One year older...

I have finally reached my favorite number... It's amazing how time flies...  But in the end it's all been fun!!!  I just wanted to take today and say how grateful I am for EVERYTHING in my life.  I am truly blessed, and everyday I realize how much more I am blessed.  I am so grateful for such a loving family who I adore.  I miss them all so much.  Now that we are all so spread out, everyone really has to depend on letters, phone calls, and email to stay in touch.  And I am so grateful for all of those.  I love all of my brothers and their wives.  I learn so much from them each time I talk to them.  They are the moms that I someday want to be, and the dads I hope to find in an Eternal companion.  I love my sweet sister who is now entering such and exciting time of her life.  I just wish I could be there to do it with her...  I am so grateful for such wonderful parents who never cease to teach me all I need to know.  They are the best parents ever.  There isn't a thing that they wouldn't do for me, and being so far away has truly proved that.  I love them with all of my heart. I am so grateful for such loving grandparents who are only a call away.  They are always there to listen, to give me a recipe, or just to sound excited to hear my voice.  Oh my sweet little nieces and nephews.  They are the light of my life.  I look forward to every time I get to talk to them.  To hear their sweet voices on the phone, and to listen to their stories.  I love them all so very much!  I am so thankful for all of my friends.  I have always been blessed with so many friends and I am always amazed at the things that they are willing to do for me.  I know that life is just easier because you have friends and family to share it with.  I love mail!  Especially because I am so far away from everyone that I love.  Mail is the highlight of my day!  Thanks to all who write me through, letters, email, and texts...  It is all mail, it's all a way to brighten my day and I truly appreciate it!!!  I am so happy here!  I love the Ciatto family!  We are having such a great time getting to know each other, and to love one another.  Each of the children have a special place in my heart.  I am so blessed to be a part of their family.  They are truly a beautiful family, and it is truly an honor to be able to be here with them.  I am so thankful for my membership in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I love it with all of my heart!  It blesses my life in so many ways.  It makes me who I am today.  I am so very happy with all that I have been blessed with, and I am looking forward to make this the best 29th year of my life!!!! 

PS....  oops... I totally forgot to post this... and ... I know I missed a lot of other things I am grateful for... but this is just a beginning.... 

In search of the perfect costume...

Saturday came in a hurry.  I was well aware of the need to find a costume for the ward party that night.  I was pretty much in denial that I would ever dress up.  I really am not a fan of dressing up.  I just don't think I ever have been.  I made several calls to family and friends getting ideas of what in the world to be.  And the day continued to move on.  Pat had told me that I would be there that day, still pondering with no idea as to what I would be.  She told me that I would end up there, still after two months of knowing about the party, I would have no idea what to be.  Well I picked Bailey up, and off we went in search of the perfect costumes.  I went from thinking about being a mummy, a nurse, a hippie, a college student pantry, and honestly ended up being a pink lady from Grease.  Nothing original I know.. and the funny thing is that it was here at my house.  I had made a pink poodle skirt already, the only thing I had to add to it was some nice ked shoes.  Crazy!  And Bailey ended up being the best witch ever.  She wore one of Kristen's old witch costumes.  It was so cool!!!  I loved her hat...  It was perfect.  But wow!!!  What a funny day, just to end up back at home with our own costumes!!! :)  Well we got to the party and it ended up being a lot of fun!!!  I don't know why I go to all the trouble about worrying...  I know I am a worrier... it's not a good thing...  Worry about this, and worry about that... Silly honestly....  There was pumpkin carving, pie eating, and a bake off.  The dance was pretty fun...  The music was a little random... but what can I say... I love to dance....  We all ended up going to Apple Bee's after for a bite to eat... and that was fun.  We played Mow with a huge group of us, and it was quite the night!  The Phillie's were playing in the World Series in the background so it was a happening place...  Bailey slept over that night, and we fell asleep talking about how great the evening was...  zzzzzzzz

Summarizing a week :) October (19th-25th)

Time has just flown by.  I spent a lot of this week perusing the stores to find Chris, my boss a perfect birthday gift from the kids.  I decided on a digital picture frame so he can have all of the pictures I take of the kids with him when he goes to NY.  They are so excited to give it to him.  It's his 40th on Nov. 2.  We are also putting the cutest coupon book together from the kids.  They are adorable and have added coupons such as... "no complaining when we have to go to church, no interrupting while dad watches sports with Uncle Matt, lots of snuggles, breakfast in bed, back scratches..."  just adorable.  The pictures that they have drawn to explain the coupons are priceless...  It will be a great gift.  I did a lot of running around with Bailey during the days.  We got all our grocery shopping done together, and got to the mall to look for Halloween costumes too.  One day, we rushed to and fro to get all of our errands done before we had to pick Avery up from school, and we quickly grabbed snack from her house to go pick up Avery and in the end, we ended back at her house to hang til the other kids got done with school.  So crazy!!!!  It was a good week though.  Institute was great!  I have really loved learning more about the Savior's life.  I love it!  And pretty much every day this past week, Chris, or Chris and Bailey have ended up back at my house to play games and watch movies... usually much to late!!!  But it's always such a good time!!!  One night after school, the boys got done with their homework, so we all went outside to play four square, and then Bunnie, who is our neighbor came over and we played kickball with the kids.  It was me and her against them...  It was so fun!!!  We all just had such a fun time!!!  So cute...  I love her.  She is so much fun!!!  I hope that when I am a mom, I can be fun just like her.  

Jason Mraz Concert- Fond of Hats -October 16th

Wow!  What a day.  I am pretty sure that it started from the beginning.  I got an email notifying me of the concert for that night.  There were no two seats next to eachother, but the tickets were an amazing price.  I thought about it all day long.  In fact I invited Chris and Bailey to go, but Chris was broke, and Bailey just couldn't do something so spontaneous.  I debated on it pretty much because Chris my boss, had gone out of town, and he had told me to do something fun, while Gma, and Gpa were there with the kids.  This was the first time that I considered going to a concert by myself.  Crazy I know!!! In fact I asked several of my friends if they would ever do that, and everyone said no way!!!  Although their answers were NO, I couldn't help but think of how much fun it would be just to see him in concert.  I got really close to just booking the ticket.  But after thinking about it long and hard, I decided not to do it!!!  I texted Bailey to let her know that I was just going to bag the concert idea, and just do something with everyone that night instead.  Well as soon as I sent her the text, she called me to say that her and Vickie had found two seats together and that she would like to take me their for my birthday.  So within a matter of minutes it was official, we were really going to a Jason Mraz concert.  I picked her up after dinner with the family, and all my good byes, and I found her at her house Still cleaning up from dinner.  She was soooo not ready to go.  I knew the concert wasn't very far from my house, but I didn't know the way for sure.  So I did my best to be patient, and help her pick out an outfit.  Well luckily we got there just around the time that Lisa started singing.  It was so exciting to be there.  The theater was really cool.  It was the Tower Theater in Upper Darby.  The concert was amazing!!!!  We had so much fun!  He is an incredible performer.  He was a lot of fun to watch.  And he involved the audience too... It was so sweet!!!!  He said something between songs that I will never forget.  It was, "Don't let your mind stop you from having fun."  It totally went with our entire day of should I stay or should I go.  I am just so glad that we went. I loved when he and Lisa sang Lucky together.  It was so great!!!  I love when I know the words to the songs. Bailey was so happy.  She was so thankful that I talked her into being spontaneous.  It's important to live a little.  It's fun to do something not all the way planned!!! :)  I took like 100 pictures.  It was great!! We both bought new cd's of his, and she bought a shirt, and I got  a cute bag to add to my collection...  It was a night we will NEVER forget!!!!  

A Monster Weekend :)

So I had planned this weekend for a long time.  I knew Chris would be leaving town to go golfing with his friends in Texas, and I wanted to make the time for the kids and I go by fast!!!  So I found all this way cute stuff that had to do with monsters!!!  Friday he left for Texas.  I decorated the kitchen with all these silly monsters I had made, and put up a whiteboard sign that said "Ciatto's Monster Weekend".  Avery was first to come home, and she was so excited to see all the crazy monsters.  I told her that they were lonely and needed new monster friends so she was to draw some.  She was so excited.  I have totally decided that drawing monsters is my favorite thing to draw because YOU CAN NEVER MESS UP!!!  She thought so too... Who cares if there eyes are the same, or if their feet look the same... It's great!!! We played and played till Tommy came home.  He was just as excited!  He even shouted out... Misty, this is my favorite!!! So cute!  He added some new monsters too...  Andrew came home much later after his book club.  We were all hungry so I had planned a monster dinner on the floor... Yep!  Right in the middle of the kitchen floor on a picnic blanket.  I served macaroni and cheese in cups, and fish sticks in bowls.  I had told them that we were to eat like monsters, throwing manners out the door.  But they are such good kids, they were so nice to say please and thank you to one another.  While I was cleaning up, Andrew started making his monsters and came up with the idea of us all having monster names.  So he chose to be Ox, from the ugly dolls, Avery was Wage, and Tommy was Wedge Head, and they chose the girlie one for me, Moxie!!! So fun... We we had new names...  And we could only answer to those names... Avery and I made peanut butter cookies together.  We were off to Baskin Robins for an ice cream treat! The best part about it was I had given them monster googly eyes, and we wore them to the shop....  So funny...  i really don't think that they thought I would do it!!! Ok... I admit, I am such a kid....  We played the Hamster song loud in the car, and danced all the way home.  Then we switched and ate peanut butter cookies at home while dancing some more!!!! Wow!!!  What an amazing night.  We topped it off with a great monster book I had bought for bedtime, and telling stories of the Monster day to come!!!! So cute!!!!   "MONSTER DAY 2"  Saturday morning came bright and early.  I had wanted to do a Monster Breakfast, but we were really rushed.  I had to get ready, get them ready, breakfast, and Avery out the door to soccer... Which I had no idea where it was.  Every address I put in the computer came up wrong...  So we were off to find the fields.  And of course lil miss Avery was so stubborn about dressing warm, and it was FREEZY...  The game was good, I just felt awful because she wouldn't wear anything warm.  Papa Larossa came, and met us there, and we watched the game together.  It was nice to see him.  He was a proud grandpa.  Avery is such a soccer star.  She made like twelve goals!!! Amazing really.  She was born to play!!!!  After soccer we went home, and I pulled out the Monster making kit I bought.  They loved it!!!  We made our own monsters and watched Monsters Inc. while snuggling on the couch!!! I pulled out my next surprise which I think was their favorite.  I bought us all fuzzy pictures of monsters!!!! Wow!!! Their eyes lit up with such excitement... and happiness...  I got some of the best hugs, and I love you's ever!!! We all colored and just chilled...  I made lunches and snacks for them, and they were off to go to the pumpkin patch with the Rhoades.  They were excited to go, but a little disappointed I wasn't going to go with them.  And I will admit, I felt the same way...  While they were gone, I took a little down time for myself, and then Chris my friend came over and we hung out.  We just played the Wii, and he ate lunch...  It was a nice lil break... but kind of weird to not have them home too...  When they came home, Chris got ready and left for the dinner and dance I really wanted to go to... But pretended like it wasn't happening...  lol...  the kids all had their own directions to go to for the night and so I went and hung out with Bailey after dropping by the grocery store.  It was nice to all get back together that night.  We had a great time talking about the exciting day, and sharing our stories...  It was a lot of fun!!!  We had story time after showers, and I loved doing back scratches, they are so cute, and they were out so fast...  Andrew came up shortly after, and I scratched his back, and we talked a lil bit more about everything.  As I was leaving his room, he said... "Misty, I love you."  It was so amazing how it just touched my heart.  My love for these kids is growing everyday.  Another wonderful day with the lil monsters!!!  MONSTER DAY 3 Sunday sure did not feel like a Sunday to me.  I woke up at 6:00 am, to get ready because I knew we had to be up and ready for breakfast at 8:00am.  Papa Larossa and Miss Anne showed up on time, and I was still in the process of giving Avery her vitamins and pulling her hair in a pony tail up.  We headed out the door to meet them at the famous Minela's Diner.  They were so cute, they all knew exactly what they wanted.  And they were all trying to be so big by helping each other order, and making sure everyone got what they wanted... So cute!!!!  Papa and Miss Ann had just returned from a trip to South Africa, and so we got to hear all their stories about the Safari's they took... It was a lot of fun!!!  We went home and I hid the monster eggs that I had got to finish off the Monster Weekend!!!  They loved the hunt, and it was so fun to watch them intensely search the house.  Andrew was soon off to his baseball game, and Avery was so sweet to help pack up a lil picnic for Tommy, her and I.  We were off to find the game...  Always a quest :) But with papa's help, we made it!!!  It was fun to watch Andrew play, and Avery sat on my lap keeping me warm for most of the game... So nice...  The day ended with a wonderful block party here on our street.  It was so nice.  Everyone came and brought food, and there was music and drinks.  Honestly, it isn't my favorite scene.  It's hard to sometimes just go out of my shell, and talk to complete strangers.  But I did it, and the great thing is that everyone wanted to know me, and who I was, and where I was from.  And I received so many thank you's.  It was a great day... It's always such a treat to see Chris come home and get the biggest hugs and smile from his kids.  They were so excited to have him home!!!!  Later on that night, Tommy and I snuggled and watched a little bit of Over the Hedge.  He is so cute... Lately he just wants to be close to me.  He loves hugs, and he places my hand just where he wants it to make sure I know he needs a back scratch... :)  too funny!!!   I don't think I could have asked for a better Monster Weekend!!!  The kids were so easy to please, and so helpful, and so fun!!! It was the weekend I had wanted!!!!! 

Tuesday... nap day for me :)

I took a nice lil nap today after dropping the kids off at school.  It was much needed...  Bailey came over to chill while I napped, and I slept like a baby.  Before I knew it, it was time to pick up Avery.  I surprised her with taking her bike to school, and we went for a walk/bike ride on my favorite trail, conestoga...  It was a lot of fun... She was so excited!!! Her face lit up, and that might have been the best part.  :)  She was too cute... Riding up ahead, and then waiting for me.  We were both in amazement at how beautiful all the leaves were.  We stopped to look at them, and she picked a few up and game them to me to keep forever...  She is so sweet!!!  After the boys came home, it was a mad rush to get homework done, and dinner ready so that we could venture on to her soccer practice.  That was a lot of fun!!!  She is so cute... She is a great soccer player.  She might whine and complain about having to go, but wow, when she gets there, she is AMAZING!!!!  It is so fun to see her make goals.  She is a star, that's for sure...  The boys went off and played wall ball, and would every once in awhile, come and snuggle up with me for warmth.  As always bed routine was so cute...  I read them stories and Avery chose to sing Heavenly Father's Prayer like five times....  Such a sweetie... she loves that song, and I love to sing it with her!!!!   :)   

Monday... a quick trip to Virginia...

Monday~ not so much a regular day.  I hadn't slept at all the day before, so I was crazy tired.  I debated back in forth on accompanying my friend Chris to Virginia to take Spencer home.  And when it came right down to it, I knew I wouldn't sleep till I knew he was home safe and sound.  So we left after I got off work for a 6 hour journey... three hours there and three hours back...  It was quite the trip...  Fun but crazy!  We first headed for Philly in search of a Philly Cheese steak...  We eventually found one, after going in circles, and through narrow alleys and such.  It was a good thing that we were in a small bug...  The trip there wasn't too bad... We talked and listened to music, and it was fun getting to know each other better.  Spencer is from Idaho, and is just out here doing an internship for the summer.  So we already had a connection.  :)  haha...  Anyway, he was a great guy and a lot of fun to chill with.  Chris and I headed home around 11:30ish... It was going to be a late night.  But although I hadn't gotten any sleep, I was up for the ride.  It was fun, we just played the question game.  It got so late and we were both getting so tired, that the new rule was that whoever yawned had to ask next...  Needless to say I had a lot of questions to ask.  lol...  We were about an hour away from home, and we booth were very loopy.  It was hilarious.  Chris drove off the highway, in a do not enter zone, and we got lost in Washington DC, and we really couldn't make our words make sense... I love drives like that!!!  A night I will NEVER forget!!!!  

Sunday... Catchin up...

Wow!  I am already behind in my writing... Sundays are ALWAYS my longest days of the week.  It is just because they are so busy, and are spent in the city.  I went to the city for church and then after that did the whole munch and mingle assignment.  I will be honest, this week I just didn't want to be the one to help clean up.  I did it, but just didn't want to have to do it.  After all was said and done, I had asked Chris if a few friends could come over and play games, he was so nice and pretty much told me that he appreciated me asking, but that he will always say yes to me.  He is so inviting... Well Chris, Bailey, and Spencer who was Chris's old roommate came over and we played games.  We played some good ol guitar hero, and cards, and just hung out.  It was a lot of fun!  They didn't end up leaving til 1:00pm and so it made for a late night.  Well I went up stairs to briefly check my email, and James was online, so we talked on the pone and on the computer for awhile... and that was a lot of fun!!!  It was just nice to catch up again, and talk about old memories, and just laugh at our craziness.  But it ended up being a very very late night, or should I say morning.  I didn't get to bed til 5:30am, and that was mainly because we lost connection between the phone and the laptop... But honestly it was a great day!!! 

Friday- Target Day!!!

I am kind of doing this in order, so I decided to write about Friday first.... It was another day home from school for the boys.  I dropped Avery off for her picture day at Kindergarten...  Oh she was absolutely adorable.  It was the first day that she let me curl her hair, and she wore a pretty pink shirt with the cutest brown shorts.  We took pictures of the big day outside, and they were beautiful.  I came home from dropping her off, and the boys had already arranged playdates. They were off to their friends, and I was off to get my errands done.  We all got back around 1:00, and I had planned on picking up Avery and 1:50 and off to Target we would go.  Well instead, I got a call from the school informing me that school gets out at 12:50pm.  Oh no... We rushed out the door to pick Avery up late...  Oopsie... I guess there is a first for everything right...  :)  She was still as cute as ever, and we were all so excited about our trip to Target.  The kids watched Night at the Museum on the way.  We had a mission to fulfill.  These were a few things on the list; pants, socks, under armor, and of course the biggie Halloween Costumes.  It was such a fun trip.  The kids were all so good.  Tommy and Avery traded back in forth being in the back of the cart.  We even made it through trying on all our choices.  That was a funny part of the day.  Andrew had chosen some pants, that were much too tight for his style.  He was even a little embarrassed to come out of the dressing room... It was so funny.  He just kept repeating... these are so weird... We all laughed... :)   The Halloween costumes were great!  Andrew decided on being a psycho clown with chains, and Tommy found his skeleton costume.  Too cute!!!  We took fun pictures, and off we went to finish up our list.  They were so excited to show their finds to Chris when we got home.  Before I knew it, Chris and the two youngest were headed out the door to go watch the baseball game at the Hermans.  I took Andrew to baseball, and then my crazy night began...  Chris, my friend met me at my house and we were headed to pick up the girls and off to the Haunted house.  After much contemplation, we decided to go to Bates Motel!!!!  Um scary for me, not so much for them...  They laughed at my horror.  They even told the actors to call out my name, and to grab my legs.  It was a lot of fun! We rode on a haunted hayride, and walked through a haunted corn maze, and through a haunted motel.  It was crazy.  But I hurt my back!!!  And that's the end of the story.  Maybe I am just too old to get scared...  :)

Saturday...I met Hillary Weeks!!!! :)

I am really not sure how to sum up my day yesterday!!!!  It was such an amazing day!!!  I got up extremely early to catch my first train to Philly.  I met Rachelle and Naomi at the train station in Strafford.  We were off to Philly for the Time Out For Women conference.  Little did I know how much I truly needed this day!  Upon arriving at the train station, we saw so many other women who were all headed in the same place.  The station is so neat.  I loved the architecture, and it was only up a few flights of escalators and we were there at the convention center.  It was great!!!  I could hear the music being played, and the staff started giving out bags.  The cutest bags ever, blue and brown ones that said Time Out for Women.  We walked in as the doors opened, and we walked clear to the front of the room to sit in the 10th row back.  I sat down next to two other ladies, and introduced myself.  They had come from Ct. and it was fun to tell our stories.  The one was originally from Utah, and had done the same thing I had.  Travel across the country to be a nanny.  She had met her husband here.  And is now raising her little family here.  Deseret Book sponsored the event and so they had lots of great things to buy in the back of the room.  I walked back to see what I could find.  I already knew that I was going to buy Hillary Weeks new CD.  I was so excited when I found it, and many more things... :)  What can I say, I am a fool for LDS books and Music, and stuff!!!!  I miss not having a store close to me.  Well the conference began with my favorite singer in the whole world, Hillary Weeks.  I was filled with such an overwhelming feeling of happiness as I watched her sing.  It was like one of those moments that Elder Bednar once described as a tender mercy of the Lord.  This was someone I have looked up to and admired for as long as I started singing her music.  I have always loved her.  I got to listen to her the entire day, and I took advantage of it by hugging her, and telling her how much her music has helped me throughout my life.  I got a picture with her, and she signed my new music book I bought.  Oh Happy DAY!!!!  Truly it was.  It was full of laughs, tears, and joy!  Simply that is how I felt...  I loved listening to all of the speakers, and learning more about them, and more about me.  I have truly needed this day! It brought such a great renewal of ME to my life!!!!  I am at such peace, and I realize more than ever how much I am truly loved.  What an amazing Day!!! One I will never ever forget!!!!

Thursday... a chill day

Today was a great day!!!  I woke up a little sleepy, in fact the kids commented on the fact that I wore my pink pj's downstairs this morning.  But awfully cute slippers.  I had to keep stealing them back from Tommy... :)  Avery was our only schoolgirl today.  Tommy was adorable and volunteered to ride with her to school and keep her company...  So grandpa and Tommy took a lil ride together.  When they got back, Tom played with his kinnex, and Andrew played with my Itouch, while i messed around on my laptop.  It was fun.  They turned on the movie Jimmy Neutron, in hopes I would gain some interest.  lol...  Well we all did our thing today, between playdates, playing cards, teaching a new game "MOW"and dancing to some loud music.  It was a good day!!!!  The kids were so excited to see Chris, and it was adorable to see them ALL riding scooters together after dinner!  He is such an amazing dad, and those kids love him so much!!!  Today, after having a tantrum, my lil Tommy opened up to me, and let me know that he truly does miss his mom.  He cried, and inside my heart hurt for him. He hugged me tight, and let me know he just needs to feel loved. He is such a sweet little boy, and I am so grateful I am here to be apart of his life.  

Halfway through the week... :)

Wow!  What a day.  It's been one of those days that I just was glad to get through... I made it though... and that's what matters.  Tonight was great!  I went to Institute class and it was about something I just needed to hear.  I love it when that is how it turns out.  I offered to drive this week, so Chris met me here at my house.  As he called to say he was here, I had to be pulled away from playing a game with the kids and gma and gpa.  It's a new game!  I love new games!!!!  It's called Left, Right, Center!  It's so fun, and the kids are so cute to play with.  After Institute, we got stuck in traffic, but we thought it was a good excuse to turn up the music and jam out.  It was a lot of fun, but holy cow the drivers are so crazy here.  I was headed off the exit and the guy in front of me, totally backed up the exit.  It was so scary.  I didn't know what to do.  But we made it...  We weren't ready for the night to be over, so we texted Bailey and told her we were coming right over.   We ventured through Walmart to find the perfect snack, and then drove around.  We checked out the spooky house, and the cemetery, and ended up in the parking lot where we played Mow in the back of the van...  It was fun... as always!!!!  :)

Just another Monday

Well I woke up thinking it was going to be "just another Monday," but my lil Andrew was home sick with a belly ache.  So I had a companion with me all day long.  I am not complaining, he's a great kid, and we had a nice time together.  He read to himself while I got the chores done, and we played a few games of sequence as we listened to the newest songs on my Ipod touch.  It was so great!  I love that we like the same music.  It's a lot of fun!  After making my favorite mashed potatoes for lunch, he took a nice lil nap.  Bailey was a dear and brought me a sandwich for lunch... Yummy Johns....  and then we took off and went to pick up Avery from school, and took her to her playdate.  It's always such an adventure when I attempt to find new places.  I usually have to plan for more time... cuz I sometimes get lost.  But we made it, and the drop off was successful.  When I got back, Andrew woke up from his nap and he read to me out of our new book we bought at the book fair.  Oopsie... I accidentally dozed off. But I plan to read it later to catch up...  :)  The night ended with a feast of food being brought to us again, and I took leftovers to FHE.  It was at the Karlsons tonight and we played one of my favorite games "I have never".   And of course Chris, and I stayed later to play some cards.  It was so much fun!  I just love being with people!!!  Good Times! :)

A Day at the Museum

Today was the big day for Tommy!!! Earlier in the week, he had asked why I never did anything with his family on the weekends. I preceded to explain that I go to church on Sunday's and the only "day off" I had was Saturday. Then I asked him what it was that he would like me to do on the weekend. He replied. "I want you to come to the museum of natural history with us... it just wouldn't be the same without you".  I of course said I would love to come...  And I got three of the biggest hugs from the cutest kids ever.  So that is exactly what we did, we played all day in Philly...  It was great!  We went with three families.  The Karlson's of course, and the Stephano's joined us.  The museum was a lot of fun!  Wow!  To see those kids excitement in their eyes... PRICELESS.... :) They got to go behind a screen and it looked as if they were being eaten by the dinosaurs, and they got to dig for the burried bones too.  It was so great fun!  Honestly though my very favorite part was walking through the butterfly habitat... It was so cool...  Well not really, it was very hot and humid.  But I wasn't at all bothered by it, because of all the beautiful butterflies.  They were everywhere, and there were so many different colors, shapes, and sizes.  It was so cool to see one land on Vicki, I was sure to take a picture.  What a fun experience.  We were all very entertained to see the live animal show too.  We saw a beautiful owl, and learned lots of interesting facts about it...  We ended it with a great group shot on the stairs.  All of us...  Sweet memories...  Off to the famous Taccanelli's pizza place we went.  The kids have been so excited for me to finally come with them to their very favorite pizza place.  And after waiting patiently, cleaning up from several sprite and water spills, the pies started coming.   Wow!  We ordered 11 pies... Holy cow! You would think that was a lot of pizza, but it was only a little bit more than we needed.  It was honestly the BEST pizza I have had here in Philly.  It was delicious.  I tried the spinach and sausage, the pepperoni, and the pepperoni and sausage.  I must say that my very favorite was the last one!!!  It was delicious.  What another wonderful day in Philly!!!! I am so grateful for all the opportunities I have been given here!!!!

Saturdays!!! My day off!!!!

So I went shopping for some desperately needed WARM clothes today.... as I have totally been FREEEEEZZZZIIIINNNNGGGG!!!  Brrr... I forget how much I don't like the cold weather.  And honestly compared to Idaho, it's not that cold at all...  I am just a baby!  But on the bright side of things... it's an excuse to do some shopping...  Bailey and I took a trip to the new King of Prussia Walmart... It was a trip indeed.  First of all, I have never seen so many people in one place at one time... No I have, but never at a Walmart, it took me 29 years to park.  It was a nice trip though.  I saw cute boys at the 96.5 wired display.  That's always fun!  I even got a sticker for my happy book.   I also bought some fall colored shoes, and lots of warm jackets...  :)  Anyway... it was a fun day.  Kind of crazy I didn't listen to any conference... but thank goodness for online listening... I will enjoy it this week!!!!  :)

Today~the first day!

So I am doing this partly because I promised I would... But no... really... I am so excited to have somewhere to just write!!!  I love to write... It is always so much fun...  So today was a great day, and it ended with spending time with wonderful friends.... It can't get much better when you are so far away from family...  Life is good...  And right now, I am just glad to be apart of it...