Happy Hauntings

Carving pumpkins is one of my favorite things to do for Halloween night. Aaron was more than willing to cut the tops off the pumpkins. But then he quickly handed me the spoon and went to watch a football game. I didn't mind. I really like to hollow out the insides of pumpkins. Aaron hates it. Which is why he watched a football game instead. After I cleaned them out, Aaron and I carved them. Logan wanted to help but little fingers are not good around knives.

Until Logan is old enough to handle a pumpkin he will have to settle for other ways to help. Such as this year Logan was in charge of putting the tops on the pumpkins. Taylor was our wonderful supervisor.

We stacked one pumpkin on top of the other. We made the bottom ones face look sad. You would be sad too if you had a fat pumpkin squishing you.

After we carved pumpkins, we order some pizza and had a wonderful feast to fill up before heading out to trick or treat. This year Logan went as Captain Hook and Taylor was Peter Pan. Special thanks to Grandma for making Logan's jacket (I knew I was in over my head with that one.)

Ahh Suckers are the worst thing to give a toddler for Halloween. Logan was able to get the wrapper off and wouldn't let it go for anything. He got so sticky and loved EVERY moment of it.

Captain Hook examining all his booty from his night of scavenging. He did quite well for only "attacking" eight doors. Peter Pan flew away to home by the sixth door. By the time the Captain came home, Peter Pan was already asleep for the night.

Here are just some random pictures for your viewing enjoyment.

Grandma and Grandpa went to Disneyworld and brought Logan a Ghost Mickey shaped popcorn bucket back. He loved it...in fact we used it as his trick or treat bucket. Here is Aaron and Logan eating the popcorn out and watching a movie.

Taylor was trying to wake up Logan. It was almost 6pm and Logan still was a sleep from his after church nap. He was one tired boy.

A funny story and then you can get on with your life.

To limit Logan's sugar intake. Aaron and I hid all his candy (in the cookie jar). Each night after he went to sleep, we would put two or three pieces in his Mickey bucket. Some days he would eat them all by 7am and on other days he would space the candy out. This particular day he ate all his candy by 7am. About 9:30am he can to me with his bucket. I told he that was all he got for the day. He walked away defeated. A little bit later he came running to me with his shoes. I put them on him. He ran and grabbed his bucket and went outside. He ran over to our neighbors door and knocked. Luckily they weren't home. Logan really wanted some more candy.

Fire, Pumpkins, and Milestones

One quiet Sunday afternoon, Logan and I were reading stories when there was an urgent knock at the door. My friend, Stormi, told us that there was a fire in the field next to us. I had heard the fire engines but thought they were just passing by on the main road next to our place. Nope they took a little meander down our street and parked themselves right in front of us. Logan and his buddy, Korbin, had a blast watching the firefighters. There was a total of 8 firetrucks, 3 police cars, and 1 ambulance. I ran to grab my camera. By the time I got back, the fire was no where as big as before. The fire was as tall as the trees in the picture below. Kudos to the fire department for putting it out fast. Logan got to touch a real fire engine. I got some cute pictures of Logan and the fire engines. For Internet safety reasons I won't share them. You can just imagine the HUGE smile and pure joy my little boy expressed.

Stormi and I decided to let the boys have a little fun one cold rainy afternoon. We went to the local craft store and picked out a wooden pumpkin for them to paint. We weren't sure if we were being crazy letting an 20 month and 17 month year old loose with paint brushes.

We strapped them in their highchair and covered the tray with newspaper. They were really confused at first.

That confusion quickly evaporated and our budding artists went to work.

The artist did a lot better than I thought. Both were able to completely paint their pumpkins with minimal assistance from the parental units. They surprisingly didn't paint themselves. Only once did we had to stop them from painting each other.

This is what happens when you leave Logan out to play while you unload the groceries from the trunk...

He just smiled proudly when he saw me. Yes, he climbed into the truck. Then sorted through the sacks until he located the one he wanted. Then he happily snacked on grapes until I caught him.

Last but not least...TAYLOR! Taylor has grown leaps and bounds in just a few weeks. Really one day he just decided to roll over and the next he was rolling across the floor.

Well that milestone didn't last very long. So one to the next one, feeding time. We started Taylor on solids a few days ago. He loves it. Loves it a little too much. We have a hard time keeping him from lunging at the spoon. He just gets so excited when the spoon gets close that he starts kicking and rocking.

These are from the very first time he tried rice cereal.

He wasn't so sure the first spoon full.

But after he got it down...

SUCCESS!

A Utah Man Am I

This past weekend marked the 92nd meeting between the Cougars and the Utes. Aaron and I were not going to miss this game for anything. Ron McBride said it best, "When Brigham Young came into the valley, he pointed to where the University of Utah would be and said, 'This is the place.' Provo was just an afterthought."


To kick start our game day, we decided to bring a little Ute cheer to our neighbor. He just so happens to be a die hard BYU fan; We've had to come to terms with this.

To bring him Ute cheer we did the following...

Logan and Aaron taped a sheet across his front door and filled it with a lot of red and white balloons/confetti. Logan had a lot of fun putting the balloons in the sheet.

Then while the boys were out for a jog, I got busy hanging streamers all over the windows.

Chris was more upset that he didn't think of "getting" us. He wouldn't pose for a picture so this is the best shot I have of him.

Sara and Logan sharing a moment playing with the balloons.

After we got Chris we went inside to have breakfast. We made Crepes with raspberries (red) and cool whip (white) in the middle. Aren't we so festive(: Logan and Taylor got decked out in Red attire.

Side note: Taylor is getting so big he can now roll over and almost sit up by himself. The jumper is a favorite of his right now.

We had a pre-game BBQ with some friends and neighbors. Aaron and Chris lifted out some couches and chairs. We also brought out two T.V.'s We watched the game in the moonlight. It was a lot of fun. The kids ran around and played while the adults watched the game.

Taylor did a great job supervising the furniture moving crew.

Kylie and Chris felt that Logan needed to have a little BYU somewhere on him. They tried to color his hair. But much to their dismay, there was none left after finishing their hair.

The game was fun to watch (at least for us). I am not sure our blue friends enjoyed it so much.

GO UTES

Roughin' It

Summer time musts include just a few of the following:
1. Eat as much watermelon as you can! CHECK
2. Sit out on the porch and talk the night away CHECK CHECK
3. ice-cream cones...need I say more? CHECKY CHECK
4. Get away from "it all" in the great outdoors. CHECKITY CHECK CHECK CHECK (family joke)

Being almost the end of July and still no camp out we headed for the mountains. Nothing is better than the smell of pine, the cool mountain breeze, the clear water of Tony's lake, and who could forget the dirty huge snowbanks! We knew to expect snow still in the shadows but I didn't expect snowbank after snowbank of the brown/white stuff. We set up camp and Logan quickly went to explore this mound right across the road from our campsite.

Aaron and Logan had so much fun that they wanted to share this snow with others. Good thing we had a plan already in the works.

SURPRISE NICOLE

About a month ago, Aaron and I were talking with Nicole on the phone. She was telling us the woe's of being the only child left at home. Mainly, she was bummed that she probably wouldn't be camping anytime soon. You see with six kids, Mom and Dad went on their fair share of camp outs and now deserve some comfortable sleep in a hotel bed. The thought of sleeping on the hard, cold ground really doesn't appeal to them anymore. Back to Nicole's woe's...as she was telling us this problem, I got a brilliant plan. We would take her camping for her birthday present from us! Yes, I am a genius. So a few secret phone calls later we had the weekend picked out. We checked online to see what would be available at a favorite campsite. Just our luck the campground opened the very day we wanted to camp. It was closed due to snow. Colby called me as we were making the reservation and I thought,"What the heck, let's have them come camping too." Colby and Kayla were game. My parents agreed to come for dinner but not stay the night.

The secret camp out birthday bash was a go! Here was the plan: Nicole thought Aaron and I were coming up on Saturday to go with them to Bear Lake. We always just told her we would see her on Saturday. Little did she know we were actually there on Friday. hee hee

Aaron, Taylor, Logan, and I set up camp early and let Logan run wild to his little hearts content. Colby and Kayla were suppose to arrive an hour before Nicole did but they got delay and came a half hour later than planned. Nicole rode up with Mom and Dad who told her a story about Laura needing the kayaks and a promise of dinner upon delivery to the cabin. She bought the story. The surprise moment wasn't quite what we planned but it still work. You see Nicole's tennis camp got done 30 min early. Nicole, Mom, and Dad got to the campsite before we were ready for them and before Colby and Kayla arrived. Nicole was really confused when she saw Logan and Aaron in the road. Aaron didn't know what to do so he jumped out in front of the Truck and yelled SURPRISE!

How many people does it take to light candles on a cake? One to make sure there are 15 candles, one to provide medical treatment if needs be, one to try to eat the cake, one to light the candles, and one to supervise the whole operation.

One of my goals is to make amazing cakes like my mother!

Taylor was fascinated by the flickering flames.

Logan was "helping" us clean up camp. He wanted to sweep up the dirt inside the tent AND outside the tent.

We used the kayaks and spent the next morning on the lake.

Happy Birthday Little Problem! We love you.