivable!"
R-Reason to Smile: Christmas is almost completely bought and paid for!!
S-Season: Summer
T-Tag: How about....Mandi Mackey
U-Unknown fact about me: I have recently been wanting to try to have a baby girl. I need to snap out of it! I don't think it's gonna happen. :)
V-Vacation destination of choice: Disneyland or a cruise
W-Worst Habit: Spending too much time on the computer
X-X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Neither
Y-your favorite food: Chinese or mexican
Z-Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

Pumpkin Carving

We spent Monday evening carving our pumpkins and the boys decided it was a contest. Damon and Daddy worked together carving the Spider pumpkin. Brady and Mom carved the Pirate Ship. Daddy was faster and according to the boys, he won. Then we had one more pumpkin to carve and I saw this vampire silouette. How appropriate for the Twilight books that I have been reading the last few weeks. I think that they all turned out pretty good. I love the pattern books that they make these days. Without them, my carving skills would be non-existant. Happy Halloween!!

The 2 on the ends have tatto like transfers. They were really easy and are actually pretty cute!

A day at the Zoo

I have been wanting to take the boys to the zoo for quite some time now. There has always been an excuse for us not to go. Too much money, too hot, too cold, etc. Well, I was able to get some free tickets from my store director at work and yesterday was such a beautiful, fall day that we had no more excuses. We invited my sisters and their families and we were on our way to the zoo. In all honesty, I was a little disappointed. The zoo is not what it used to be. The exhibits are all run down, the animals were kinda boring and the train ride that cost us an extra $1 per person was only 5 minutes long. On the other hand, the boys didn't seem to notice and they had a great time seeing all the animals. Sean was fascinated by the monkeys and the snakes especially. He kept pointing and talking. It was fun to see their reactions to the elephants and the rhinos. All in all, it was a great time spent with our family. Here are some pictures of our adventures.

Sean and Kaden were so impressed with the snakes. The boys kept trying to get Daddy to see them.

Daddy wouldn't get too close and barely even looked at the snakes.

Kenzie and Sean watching the Giraffes.

Evan in the turtle shell.

This is Baby Emma (Cathie's baby) covered in chicken pox. I know, I feel a little guilty for infecting all the cousins.

This is Kaden (Carrie's baby). He is covered as well. Hey, they wanted their kids to get the chicken pox. It isn't entirely my fault! :)

I'm not sure what Abbie (Cathie's oldest) was so upset about.

They found the urge to climb on every animal statue that there was. The one in the pink jacket is Kenzie (Carrie's oldest).

Brady in the turtle shell.

Baby Sean pointing at all the monkeys.

Climbing again!

My boys at the zoo.

Free Purse!!

Enter to win a free purse from handbag planet! http://www.handbagplanet.com

Pumpkin Land

New 'Do!

So, I was getting bored with my look and decided to go in and let them help me decide what I should do with it. This is what we came up with. I like the change and am enjoying feeling "lighter". What do you think?? (My eyes are weird in this one, but it shows off the color the best. Damon took the pictures for me.)

Star Wars Boys

I know that it is still a little early for Halloween, but the boys were very excited to try on thier costumes. We are going with a Star Wars theme this year.

Here is Baby Sean as Darth Vader. (We are going to struggle to keep his hat on)

Here are the 3 older boys striking a pose with their light sabers.

They take this very seriously.

Damon is Luke Skywalker.

Brady is Anakin Skywalker.

And here is Evan as Darth Maul. We are going to have a battle of good vs. evil with the older boys against the younger boys.

I LOVE Halloween!

My 3 Spotted Boys

Here is my Baby Sean with the chicken pox.



Evan is starting to clear up.



Brady is ready to go back to school.



I thought it would be fun to show you my 3 spotted boys. It is pretty funny now that they are not itchy and miserable. Things should be getting back to normal very soon. Here they are in the bathtub all covered in spots!

Tony Stewart wins at Talledega!

Tony Stewart is Darrell's nascar driver, for those of you who may not know. He finally won his first race of the 2008 season and his first race at Talledega. It was a very intense finish with Tony leading the last few laps. The leader on the last lap of Talledega hardly ever is the winner. There was plenty of time for the drivers behind him to make a move and take the lead. On the final straightaway, Smith went down below the yellow line to pass Tony and cross the finish line first. Darrell's heart sank until they announced that you cannot pass below the yellow line. Tony had won and I think that everyone within 20 miles heard Darrell screaming with excitement. It is quite fun to watch him get so into the races. The win comes at a perfect time when we are planning our trip to the Phoenix race in November. This will be our last chance to wear our #20 Home Depot gear as Tony will be changing numbers and sponsers next year. We are also going without kids so you can imagine how anxious we are to get away for an extended weekend at the race track!

Pox, Pox, Pox!

Ok, so I know that all I have been talking about is the chicken pox lately, but bare with me! Baby Sean finally broke out with 3 spots last night. It was definitely bitter sweet. He has a slight fever to go along with them and did not sleep very well. I am hoping that he won't break out with too many more but the good news is that I am all done with the chicken pox! Now we just have to heal and it will be over. I was really not looking forward to waiting 2 weeks for Sean to get them. The hardest part is going to be finding someone to watch my spotted children while I work this week. Other than that, we are all doing well here at the Karren home.

Again with the Chicken Pox

Brady woke up this morning with even more chicken pox than he had yesterday. Poor guy is really struggling. He is practically covered from head to toe. I keep telling him that he will get through it and to try not to scratch them. He is miserable! Evan on the other hand has more today but still only about 1/4 of the amount that Brady has. He just has a few here and there. He complains when Brady complains. Damon is all cleared up and Sean still doesn't have any. Which is really frustrating because I am probably going to have to deal with this again in 2 weeks. I hope that Brady and Evan scab over before next Tuesday so I can go to my work meeting, otherwise I am going to have to stay home with them. I thought that I finally had all my babysitting arrangements all worked out and then my kids get the chicken pox. I suppose that's the way life goes! We shall continue our battle with the pox!

More Chicken Pox

Here is my Brady. Covered in chicken pox. We noticed them yesterday afternoon and by today he was completely covered.






My Sweet Evan only has about 4 spots right now. Maybe he will be lucky and only have a few. I am still waiting for Sean to break out. Hopefully in the next day or so and not 2 weeks from now. I am ready to be done with chicken pox!!