Our Happy Halloween

Our day of celebration and costumes turned into a weekend, with several carnivals and parties followed by the actual day of knocking doors and getting candy. This was the first year that my kids have gone door to door trick-or-treating. We did have to leave our own neighborhood to make it work, but they really had a great time.

Gavin put some serious thought into his costume choices this year. He ended up listing them on paper and then drawing one out of a hat. The final decision was Cheetah (this guy really loves animals). We got some fabric and my friend, Caryn, used her excellent sewing skills to help me out with this one.

I wasn't thrilled about the face paint after the first night because of the mess it made, but he insisted and really loved his entire look.

Henry decided this year that he wanted to be a ninja... again.... when I mentioned that he was a ninja last year he just said, "This year I will be a blue ninja." And he was. Caryn also helped me with this one, we used the same shirt and pants pattern for both costumes. You really can sew a lot of things out of basic pajamas. Henry really loved how silky and smooth his get-up was.

This guy was a different story all together, Welcome in the newest hater of Halloween. Hopefully his anti attitude won't last beyond this year. We went through several different ideas for him and ended up picking up this cute monkey suit. He is a cute monkey, but no thanks to this costume. He really hated it and even though he endured it for awhile, he really tweeked out at one point when his hand went inside the built in mitten and he couldn't get it out. Needless to say we didn't make him get dressed up on Halloween night for the trick-or-treating. He stayed home with Stacy and I to hand out candy and was much happier because of it.

Our cute group heading out for trick-or-treating on Main Street Lehi. Their favorite part of walking around Lehi seemed to be the dogs in costume.

Thanks to the Cardons for letting us join their neighborhood fun. And thanks to Mother Nature for giving us such fabulous weather right before this big and freezing cold storm. We really enjoyed out day and have more candy than anyone could ever need to show for it.

Jack-o-lantern Time

If our abilities as parents were based purely on pumpkin carving, we would be a sad failure. Lucky for us there are some other criteria. Every year the boys have big creative dreams that they sketch out for us on their pumpkins, but they don't seem too disappointed when we can't always quite make their visions a reality.

(And yes, the man I married has reappeared with a lot less facial hair.)

Pumpkin Brains...

Wyatt wasn't a huge fans of the pumpkin carving, but he liked sticking his fingers in the holes.

Some of Gavin's sketching remained just a drawing. He is the biggest planner of all events at our house these days.

Big H was a pretty big fan of the H nose that Dad carved into his jack-o-lantern.

The finished product. Looked pretty cool and creepy.

Gardner Village Witches

I took my first ever trip to Gardner Village last week during fall break. They put up a big Hallloween display with witches all throughout the quaint little house that are converted to shops and restaurants. It was a beautiful day and a fun outing (Willardsen family included).

I discovered how hard it can be to get 6 kids looking at the camera and smiling all at the same time. They are pretty cute no matter what faces they make.

Dancing to the witch who was playing the piano.

They really wanted this to look like they were chained up... not quite as believable with the porch furniture behind them.

Wyatt and his babysitters, Gabby and Parker.

Handsome Josh and Henry.

Cute, even with bedhead.

Gabby washing her hair outside... maybe someday someone will want my bathtub for their yard.

The sassy moms that were nice enough to take their kids to have some fun.

Just a cool sunflower... not real, but the color are cool.

A long time coming

The day finally arrived. Yesterday at 10am, I went to a very exciting event... Caleb's Thesis Defense. By 11:30, his committee told him that he passed and I was feeling pretty good about life. I think he was too. It was pretty fun for me to go and listen to him present his research, even though I don't understand much of the technical aspects of what he has been doing for all of these years. He sounded pretty smart to me. Perhaps the long journey has been worth all of the knowledge and patience that we have all gained, both in the lab and outside of it.

Hooray for Caleb and this HUGE accomplishment. We are so proud of all you have done.

In case you missed all of the info about the next events in our life... you can refer back to that decision making process by following this link.

Thank you for all of the love and support that we have received from all of you. It has been an interesting 6 years and we look forward to the future with hope.

Pumpkins and Dodgeball

We squeezed in a bit of pumpkin painting with Bridgett before she left. Even Wyatt pretended to paint one and then ran in for the photo. We now have some very creative pumpkins helping to make our house more festive.

Caleb convinced the boys that they should go outside and play dodgeball with him on Sunday night, then he took off to make bread and left Nana and Bridge to fend for themselves. It really was a hilarious site. Nana and Henry kept taunting Gavin and were actually pretty quick to jump out of the way. Then when they would get hit with ball Gav would be nice enough to grant them "Another life" so that he could continue to throw the ball at them. What a nice guy. Just a couple of action shots.

Fun at the Park

My parents and Bridgett have arrived for the weekend. We have already been having some good times. Saturday evening, we girls took the kids to the park. It was such nice weather and since the playground was pretty crowded, the boys just wanted to wander around the river. Fine by me. What a nice night.

Wyatt refused to do much walking in the grass, but was very happy to run the sidewalks everywhere he could find one.

Some fun on the swings. Finally Wyatt isn't scared of swinging.

Henry was trying to get some "twirly-whirlies" out of the tree. He has some serious UPs.

While Nana ran into the store, the boys were entertaining themselves in the car... turning their hats inside out and then putting them on. They really do crack me up.

This guy has a very cute sleepy smile as well.

Ahhh, Watermelon.

This guy seriously loves his Watermelon. As soon as he spots a bowl of it he will yell to get some.

He's also really handy with the fork these days, which helps with the mess of all this eating.

And did I mention that he also loves to climb on the table every chance he gets... it would be helpful if he could get down by himself.

Sunday morning

I have some seriously handsome guys to go to church with. Just had to show them off.

And one of them way super happy to have his photo taken that more, and one was not. oh well, Can't win 'em all.

"We're Staying Here"

So, I can't say those words without using the voice of Hopper, the giant mean grasshopper from "Bug's Life". Sorry, if you haven't seen it a million times and can't automatically think of his voice in your head...
Anyway, on to a little bit of news. If you didn't know that we have spent the last couple of months trying to make some difficult decision about the end of grad school (which if Finally upon us), we have. And it has been hard. We have weighed the options and talked and talked and talked it to death. We have prayed and sought revelation and talked some more. And Finally we have made a decision that we both feel good about. I have actually been amazed that I feel SO good about it.
As the heading implies, we are staying in Utah for now. Caleb has chosen to take a position with DBN Tax, his brother's accounting firm. Many of you may be thinking, "Hmm, I didn't realize that a tax firm did scientific research?" And you would be quite correct to be baffled because they don't, actually. He will be doing accounting, primarily payroll stuff as far as I know.
These questions are part of the reason that I never thought that this would feel like the correct decision to me. Caleb interviewed for PostDoc positions and received a couple of offers and they sounded great on paper and one even had great people. When you look at the map of what a graduate student is supposed to do when they finish their long and frustrating journey, these other options seemed to be right on target. So when the position opened up with Nathan I may have flipped out a little that it was even considered an option, after graduate school you are supposed to stay in your field and continue on to some unknown career. What can I say, Caleb likes to keep us guessing, and as I warmed to this idea it just felt more correct than any other choice.
So here we are and here we will be until at least June when the kids get out of school. By that time, we hope that the course of our lives will be a little more clear to us, and the words "Ten Year Plan" won't just make us crack up like they do now.
For those that are curious-
Caleb's Thesis Defense is scheduled for 10/10 at 10am (I like that those numbers are all the same.) This is the cullmination of his grad school work and pretty much the end all. Technically his graduation date is set for the December graduation, since it has to follow the semester schedule of the rest of the U. If anyone in the world thinks they can convince him to walk in the ceremony, I would love to see you try. Honestly, I would love it, but don't hold your breath for those photos. He just isn't into all of the... for lack of better words... Pomp and Circumstance.
Give a little shout out for new adventures and unexplored territory. We're excited.

And we're walking

That's right. Wyatt has finally decided that walking is a desirable way to get around. I picked him up from my friend, Jessi's, house last week and he had finally decided not to crawl everywhere. It is pretty nice so far. He is also very impressed with himself.

We are glad that we won't have to worry about wearing holes in all of his new cute fall attire, and that we can do a little less of carrying this guy around.

He loves to spend a lot of time in his own personal cupboards of fun. It is interesting to try and find things lately, since he not only empties all of the cupboards, but he also puts it all away.

So far the walking has not caused too many falls, though I have more concerns about the climbing that seems to be coming along with it. Nothing like walking in to find him on the kitchen table. I have a feeling he is gearing up for some big stunts, since we often find him trying on helmets.

Safety first, that's what we always say. I guess, spending time with Anne has taught Wyatt that the brain is worth protecting. He is ready for anything.

Just a funny little video of his speed walking.

Henry's First Day of Preschool

Tuesday was Henry's very first day of preschool and he was definitely ready for it. When Gav started school he was still pretty nervous about being away from Mom and Wyatt, but after a week without Gavin he decided it wasn't that much fun here after all.

He is attending preschool at Bennion Elementary right next to our house. He was so excited that he gets to cross the street with the very friendly crossing guard that we always see when we are driving Gavin to school several blocks away. He also gets to attend preschool with his great friend, Josh, this year and they are two peas in a pod.

Isn't he cute?

He also has this giant locker which he could fit in, but wouldn't. Even though he did agree it would be very funny. I think Gavin is jealous since he only has a tiny locker.

Hanging up his backpack for the first time.

A picture with the big brother on the first day. Pretty strange to have both of these guys gone 4 mornings a week.

The only report I got after the first day was, "Well, something did happen? At recess, a girl pushed me down. She had on a pink shirt." When I asked if he pushed her back, he said, "No, but later someone else pushed her down." Then he gave me a little sideways smile.