Halloween {2011}

What a fun day we've had.  I started the day off by going to the gym with Julee.  She was on her way home from Nephi and stopped to go to the gym with me.  We went to cardio kick, a kick boxing class with the punching bags.  I haven't been to the gym in over a week and man, I was strugglin.  I even got the 'I'm gonna puke' feeling.  It's amazing the endurance and muscle you can lose in just a week!

After the gym, I hurried home to get ready to take the boys to their 6 month teeth cleaning.  Our appointment was at Noon, but on the way home from the gym the dental office called to see if we could come at 11:30am.  Yikes!  Luckily, Jim had come home from work to watch the boys while I went to the gym.  Since we had to be to the dentist 30 minutes earlier, he just stayed home and got the boys ready while I got ready.

We got to the dentist only a few minutes late.  The boys ran to the train table to play.  They only got to play for a few minutes before it was time to go back to try and get x-rays.  I think the pediatric dentist is the only place where I wish the wait time was just a bit longer so my boys wouldn't freak out when they have to quit playing :)

I was hoping my boys would cooperate at the dentist today but they didn't.  It was Ryan's 4th visit and Jake's 1st.  Ryan's last visit went well--he got x-rays and the whole bit and was really good about it all.  This time, we didn't even try to get x-rays on either of the boys because they were little stinkers about just getting weighed.

We moved to the dental chairs to start with the cleanings.  Ry was first and he wasn't too thrilled.  We got him in the chair and got him to kind of watch the movie.  But the minute they started to clean his teeth he freaked out!  It took the lady cleaning his teeth, another dental assistant, me, and Jim to hold him down to get his teeth cleaned, ugh.

Naturally, Jake was a little freaked out when it was his turn so he bawled the whole time, too.  But, when Dr. Sorensen came by to check their teeth, Ry was actually really good and calm.  Jake did ok, too.

Jim had to go back to work after we were done at the dentist.  We didn't have anything to rush home for, so I let the boys play with the trains at the dentist for a bit.  I'm sure the receptionist thought I was nuts.  She asked me a couple of times if I had been helped :)

My parents had come up north to my dad's skin doctor appointment.   I called to see where they were and they were on their way south so I asked if they wanted to go to lunch.

The boys rode the horse with their tokens and then we met my parents at Cafe Rio for lunch.  Jim came up when he was finished with his work and ate with us.

We went back to the house after lunch.  Jim was finished with work for the day so he was home with us, too.  We got the boys to take a nap so they would be fresh for trick or treating.  Jim and I had a nap with the boys.  Jake still comes into our room at night.  And last night, Ry decided to come in around 3am.  So we had a full bed last night :) Needless to say, we didn't get the best of sleep last night so a nap felt really good.

After naps, we got ready to go and headed to Levan.  We went to my parents house first and made mummy dogs for dinner.  They tasted ok, but they weren't a huge hit with my boys.  Then we got dressed in our Halloween costumes and headed over to the church.

Ryan would always ask me what I was going to be for Halloween.  He pretty much told me I was going to be a witch. I told my friend Lacy about Ry wanting me to be a witch so she let me borrow her witch costume.  I'm not a big fan of dressing up, but at the last minute I decided to take the witch costume to Levan and dress up.    Even though Lacy's tights were a bit short for me (by the end of the night they were pretty much around my butt, LOL), I had fun dressing up.

The church party started at 6pm, but we didn't go over until around 7ish.  The 2nd Ward was in charge of the Halloween party this year and they did things a little differently.  Instead of having things in the church, they had everything outside in the parking lot.  And instead of having games, food, and the cake walk, they had a family dance.  We went over right before they were going to start the trunk or treating since we weren't really interested in he family dance :)

Soon after we got to the church, they did the parade of costumes so we joined in.  They started trunk or treating shortly after the parade.

Ryan and Jake had fun trunk or treating.  Jake didn't really get the whole concept.  But Ryan had a blast this year!  He'd say "trick or treat" and "thank you".  He was really fun!

There were a ton of cars to trunk or treat to so Jake got a little wore out about 1/2 way through, but Ryan wanted to keep going. Jim stayed with Jake by my mom's trunk while I finished trunk or treating with Ry.

They both ended up with way to much candy!  We may have to strategically get rid of some :)  After trunk or treating, we headed into Nephi to see Grandma J.

Barbara was there with Granny when we showed up along with The Eyre's.  Shortly after, Brady, Tenille, and their kids came to show grandma their costumes.  We stayed and visited for a while and then headed back home.

Jake loved wearing my (Lacy's) witch hat.                   Cooper and Braxten in their Halloween costumes.

We had a very fun Halloween!  I'm glad we were able to celebrate with family and see Grandma J, too.

Puker

We decided to go to church today.  As I was getting ready, Ryan kept telling me that his tummy hurt and he needed to go to the doctor.  I didn't think much of it.  Ryan gets a little nervous about going to Nursery so I thought he was trying to tell me he didn't feel good so he wouldn't have to go.

We got to church and Ryan was still telling me that his tummy hurt.  I assured him that he didn't have to go to Nursery if he didn't want to.  Church started and Ryan immediately laid down on the bench.  He actually fell asleep with his head on my lap.  He was laying down for about 15 minutes when he shot up and put his hand over his mouth.  I looked at him and panicked!  I knew he was going to puke but I didn't know what to do!

I had brought a sandwich bag with bread in it for the boys to snack on.  Jake had already eaten his piece of bread and Ryan had eaten part of his piece.  I grabbed the bag and put it by Ry's mouth, but it was too late.  He had already puked all over his shirt, pants, socks, and the bench.

He kept puking though and filled the sandwich bag.  Luckily he finished before we were in more of a mess. I sat there and didn't know what to do.  Of course I hadn't brought the big box of wipes with us today so Jim went to the bathroom and got us some wet paper towels.

We cleaned up as best we could, I went out and washed up, and then Jim took Ryan home.  I stayed so I could tell someone about the puke and so it could get properly cleaned up.

When church was over, I went and asked one of the ladies that I know if there was cleaner anywhere.  We were just going to walk out and find some, when we looked back at the bench we were sitting at and there was a guy there cleaning it up!  I was shocked and embarrassed.  I asked if I could please clean it up, but he wouldn't let me.  He was cleaning the mess up with cleaner and paper towels.  Sabrina, the lady I know, went and found a kitchen towel and a glass of water.  She let me use it to help clean up the bench a little better.

We cleaned the bench up pretty good.  Hopefully there isn't a nasty stain :(  I took the kitchen towel home so I could wash it and bring it back next week.

I felt so dumb though!  Who brings their sick kids to church!!  I'm sure everyone else was thinking the same thing :(

When Jake and I got home, Ry was laying on the couch.  I went upstairs to change and start washing his dirty clothes when he puked again.  It was just a little puker.

We got Ryan changed and got the couch cleaned and sanitized.  Ryan decided he wanted some ramen noodles for lunch.  Jim made him the noodles and Ry sat up to eat them.  He ate a few noodles and then acted like he wasn't feeling really good.  I asked him if he wanted to go lay down and he said yes.

Not thinking, I let him go lay on the couch, by himself, with out a puke bucket.  Seconds later, he puked ramen noodles every where.  He managed to get puke down every crack in the couch and it even dripped through to the floor.  We had our work cut out for us!

We had Ry lay down and take a nap.  After he had a good, long nap he woke up and acted like he felt better.  The rest of the evening he played and acted pretty much normal.

I'm hoping Ryan starts feeling better and this isn't the start to a yucky, sick infested Winter.  I'm going to take Ryan's tummy-aches a little more seriously, especially when it involves going to church!

Boo at the Zoo {2011}

We went trick or treating at the zoo again this year.  It was fun, but it was SO much busier than last year.  It was insane!  The lines to trick or treat were so long.  If you know Jim, he's not a big fan of crowds or waiting in lines so we decided not to wait and go see the animals since we weren't really there for candy.  

It was pretty chilly so not very many of the animals were out and about.  I was wearing my Winter coat for Pete's sake so thank goodness the boys' robot costumes were warm.  We walked around to try and see some of the animals and eventually the crowd died down a bit. 

Side note, I made a personal vow two years ago to try and make my kids Halloween costumes as home made as possible every year.  I decided to dress the boys up as robots this year and had full intentions of doing the whole decorating the box and having them wear dryer vents on their arms thing.  Then reality set in. My 3 and 2 year old boys weren't going to be comfortable in boxes.  SO, I found the comfy, warm robot costumes online at Old Navy for a rockin' price and decided to go with it.  I'm still ashamed (for lack of a better word) that I didn't make their costumes--I didn't even put paint on their faces--but there is always next year, right?

The boys were able to get some good treats, see some of the animals, and ride the train.  They saw some pretty scary spookers, too!

One of the many spookers at the zoo.  This guy would stand still and looked fake until someone would walk up to touch him then he'd move!

 

My boys would eat their candy as soon as they would get it :)

My Jakey, boy checking out the tigers.

They spotted the lion and had to get a drink.

We didn't see very many animals this trip.  We did see the elephants, rhinos, and giraffes, too.

We went to the Sugarhouse area after the zoo and had lunch at Noodles.  It's also stuff n' save time at Old Navy so we had to go there.  I had a $50 rewards card so we got Ryan a winter coat, Jim a couple of shirts, and a couple shirts for me all for a steal of a deal.  We stopped at Nordstrom Rack, too, but I didn't have any luck there, whomp whomp.

The boys napped on the way home.  When we got to Spanish Fork, the sun was shining and it was quite warm out so we did some yard work.  Jim dug up the canna and dahlia bulbs while I trimmed off the day lillies and some of the other plants.   We still have to blow out the sprinkler lines and a few other odds and ends and we'll be ready for Winter, to be over.  OH, and we need to get those darn beds for the boys finished, too!  

GNO

Jim got home from San Diego this afternoon.  Lacy invited me to go to dinner and a movie with some of her friends.  I had asked Jim while he was still in San Diego, but I think it was so kind of him to let me bail about two hours after he got home.

We went to dinner at Los Hermanos followed by the movie Footloose.  I won't lie, I wasn't super excited to see Footloose.  I'm not in love with the first making of the movie.  But, I was happy to get out of the house and away from reality for a couple of hours.

Dinner was great and the movie turned out to be surprisingly good.  Julianne Hough did a great job playing Ariel; she has a smokin' hot bod, I might add!  It was a really fun night and I was able to meet a couple of new gals, too.

The girls after dinner--me, Linda, Lacy, Tiffany (as in Miss Tiffany, Ryan's preschool teacher), Robin, and Merissa.

Pumpkin Party {2011}

Today we had our annual Pumpkin Party down in Levan at my parents house.  It is always lots of fun and something we look forward to in October.

We started by picking pumpkins out of my dad's garden.  There were tons of pumpkins so the kids were able to get any pumpkin they wanted and then some.

We loaded all of the pumpkins in the back of my dad's truck and drove them to the garage so we could carve and paint the pumpkins.

 We decided to eat before carving pumpkins and making a huge mess.  My mom made a HUGE pot of homemade chicken noodle soup.  I made rolls and we had cold cut sandwiches on them to go with the soup.    Paula made her witches brew to drink with our lunch.

I guess the cool thing for guys in high school to do is grow a mullet so Jack is growing a mullet!  I had to get some pics to document the party in the back!!

After we got lunch some what cleaned up, we started painting and carving pumpkins.  I brought paints for the kids because my boys aren't old enough to really carve pumpkins.  Ry had to paint his pumpkin green--his favorite color :)

While painting pumpkins, the Hobo made an appearance!  All of the older kids are not so much scared of him any more.  But the younger kids were scared to death.  It was comical!

Ryan was telling the Hobo to leave.  Too funny!

 After the Hobo left and everything had settled down a bit, we got back to carving and painting.

The kids had a fun time playing and running around.  Grandma gave the kids some fun Halloween treats to take home.

Jim is leaving for San Diego in the morning. We drove two cars down to Levan so the boys and I could stay and Jim could go back home and go to the airport.  We get to play in Levan for the week while he goes to sunny San Diego :)

We had a fun time at the pumpkin party this year.  It's always fun to be around family.  The best part is seeing the kids so scared of the Hobo!

Letter J

Ryan had to bring the snack to preschool today.  Miss Tiffany suggested we bring a snack that was healthy (no candy, gum, suckers, etc.) and if it coordinated with the letter they were learning about that week, then that would be great.  There is also a kid in Ryan's class that has Celiac disease so I wanted to bring a snack that he could eat, too.

Today they were learning about the letter J.  I racked my brain trying to think of a healthy, gluten free snack that started with J.  I thought of jell-o, but I thought by itself was too boring.  I went to Pinterest for ideas.  Ahh, Pinterest, how I love thee :)

Well, Pinterest saved the day.  I was going to make Jell-O oranges--hollow out oranges, fill it with Jell-O, and then cut the Jell-O into wedges making colorful Jell-O orange slices.  I had seen them on Pinterest but never pinned the idea to any of my boards.  SO, while searching Pinterest for the idea/recipe, I came across snack-o-lanterns--oranges hollowed out, filled with fruit, and "carved" to look like a jack-o-lantern.  Perfect!  Jack-o-lantern starts with "J", fruit is gluten free, and it would be a healthy snack.  

Monday night Jim and I spent a couple of hours hollowing out oranges.  Jim was actually the master of hollowing them out, so while he worked on oranges, I cut up fruit.  We put the empty oranges and bowls of fruit in the fridge overnight.

I was going to put Jell-O cubes in with the fruit, but after spending 2 hours cutting fruit, I was ready to call it a night and didn't end up making the Jell-O.

I filled the oranges with the fruit the next morning before preschool.  We had plenty of fruit and didn't end up needing the Jell-O.  I only wished I would've made the Jell-O so it went along with the letter "J" a little more.

I think they turned out really cute.  I think the kids liked them-they were ooing and ahhhing when we brought them into class.  BUT, when I was picking Ryan up for preschool, Miss Tiffany said she hadn't noticed until later that we had carved them to look like jack-o-lanterns :(  She was probably thinking how the hell oranges and fruit went along with the letter "J" cause I had texted her on Monday and told her I was doing a snack with the letter "J",  When I told Jim, he said that's what I get for over achieving, ha ha.  Oh well, they were cute.

Mommy & Me Class at the Armory

The Family Assistance Center (FAC) had a little Halloween Mommy & Me class at the armory today.  I wasn't going to take my boys because it conflicted with my gym time.  BUT, last week I decided to take them to the class because they have been way into spooky, Halloween stuff.

When we got to the armory, we poked our heads in Jim's office to say hi to him and then headed down the hall to the class.  We started by coloring a couple of Halloween pictures and making a pumpkin face with stickers.  Ryan had a lot of fun with these activities.  Jake, however, was so concerned about what Jim was doing and where he was that he wouldn't participate in the class.

After the first activity, the class teacher had the kids sit on the ground to listen to a story.  This got Jake's attention; my boys LOVE to read books.  It was a cute story about a witch that was trying to get a pumpkin off of a vine so she could take the pumpkin in her house and make pumpkin pie with it.  The witch couldn't get the pumpkin off the vine so she would say, "Oh drat!" repeatedly in the story.   Jake caught on and would say it, too.  It was funny.

We made egg carton bats after story time.  Ryan had fun gluing the eyes on the bats, but he was pretty irritated that the mom's had to cut the egg cartons into the bat shape.  Jake had lost interest at this point...again.  There was an office across the hall with toys where he went and played.  It was kind of nice :)

After the bats, they "bobbed for marshmallows" off of a line.  They couldn't use their hands to get the marshmallows.  Some of the kids really tried to get their marshmallows without their hands--it was HILARIOUS!  Ryan just got frustrated and quit trying.  Jake didn't even try.

The little boy in the green shirt tried SO hard to get the marshmallow without using his hands.  It was comical!

There was yet another activity after the marshmallow bobbing.  We made a scarecrow out of a paper bag.  Ryan had fun gluing the paper on the bag while Jake had fun playing with the toys.  The kids also had a snack around this time.

We ran out of time for the last couple of projects the teacher had prepared so we brought them home.  She had prepared so many activities for the kids--kinda crazy.   But we had a fun time and we met some new people in the process.

After the class, the boys were happy to go back to Jim's office and see him.  He was able to sneak away for a bit and come to lunch with us.  I tried to convince Ryan that he wanted a quesadilla, but he was set on Carl's Jr :(  I've decided the boys don't even really want a hamburger, as Ryan tried to tell me.  They just like to go there to play.  SO, I've decided that all restaurants need play places for mom's with kids who would like more than just a burger to eat :)

We took Jim back to work after lunch and we went home.  I needed to get some groceries but I thought Jake was going to fall asleep.  I was wrong--it was Ryan that fell asleep.  He took the longest nap--he slept without stirring from about 1pm to 4:30pm.  He was tired.  I had to force Jake to take a nap :)  In the process of forcing him to nap (by laying down with him) I fell asleep and had a little nap, too.  It was so nice though.

Witches Night Out {2011}

My mom, sisters, and I headed up to Salt Lake City to go out to dinner and to Witches Night Out to celebrate Paula & Emilee's birthdays, which are in October.

My mom and Emilee picked up me and Molly in Spanish Fork (kind of convenient that Molly and I live right next to each other--makes it easy when we got out together, ha ha), and we picked Paula up at the park and ride in Lehi.  

I had a return to make at the Carter's store in Sandy.  I figured we were going to be up there so if everyone didn't mind, I would just hurry and do my return.  After Carter's, we went and shopped around at Nordstrom Rack.

The food at Archibald's is so good, but the crowd waiting to get in is unbearable so we decided to eat in Sandy at Pei Wei.  Amy met us at Pei Wei; Hayden had a football game in Herriman that she had been to.

We finished dinner and decided to head down to Gardener's Village.  The closer we got to the village, the busier it was with people dressed up like witches everywhere.  We talked about ditching Witches Night Out and just going to a movie, but in the end we braved the crowd and strollers (LOL!) and went.

So many people dress up to go to Witches Night Out.  Even babies get dressed up as witches :)

This witch reminded us of Miss Viola Swamp from the book "Ms. Nelson Is Missing".  She almost looked fake standing there on the porch of the store :)

They go all out with the decorations for Witches Night Out.  There are witches and spooks everywhere.

The crew at Witches Night Out.  Back row: Emilee, Mom, Paula, and Molly.  Front Row: Amy and Me.

People get very creative with their witch costumes.  The picture on the left, the lady is the witch from the Wizard of Oz with the house on her.  Wow!

We walked around the village and went in a few of the shops.  It was fun to shop around and people watch. 

At 9pm, we decided to go to the Cheesecake Factory and get a piece of cheesecake.  We're nuts, but it was so fun.  I don't think I've laughed as hard as I did that night for a long time.  We always have a good time when we're together.  I didn't get home til nearly 1am, but I had so much fun!

Happy Birthday to Paula & Emilee!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

We survived a night alone without Jim!  Jim had an overnight team building retreat at Fish Lake.  He left early Wednesday morning and got back this afternoon.  The boys both went to bed really easy and slept the night through--for the most part; Jake came and got in bed with me around 4am :)

Ryan's class took a field trip to the pumpkin patch at the Red Barn in Santaquin today.  Siblings could come along so Jake got to come, too.

Miss Tiffany combined the field trip with the morning class so class time was changed for today.  We met at Miss Tiffany's house at 9:30am and then headed to the Red Barn.

When we got to the Red Barn, it was SO busy.  There was a class of preschoolers (from a different preschool) already there that were just finishing up their trip to the pumpkin patch as we were arriving.  It was kind of mass confusion for the first 1/2 hour.

My boys had fun running around and playing with the pumpkins.  

As soon as the next tractor came, we all loaded up on the wagon and took a tractor/hay ride to the pumpkin patch.

When we got to the pumpkin patch, there was a little maze for the kids to do.  I went through with my boys.  It was really simple and small so it only took us 5 minutes or so.

I was trying to get a good picture of my boys while going through the maze.  Jake wouldn't hold still long enough, but I got a pretty cute head shot of Ryan.

After the maze, we headed over to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins.  The boys found the pumpkins they wanted and then wanted to go and "be a ghost and a pumpkin" by putting their heads in these cutouts :)  

For one reason or another, Ryan was upset and wouldn't let me take a picture of him in the ghost cut out. Jake makes a pretty cute ghost though ;)

A replica of the Red Barn was at the pumpkin patch.  I thought it was cute.

Everyone had found a pumpkin so we all loaded back up on the wagon for a ride back to the Red Barn.

Jakey on the ride back to the Red Barn

When we got back to the Red Barn, we loaded up in our car and headed back to Miss Tiffany's house for a 1/2 hour of class, donuts, and a coloring book.  Both of my boys fell asleep on the ride home.  Since class was so short, I just picked up Ryan's homework, our donuts, and coloring books and took the boys home.  Wouldn't ya know, as soon as we got home, both boys were wide awake, ugh...so much for having a good naps today.

The boys and I had a really good time at the Red Barn today.  I'm so glad I was able to go with my boys on the field trip.

Fixing the Leaks

In August, Jim and I went in the basement storage room to get the pack-n-play to take to my mom's house for Kendrick to use while we stayed at my mom's for the Wings of Love race.  When we went in the storage room, there was water everywhere!  It was a mess!!  It was terrible timing, too.  I was trying to get everything together for the race that was taking place the next day so I was stressed and busy and Jim was getting ready for drill so he was stressed and busy, too.

We cleaned up as best we could by taking everything out of the storage room, taking up the carpet squares and throwing them away, and cleaning up the water.  Luckily, there was only water in the storage room and no where else in the basement, whew.

Since that August afternoon, we've been trying to determine where the water was coming from.  We (I should say Jim--this kind of stuff is WAY out of my department) checked all of the sprinkler lines and there wasn't a problem.  It seemed like any time it would rain or we would water the lawn, we would get water in the storage room.  It wasn't a lot of water, but it wasn't dry in there either.

Finally, Jim decided we'd have to cut the sheet rock in the storage room to figure out where the leak was coming from.  I was SO sad to cut the sheet rock; we'd just finished the basement only a year ago.  But, it had to be done to figure out where the leak was coming from.

When Jim cut the sheet rock, he still couldn't see where the leak was coming from.  Stumped, he decided we'd need to dig up the front flower bed possibly ripping up the concrete curbing we'd just put down this Spring.  Seriously!

One day last week, Jim went downstairs after work for his daily check of the storage room.  He took a flashlight with him and looked up into the wall through the area where he had cut out the sheet rock.  Amazingly, he could see the drip where the leak was coming from!  The bad news, we'd have to rip up the front flower bed to get to the leak.

Jim contacted Blue Stakes to get the gas lines marked so he could start digging.  He recruited some help and the digging started today.  Jim's dad and Phyl came from Oak City with Phyl's tractor to help Jim with the digging.  Jim's brother Bill also came to help.  

I had physical therapy for my shoulder at 1pm so I left right when the fun was starting.  When I came back, Ryan and Jake were a mess!  They had been playing in the mud pile and were covered in it!  BUT, they had fun and they were out of Jim's way so I guess that's all that mattered.

When Jim got to the foundation, he found 3 holes in it! The builder had drilled 3 holes in the foundation trying to get the water main in.  They had left one of the holes unplugged.  The other 2 holes they had just filled with grout which never cured so it just ran out.  On the inside, the builder only siliconed around the pipe rather than the outside.  It's amazing we haven't had problems before now.  But, we've had a really wet year this year so that's probably why the water finally seeped in.

Jim tarring the foundation to seal up the holes.

The boys had fun "driving" Phyl's tractor.  In the bottom picture Jake didn't want me to take his "cheese" so he was covering his face.  Little turkey!

A little side note, Ryan's new thing is to say "whatever".  Jim asked Ryan to go see where Jake was and Ryan replied with "whatever dad!"  Then Jim asked to get off the dirt pile and Ryan responded with "whatever!"  Not sure where he learned this new phrase, but he thinks he's pretty smart!

I'm just so glad we found the problem and fixed it before the snow!  I'm crossing my fingers that the problem is fixed anyway :)

Pumpkin Bread

We made this bread today and it was oh so tasty!  It takes some time to make, but the end result is so worth it.  It made our house smell divine.  My boys even liked it!  Let's just say there won't be much left for tomorrow :)

If you want to try it out, find the recipe here.

The only problem is I only had a large can of pumpkin and the recipe only calls for 3/4 cup.  I'll either have to make more pumpkin bread, make some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, or both! :)

The top picture is of the bread after it had finished rising but before it had been baked.  The bottom picture is after it had been baked, but without the glaze.