13 days of halloween

I say this every year....so here it is again......I LOVE HALLOWEEN! This year was awesome!! 13 days before Halloween the doorbell rang. We answered it but no one was there except for a graveyard cake....so cute! Let the fun begin. At first I just thought some cute family in our ward dropped a fun Halloween treat by.....but this went on for 13 days! Then I started to think.....ok this person is spending a lot of time and money on us, I doubt it is any of our neighbors since we just moved in. We ending up getting......pumpkins, cupcakes, carmel apples, witches brew, poison, popcorn balls...I'm sure I am forgetting something....but it all was SO cute and fun to see what would be on the doorstep everynight I finally figured it out......my cute sister JAMI!! I think she was trying to win us over so we will buy a house near her! It was working :) Thanks girl for all your hard work & for making our Halloween awesome! Love you

Marshall 6 months

Marshall James is now 6 months old....wow! He is so cute. He loves to be in his boucy saucer, got his first tooth, is rolling around to get from place to place, & loves to have his binkie and spits and blows bubbles. He is my cute hubby baby wighting in at 18lb and 8 oz and 27 inches long.

10 years ago on Oct 2nd

Ten years ago on August 9th, my cute Kevin took me up to Park City on the Alpine Slide and then to Deer Valley for a date. Little did I know that he would be down on one knee asking me to marry him. Two months later we were married & now here we are with 3 boys & trying to buy our second home!! I am SO happy that I said yes that day! Kevin is the greatest husband!! I love how he is friends with everyone, non judgmental, very patient, loves the outdoors, to travel, goes on dates with me, likes to make me happy & laugh. He makes me feel like I can do anything and accomplish anything. He is a very hard worker & does a lot for our family. He loves to be with our boys and they have a great example to follow! I am so happy that I have spent the last 10 years with him and am looking forward to many more years with him. I couldn't ask for a better guy to spend the rest of my life with! Love you KEVIN!! XOXO

boys and a fan

Give my boys a fan and some dryer sheets and they will go wild. It's fun to see how their little minds work & what fun thing they will do next! They must have done this for an hour.....what toys? we don't need no stinkin' toys :)

THE SUBWAY

Here we are at the beginning of the longest and most difficult hike that I have done. One day I decided that I wanted to hike the Subway, because if you remember from before I decided that I needed to go on more hikes. Well, I decided this one would be fun because it was not just straight up hiking....it has obstacles. Kevin put his name in for a permit & we got it. Kevin's cousins that live down in St. George came with us and some of our friends. Some of them had done it but not for a long time. It was a very pretty hike walking in. I encountered my first many walks through the water. Yes....we saw a tarantula there!!! I hate spiders and this freaked me out a bit. YUCKY!! This picture still gives me the chills every time I see it. This is one of the swimming parts we had to do. I have never been so cold in my life. Some of the water has never seen the light of day. It was so frigid!! It was fun but any longer in that water & I wouldn't be able to go on. I can't imagine getting stuck in there and spending the night as I have read stories about before I left that freaked me out a bit....but that is during the spring. This is why they call it the subway. It was pretty cool to see it. It really is a pretty hike. i loved being down in there! This is one of the waterfalls that you come to towards the end when you follow the river down to the exit. Kevin went down the slide that he saw on the internet. It was pretty funny. It was nice to be in the sun finally! This is a picture of the very end. This picture doesn't show it very well, but we were clear down in the bottom of that valley. At the end of the hike, Kevin told me that was the way out. I looked up & saw these tiny people way up this huge mountain!! You want me to go up what, are you crazy? Seriously..... it was straight up. It had some switch backs but it took me forever to get up there. I was so happy to make it to the top. I kept thinking what have I gotten myself into! I am SO tired after all that hiking & now I have to climb my way out. It took us 8 hours to do the 9 mile hike. There were lots of obstacles and some that we had to rappel down. It was a very fun time, tiring but fun . We learned many things to do and not to do. First on my list if I do it again....good shoes. My shoes were HORRIBLE! Thanks for the fun time!

Ensign Peak

We love taking the boys on hikes. I use to hate hiking & realized the reason I hated hiking was because I was SO out of shape. Go figure:) I then decided we needed to go on more hikes and get the boys use to doing it. I know Ensign peak is not really a hike, but it's a good one for the boys they really get into it with their camelbaks. It's pretty cute. I decided that I needed to carry Marshall up because I just had him 5 months ago & need to get in shape again. He was so cute. He was happy all the way up. We made it to the top. It was fun & I love what you get to see at the end of your hike. It is awesome to look over the valley. Now we will be onto bigger and better hikes so I can now say I LOVE hiking! I guess we wore little Marshall out! I can't believe he can sleep while I am trudging down the mountain!

E & M

I love watching my cute boys play together! Ethan is such a good big brother. He is always so happy to see Marshall & willing to help me out with whatever I need for him. I am lucky to have them for my boys!!

Camping with the family

Every year on Labor day for the past many years, we have been going up camping in Big Cottonwood Canyon. At first it was a ward camp out when I was growing up & now it has turned out to be a who ever wants to come join the fun camping hangs out. It is fun to see the kids I grew up with camping with their family now. My parents use to have a trailer but they got rid of it and now rent one every year. They spend a week up there & love it. We usually stay up there a couple nights. It is fun to go up there. This year we had Marshall with us, he did great. Nice sleeping arrangements for the boys we did,huh?! I think it's funny. It was really nice up there. The boys had a great time on their cousins bikes riding down this hill, across a parking lot and then landing into a bunch of plants. Jackson had a few crashes as you can see by him laying on the ground. I guess that is why we wear helmets :) They did this FOREVER.....so I decided to join in on the fun riding my bike. I love camping, not worrying about anything, enjoying the outdoors and just hanging out with my family.

Jungle Jims

We bought some passes to Jungle Jim's & decided to take our cute niece Jovi with us in September. I can't believe how long that place has been around. Some of my friends use to work there when I was in High school. I can see why kids like it. It wasn't very busy when we were there, so that was nice to not have to wait in line.

Marshall 5 months

These are some random pictures of my cute chubby 5 month old. I am SO in love with this boy, h is so happy, smiles all the time and laughs. He is a very easy baby & content with the world around him. He loves to play on his tummy & has a very strong neck. He will go to anyone & rarely cries. I love being his mom! He got sick for the first time with hand foot mouth...poor guy! I hate when my kids are sick.

E & J's first day of school

It is August 29th 2011.......I am getting there :) It's Ethan & Jackson's first day of school. YEAH!!! It's still CRAZY that Ethan is old enough to go to Kindergarten ALL day! He will love it though. He is really excited about bringing LUNCH to school. He did great about getting up & ready for school.....we'll see how long that lasts :) On the 1st day I decided to take him, line up with him & show him a few things. Then the 2nd day he said he was ready to take the bus, so we walked to the bus stop. His stop is the last stop so it takes him right to school about 30 mins early. He was SO excited about riding it that he wanted to ride it home.....so Jackson & I waited for him at his stop. HMMMMMMM......NO Ethan ......He didn't get off, so I asked the driver....sure enough he was on the bus but didn't know where to get off. When he got off he was crying:( He thought the bus driver was lost & that he would never see us again :( Poor little guy! After that he decided that he would try it again knowing that I will be there to make sure he gets off. It was sad & weird to have him gone all day. Now that he has been to school for a few months he doesn't want me to wait for him at the stop anymore.......guess he is a big boy now.....he wants to walk home all by himself. No more Mommy :(

I tired to find a preschool by the condo we moved into, but couldn't find one for Jackson. The ones I did were full, so I decided to send him back to his old preschool in our old neighborhood. It is about 7 mins away & he knows all the kids there. Plus, he will have a new teacher. The other teacher is going back to work somewhere else & turned the Preschool over to her daughter-in-law. She is SO cute & re did the whole preschool. It is SO cute, colorful & has a lot of IKEA stuff.....which I LOVE. He is more willing to go this time....well.....a little.....as you can see in the bottom picture he wasn't very happy about going....he bites his fingernails when he is bored or nervous.... lovely :) Last year Ethan had to go to school with him because he was holding on to me for dear life everyday, so his teacher let Ethan come with him. Which worked out good because I got both boys out of the house & Ethan had been to her school before so he knew the routine. It was nice!! I really miss our old neighborhood but hopefully we will find a house in a neighborhood that is just as good!

Happy 6th Birthday Ethan

When we got back from Powell we celebrated Ethan's birthday by giving him his present....a new bike in his favorite color....orange! We put it outside, rang the doorbell & there it was. He was so excited.

The bike is a little big for him but it will be an awesome bike for him & will last him awhile. Hopefully we will move soon so he can ride it a lot. It is hard to ride bikes around the condos.

I can't believe he is 6 & going to start Kindergarten in just a month! He will be going to all day Kindergarten & riding the bus. He is ready for it & will do awesome but I will miss him a lot!! He is my first boy & love the time that I have with him. He is such a great kid....very inventive....loves Legos.....very creative....likes to make things....is always intrigued by what is going on around him & always is asking questions.

This is a picture of our cute neighbor...Lou. She is one of our many older neighbors since we live in an older community of condos. She brought us cookies when we first moved in & has been cute with the boys & is always walking outside when it is nice. It has been fun getting to know her....she is moving out in the Spring to live with her son in Georgia. We will miss her. ETHAN WE LOVE YOU! You have made our life very happy. You are so smart & we love you interest in learning all you can. You have the cutest laugh & we love your chipped smile. Thanks for coming to us & we love you....E-Man, E-bug, EE, Ethie, Efen, Ethan Wheat Thin!