Halloween 2012

It seems like every year Halloween becomes much more of a season than just a day for us. And my boys officially love to dress up. Even scaredy-cat Wyatt was happy to get in his costume this year, though he wasn't as happy about his brothers being dressed up. Here are all of my creative kids in the fancy costumes. They do look pretty good. We got the preview the night of the neighborhood Trunk or Treat at the church.

Of course little Finn is happy to be dressed as a bag of bones.

 Wyatt as a Ninja... his latest obsession.

 And of course being silly for a pose with Jaren. These two really are so hilarious together.

 Henry is a very creepy vampire... Blah Blah Blah.

And his was a very easy costume to put together, so I have been grateful for that.

 Gavin insisted on being a werewolf this year after he spent a month debating all of his choices. He is by far the most imaginative about costumes. We came up with some great ideas for this and then I just had to find the time to put it all together. It seems to have met expectations, though only after he spent about a week nagging me to hurry up and get it done before Halloween.

 Wyatt was super freaked when Gavin was finally ready to go and kept saying, "Gavin werewolf, Scare me."

 The whole crew of cousins ready to Trunk or Treat.

 And having some treats after walking around the parking lot. This is probably not my favorite kind of Halloween party, but it was quick and little effort, and fun to see everyone's costumes.

 We also had to get in our pumpkin carving before the big day arrived. Henry tried to do a lot of his own knife work this year and had a blast doing it.

 Gavin enlisted me to try and make his fanged pumpkin. They love this part of the holiday, and it really is fun once we get going.

 There was also a neighborhood costume parade put on by the school this morning that was a great time to watch. The kids loved walking a few blocks around the school and waving to everyone. Then that was followed by lots of fun partying that seems like it would take up most of the school day. And we are looking forward to trick-or-treating in our own new neighborhood tonight with some great friends. I think by tomorrow we will be ready for all of this haunting to be over. I hope we survive it all.

Gavin's First Book Report

This is the moment that Gavin has been waiting for since he learned to read... His first book report. The assignment came home last week and he set to work with vigor. He had to read a book that he likes and then just write a few things about the character and do a small project. Of course, he decided that he wanted to do every option for the project instead of one. Somehow, we finally reigned him in on two things and the character chart. He even had it ready to turn in a week early.

The book is called "Dinomummy," and the boys have always loved it. Gavin made a replica of the dig that took place in Hell Creek, ND out of clay, as well as a small poster of what it is assumed that the dinosaur looked like. Caleb just wants to thank the grandparent that got our kids the "Dinomummy" book, since our second grader took an assignment to school with "Hell Creek" printed on it in big letters. I just hope that he gets this excited about all of his homework in the future.

A few moments

Aww, Even when everyone is looking in a different direction, these guys are cute.

 I can't believe how old and handsome these two have become. This is them before the primary program last week. Not many kids had talks in the program, but Gavin did have one and Henry joined in the chorus to sign out stronger than he probably ever has before.

 It has been getting quite cold in our house lately so we spent some time cuddled up in blankets. The boys were instructing me on what games I really need to download onto my phone.

 We have gotten out the walker for Finn to use as his chair and Wyatt was apparently feeling some jealousy on the first day. I came out of the kitchen to find him in this position. He finally realized that he couldn't fit all the way in and that he also couldn't get himself out. You can see how happy he is to have gotten so big at this moment when he realized that all of the baby toys are no longer for him.

Finn, on the other hand, does fit perfectly in this little seat and loves to have yet another way to sit up and watch the world around him.

Fall Break- The Jazz game

Lucky for us the Jazz pre-season games are not the highest in ticket sales, so our awesome friends the Haws hooked us up with tickets for a game to finish off our fun break. The original plan had been to have a date night swap that night, but we all love to socialize, so we cancelled in honor of tickets to our own private suite for the game. Finn was pretty excited to get to watch his first Jazz game in such luxurious accommodations.

 See, as long as his eyes are open he looks like he is loving it, right? He was very grateful to Caryn for cuddling him up for a nap in the first half.

 Wyatt was of course totally hyped up to see his friends and to have so much room to move around and eat popcorn and play. He is a bit shy about some of the dad's that joined our group of friends, but he does like them all a fair bit. He did have one serious panic attack where he kept saying, "That guy, Scary." and freaking out a bit. Finally I got him to talk about who he thought was so scary and it ended up being a man in the suite next to us who was standing next to the glass while Wyatt wanted to go down the stairs. It was really quite hilarious, when he finally realized there was a solid glass wall separating him from this supposedly scary guy. Not my toughest 2 year old, for sure.

 Gavin, Parker and Noah, looking super cool.

 Henry and Josh loved their seats and they ended up being the only ones that egged each other on enough to throw popcorn on the unsuspecting fans below us. Luckily it was just a couple of pieces and not a glass of ice water or anything.

Thanks again to the Haws for providing us with such a super fun family night.

Fall Break- Bells Canyon Hike

We had a super fun Fall Break. We had thought about leaving town, but ended up deciding that it would be more fun and relaxing to all just take the long weekend off and have a staycation. It was great. We saw "Hotel Transylvania" (hilarious) and went swimming at the rec center (also very fun), and then even did some hiking and grilling with a few more Cardons. I didn't have the camera out for all of these things, in fact we even forgot it on the hike, but I did bring my phone and used it to document the fabulous scenery and cute kids.

Bells Canyon was a great hike, and I love finding places that are so close by that I have never been to. I will be going back to this one for sure.

Just getting started. My super awesome hikers.

 This guy enjoyed his time in the pack and I love looking at his cute little face while I hike.

 Turns out that Wyatt really is too big for the backpack now, so Caleb got a good workout on this hike for sure. 

He did quite a bit of hiking as well, and only a little bit of tripping and falling.

 The Reservoir.

At one point Caleb told the boys he would pay them $5 if they could throw a rock into the water which was probably 100 yards away. These guys will do about anything for a few bucks, so they were ready to try. Then as they were collecting rocks and walking back to this bench Gavin said, "So how much will you give me if I can get a rock in the herbivore from the bench?" We had lots of laughs at this and thought that maybe we have taught him a new word, but then when he was telling the story to Caleb's parents on Sunday, he said, "Dad was going to pay us if we could throw a rock in the meteor..." I guess we need to work on that one a bit more.

 We had to carry a lot of sticks with us for miles, of course.

 It was such a beautiful fall day and the weather and colors were perfect.

The Smallest Guys Around Here

There is something about fall that makes me finally realize how much my kids have grown. I think it is something about them wearing jeans after they have had their skinned knees and chubby legs showing all summer. My smallest two have really been surprising me lately.

Wyatt was begging for an Angry Birds shirt when he spotted one online while sitting next to me. So even though the only one I could find was several sizes too big, he wears it as often as possible. When he was wearing his skinny jeans and giant shirt it just cracked me up all day.

 Finn has hit that 3 month milestone and in honor of that happy day he has started sleeping about 10 hours more nights than not. I have to say that I enjoy that fact. Tho some days it seems like I just start my day at 5:30am instead of waking up for half an hour at 3am, but even so, I will take it. He is such a good little guy. I am so grateful for his easy going temperament.

 And just to make sure that everyone knows that a good baby for me is a far from perfect baby, here is a shot taken only about 2 minutes after the above shot. Finn has also gotten louder and more opinionated about life, and he seriously hates tummy time.

Playing at the Temple Quarry

Last night we went up to play around the Temple Quarry before dinner time. The kids were anxious to get outside and all of the Larson kids seem drawn to the mountains that they can see towering over us. It was perfect weather and a nice place for some wandering and climbing on rocks.

Wyatt was very impressed with himself when he got to the top of a very tall rock. He kept yelling, "I did it!"

 Heidi and me (and Finn of course).

 All of the kids on a huge rock posing for a group shot.

 Rachel and Sarah showing the love.

More and more climbing.

 I don't think I ever realized how much some little girls love to pose. So sassy. Leading the way for Mark and Heidi.

 Who is that handsome guy strolling along?

 At one point Henry found a big stick that he decided would be a good walking stick and was carrying it along. Hannah convinced him it would also make a good pole vaulting stick, so they took turn trying to catch some air. I would say that the stick was great for this, or they are just decent jumpers.

 I seriously love fall and being outside right now. The kids are all hoping we can squeeze in another hike in the next 2 days.

Visitors from sunny lands

We have been having a very fun week with these silly Larsons who have come from Arizona to visit us. Aren't they cute? We made some attempts at taking their family photos the day after they arrived and I am happy to say that this is not the best one.

It did take some effort to get all 6 personalities to cooperate, but there are certainly a few memories and moments captured on film.

Rachel was so excited to get here to meet Finn. As you can see, he is also equally taken in by her. She has been holding and feeding him and doing her best to make sure that I never have to do a thing for him. It is great.

 Wyatt is also very much enjoying his cousin time. Sarah even helped him wash his feet in the tub. She ended up almost as wet as he was at the end, but they were both having a blast.

 It has been great to have a lot of extra helping hands around when Finn sometimes feels like this...

We are looking forward to the rest of our week and lots more fun.