Happy Halloween 2012

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. The Monday before Halloween we carved pumpkins, which we had never done before as a family. Dayna wanted hers to be sad, and Ethan wanted his to be mad. This was a quick project because the kids needed to get to bed, so don't judge our pumpkins too harshly!

On Halloween, Dayna had her dance class. They got to wear their costumes to class, and take treats for everyone in the class. They practiced for about half of class, then the parents got to go in and watch them do their Halloween dances. Then they all had treats. Everyone gave us extra because I had Ethan and Chelsie with me. Score!
The night of Halloween we went to the church for a little party. First we were inside and they had games all set up for the kids- things like a ring toss, pumpkin bowling, etc. Then we all went out in the parking lot for some trunk or treating. I think the kids really had fun, and they got way too much candy, which I have eaten a good majority of. The first pictures are some "action" shots at the party, then the rest are from the next day when I made them get back into their costumes so I could take some pictures.

Pirate Ethan won the award for best kids costume. He got a certificate and a $10 gift card to Chick-Fil-A

Sleeping Beauty

Elmo

At the Park

Some of the women with young kids in our ward get together every Wednesday morning at the park to let the kids play together. I wish I was with it enough to go every Wednesday, but I'm not. However, we did go recently on a day that was very cold. Here are a few random pictures from our trip to the park.

New Windshield

I had a scary thing happen to me. I was driving down the freeway and suddenly a pipe, or something, flew off the road from the tires of the truck in the lane next to, and in front of me. It hit my windshield right in front of my face. This was not just a little rock chip. It put a hole through my window. I had glass shards in my lap! I took down the name and phone number of the truck, but I never called. I'm pretty sure it was just on the ground and flew up at me, so it wasn't really their fault. I was on my way to a doctor's appointment, so I just kept going then afterwards I went straight to a windshield repair place. Anyway, if that "object" had really broken my windshield I would have been seriously hurt! Heavenly Father is watching over us!

This picture doesn't really do it justice.

Ethan's Birthday

Ethan turned 3 in September! Ever since then, he says this atleast 15 times a day...
     Ethan: Mom, Guess what?
     Me: What?
     Ethan: My birthday's over! and Guess what?
     Me: What?
     Ethan: I'm 3 years old! and Guess what?
     Me: What?
     Ethan: I'm big and strong!
Its pretty funny (and a little annoying) but he literally says it over and over everyday. Ever since Ethan's birthday Dayna has also been telling me quite dramatically that she just...can't...wait...to be 5. I have to remind her that her birthday isn't until February but she doesn't care. She wants to be 5 and she talks about it all the time! I'll say something like, "Dayna, I don't know if you can reach that." and she will say "Maybe when I'm 5, I will be able to reach it." Like turning 5 is going to solve all of her little 4 year old problems! Anyway, the reason for this post is actually to show some pictures of Ethan's birthday party. We had a racecar themed party. We had it in the church parking lot. We sectioned off an area for the "racetrack." We brought our power wheels jeep and some other friends brought theirs and a lot of people brought just bikes or scooters or whatever. Evan put some cones out, a ramp, little obstacle-like things and we just let the kids ride around to their hearts content. We also rented a bounce house which was a huge hit. We invited families, not just 3 year old kids so we had a BBQ too. We got "Cars" cupcakes from Sams Club and gave out little Cars puzzles (from the $ Store) as a "thanks for coming" gift. I tend to go a little overboard on these things and really, the stuff I put so much time and effort into don't even usually work out. This is all stuff that the kids and Ethan didn't even care about. I guess I am writing this to remind myself to keep it simple next time. (And to maybe get a little appreciation for my work!)
1. I got tablecloths and little decorations for the tables. It was too windy and they didn't stay. Even with tape. Waste of time.
2. I made these really cute posters. One said "Racetrack, Home of Ethan's 3rd Birthday Bash Grand Prix" This poster never even left the car. One said "Pit Stop" for the food table. Like the other decorations, it wouldn't stay up. One said. "Winners Circle." We hung that one on the table where the presents and cupcakes were. Anyway, waste of time.
3. I had a little craft that the kids could do. Didn't work! I printed off little cars, animals, etc on shrinky-dink paper and let the kids color them. The craft was to make a "keychain" to keep with the theme. We didn't have access to an oven so we used a heat gun (like for stamps) to shrinky-dink them. I tried it before to make sure it worked. It did. But for whatever reason it did not work at the party. Waste of time!
4. I had a little treat table with "spare tires" (doughnuts) "dip sticks" (licorice) "nuts and bolts" (nuts, m&ms, mike & ike) I had little signs that labeled everything. Once again, didn't stay, and people didn't really get it. Waste of time.
5. I had little tags that I put on all of the puzzles that said something like "thanks for coming to my party." I put them on with hot wheels stickers I found on clearance at Hobby Lobby. The kids pulled them all off before the party started. Waste of time!
Anyway, I could go on and on. I'm sure there was a lot more that I spent time on that DIDN'T MATTER! The most important thing, of course, is that Ethan had fun and he felt important and excited that it was his birthday. He is such a handsome, sweet little boy, and we love him so much!

The Craft.

This was Ethan's favorite car to drive around. I'm not sure who brought it, but for one night, this was his ride!

Busy Girl

The little blonde is Dayna's friend Callie from our ward. They love to play together!

The last little while Dayna has been super busy, which means we have all been busy. She started preschool which is twice a week ALL day. She started dance which is twice a week. And she started soccer which is THREE times a week! (2 practices and 1 game). This girl is 4 years old! Sometimes I think we've got her going a little too much. She kind of has a love/hate relationship with soccer, but other than that, she loves it all. Also, she has really opened up a lot since starting school. At church she would never volunteer or even go up front if she was asked to, even just to hold a picture or something. Since she has started school she has changed a lot. She is still a little shy sometimes, but she will go up in front and do anything she is asked. She is growing up!

Road Trip!

WARNING: This is kind of long...

We decided to take one last trip this year before summer was over. We have never been used to being tied down but Dayna is starting preschool this year and we knew that our care free days were over. Anyway, we made a little trip to Utah before school started. Evan stayed at home to work so I packed our stuff, loaded 3 kids and 2 dogs in the car, and headed out. It took 2 days to drive to my parents house so by the time we got there I was TIRED! Oh, and just a side note, my car radio broke about an hour into the drive so I didn't even have a radio to entertain me for the drive. Anyway, we finally made it, and believe it or not, it was worth the drive. I don't need to bore you with all the little details but here are a few highlights from the trip. Friday- RELAX! Saturday- RELAX! including pedicures with mom and a visit from my brother and his family. Sunday was family dinner at my parents. One thing that made it totally worth the trip was just having my kids play with their cousins. They really miss them and they had a blast being with them for the week. Here is a picture from family dinner.

Monday we went up the canyon to Silver Lake to have a picnic and just walk around a bit. It was very nice weather and fun to be in the mountains. We sure don't have any around here. My sister-in-law Janel had an egg carton with each hole painted a different color and as we walked around we tried to find things that matched those colors. It was nice because it gave the kids something to do as we walked around.

Tuesday we went downtown. We rode trax down, walked around Temple Square, had lunch, and then played in the fountains at City Creek.

As we were leaving, we had a scary thing happen. We were getting on trax and in the midst of trying to get two strollers and everyone on board I was the last to get on. I looked around and panicked! "Where is Ethan!" My little nephew Cole said, "He got on the other part of the train." What? So, HOPEFULLY, he was on the train but a different car? I jumped off the train and tried to get into the other car. Too late. I tried to get back on the car with my family. Too late. The train drives away... without me. And of course, my bag is on the train so I have no phone, no ticket, no money, nothing. AND, I'm just hoping and praying that Ethan really is on the train because he certainly wasn't on the platform where I was standing. I didn't know what to do so I ran to the next stop thinking that maybe my family got off. Nope. So I thought I better go back to the first stop in case they were looking for me. The only thing I could do was sit and wait for the next train. Five minutes never dragged by so slowly. Then about one minute before the train was supposed to arrive my dad shows up. Puffing and panting. He had run from 2 stops down where my family did get off, with Ethan. Whew! So, my dad and I got on the next train and met my family 2 stations down where they all got on. The funny thing was that as everyone was getting on, I watched Ethan go over to get on the other car again. You better believe I shot off the train and grabbed him before it happened all over again. In the end, it added a little stress to our day and about 15 minutes to our commute. I am very thankful because I know it could have turned out much worse. I really know that Heavenly Father was watching over our family.

On Wednesday we went to a really cool park with Evan's sister Adrienne and our niece Daphne. Dayna and Daphne are about six months apart and they always have a lot of fun together. It was fun because the park had a water area too. So nice for a hot summer day.

Wednesday night we also went to Costa Vida for dinner. Smothered pork burrito. YUM! Afterwards some of the fam hung out at my parents and we made caramel popcorn. YUM!

On Thursday we went to the Hogle Zoo. It was fun because there had been a section under construction for a long time and it was finished! So we got to see the seals, sea lion, polar bear, and grizzly bears. We also splurged and went on the train (which lasted about 5 minutes) but it was fun and of course the kids loved it!

The next day we loaded everyone and everything back in the car and headed home. It was just a really fun, relaxing trip and I'm so glad we went. Thanks mom and dad for letting us stay with you, and especially thanks dad for picking up all the dog poop!

Meet Duke

I'm not sure how it happened... Evan must have caught me on a good day. We have a new dog. Not just any dog, Evan's dream dog- an English Mastiff. His name is Duke. He is a very cute little-ish puppy. I actually have become quite attached to him, if only he would quit peeing on my carpet! Anyway, here is a picture of our little guy.

Cute, huh?

And this is a picture of what he will look like when he is fully grown.

(I do not know this woman, or this dog. I just found this picture on the internet to give you an idea of what an English Mastiff looks like.) The breeder told us that he will gain about a pound a week for the first few months, and after that he will REALLY start putting on the weight. Duke's dad is 210 pounds and his mom is 190 pounds- just to give you an idea of how big he will be. You know "The Beast" in Sandlot? Yep, he's a Mastiff. So, I know what you're thinking... WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? And I have no reasonable explanation. I really don't know how it happened! When I look at pictures like this, I wonder the same thing. Good thing I ended up loving the little guy!