The Doll Phase Begins!!

A couple days ago I was checking out at Toys R' Us and a lady behind me said "can I ask you a strange question?" I walked over to her and she asked if I wanted the Cabbage Patch Doll in her shopping cart. She only wanted the clothes it was wearing and not the doll. I replied with a very excited "yes". I asked if she wanted anything in return, but she didn't want any money for it. So we went outside and she stripped the doll and gave me the naked baby. So basically she paid $32 for a doll outfit! Apparently she has a collection and has already purchased all the other outfits. I said "thank you" a million times and she was happy to give. When I gave the doll to McKenna she smiled a huge smile and gave it a big squeeze. It was perfect timing! I've been wanting to buy her a girl toy since she only plays with swords and trucks. So McKenna has her first Cabbage Patch Doll. It's naked, but it's hers. :) We'll buy an outfit for it one of these days.

Halloween Family Home Evening

Ahhh...pumpkin carving. This is one of those traditions that I have a love-hate relationship with. I love the finished product, but it's such a mess to carve the blasted things. The kids sure love it, so we'll continue on. :) We let the boys pick out their own pumpkins, which seems to be the hardest one to get to on the pile. Then, we give them a marker and they draw what they want the face to look like. Taylor drew a very cute face this year and was actually large enough to cut out. Derek drew a very detailed picture of a vampire face, which was about 2 inches tall. So we tried to follow his description. Dave ended up carving a pirate/vampire pumpkin for him and Derek was just as pleased.


Derek's pirate/vampire pumpkin. I realized later that Derek was in the bathroom while I was taking pictures. I forgot to get one of him. But here's his pumpkin anyway. Dave made a fabulous Batman pumpkin.

Can you see the resemblance? I tried to make a "McKenna pumpkin". (This is her new thing. Hilarious! Along with the face she breaths rapidly through her nose, like she is snorting. We've given her so much attention for it that it's becoming how she smiles. I think we need to back off a little. :) She's so funny!)

Taylor drew this face and I tried to cut it out the best I could. He even drew eyebrows and the oval above the nose is the "forehead". And here they are lit up.

We finished our night with glazed donuts and apple juice. Now that's a tradition I can live with!

Never Say "No" to Dinner

This blog is quickly becoming a log for all of Taylor's scars. Here's the latest injury. A couple weeks ago, I was serving dinner to the boys and as I was trying give Taylor a scoop of rice, he put out his hand to block me. About five pieces of hot rice got on his hand and instead of brushing them off, he let them burn him. We put his hand under cold water, but I had no idea that rice could do such damage. He had very large blisters from where the rice had contact. Poor Taylor.

Drum Roll Please!!

This project began on August 30th (not counting all the hours of previous research and drawing plans) and was completed on October 18th. It took all the free time Dave could gather. I regretfully admit that I was a skeptic in the beginning, but I LOVE how it turned out. I am so impressed with Dave's skills!
And here it is...the long-awaited bunk bed! This beautiful piece of furniture was designed and built by none other than our up-and-coming handyman...Dave B#*&$ (For security reasons. We don't need too many interests in his work quite yet. Ha ha.). The kids have been playing on it ever since Saturday night. It's been a great new form of entertainment for them. Dave and I are enjoying the peace and quiet in the living room. :)
Taylor has been sleeping in a little toddler bed and needed a serious upgrade.


I feel it necessary to give a big shout out to the Visnaw family. Thank you for letting us take over your garage Saturday after Saturday!!

"Is this a reunion?!"

Sunday, October 12

Our newest addition to the extended family was blessed on Sunday. Ryker is the son of Dave's older brother, Jason, and his wife, Meaja. Dave's parents, and Spencer, Allie and family came from California to Utah to visit for the event. Lindsay, Janene and Devin also drove up for the day. (It was just bad timing that Dave flew out to San Francisco for a conference on the very weekend that his parents came here. We missed him!) In the middle of Sacrament Meeting, Derek looked around at all the family and asked me "is this a family reunion?!".

The new family of four! Jason (Dave's brother), Meaja, M'li and Ryker.

Meaja and the man of the day, Ryker.

Grandma Judy and Grandpa David with all their grandkids. (Back Row) M'li, Emery, Taylor (Middle Row) Ryker, Grandma, Campbell, McKenna, Grandpa, Clayton and Derek (down in front).

After the blessing we enjoyed food and more food at Jason and Meaja's house. The cousins had a great time getting to know each other again.

Uncle Spencer (Dave's brother), Taylor, Uncle Devin, and Cousin Clayton. Taylor was attached to Spencer that day.

Ryker and proud daddy, Jason.

Tuesday, October 14
Grandma and Grandpa came down to Utah County and spent the rest of the week entertaining us. We spent this day at Devin and Janene's house and worked on craft projects and let the kids play outside. It's so beautiful out where they live!

Derek, Campbell, Emery, and Taylor.



Judy brought a few projects for us to work on. Here's the metal bulletin board that I decorated with scrapbook paper. I used a lot of advice and support from Janene and Judy. I am not a great "crafter", but I really love how it turned out!

Wednesday, October 15
Grandpa, Grandma, Clayton, Allie, Emery, Campbell, Taylor, McKenna, and I went to the Bean Museum on BYU campus. We went last year and Taylor was terrified. It's amazing what a difference a year makes. No problems this time. The kids ran from one taxidermy animal to the next. Great fun! It wasn't the same without Derek. I had to explain to him later that sometimes you miss out on fun while you're in school.

Thursday, October 16th

Another day...another museum! Grandpa, Grandma, Jason, Meaja, M'li, and Ryker met us at the "Dinosaur Museum" at Thanksgiving Point. Oh how the boys loved this one! Again, one year ago they were terrified of the T-Rex in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, but this time...no problems. Shwew! Taylor, cousin M'li, and Derek.

My little dinosaurs.

This was a fun activity for the kids. This "table" is full of sand, water, plastic trees, and toy dinosaurs. They keep the water flowing so that the kids are able to make rivers and little dinosaur scenes. They would have stayed here for hours, but we had to move on. I am always curious how long they would actually stay if we let them. I just don't have the attention span or the patience to ever find out.Grandma Judy helping M'li and Taylor with their rivers.
After I took this picture, I commented to Judy that "it's easy to make kids smile when they are happy". I feel like most of the time I am telling my kids to smile for the camera. It sure was nice that they were already grinning when I told them to look up. A happy child is a happy mom!Grandpa David giving McKenna a little taste of the fun. I hope not literally. :)After the museum we returned to our home and ordered Cafe Rio. Yum! Then we drove over to Dave's last softball game of the season. They were in the tournament and needed to win the last three games to take first. Well, they lost the first. Dang. Oh well, there's always next year! As if that wasn't painful enough...we came home to watch BYU get creamed by TCU. Goodbye winning streak. It was a sad night. Not only did Dave and BYU lose, but we also had to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa. It was such a fun week. It felt like we were on vacation as well. There is nothing like a week full of family! We love and miss you!

Wait...It Is Fall?!

I was going to title this "One Last Summer Picnic", but then I realized...summer IS over! You would never guess it by the upper 80's we've been experiencing and it's October! My sister is all about getting the most out of the warm weather before the cold hits. She hates the winter more than anyone I know. So she called me yesterday and asked us to come to the park since the weather should turn cold this weekend.
We sat on a blanket and talked while Taylor and Landon played on the equipment. It was a lot of fun and I would say "hard to leave", but a school class took over the playground and we gladly made our escape.
Taylor was being silly and wouldn't let me take his picture. This is the best I got of him.
Cousin Landon
McKenna chatting with the girls.

**One week after this post it was snowing. Got to love Utah weather!