Happy Halloween~

My kids have been asking about Halloween since the middle of summer. Luckily they're not major planners, so they weren't worried about costumes just yet. The great pumpkin day finally arrived! It's been such a busy time around here so we've hardly prepared the fun stuff for the season. Decorations came out of the garage a week ago, and then it snowed. My thought was, "Gee, I've decorated for the wrong holiday!"

My mother in law, who has lived with us for the past two years, decided to move out last month; however, today was her big moving day. She pulled up in a big truck and told the boys she was a truck driver for Halloween. They thought that was pretty cool. But it also made for a hectic day. By the time we got her stuff moved out, my house was a disaster zone. Thank goodness I had already cancelled the teenager party, or I would have gone nuts. The house remains a big mess, but we had a good time with the little boys trick or treating.

Elijah was a Ninja. He even had a cool knife with fake blood in it! Joshua was a vampire bat (one of the last of our Costco warm costumes that still fit). We took Nanna with us and she was quite confused by the whole charade. She was ready to go for a good long walk, but we kept stopping and there were lots of crazy looking kids and weird noises. She's such a good dog! The fun part was that two people said they had treats for the dogs! Nanna thought that was pretty awesome.

Our favorite house was on a road with mansions. The decorations were awesome! As we approached this particular door, there was a disco type light that was spinning in circles, showing lots of Halloween colors. The trick or treaters had to step into the lights to knock on the door. It was funny watching my boys hesitate. After they knocked, a head that was inside a ball lit up and said, "Who dares knock on my door? Do you want candy or something?" The boys were quite startled. Then the voice said, "What is your costume?" Elijah responded, "A Ninja." The glowing head repeated, "A Ninja?" They were shocked. "Well, you've got to say, 'I love candy' and I'll give you some." A lady opened the door and gave them full sized candy bars! She showed them her microphone, and then got a huge milk bone for Nanna! The other decorations were superb as well.

A new addition to the Barnson family?

With some help from the technical staff (my sweet husband), I am back on the blog and will hopefully be recommitted to recording some of life's greatest events, or at least a few of my current thoughts.

It's been a rough year, mostly natural consequences of my own choices. Ever think you are immune to certain things in life? I discovered that I thought I was immune, but I'm not. Leaving you all clueless to my personal drama, first weekend in August I decided to get a dog. This was a shock to everybody, including me, but sometimes the Lord provides an opportunity by letting it fall into your lap.

In my opinion, a dog is a high maintenance member of the family, much like a toddler. So my requirements for ever getting a dog were basically unrealistic: full grown, professionally trained by someone else, not hyper, doesn't chew on whatever is on the floor, family oriented and protective, guard dog for our property, gentle with my children, submissive enough knowing that I am the Alpha. Yes, basically impossible. I found Nanna by accident in the middle of the night, only hours after she was listed on ksl.com classifieds. She's practically perfect in every way. I fell in love with her instantly because of her beautiful white coat of fur! Her advertisement listed nearly all of my requirements so I researched her breed (Akbash) and somehow convinced Matt to come with me to meet her.

Nanna is HUGE! She's four feet long from the tip of her nose to her butt. Her tail would add about another foot and a half! This was quite unexpected, but at the same time, she was everything I ever wanted if we were to ever get a dog. So...we got her. The children were all shocked. So was my mother in law, LOL! Only two months before, I had told Zack, "You can have a dog...when you move out of my house and have a place of your own!" The children fell in love with her instantly.

Nanna is the perfect name for this dog, given to her by her previous owners. She is very much a caretaker and concerned about everyone in her "pack." There's only two things we don't like about Nanna: she sheds beyond comprehension, and her farts stagnate and leave you in need of fresh air. None the less, Nanna is a great addition to our family. It took about a month for the cats to adjust to her. She's very gentle with them so they don't mind her being around. The funny part of this is that our BIG cats suddenly seem so very small in comparison to our gargantuan white beauty!

Nanna is a great blessing to me. It has been very therapeutic to have her as a companion dog for me to spend time with, which has helped me deal with previously mentioned personal issues. The Lord works in mysterious ways and I am grateful He sent Nanna to our home.