Happy Halloween!

Here are a lot of pictures of what we have been up to the last couple of days!  We had a fun filled Halloween Eve and Halloween Day.   

HALLOWEEN EVE

THE WITCHES AT GARDNER VILLAGE...

Tuesday after school got out, Jeana and I took our kids to see the witches.  Trevor and Brooke loved running around finding all the witches and then writing it down on their scavenger hunt paper.  Jacob and Kate loved seeing the witches as well!  It was such a beautiful day to go, and I glad we did!

The gang.

They were screaming and yelling the whole time, they were so excited!

Looking at the witch on the pond

Me and my boys (and Kate)

Trevor and Jacob "sitting-a-spell"

And after finding all the witches...the cookie! 

PUMPKIN CARVING TIME...

Tuesday afternoon the boys and I set out to carve some pumpkins.  I was sad Nick couldn't do it with us this year as we had just run out of time (where did October go?!).  This year we actually grew our own pumpkins in Jeana's yard!  We got 3 and she got 3...not bad for novice pumpkin growers. 

Just starting out...Jacob and Trevor scooping out the guts.  

They did it for a little while and the I stepped in and finished...they weren't a huge fun of the slimy feeling (Trevor did better then Jacob)!

Jacob getting down to work

Trevor getting his hands dirty.

Jacob's finished product!  I asked him what he wanted "circle eyes, triangle, square?"  He said, "oval!"

And then he wanted an oval nose and  an oval mouth...that is what he got!   

Trevor's finished jack-o-lantern!  Trevor drew on the face and I cute it out.  He did a great job!  

THE HALLOWEEN COSTUMES!

I love that we do themed costumes...I am not sure how much longer my boys will let me, but they loved this year so hopefully for many years to come!  

This year's theme was Super Mario Brothers.  Trevor loves to play this Wii game (and so does the rest of the family) so I thought it was great when he wanted to be Luigi and Jacob wanted to be Mario.

Trevor is Luigi and Jacob is Mario!  

(When we went up to Idaho a couple of weeks earlier my mom helped me make the overalls (okay, my mom made the overalls.  Thanks mom, you are amazing!).  To make them we took old pairs of blue scrubs and altered them into overalls.  I got the scrubs at Savers.  They turned out great!  The hats were made out of fleece from a tutorial I found online.  The boys were the best looking Luigi and Mario around! 

  Nick and I were the star power and Goomba from Super Mario Brothers.  I made our costumes just out of poster board.  (I didn't realize before I made mine, but when I was done and was trying it on for the first time I realized  how fitting it was that I had a question mark on my stomach :)!  Other people thought it was funny as well!)   

 TRUNK OR TREATING...

 This year the boys got to participate in not one trunk or treat, but two!  When we were in Idaho we went with my brother and his family to their wards trunk or treat!  The boys loved it.  It was indoors so you went to each classroom to get a treat.  It was a lot of fun and very well done!

   

Before they went trunk or treating, they had a costume parade.  It was so cute they told the kids to dance while they were walking around and Trevor had a great time dancing! 

 

Blake, Trevor and Carter (side story: Trevor was able to spend the night at Carter and Blake's house while we were in Idaho.  He talked about it for at least a month and was so excited to sleepover!  So the boys had their sleepover and they were ALL super excited because they woke up at woke up at 5:45 AM to play!  Cousins are the best!)   

 

Jacob at the trunk or treat.  They had someone that made balloon animals.  Jacob got a dog!

 

 Our Wards Trunk or Treat was on Tuesday Night.  

It was the first year our ward has done a trunk or treat, it is usually a Halloween carnival, and it was a lot of fun!  The kids had a blast.  In keeping with the Super Mario Brothers theme, we decked out the car with Mario Brothers.  Nick even had Mario Brothers music playing in the background!   

 There was a sign that said, "Quest: to save the Halloween candy before Bowser eats it all."  As someone was walking around he noticed the sign and said "I thought you would have had a sign that said, sorry but your candy is in another castle!"  I thought that was so funny.

Here we are all finished with trunk or treating! 

 HALLOWEEN DAY...

 Halloween Day started out with Jacob and I going to Trevor's school to see him in his Halloween parade.  He was so cute walking around!

 After the parade he went back to his classroom for a Halloween party!  He said it was a lot of fun and he made these Halloween pictures! 

 After we had lunch I thought it would be fun to rake the leaves and let the boys play in them.  It was a beautiful day again!  They loved it!

Jacob and Trevor in the leaves.

 Throwing the leaves in the air.

HALLOWEEN NIGHT...

Jeana came over with her family and we had dinner and then Nick's mom and step dad come over with Jackson so everyone could go trick or treating!

Right before we set out...

The cousins ready to go...

 Brooke, Jackson and Trevor were so fun to watch this year...they literally ran from door to door and couldn't get enough!  Jacob and Kate were a little slower, but got plenty of candy as well! 

 The whole group at a neighbor's door.

 

 Until next year...

Red Ribbon Week...

Trevor had his first Red Ribbon Week at school Oct. 22-26.  It was fun to get him dressed up for all the different days that they had to help the kids "Say No to Drugs!"  He loved doing it as well!

Tuesday:  Crazy Hair Day (I had wanted to cut Trevor's hair for a few days, but I hadn't gotten to it yet,  but it worked out great because I was able to spike his hair for Crazy Hair Day.)

Wednesday:  Nerd Day (Notice he got a hair cut!)

Thursday: Superhero Day

Friday:  Crazy Sock Day

.

Trip to Idaho

Over UEA weekend we headed to Idaho for a quick trip.  It was so much fun hanging out with my family.  While there, it was my mom's birthday so I tried to put together a little surprise party with my siblings.  It worked pretty good, she didn't suspect anything until she was coming home from dinner with my dad... when they drove past the house the lights were on, but when she came inside the lights were off...but she was pleasantly surprised.  Happy Birthday Mom!  

(Side story about the cake...my sister Janessa only had about 1 hour to make, bake and frost the cake and cupcakes.  The cupcakes weren't a problem, but the cake wasn't baking.  I felt like we were on cupcakes wars with the time crunch :).  But it worked out, the frosting was a little runny but it still tasted delicious!)    

One main reason I really wanted to go Idaho, of course to see my family, but also the Boise Temple is being rededicated in November so they are having an open house for a few weeks.  Nick and I were married in the Boise Temple so it was neat to take Trevor and Jacob to see it.  The temple is stunning (always was) but it is amazing now!  

Here is the group of my family that went. 

 Our family

 The boys loved playing, finding, and catching the leaves outside the temple as we were waiting to take pictures and head home. 

Tracy Aviary

Nick had Columbus Day off (the observance of Columbus Day) so after Trevor got done with school we headed to the Tracy Aviary to check it out!  The boys had a great time and it was fun to see all the different types of birds that they have. 

 Here we are getting ready for the bird encounter show that they do.  It was neat to see some of the birds up close, a couple of them flew over our heads!  The very first bird that they showed us was called an emu.  (After the birds come out and they talk about them they open it up for questions from the audience.)  After the emu, they asked "Any questions?"  Trevor's hand shot straight up...I looked at Nick and said, "Um, what question is he going to ask?" (Thinking to myself, maybe he shouldn't ask any questions.)  Nick asked him and he said "How many feathers does it have?"  That was a good logical question.  Trevor got called on, and he asked his question.  The answer was "A lot of feathers."  But then it lead to a discussion about the different type of feather an emu has as compared to other birds.  Way to ask your question Trevor!     

 Looking at a bird!

 

 Playing in the children's area

After the Aviary we headed over to the playground at Liberty park (it was a beautiful day).  The boys had a blast playing there, I think they enjoyed it a little more then the Aviary!

First School Project....

Trevor had his first school project to do for the month of September.  It was a book called "I'm Glad to be Me."  It was fun to put it together with him, we should have started a little sooner then we did (3 days before it was due) but it turned out.  He did a great job writing out the words and coloring the pages.  The teacher keeps the book for the year and when they are the VIP person she pulls it out and reads it!    

 (sorry these pictures are sideways!)

Memorial Day

This Memorial day (as in Memorial days past) we went to some cemeteries to put flowers on the graves of some of our relatives.  We started doing this a few years ago and I love that we have continued.  

We start off in Murray where my great grandparents are buried.  This year there was actually another family putting flowers on the same grave.  It was neat to meet them, but I really couldn't bring around how we were related, which taught me a lesson--I need to do some family history.  

 Then we head to the Salt Lake City Cemetery where my other set of great grandparents are buried.  It took us awhile to find these graves....we were at the wrong spot, a block too far west from where we wanted to be.  Here the boys are sitting under a tree at SLC Cemetery. 

 

And then we head up to the Farmington Cemetery where Nick's grandparents are buried.  This is actually the grandpa who Trevor is named after.  (Jacob was asleep in the car).   

It was was a wonderful day to remember those we love.  I hope to learn more about those we go to visit so in coming years we can tell stories about them on our way to the cemeteries.

And now the story about giving President Monson a high five!

We were at the Salt Lake City cemetery trying to find my great grandparents graves.  Trying to find being the key word...I thought I knew where they were at because we had been there a number of times before, but they were not where I thought they should be.  So I told Nick I was going to call Jeana and see if she could help me.  So I was in the car calling Jeana and Nick was trying to contain the boys.  When all of a sudden Nick hears "Look at that Tiger go!" in reference to Jacob running around.  Nick thought, "that voice sounds familiar who is that?"...and when he looks up he sees President Monson walking to a grave.  Nick then asks Trevor and Jacob "who is that?" and Jacob says "President Monson."  Trevor starts to get a little sad because he didn't say hi to him, so Nick says go stand by him.  So Trevor does (and all the while I am watching from the car, thinking...what is my son doing!)  and Trevor goes and stands by the prophet and when he looks up he says "Hi Tiger, give me a high five!".  It was so neat to see Trevor give him a high five!  Then as President Monson heads back to his car these two girls come up to him and say hello.  And he says "Well hello, how are you two today?"  and one responds it is my birthday.  And he just starts to sing happy birthday.  And when he finished he says, "I don't sing for everyone!"  And then he gets in his car and heads off.  

It was such a neat thing to have the boys see President Monson!  We were at the wrong place at the right time.  We were a block away from where my great grandparents are buried.  Thanks Jeana for helping me find the right place!         

Where did the time go?! What we did for June, July, August, and September...

June...

Camping at the Willows.  We have gone camping at the Willows for the last couple of years and I love camping there...Nick thinks it is kind of silly because it is basically a park in the city, but I love it!

We always have such a great time there with our friends!    

Trevor turned 5!  Trevor had a birthday in June and we started a tradition that we play with water balloons/water games and then go get icees  as a family on his birthday! He loved it!  

 and then family came over for cake and ice cream later that night!

We don't have a big yard, but we have a few containers with strawberries, here are a few we got this year!  The boys loved picking them!  (Also, this year we planted a garden with Jeana and her family at their house, and it turned out surprisingly well!

 Strawberry containers

 July

For the fourth of July this year we headed down to Grandma Cyndi's house again and camped out in her backyard!  The boys loved it!  Here we are lighting off fireworks!

Days of 47' Parade.  A week or so before the days of 47' Parade you can go to the South Towne Expo Center and see the floats on display.   We have gone the last few years, and we went this year as well.  This is the best way to go see the floats in my opinion!  

 After we got home we had Root beer Floats (I thought it was fitting, we just saw floats and then had floats, I am going to make it a tradition!)

Trevor and Brooke took swimming lessons together this summer.  

They both had a great time!  

On July 24th, Pioneer Day, Jeana and I got together and made homemade suckers.  We loved doing this growing up, and thought it was a pioneer type thing to do!

Getting ready...

 in the process...

 the finished product!  They were a hit...and tasted just like Jeana and I remembered.  

Pass of all Passes....our family got pass of all passes again this year.  We were able to go to the water park a couple times.  The boys had a blast going down the slides!  

At the end of July we took the boys to Tibble Fork to go fishing.  Wasn't a great fishing day, but the boys liked playing in the dirt and finding rocks and sticks!

 Nick teaching Trevor how to cast all by himself.  

 We did catch one itty bitty teeny tiny fish...if you look close you can see Trevor holding it.  

 August

In the middle of August we had some of my family members come and stay at our house.  While they were here we went to the Aquarium.  I just loved the otter exhibit!  

That same weekend was our ward campout.  Nick took Trevor and they went and did a crawdad boil.  

Nick said Trevor had a wonderful time!

Also in August Nick celebrated another birthday!  Happy Birthday Nick!  

 September

On Labor day we went to Kneaders for breakfast!  I just LOVE their chunky cinnamon french toast!

 After breakfast we went to the West Jordan park, it was really fun!

We had it to ourselves for about half an hour.  

Here is Trevor doing the monkey bars all by himself for his very first time!

 Jacob playing on the playground.

Trevor's first day of Kindergarten!

Trevor started school the beginning of September.  

He is having a wonderful time and is learning so many things!  

Trevor played soccer again this fall.  

He just loves playing it and he is getting a lot better.

 and Jacob just got to run around at Trevor's games!

That is the recap of what has been going on for us the last few months!  

And if you have read this far, I am really impressed...but one more exciting thing that is happening in our family is that we are expecting!  We are going to be surprised about the gender, but if I had to guess, I would guess boy!