Max's Party at Jumpin' Jacks

We had fun at Jumpin' Jacks for Max's birthday. Most all of us were there...Jeanne, Cassey, Chase, Zachary, Ty, Dee, Gina, Max, Garrett, Sonia Lynn, Jessica, Jaxson, Sydney and Blake. Grown ups and children alike had fun. If you don't believe me, just check out the footage. Was that Dee doing a somersault down the big slide? That was amazing because if I would have tried something like that, I surely would have broken or dislocated something. :-)

Halloween

Getting ready for trick-or-treating...

Going out...

In the neighborhood...Tanner is Steve Erkle from tv...

Christmas "Window" Shopping at Costco

We took a trip one weekend to Costco to see their Christmas items...

A Back Log of Videos

I'm behind in posting videos on the blog, so here's a bunch of them that take us from the summertime to last week with Max's birthday.

When Jessica was at YW's Girl's Camp, we met Bryan and took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese...

Trick or Treat, Who Looks Sweet?

Halloween is one of those holidays that come and go quickly. Maybe because you spend about 1 -2 months preparing and decorating for it and it comes and goes in a matter of 2 hours.

Max helped me dump all of the bags of candy into the Halloween candy bowl that I bought from Target for $1.99. Dee was shocked that I didn't buy any chocolate. I told him it was safer that way...we wouldn't be tempted to eat the leftovers.

When Dee got home from work, he helped me dress the boys up in their costumes and hang up some last minute Halloween lanterns.

Max was a trooper. He let Mommy try to use her creative juices in making his costume this year. I can't take all of the credit. I saw the idea on the internet. As you can see in the pictures below, Max was a highway. I dressed him in his black sweats and black turtleneck and used yellow electrical tape as the lines. On Thursday night, I had him grab some of his cars and I sewed them onto his pants and shirt. Then I went to the computer to look for some highway signs. I was deciding between Route 66 and I-15 (the interstate here in Utah). As you can see, I chose the famous Route 66, made more famous in the eyes of children from the animated Pixar movie, CARS. On his back, I copied a picture from the movie and typed, "Life is a Highway" under the picture. This was also a song made more famous from the same movie.

I (Max) received a lot of compliments. Saying that his costume was cuter than anything I could buy at the store.

Just as I snapped this picture, Max decided to smirk, so I had to take another picture.


I was also going to make a costume for Garrett that I saw on the internet. But then remembered that Amy and Henry had bought Max a Mickey Mouse costume which he would have worn for his first Halloween had he been born at his due date (October 28th). But he decided to come about a week later and so he was too big to wear it by the next Halloween.

But it was perfect for Garrett. I first took these pictures of him without the hood/ears on as it was a little warm inside and he was getting fussy. And then we put the ears on him and realized I was at a wrong angle so it is hard to see his ears. Sonia took video of it and will post it, so maybe you will have a better look.

Garrett joined me and Max as we "tricked and treated" up and down our street. It started to sprinkle and then the drops were getting harder. So I brought Garrett home to help Dee pass out candy to the kids and grabbed an umbrella and Max and I continued through the neighborhood. We were out for about an hour and a half and it was time to come home. The weather wasn't too bad. It would sprinkle on and off but it got dark pretty quickly.

Halloween is over, although we still have to put away the decorations and hide the candy from Max as he thinks it is ok to eat it for breakfast and midnite snacks. On to the next festivities!

Yummy, Yummy, I've got love in my tummy!

Garrett is a little over 5 months old and he had a taste of his first real food - rice cereal - this morning! The doctor told me at his 4 month appointment that anytime between 4 and 6 months, I could start feeding him cereal. But as you can see, he isn't starving so I decided to wait until now to get him hooked on food.

Dee fed him while I took these pictures. Max was eating oatmeal for breakfast and wanted in on the photo shoot - so here he is eating.

I also attached a picture of Max when he was about 4 months old eating rice cereal for the first time.

Splish! Splash! We were taking a bath!

I remember how much Max loved to take baths when he was a baby - he still does. Well, Garrett is no different. However, in the following video you wouldn't be able to tell - he looks so serious. Grandmama, this video is dedicated to you. P.S. We are saving Garrett's first kitchen sink bath when Grandmama comes home.

Witch's...I Mean...Girl's Night Out

Gina, Jessica and I made our traditional Autumn trip to Gardner Village for a girl's night out. They set up larger than life witches all throughout the grounds. Three of our friends joined us: Josephine, Kim and Holly. We enjoyed a night of window shopping, some real shopping, a good meal and great conversation. It was lots of fun.

Laughing...and...Teething

Garrett will sometimes get in a laughing mood when I am changing his diaper. This time was no exception. So I ran and got Sonia's flip video but as soon as I pointed the camera at Garrett he stopped laughing and would just stare at the camera. I called Sonia to come help. She took over the "camera woman" operation while I tried to get Garrett to start laughing again. Watch the video - by the time we took this video he was laughed out and although he does laugh, we missed the real funny laughing. We also tried to get a close up of his two new teeth; he likes to stick his tongue out when you try to look at his teeth - but you can get a glimpse of the two little "pieces of rice".

Jaxson's 6th Birthday

Jaxson turned 6 years old on Wednesday, September 17, 2008. Jessica planned a birthday party for him at their house and invited about 18 kids - she was brave or crazy. I took Max and Garrett and we took some pictures. It was a gloomy day. In fact, when I arrived at their house, I heard some thunder. Jessica was freaking out trying to figure out what she would do with 18+ people in her house and how to entertain them for an hour and a half. All the games she had planned were outside games. But luckily, the wind blew the clouds away and the sun came out a little later so they were able to have the party outside. You will be able to see how she decorated her backyard. Sonia also took some video so she will need to post it and Jessica will need to write more on the party details. Enjoy the photos and video!

Shhhh...don't tell Buddy and Grandmama!

So the other day when Jessica and her kids came over to go with Gina and her boys to Liberty Land, there was some downtime while they waited for the place to open. Needless to say, children will always find something to do to fill the time. Before we knew what was going on, we heard some thudding and then some laughter. We saw what the kids were doing and I had to quickly grab my flip video to catch it on film. Don't worry Mom and Dad, we made sure they weren't leaving stains on the carpet or hurting anything in the stairwell. Here's what we found them doing...

A Trip to Liberty Land

Today, Jessica, Jaxson, Sydney, Blake, Max and I went to Liberty Land. It is a fun center that opened up not too far from the house. I left Garrett at home with Dee. They have fun rides for the kids and adults. And we had 2 for 1 deals - so we decided to get the kids out of the house and to tire them out.

We took them on the bumper boats. Jaxson decided that he was big enough to ride the boat by himself. He just couldn't get himself away from the waterfall so he came out of the ride all wet.

We also took them on the race cars and Jaxson did really well for his first time behind a wheel. Watch out when he turns 16!
Then there was the roller coaster. I had to wait with Blake so Jessica went with Sydney and Max and Jaxson sat together. I forgot how fast it goes - I thought Jaxson could hold on to Max. Well, Jaxson was scared and held on for himself. It is hard to see, but Jessica has one arm around Sydney and then she is reaching in front of her holding on to Max. The roller coaster goes around 3 times and at the end of the 3rd time it comes to a very quick and hard stop - which they warn you. But Jessica was so concerned that Max would fly out that when they came to the stop, Sydney slid off her seat. But she was ok. In fact, she and I went again.



Then we let them play miniature golf. There wasn't anyone around so we had the pick of the greens. We let them play how they wanted to play and didn't keep score. We skipped some of the holes that looked more difficult for them. They even have a couple of holes that are played in "caves" - as you can see from the pictures.


They had so much fun. It wore them out. In fact, as I am writing this blog, Max is falling asleep on my lap.

My First Harvest

You won't believe it...I hardly did. I picked my first tomato from my garden today! And when I went to get it, I saw a lot more green tomatoes growing. I'm so excited!! There is actually a chance for me to bottle something that I've grown and add it to our food storage. Wow, what a feeling. I know I'm a novice but this is amazing especially since I killed most all the other vegetables.

(The cantaloupe is the only other plant that looks like it might produce something.)

Provo Canyon Half Marathon

I'll let Jessica write her own blog entry about her training and the actual Half Marathon event today but I took some video of it, so I thought I'd post it. We're all very impressed and proud of her!

Blake and Garrett

Earlier this week I went to Payson to have lunch with my friend Natalie so Gina and the boys came along. Dad had asked us to get more pictures with just Blake and Garrett since they were missing in the 4th of July photo. It was a hoot trying to get the picture because Blake kept flipping over trying to look over his shoulder; then he ended up getting wedged in between two pillows, so we quickly put Garrett in the photo with him; and finally, Jaxson helped us by holding them at each side. You'll see the difficulty we had along the way through these photos: