From pre-production set-up,
To sitting in the make-up-chair...
The Halloween Production at Happy Acres was a roaring success...
Every year around Halloween, we do what most people do, and carve our pumpkins into Jack-O-Lanterns. Every year, the kids choose a pattern, and I do the rest. I'm still not ready to let them loose with sharp implements. With Jackie's record of injuries, she'd end up carving herself.
That being said, here are the latest Webster Jack-O-Lanterns.
Amanda wanted hers to be "girlie" and not scary. If you look closely, you can see this one has eye-lashes, earrings, and a bow on top. Pretty girlie...
Jackie wanted hers to reflect the true nature of her kitty, Sassy. We call this one Psycho-Sassy:
Auntie-Debra (Marc's wife) chose a traditional Halloween image. Wonder if that's a 'Nimbus 2000' or a 'Firebolt'?
My brother, Marc, designed and carved this one, himself. Pretty good job, huh?
Kev wanted his as scary as possible...think we managed that request.
I just wanted mine to be different. 
That's the end of our "Jack-O-Lanterns on parade". Until next year. Happy Halloween, everybody!!!! Don't let the little ghouls and boos run you ragged.
I heard this story in Relief Society, today. It was too great not to share. Hope it makes you think as much as I did.
Let me tell you all a story of two sisters… They both sat on the porch and rocked back and forth looking out over their weed-ridden yard. The one looked at the other and said, “Someday I’m going to have to get this grass mowed.” The second sister said, “Well, it’s not so bad, we can still see the street.”
The first sister spoke again, “Someday I’ll have to call and set my visiting teacher appointments.” The second sister answered, “I’ve done so much visiting teaching, I think I’ll sit this month out.”
They sighed and continued to rock back and forth in silence for awhile. The first sister muttered quietly, “We’re going to have to forgive our other sister someday.” The second sister said, “We can do that a bit later, besides, she’s dead.”
The sisters looked at each other and realized the magnitude of what they had just spoken… Procrastination and Complacency got up and walked back inside the decaying house. They passed their unopened scriptures and empty journals as they climbed the stairs to their bedrooms. They looked at each other and bid each other a good night… Someday never came and they didn’t even notice.
This past Friday Kevin and I attended a Ward Social. It was a costume party where we were supposed to dress our hero. Hummmmmm....what to do? What to do?
Kevin and I were discussing who we would regard as a hero. I thought of Queen Esther or Ruth from the Scriptures. We both decided that our #1 hero would be the Savior.
Since Kevin's already got the beard (and I don't haha) he dressed as the Savior. We even painted his hair and beard with temporary hair-paint, since Jesus didn't have gray hair.
I had things a little easier. The next hero in my life would be my dad. Kevin suggested that I get a skull-cap and go bald for accuracy. I won't write my response to THAT suggestion... Here's what I came up with...
I had my dad's missionary tag, so I dressed as a missionary and pinned this picture to my jacket, using the missionary tag as a pin.
The rest of the party-goers came as heroes of many varieties. From scriptural heroes, to TV heroes (Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty), to Eowyn and Farimir from Lord of the Rings. There was even one sister who came as her mom. It was fun to see where everyone got their inspiration and to listen to why they chose that particular hero.
Hopefully I'll get through the rest of the Halloween festivities without having to do any more dress-up.
I meant to post this right after Amanda's actual birthday, but got distracted by the pictures of my Dad that I found. Plus, I had to wait for the battery on my camera to re-charge so I could get these pictures off the camera. *sigh* Seems that we can get so married to our technology that we can't function when it isn't functioning. Oh well, that's a post for another time.
There's a family-fun-center north of us called "Boondocks". We didn't have birthday parties this year, so Amanda chose "Boondocks" as her Birthday-activity. This is a great place. They have mini-golf, go-carts, rock wall-climbing, laser-tag, bumper-boats, a HUGE jungle-gym, and tons of arcade games. We had SO much fun.
Here are a few pictures of the Birthday festivities.
The fun started at dinner.
The kids (all three of them) had a blast on the go-carts...
Kev drove Amanda around the bend..hahaha
Hot-Rod-Webster, aka Jackie, drove herself.
After an epic bumper-boat water-battle:
The girls headed inside to dry-off, get warm, and try their luck at the arcade. Kevin challenged me to a round of mini-golf. I LOVE to play mini-golf, but I'm pretty lousy, so Kev won. Only by two strokes. I was shocked it wasn't more. I'm really bad at this game.
After the golf tournament, Kev and I worked together to defeat the "Borg" on the Star-Trek Voyager arcade game. We ran out of tokens before we ran out of "Borg", so I guess we were assimilated. Resistance was futile. hahahahahaha
So ended the Birthday-Bash...and a fun time was truly had by all...
...and then we ate cake. (Made by Mom - decorated by Uncle Marc)
It's amazing how the silliest things will take you back in time.
I was hunting through some papers of my Dad's; for something completely unrelated to his Air Force career, and came across an entire file he'd kept devoted to his service in the military. Bear in mind that Dad retired from the Air Force in 1978, after serving with honor for 20 years. It is now almost 30 years later (Wow, am I really THAT old???) and I still have these files. I must have inherited Dad's pack-rat gene... Nope, that was Caline, (my sister) That's why she's an antique dealer.
Anyways...I've digressed. While browsing through this file, I found three of Dad's official Air Force Photo's. Kind of like the annual school photos our kids get. The first is of Dad as a brand-new, shiny 1st Lieutenant. The second is of Dad as a serious Captain. The third is of Dad as a seasoned, experienced Major. These pictures span 21 years and represent a lifetime of devotion and service. Mostly, they represent how I remember Dad best.
Enjoy...I know I did!
1st Lieutenant Donald G. Barbezat (July 1960)
Captain Donald G. Barbezat (January 1966)
Major Donald G. Barbezat (Retired)(September 1981)
Thirteen years and 364 days ago.... A miracle happened. ...and this is what that miracle looked like...
We named her Amanda Noelle Webster. The "Noelle" was a reminder of Christmas (our favorite season) because she was such a gift in our lives.
Nine months later, we took her to the Temple to have her sealed to us for time and eternity....and she looked like this...
Ten years ago...our miracle had grown up to be an adorable bundle of energy in toddler-form.
Today she is a lovely young woman. Tomorrow she celebrates her 14th Birthday! It's been a joy to watch her grow-up. Can't wait for this amazing journey to continue as we see Amanda become all her Heavenly Father wishes her to be.
Happy Birthday, Angel-Girl. We love you!!!!
After this morning's (Sunday) session of General Conference, Amanda wrote a big sign that read: "President Hinckley ROCKS!!! The Websters LOVE President Hinckley!!!" She then asked if we could hang it in our front window. I said, "Sure, why not?"
So, here it is:
...And here it is in our front window...
Just when you worry that your kids will never "get it", they do something that amazes you and renews your faith and hope.
Thanks, Amanda!
As my sister-in-law, Deb Webster, said; "If this doesn't make you laugh (or at least smile), check your pulse." Check out this link and have a good giggle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P6UU6m3cqk
...and another one from Kerrianne. Thanks for sharing. I could REALLY relate to this one. haha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uISuvTiTYJA
They shared, now I have it!!
On a lighter note, my friend (thanks Kerri) posted this. I LOVED it and had to share.
Hope you all enjoy it, too.
The Mom Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxT5NwQUtVM
I swear we're going to hang this sign on our front door...either that or a black cross marking us as a quarantine house.
I'm just getting over bronchitis. Yesterday, BOTH my girls came down with nasty sore throats that mutated overnight into icky stuffy heads and fevers, this morning. Needless to say, school was out of the question.
I spent the day scrubbing and washing everything I could get my hands on, trying to kill some of the germs. This afternoon both girls felt marginally better. By this evening, they were back to feeling miserable. 
So we rubbed their chests with vicks, drugged them both soundly, and sent them to bed.
If they're not better tomorrow, I'm sending this flag up. Maybe someone will come up with a cure.
