OCTOBER

For Halloween this year, Aidan & Dylan both were Ninjas...
so was their cute baby bro, Jake.
Check out those cheeks!!!

Sadly, since the boys were with their dad this year, I don't have any ofAidan in his costume:(

Aunt Amy's pics will have to do. Thanks, Amy

Also, since I didn't have the boys this Halloween, I wasn't quite in the mood to go through all the hustle & bustle of planning my annual neighborhood Trunk-or-Treat. Luckily,one of the youth groups here stepped up to the plate for me. Since Halloween is usually our family's favorite holiday, we still wanted to make some fun memories. We tried going to my work's Trunk-or-Treat, but by the time we got there it was over:S

We then decided to go to Cornbelly's @ Thanksgiving Point.

After handing over a small fortune & my kidney(ok, that was a bit extreme, but DANG! that place is expensive), Halloween fun was had by all.

We tested out all the slides, attempted to walk through the belly of a monster (please look at the picture of the boys in front of it...Dylan's face is PRICELESS), shot corn husks, watched pig races, ran thru a maze (ha ha, it was the kiddie one since they didn't want to go in the cornfield), & played in the little kid area...until the blood, that is.

Yep, I said blood.

We were there all of 1/2 an hr when Dylan jumped off the wooden train & smacked his face. He was screaming bloody murder, which was befitting since he was gushing blood all over the place. The best part about this whole situation was that this place is outside in a big field away from everything, not very well-lit, & run by people that apparently have NO brain cells.

Keep in mind, Dylan is wearing his little white ninja costume. His face & hands are covered with blood. I have a considerable amount of blood on me since I scooped him up & ran to the front looking for any help whatsoever. Aidan, bless his little heart, ran & got napkins & was holding them to Dylan's nose & trying to calm him down. When I finally found a worker-- the lady selling tickets-- & frantically asked for help while still holding my bloodied-up baby (alright, so he is 6, but he is still my baby), the girl looked at me & said,

"um...yeah, we don't have anyone that can help you...

***awkward pause***...

um, I can give you a bandaid."

ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME!!????!!

This place charges more than it cost me to deliver my child (again, an exaggeration, but I'm ticked at this point) & there is no medical station!?! These people are beggin' for a lawsuit.

Of course, I am not of that nature & have some pretty strong feelings on the matter,

but that is neither here nor there...ugh!

The worker then offers up..."um, you could drive over to Thanksgiving Point. They might have someone that can help you." So off we went.

The thing is I don't know if the fact that there is hardly any light out there

(they only had a few flood lights for the whole field) or

if it was simply the grusome holiday that was being celebrated (Halloween),

but no one seemed to be phased by the blood all over us as we walked across the field &

through the parking lot.

I'm going to attribute it to the lighting, since when we drove over to Thanksgiving Point, the poor guy working there nearly tripped over backwards when we walked in.

Needless to say, by this time, Dylan had stopped crying & we simply went to the back & washed off in the bathroom. He had a cut on his nose & his lip swelled a bit, but he was ok.

I had another awkward moment after I got him cleaned & he went out to find Aidan as I continued to wash up. A woman came out of the stall and walked up to wash her hands & stopped abruptly. There was blood in the sink...not just a few tiny drops or red-tinted water...thick blood. She just looked at me since I was rinsing out the sleeves of my shirt. She just smiled & left...nice...it was kind of gross. I was still so bugged that I didn't care.

We probably should have gone back & played so that we could have ended on a happy note & I probably should have called someone to let them know that there were some definite potential hazards, but I was too tired. We ended up going to a drive-thru & watching a movie at home.

All in all, one thing is for sure, I can definitely say we made a holiday memory.

Here are some highlights from the month...includes the kids' parade at school & my friend's mom's ADULT party at night...and yes, I'm wearing Dylan's uniform:)

I took the boys to see "High School Musical 3"-- no comments from the peanut gallery, please-- and we had a fun time. The movie was pretty good, but I usually like these kinds of films since I am a sucker for high school type flicks.

I have to laugh, both the boys thought the movie was soooooo long. During the movie they were both very restless. They have seen TONS of movies longer than this one so I'm not sure what the problem was. During the movie I asked Dylan if he liked it. "Yeah, I like it...'cept it just hurts my ears! I mean it's good 'cept for all the times they keep singing!"...ha ha, I told him, it was called "High School MUSICAL". He just laughed. My boys actually love music & dancing. After the movie, they both said they really liked it...go figure...:)

THE MADNESS CONTINUES....

Is it me, or does blogging take a LOOOONG time to update?

Alright, alright! I'm sure I would cut down on time if I posted on a regular basis. So, my bad...I'll try to do better in the future:)

Also, I noticed that I have just posted SOOO MUCH, that you'll need to hit "Older Posts" at the bottom to catch up on all of the latest in our crazy lives...

ENJOY!!! :)

SO FREAKIN' CUTE, IT HURTS...

Dylan never fails to make me smile. His first year of football turned out to be...well, not really his first year. Ben wasn't very comfortable with Dylan playing TACKLE football. I suppose getting hit again & again by kids a lot bigger than you could become...um...a little scary...especially if you are only 6. Unbeknownst to me, there apparently is a FLAG football team, but we were too late to sign-up. DANG! Also, FYI, if you are planning on registering, just know that there is NO REFUND
...however, you do get to keep the cool jersey with your name embroidered on the back. Ha ha...I've always got to find the silver lining:)

Needless to say, Dylan still thinks football is pretty cool.

He can't wait to play next year.

1 SECOND ON THE CLOCK...

UTES VS BEAVERS...WHAT A GAME!!!

HOLY HANNA!!! This game goes up there with one of the best I've ever gone to!

Here are a few reasons why:

Seeing the action from the FRONT ROW...

...visiting with friends...

...watching "Bubbles" the crazy lady shake her thing at the beginning of the 4th Quarter...

...surviving the chaos of fans rushing the field...

...you thought this was crazy, you should have seen the parking lot after...YIKES!!! :)

#1 REASON THIS GAME ROCKED:
... getting the infamous foam finger for Aidan as promised! :)

GRANITE FLATS...AGAIN!!!

Did I mention that I REALLY like going to Granite Flats? :)

So, Aimee & I like to take the kids up the canyon when the leaves all start to change colors. You'd think...BIG DEAL! It's just a bunch of leaves that are turning orange, brown, yellow, red...oh wait! It is ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!! Try it...you'll see what I mean;)

Anyway, we both love it, so DOGGONEIT (sp???) our kids are going to love it too!!!


Even though it was a little chilly on the day we went, we all had a great time hiking around...especially Brock! He was all smiles & had a ton of fun chasing the kids. He is such a good, smiley baby:)

Which not ALL babies are like that. Case in point...

Sadly, here he is 3 years later...not much has changed...
Seriously though...this picture is CLASSIC Aidan & Dylan...ha ha...

I decided to bust out a couple of pics from a few years ago. I love to see how much the kids have grown...

We are so glad to have such wonderful friends as the Charltons.

We love you guys!!! :)

We're already looking forward to going again next year!

HALLOWEEN JAMMIES 2008:

Seeing as how Halloween is our favorite holiday (yeah, yeah...eveyone else loves Christmas...), we always get special pjs that the boys get to wear starting October 1st. This year I got these sweet jams that have a skeleton on the shirt whose eyes light up red whenever you touch the fabric...well, pretty much anytime they move...ha ha. We've been busting out all our best holiday movies & while we were enjoying one the other night (with all the lights off of course), Dylan declared he wasn't sure he really liked this year's jammie choice. His reason: everytime he goes to eat popcorn, his freakin shirt lights up in the dark & scares him:)

AIDING & ABETTING:
London came over with her mom to Visit Teach me. She was SUCH a good girl the whole time that I couldn't resist when she spotted my soda & nearly jumped from her momma's arms to get it. Honestly, it was mostly just the melted ice colored by a very minute amount of DC (yes...you KNOW I sucked from the cup every last bit of the goodness that is Diet Coke).

Seriously though, could you have said no to this...

AUTUMN MADNESS!!!!

I love, love, LOVE, this time of year, but doesn't it seem like everyones schedule kicks into hyper mode? Well, ours sure does. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but dang if time doesn't seem to fly by...when you are having fun, of course.

So here's a little update on all the happenings in our lives:

DATE NIGHT:


I love to go out on one-on-one Date Nights with my boys. They are able to pick where we go & better yet, they get my undivided attention.

This night was for Aidan.

Desired activity: a U of U football game.

At first he wanted to go to Applebees for dinner, but he opted to just eat at the game...okay, buddy, you call the shots!



Utah was playing Weber State that night, so the stadium was pretty packed since Ron McBride was coming back (he coached the Utes from 1990-2002).

Aidan was in awe of all the people in RED...okay he was in awe & then grew a little frightened. Heck! I was a little worried! There were sooo many people! Needless to say, we made it to our seats & enjoyed all the fun things that go along with college football...the FANS!!! :)

This particularly zealous Ute lover was sitting smack dab in front of us...I am standing on the bleacher & he wasn't! Aidan thought it was pretty funny that his ENTIRE head was painted, not just his face. ha ha...

We'll just say he made a better door than a window. :)

Other than the fact that this gentleman was standing up & clearly irritated a lot during the game (Even though UT was winning by A LOT, they were making some crappy plays the second half. SO, do you really think some chick talking to her kid the whole time & taking pictures helped his mood? um...he posed didn't he?) , we were actaully sitting with some really nice people that were very friendly & talked with Aidan quite a bit. At one point, they laughed at our unfortunate seating situation & offered to switch seats with us so that we could SEE the game. It was all good in the hood. I think Aidan just liked all the extra attention...not to mention no crazy little brother causing a scene.

Since the game was underway again, we decided the crowds had dispersed enough by the food & the shops that we would go take another chance at getting some much needed concession food & the ever coveted red foam finger (UTES ARE #1!!!). Sadly, as we went from stand to stand we heard again & again, "Sorry, we're all sold out." We are talking sold out of pretty much EVERYTHING! Apparently there was almost 50,000 people at the game & the vendors weren't anticipating anywhere near that amount. Sadly, Aidan settled on a plain pretzel which was apparently not cooked all the way.

I guess I should say, I was the one that was sad for Aidan, but he seemed alright with it.

We then headed to the shops to get that finger! Okay, seriously! What the heck!?! We get there & sure enough...they are SOLD OUT!!! I talked to an employee & he said it was insane that night...PLUS they started the night with ONLY 5 foam fingers! Um, again...don't you think that some better planning & preparation would have gone into ordering inventory for the game? Hmmm....oh well, Aidan opted for cool wate bottle & a warm sweatshirt. Next time, buddy. I promise!

Also, never wanting to forget his little brother, he made sure we got Dylan some cotton candy...at least that wasn't sold out! Aidan, you are such an awesome big brother!

Despite all the lemons of the night, Aidan did a greeeaaat job making lemonade & had said it was the best night ever!

Thanks, Aid. I had a great time too! I love you! :)

VISITING SMOKEY AT GRANITE FALLS

The 1st graders always take a trip up to Granite Falls in the AF canyon to meet Smokey the Bear & learn about the ills of playing with fire. Yippee for me, I got to go with Dylan's class this year. If you have not been up there, you NEED to go. I can not put into words how absolutely BEAUTIFUL it is up there. I opted to take my smaller camera, so I am so sorry that the pics do not do justice whatsoever to the colors. Just know that it was BEAUTIFUL...ha ha, I think you get the idea:)

I got 4 of the cutest little boys in my group:

Derek, Dylan, Devin, & Jackson

First, the kids got to listen to a Forest Ranger...

Then they got to meet Smokey...

Um...is it me or does Smokey look less than enthusiastic to be there?

Now the real fun begins! Did I mention it was absolutley BEAUTIFUL up there? Just kidding! No, but we couldn't have picked better weather to be there. The air was nice & cool with a wonderful breeze that had all the kids oohinng & aahing everytime it blew the golden leaves off the trees. The children had tons of fun running around trying to catch them, jumping in them, then eventually picking them up & throwing piles of leaves (along with rocks, sticks and dirt of course) at each other's faces. I kept thinking of the scene in "Dumb & Dumber" when Harry throws the snowballs into Mary's face...ha ha, you should have seen the boys pelting the girls & vice versa. Trust me, if one of the kids had been hurt, I wouldn't be laughing, but it was pretty funny watching their interaction.

We had a ball going on our nature hike & finding all sorts of cool things in nature to stuff into our bags....leaves, sticks, pinecones, flowers, berries, etc. I actually got a little nervous the boys might get some sort of poison ivy or oak (or whatever else may linger in the forest...I have no idea what is even indidebous to these parts) since the boys were running up into the brush & off the path. Not to mention the fact that the day before a different set of first graders had been on the hike & thought it would be cool to collect a fallen BEE HIVE for their bag...um...yeah, this didn't have a happy ending. Apparently 4 children were stung-- one of which was extremely allergic to bees to the point that he needed an anaphylactic shot (talk about a memorable 1st grade fieldtrip!). Fortunately for us, the worst we got was our clothes covered with little prickly balls. They weren't very sharp, but man were there tons of them & they clung like crazy! Lucky for me, the boys thought it was pretty funny & had more fun finding them stuck all over each other & plucking them off.



After the kids enjoyed eating a sack lunch at a cool campsite with a ring of picnic tables. Dylan was especially happy I came along since I packed my own lunch with plenty of extra for him. Yippee! For PB&J, string cheese, grapes, & Fruit Roll-ups!!!...as opposed to the um..."yummy" ham & cheese sandwich provided (plus I brought a DC for myself...must have DC). The kids are required to have a school lunch, but other than the apple, there is not really anything Dyl will eat in it. He ended up giving most of the sack lunch away. Which by the way, I had a fun time watching the kids barter & exchange things...oh the good ol' days...Hey man, I'll LET you have my bag of carrots, if you give me your bag of Scooby Snack cookies...yeah, poor kid wasn't able to make a trade;)

Once we filled our bellies, we played games in the wide open field by our picnic site. I usually like to get all the kids involved so my go to game is "Red Rover". I did the same thing with Aidan's classmates when I went on his 1st grade trip. The teachers seem to like it 'cause they get to sit & rest for a bit while I keep the kids occupied. I also loved that this time some of the other parents got involved in the lines. If you can imagine, with 5 1st grade classes our lines were pretty long, but we had tons of fun until the teachers were ready to play the other games they had organized....Red Light Green Light; Duck, Duck, Goose; Pass the Hot Potatoe; Over & Under; & Frisbee! Sadly, since I was playing the whole time, I don't have any pictures of these activities. The kids ran, jumped, & had a ball playing in the great outdoors. Holy Smokes! We were wiped out by the time we had to load up on the buses again.



I do have to laugh though, on the way back to school, there was one particular girl on the bus that had an AMAZING amount of energy left. She decided that she would serenade everyone the whole way home. She kept singing over & over & over & OVER again, "Ooohhh Baby, baby, baby, If you want it, I'll give it, give it to ya! Oooooh Baby, if you want, I'll give it, give it to ya! 'CUZ I LOVE Yooooooooooouuuuuuu!" HA! At first, I kept thinking...um, does anyone else hear what this little 6 year old is singing!?! Where the heck did she hear that!?! But not a single person seem to notice or care. After a while I started laughng to myself because it just became awkwardly funny that she was singing this at the TOP of her lungs again & again with not a clue as to what the words might mean. Not to mention, that after awhile all the other kids on the bus kept yelling for to PLLLLLEEEEAAAASE stop singing already. What? You think Britney shut up every time a bus full of 1st graders yelled at her to stop? Yeah, no....that's dedication to your art form, people;)

Oh wait...maybe she should have stopped...

Also, the best was when I went into the office to check Dylan out early. The librarian was in there & asked if Smokey's head fell off this year...HA!!! The thing is this was in reference to the year when Aidan went on this fieldtrip. Upon arriving all the kids were seated on a hillside while the Ranger talks to them about fires & the role YOU play in preventing them. Then if the kids are REALLY good, Smokey comes out. Keep in mind, that at this tender age the kids are still kind of thinking...hmmm...is that a real bear or not? Well, the Ranger introduced Smokey & as he came out he triped over a rock, fell down, & off rolled his head. GASP!!!! Now envision a crowd of happy, little faces that had all just been cheering and smiling...WHAM!!! Nothing but pure silence (maybe some crickets chirping) and a sea of with wide-eyes & gaping mouths as their little minds begin to accept the harsh reality that Smokey is just a FAKE! Again, it is so sick that I am laughing at this, but you know you think it is funny too.

Um...in case you wondering, Smokey kept his head on this year:)