Hallowahoo!

happy halloween

Fun times at the turnk or treat! Our ward does a really good job, so we spent our whole "trick-or-treating" time here. We had a fun visit by Jake and Loopy and Josh and the Cheat...

the stash...

this was the night before...carving pumpkins....

does everyone like my new boots?

before

after

i thought this would be a little awkward to blog about...but now that I've done it, it is rather refreshing...

i just bought them. they were kind of expensive, but worth the money. they are a little sore right now, and will take getting used to, but i think they are great! i wonder if anyone will compliment them...is it wierd to compliment someone's new boots?

can we get some sympathy

Does anyone know of a leaf cleaning service??

fun in fall

with the dread of an approaching winter looming in the backs of our minds, we have been trying to enjoy the transitional season.

picking our pumpkins at Vineyard

(Yes. He crawled all the way through the hole after getting stuck halfway. He didn't get the whole idea...that wasn't a pun )

fun in the leaves with Grammy!

Yes...this much more is yet to fall...anyone wanna come roll in the leaves?

we will fight day or night, rain or snow

whoever wrote the cougar fight song wrote it before they had children. Last year I took Jackson to a BYU game. Afterwards I vowed to never take a baby/toddler to a game again. It was miserable. We were crammed, students were trying to push us out, it was cold, Jackson went poo and I didn't have a diaper, he wouldn't stand on the bleacher so I had to hold him (So then my arm smelt like poo). So...this year I don't know what came over me, but I agreed to take Jackson and Christian to the BYU game on Saturday (with Jenny of course--and Jessie's baby Emme- but she was an angel). We were lucky to get tickets from Jenny's fam (BIG THANKS! really!) We couldn't go until half time because I took the 3 hour long GRE test (that should be a post in and of itself--don't get me started). Right when we entered the stadium it started to downpour. It was soaking everyone and it was cold rain that quickly went to slush then snow real quick. We were going back and forth on whether to go in, and then thought it best not to when Christian started freaking out because of the cold. This was only the beginning. What we thought was a let up in the storm turned out to be a calm before the blizzard. By the time it was really coming, we were at the beginning of our mile long trek back to the car. (This is not an exageration, we parked far away). I started to run and the snow and hail and whatever was pelting the boys. Both of them were screaming. I wish I had a word for one or two steps above screaming, because that is what it was. Blood curdling. People thought I was stabbing them. My hands were frozen to the stroller handle, I was soaking wet, I felt like a horrible parent because I thought the boys were in hypothermia, I was getting stuck in the gravel and mud, by the time we got to the car they seriously looked like little snowmen- covered in snow- then they were crying so hard they started vomiting when I put them in the car and the car was covered with snow with no scraper because I didn't think we would get half a foot in OCTOBER!!! I have said this before and now I say it with assurance. I could not have made the handcart trek west. I would have laid down in Iowa and just died. Just bury me here. There is not enough mention of the children in these stories. I have never read about children just screaming from cold. I shiver at the thought.



This is long, but I think some frustration was still bottled up in me. It feels good to get it out. So yes Mr. Cougar Fight Song Dude I will fight...in the day...with a babysitter...when it is sunny...
tickets to Hawaii are $303. US Airways. One way.

we want to viva in las vegas

We just got home from a getaway to Vegas! We had a blast while we were there! We had Fall Break at school and decided if we stayed home we would probably just lounge around all day, so we called up Jenny's cousin Jana and her hubby Joe and decided to go spend the weekend with them. They were such great hosts and their house was awesome and it was fun to spend time with them...

The first night they took our kids and let us spend a night on the town. We ate at Cheesecake Factory (of course!) and walked through the malls on the strip and watched the fountain show at the Bellagio (that is my favorite part! There is nothing naked in it)

Vegas has the best parks! This one is the one right by her house! Isn't it cool?! It reminded us of the Bug's Life Park in DisneyLand...

Zoey and Livy (Jana and Joe's girls) have one of those motorized Barbie Jeeps and Jack was OBSESSED with it! He wanted to ride it any time we were at the house. He had a great time on it... (although I disapproved of it's color--he had the best time giving Chunky rides)

We went to a really cool aquarium in the Mandalay Bay casino. It was a "predator based aquarium", which means sharks! So we took this picture for Josh-- thought it would be his dream job if law school doesn't work out--shark tank cleaner.

(Jack was afraid of the sting ray--we had to hold Chunky to keep him from diving in)

We took the boys to the Lion Habitat at the MGM hotel (right in time for feeding hour). Jack LOVED it! He made sure Nana saw his brothers.

m&m world

Vegas is a fun place for hiking...we went to this desert conservation hiking place--it was cool.

(This is the cactus that falls on Lightning McQueen in CARS)

We got tickets to the UNLV vs BYU game. We sat by some obnoxious UNLV fans, so it felt good to win! Yeah baby, Rise and Shout!

This is the gas station in Beaver where we stopped on our way home. Jenny and I took a picture in this chair when we went down to Vegas for Sam Thorley's farewell.

It is good to be home. We are putting out the suggestion to the family that we all move to Vegas! We LOVED it! It was warm and fun and central to so many thing like skiing and deserts and red rock and the beach and DisneyLand and Mexico! (Ok, the last one is wierd, but it would be a fun place to live...not as fun as Hawaii)

Oh...P.S. Our close encounter with death...

Who's your daddy?

My life with my 3 boys...

...who are fast asleep right now and it's only 9:00PM! This would have been unusual a few months ago, but now that David is teaching early morning, it's pretty normal. I'm usually happy to join him and be to bed so early, but I had a nap today....so I'll let them sleep and I'll blog about my cute boys...




...Who like to play dress-up! ha, ha...and I thought only little girls played dress-up. They love running around in costumes and playing with their "friends".


These pics are the best we got when we drove up to South Fork to try to get some cute fall pictures. Christian was too busy eating (like 3 pieces of costco pizza!) and Jack was too busy trying to run as far away as he could to care about pictures (or eating!)...maybe next year....sigh...







This is Jack's potty chart....(I know - random stickers)



He has done so well and will soon be getting his....

that I had hid in the extra bathroom with all of the Christmas decorations because I really didn't have much hope when we started that he would get it before then, but it's not even Halloween yet and he only has 3 stickers left! Tomorrow for sure! He'll be so excited!

I picked tomatoes for dinner today, but then I just kept picking because I started to get nervous that they might freeze this weekend and I'm not disciplined enough to cover them with blankets every night (like my dad).

And I'm trying to decide what to do with the large bag of Decorative Gourds I bought at Costco yesterday. I've thought about putting them in a cute container....


... or I'm tempted to make some fun Gourd people using anything the boys can find outside since we have a million different leaves, seeds, twigs, and fall foilage outside...



or I might just let Jack and Christian haul them away....


We'll see....

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