found.... 1 pair of severely missed sunglasses

ok, so i found my sunglasses yesterday. crazy, i know. they were hidden behind the vcr. bryan and i were cleaning and i pulled them out and he turns to grace and says, 'look grace, this is what happens when you clean!' i laughed. so, i feel bad about accusing raegs for throwing them away, but who knew, right? everything else under the sun has made it into that trashcan! i have apologized to raegan and hopefully she will forgive me! :)

mickey's trick or treat halloween

thursday night we had tickets to go to disneyland for their halloween trick or treat night. we headed out with the thompson family and the swiss family. they had some super cute costumes. we had tons of fun. the kids walked around california adventure and went trick or treating at the different stations, then we rode some rides. the kids got tons of candy and had a blast. the adults got tons of candy and had a blast too! grace was dressed as dorothy from the wizard of oz (many million thanks to nana for making the beautiful costume!!!!) and raegan was the cowardly lion.

this is gracie before we left, complete with toto in a little basket!



yes, in our family shot (the only one we have...) raegan has her finger in her nose. nice.


makayle was dressed as the wicked witch, so we almost have a complete wizard of oz set....


while we were there, we saw cinderella and belle, but there was a huge line to get a hug and a picture. so, we just went up to where they were standing, but we were still behind the rope keeping them separate. i was standing there with grace and cinderella came over to tell her what a cute costume she had and gave her a hug. she was very surprised and it was so cute! so, when i looked back to see what bry was doing with raegs, he was just standing there with the camera in his hand, but not taking a picture. nice again.

there were these 2 guys dressed as scarecrows at the entrance to bugs land. he called over to us since grace was dorothy and we went over to take a picture with him. raegan could not stop looking at him! not even for a picture.



it was a long night, the kids fell asleep around 10 and we didn't get home until 11. but we had a blast. i'm glad that we went on the last halloween before we move!

tagged!

i was tagged by christie hardey... i had managed to escape tagging thus far, but now is my turn...

#1. rules of the game must be posted at the beginning.
#2. each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
#3. at the end of the post, the player then tags six people and posts their names, then go to their blogs and leave them a comment letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. i love byu football
2. our family will be moving in about 8 months... destination unknown.
3. i love being in the book club so much i would almost rather be there than disneyland's trick or treat night. almost.
4. the beatles are my all time favorite.
5. i live for the weekends.
6. i like to mow the lawn.

i have tagged: natalie (tried to tag her, but she doesn't allow comments), tami, amber, heather, sarah, erin, and eva! good luck girls!

las vegas baby!

ok, once again i have slacked in the blog department. yes, we have been so busy, i don't even know where to start. things have been very busy in october. we have really been trying to keep up with all the activities the kids have. we began october with a day trip to yucaipa for heather, jason, and ashlyn's good-bye party/ashlyn's first birthday party. bryan was busy at school, so just me and the kids headed up. the party was great and we had a ton of fun. then, on thursday, heather, jason, ashlyn, and grandma came down for a quick trip. bryan was giving heather a dental check up before they move to hawaii. we spent the day sewing halloween costumes and watching cypress high school volleyball. friday they headed back to yucaipa and we got ready for conference weekend.

here is where i found grace playing that week.

saturday and sunday were great. i thought conference was excellent and i loved the focus on families. i felt like i learned so much.

bry captured these two videos of gracie with her leap pad on sunday after conference. she got some new books for her birthday and she just loves that thing. we hear her singing along all the time. she cracks us up. my favorite is... 'i whack it on my wood blocks!' she says that all the time!





last week was busy as well. we had things to do everyday and to top it off grace and raegs got sick. yuk! fortunately, they got better before our trip to las vegas for the byu/unlv game.

friday afternoon we headed up to las vegas. we stayed with pam and dan and so did aaron and 7 friends. friday we relaxed and hung out. saturday we got ready for the game. bryan and sarah had a water gun fight leaving both of them dripping!



grace and raegs just played outside waiting for aaron and his friends to wake up (12:00 in the afternoon is when that happened... mom called bry and forced him to wake up aaron!)




that night, pam and dan stayed with grace and raegs during the game and took them to the pumpkin patch and then to sarah's soccer game. we had a ton of fun at the game. byu won 24 - 14 and it was a blast!





the cheese heads sitting by us.... at the end they started chanting 'go packers' i had to agree... i added... 'go brett!' we love the packers and brett favre!


early sunday morning, we got up to head down to yucaipa for a small family reunion. paul was visiting from kansas on business, taylor came down from byu, and heather was still getting ready to move to hawaii. it was the last time all the horspool kids would be together for at least 2 years. matt has put in his mission papers and we should hear something soon! we started out with church, then a big dinner and just hanging out. mom and dad horspool wanted some pictures with all their children, so they had a nice little photo moment. i will post those pictures as soon as we get them, but they turned out great! here is a picture with some of the grandkids that were there for the reunion. we miss natalie and her kids! and jason too!


today, heather left for hawaii. they are officially gone and we hope they join us on the mainland soon. or maybe... we should visit them!

oak glen

last saturday, bryan and i took a trip up to oak glen with some friends from our ward. eva st. clair planned the trip and we thought that since it was close to yucaipa, we would drive up friday night and stay the night, then head up to oak glen on saturday. when saturday arrived, it was rainy, cold, and raegan had a fever of 104.1 and grace had a runny nose. we decided not to take the kids and just headed out ourselves. oak glen is a little community up the street from yucaipa where there are several apple orchards. they have a lot of little cafes to eat yummy apple-y foods, and apple cider. we headed up to riley's farm, which is owned by a family in bryan's parents ward. they have a very neat little set up, the employees are dressed up and it is pretty quaint. we picked raspberries, pears, and apples. i really wish that the kids could have been there with us, but we are planning a trip for november, i think. they would love it. they have a little area where you can pet some animals and also a pumpkin patch. you can pick all sorts of fruits and veggies! we took some pictures while we were there and they turned out pretty good. the weather made the sky and mountains look so beautiful.

alligator starts with the letter 'a'

today, i worked in grace's preschool class. we had tons of fun learning about the letter 'a', apples, alligators, and much more. when we came home from school and we were getting lunch ready, gracie says, 'alligator starts with the letter 'a'!' then, she made the letter 'a' in sign language. i really think she loves learning at school! while i was working, i was able to snap a picture of her and ms. barbara. grace loves ms. barbara and thinks she looks like nana. i think it is because of the dark skin and hair. also, ms. barbara's personality is very much like nana's personality. they are both very fun and love to sing silly songs! :) i am glad that grace was able to associate ms. barbara with someone she loves so much because it helped them become fast friends, and she wasn't too afraid to go to school by herself. well, here is the picture!


yesterday, we got raegan's halloween costume. we have decided that we will all be characters from the wizard of oz. grace will be dorothy (nana is making her costume), raegan will be the cowardly lion, i will be the wicked witch, and bryan, the scarecrow. well, i tried the costume on raegs (it looks super cute) and then, grace wanted to wear it. i think she is getting really excited about dressing up! she keeps asking if she can wear the red sparkly shoes!


also, yesterday was grace's second soccer class. again, they worked on dribbling and then also learned about passing. she is pretty good, but i think she got a little tired towards the end of class. it was pretty hot! you can see her red cheeks in the picture (she gets that from me...) next week, they will be working on goalkeeping!



our good friends, dan and cathy fong, went to china in august for a trip and brought back grace and raegan some little china dresses. grace wore hers on sunday (raegs was sick and didn't go, but we will get a picture with hers soon). everyone thought she looked so pretty in her red dress.

schrute bucks

ok, recently, rachel and i have been exchanging schrute bucks on facebook... i love the office, so i wanted to show this video on the blog to share my love of dwight and stanley....

"she is a beautiful baby, and i want you to have a baby just like her"

so that is what this little boy in grace's class told his mom about grace. it was so funny, grant's mom was talking to me and alison and she told us this story. she said grant came home from preschool and was talking about this beautiful baby and that baby was so pretty and he wanted his mom to have a baby just like her. well, grant's mom thought he was talking about alison's new baby, kenzie. then today, grant's mom volunteered in the class and grace was laying on the floor doing a puzzle and grant came up to grace and started to pat her on the head and rub her hair and then he told his mom that grace was the beautiful baby that he wanted his mom to have. it was so funny because grant is a pretty small boy, not that much bigger than grace, but he thinks she is a baby. at the playground, grant's mom asked if he wanted to take a picture with grace, but he said, 'no, she is just the baby.' so apparently, they aren't friends, grace is just the baby. well, needless to say, we were cracking up.

the trash can - contains trash, grace's toys, and who knows what else

ok, i have got to tell the happenings around here. raegan seriously has a problem with throwing things away. she throws everything in the trash. grace got some polly pockets for her birthday and one day she asked, 'where are the cat and monkey for my polly pockets?' we searched high and low.... then we thought to look in the trash. well, there they were... along with 4 other toys grace got for her birthday. yesterday, i found 5 toys in the trash. today, 2 already... its only 10:45. we didn't realize what a problem this is until a few days ago. about a month ago, i lost my sunglasses... i'm sure the trash ate them... courtesy of raegs... ok, so one month of toys/stuff/sunglasses in the trash with an average of 3 items/day = about 100 things missing... and who knows what they are. well, i guess it's ok if we don't miss them... but man oh man, i miss my sunglasses. i think we will have to check the trash several times a day until she gets over this... its like, sometimes she is just playing with a toy, then all of the sudden she runs away, and the toy has disappeared to the trash. crazy child.

also, gracie had her first soccer class yesterday. she loved it! jaxson and her friend lily, from the nursery, are also in the class. her coach's name is fabian and he is from brazil. he worked really well with all the kids and i think she will love it! i practiced with her yesterday afternoon and she was remembering all of the things he taught them. i think she will be a great soccer player! oh, i will take pictures of her at soccer next week... of course, i forgot my camera!

oh yeah, i totally forgot. yesterday after soccer practice, we went with alison and jax to the park to play and eat lunch. so, grace finds a dandelion... you know the ones you blow in the wind. she picks it and brings it over to me and says, 'look mom, it's all hairy!' oh, man, alison and i just died laughing. it was so funny. then she blew it in the wind!

happy birthday grace!

on friday night we had grace's birthday party at the park. we barbecued hot dogs and hamburgers and had tons of fun. all of grace's friends and cousins were there and they played all night! i made her a tinkerbell cake for her party and she loved it!




on saturday, i found raegan in the kitchen again on the table eating another pear. this time we took some pictures! what a cutie!



saturday, was also the byu game against tulsa. unfortunately, they lost, however we did get some good pictures of the kids in the byu shirts! go cougs!




sunday was grace's real birthday and she woke up and we ate a yummy french toast breakfast! i can't believe that she is 3! she is getting to be such a big girl! for her birthday, we bought her some dress up clothes. they are her favorite thing to play with at all of her friend's houses, so, i thought she should have some. she gets so excited when she gets dressed up. she puts on an outfit, all the jewelery, the shoes, and the head band! she goes all out. it is pretty funny!

crazy raegs

ok, so, seriously funny story happened last night. i was at my book club, and bryan calls to tell me what has just happened at home. he is playing with grace in one of the back rooms and he periodically hears raegan crying, then she is quiet, then she makes a little more noise, then quiet... so eventually, he goes to see what is going on. bryan finds raegan sitting on the kitchen table (i'm kicking myself for not telling him to get a picture), eating a pear. she has completely devoured the first half and was starting to move on to the second half. the funny thing is... how did she get on the table? i fear we have a climber on our hands... she is such a sneaky girl!

grace's preschool adventures

this tuesday began grace's first week of preschool. she goes to school every tuesday and thursday. we signed her up with her good friend, jaxson, and they have tons of fun together. on tuesday, we arrived about 15 minutes early to help her get acquainted with her teacher, ms. barbara, and for her to get used to being here. she was a little nervous at first, but we figured that she would do fine. i had been telling her all week about her new preschool class and how mommy wouldn't be able to stay with her, it would just be her, ms. barbara, jaxson, and the rest of the kids. so, i think she was prepared. i left and when i returned at noon, she was full of excitement and couldn't wait to tell me about her day and all the things they did. the first thing she said was, 'ms. barbara looks like nana.' ms. barbara has dark skin like nana and a similar hairstyle, and i think that made her feel more comfortable, having a somewhat familiar face to look at. they read the book, 'the kissing hand', which she loved and talked about for 2 days. of course, i forgot my camera, so alison took some pictures and i will post them soon.


today, was her second day of class and she loved it as much as the first. i remembered to take some pictures of grace and raegan before we left for school. i think next week i will take some with ms. barbara. today, i stayed for about 15 minutes and watched her, and she is very quiet, but listens to ms. barbara very well. after class, we went with jaxson and alison to the playground at the preschool and had lunch and let the kids play. there was a big grasshopper on the slide. grace was so interested in it and wanted to hold it really bad. alison got it climb onto a branch, and then grace held it in her hand. she loved it, until it jumped to her leg and then she screamed. she is so silly around bugs. sometimes she loves them, sometimes she hates them.




well, i have been recently reading sense and sensibility for the first time. i usually spend most of my jane austen time with pride and prejudice, but i decided to branch out. i have never seen the movie, so i have no idea what to expect, but that willoughby is a terrible person. i just can't believe how awful he is. it makes me very sad for marianne. anyway, just wanted to vent my anger about him! hmmmm!

my love of twilight

i suppose it is time to share with the world my love of all things stephenie meyer and twilight. i have just added to the blog a countdown to her 4th book in the vampire love story, breaking dawn, and figured i needed to blog about it. after reading each book so many times i can't count them, they deserve a spot on the chaos blog.

book 1 (my favorite) - twilight... we love edward and bella...


book 2 - new moon... boo edward for leaving and forcing her to find jacob...


book 3 - eclipse... bella makes me crazy... but in the end... how could she choose anything else?


ok, seriously, i think i may have given you a glimpse into the obsession that has consumed my life for the past month. now all we have to do is wait for breaking dawn...

d.c., camping, and go cougs!

well, we have severely been slacking in the department of blogging. we have had a very packed couple of weeks. it started off with a trip out to maryland to visit my sister, rachel, and her family. we were so excited to get to see her new addition to the family, baby ty. he is such a cutie, i can't even stand it! our visit out there was packed with fun. the first few days, we just relaxed and hung out. then on thursday we began our sightseeing adventures.


thursday, we headed up to philadelphia for some good eats and a history lesson. we started off by stopping at a famous philadelphia cheese steak place. yum. they were delicious. the first one we ate was with provolone cheese, the second we had was philly style, with cheez whiz. they were both so good, we couldn't decide which one we liked better. our next stop was the liberty bell and independence hall. it was great to learn all of the history behind the cracking of the bell and also the important events that took place in independence hall.


our final destination in philadelphia was the rocky steps. we walked up the steps, put our arms in the air, sang the theme song, then walked back down. it was a lot of fun. friday, we set out for d.c. we started at the world war ii memorial and really enjoyed it. we walked up to the lincoln memorial next, however, we were not able to go inside. some idiot chained himself to abraham lincoln and so it was blocked off by the police! we headed back to the museums afterwards and visited the bureau of printing and engraving. we saw how they make money and even measured our worth in dollars!


saturday, we checked out a famous crab cake place in annapolis on the water. it was delicious. bryan and danny had all you can eat crab cakes (they had to take a lesson from the waiter on how to crack them!) and i had crab cakes, while rachel ate salmon. grace and aurora had tons of fun playing on the dock below the restaurant. it was pretty hard to get to the restaurant, and they say it is easier to find by boat! crazy! grace ate the meat from one crab claw and on sunday broke out in a major rash. i guess she has a shellfish allergy. yikes!


we headed back home on monday night and relaxed for about 2.5 seconds, then started packing up for our camping trip with the thompsons. we camped from 2 nights at san mateo campground in san clemente. we had tons of fun. the kids were filthy dirty, but they had a lot of fun too! on thursday, we headed down to the beach for a day of fun in the sun. the dutch oven cooking was so yummy, and the weather was perfect.


for labor day weekend, we dropped the kids off at grandma's and headed up to provo to see aaron and catch the byu opening game. aaron is doing well... completely adjusted to life on his own, and the game was great.... but super hot! byu won, and all was well. by the way, aren't we great at taking pictures of ourselves!


this past saturday, we headed up to the rose bowl with mike and amber to see byu play ucla. that was a fun game. byu probably had about 15,000 fans there! we had awesome seats. 3rd row! the picture of cosmo shows our view of the field! we were level with the field. i have never seen a game so close and it was awesome. byu played well, but a couple of turnovers cost them the game. still, we had tons of fun! i have included a video of our view of the first touchdown byu made!





hopefully, our next post will be much sooner. gracie starts preschool tomorrow, so i will have to post some pictures of her first day and maybe she will have some funny stories to tell!