Happy Halloween!

What a Happy Halloween it was. We had a great time with all of the festivities leading up to Halloween and with the great pumpkin holiday itself. My mother makes the kids costumes each year and this year the Cowboy and the Indian were a big hit. Thank you grandma!

The costumes weren't a hit with the kids so much as they were with all adults involved...
these were the comments from my children as we were putting on the costumes:
Noah: I want to wear the moccassins
Andy: Mine boots, mine boots
This is significant because Noah was supposed to be the cowboy and Andy the Indian.
But it all worked out in the end.

The promise of lots of sweet candy kept the children excited. We had a great time with all of our friends. Cameo and Steph, thanks for coming! Your kids were adorable!

Mothers of Little Boys...

I recently heard the saying, "Mothers of little boys work from son up to son down." We just found out we are having our third boy at the end of March. I had thought all along that there would be some disapointment with this announcement (we knew it was coming). But even though I will soon be outnumbered 4 to 1, as soon as I saw that little guy squirming around on the sonogram I couldn't help but fall in love with him.

I do blame Ephraim for all of this. Before we ever had children he said he didn't think he could deal with having a girl...the dating, dressing, drama,... Eph is also trying to put together a basketball team. We are really very excited.

The Lord knows what should happen in our lives and I am confident in that. We will be raising future missionaries, husbands, and fathers.

Our new little guy is already measuring about two weeks ahead of schedule. This is a worry to us because I have big babies. Noah weighed 9'15 and Anderson 8'15 (Anderson was early). This could be the biggest one yet. I will be begging my doctor to induce me as early as possible!

This is Noah on his birthday, at his whopping 10 pounds. I didn't realize how big he was until I saw that no other baby in the nursery took up the whole bassinet.

The Pumpkin Patch

I think about every family visits a pumpkin patch during the Halloween Season and I've probably already read 4 posts from other families titled this exact same thing. We went to Staheli Farm in the Washington Fields with the Endsleys and the Steeles on Monday for Family Home Evening. We had a great time and the kids loved it. For some reason, we never seem to make it until dusk each year, so the kids end up trying to pick out pumpkins in the dark. They don't seem to mind.

This is Noah with his "girl" friend, Tippy.














Andy was trying to figure out which pumpkin he liked best.


















Noah and Andy were loving the animals.



























I love this picture of Andy. The face he's making is just perfect.















And the cow train is always a hit (even though it looks like they're not having fun!)

Andy's scooter

Andy received birthday money from his Grandma Nona so we went shopping! Andy got his very own scooter for his birthday! He loves it and the kids fight over who's going to ride it every day. Thank you, Grandma Nona for the great gift!

Andy, You're Two!

This weekend was Anderson's birthday! He turned 2, which he will gladly tell anyone. We don't have birthday parties for our kids until they turn 3...I don't believe in spending tons of money and time on something that my child is not going to remember or even understand. But that didn't stop us from having tons of fun!

We went to Jumpin' Jacks with some friends on Saturday night and then for pizza afterwards. A great time was had by all. The kids jumped, jumped, and jumped some more.








































After jumping all night, the next day (today) we had cake and ice cream with a few cousins and a couple of friends. Thank you, Aunt Summer and Grandma Sue for the birthday present. Andy loves it!



























We are worn out, even though we didn't put on a party! Wait, maybe we did put on a party. Happy Birthday Anderson! We hope there are many more warm memories to come.

Smiles

I am constantly thinking about all of the things I should be teaching Noah....his letters, numbers, manners,... I never thought that I would have to teach my son how to smile! It used to drive me crazy that Noah didn't smile the way I thought he should but now I love it because its just part of who he is. Some of these pictures are a little older, but I couldn't resist.




































































Anderson, on the other hand, smiles the biggest, full mouth, all teeth smile every time he sees the camera (accompanied by a loud "cheese!")

Noah

So, this is my conversation with Noah yesterday on the way up to Provo for a quick two day trip.

Noah: Why do we have to pack bags for our trip?
Mom: So we can have clothes to wear for tomorrow.
Noah: What happens if we don't have clothes to wear?
Mom: We would have to run around naked.
Noah: What happens if we run around naked?
Mom: We would get really cold.
Noah: What happens if we get really cold?
Mom: We could freeze to death.
Noah: What happens if we freeze to death?

This is where I usually cut off the conversation. I honestly think it would go on forever. My little Noah is great at asking questions. So many, in fact, that I tell Ephraim that every day I can only answer about half of them...or I think I might go crazy. I try to save my energy for the questions where I think he's learning a bit more.

Zion National Park

Sometimes I still can't believe Zion National Park is our back yard!

We love Conference Weekend every year and this year the weather was beautiful. We went up Sunday to the park to ride the shuttle on the scenic loop. Noah and Andy love anything where they get to spend time with Ephraim's sister and her family. We take this beautiful park for granted too often and need to use our annual pass more! What a great world we live in!