Stay-cation

Dave took off a couple of days of work and we were able to go do some fun things around town. On Monday we went to our yearly visit to the pumpkin patch at Engh Gardens. If you haven't been there you should go check it out. It's free, although we think they jack up the pumpkin price, oh well.:-) They have a small maze to go through and they have a pirate ship that they've built. And lots of pumpkins in all sorts of different shapes, colors and sizes! They have pumpkin varities there that I have never seen before! This year we got one big pumpkin to share with the whole family. Then on Tuesday we went to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving point. It was a lot of fun. I hadn't been there for a few years and it was a lot nicer than I remembered. They had this little cave the kids got into. They had a sand and water type sandbox thingie where you could make floods, lakes etc. by moving around the sand, trees and dinosaurs. They had a sand pit that was for an archeological dig where you could uncover fossils, totally fun! Then after we took our yearly trip up to the Alpine loop. We have done this since the year I was pg with Matthew. We love taking a picture at the top and comparing them year to year. And we love gathering leaves and taking a small hike. It's an awesome family tradition! We had a lot of fun, sad Dave can't take off more days.

Will and our family pumpkin!




Matthew in the corn maze.




The kids in the cave at the dinosaur museum.

Our hike in the alpine loop.
This picture is mostly funny to me because my boys hate getting their hands dirty. It really cracks me up!!

Kids playing in the sand at the dinosaur museum.


My little archeologists. Kids at the top of the Alpine Loop. (Will was asleep.)

Tea with Mimi

Maren, Mimi and I all got to have a tea party the other day at this cute little place in Gardner Village. It was so much fun! And it was well needed time with Mimi (she has really been enjoying her retirement and leaving us to fend for ourselves in Utah! :-) She even got to be part of the last hurricane in Texas!) They have dress ups and they had a full tea service with a little tea pot just for Maren to pour her hot chocolate. Which I think she drank in about 2 minutes. Then we walked around Gardner village and had fun looking at all the witches they have there as well as taking a carriage ride with an actual witch, who told us a spooky story! It was a lot of fun and I appreciate Mimi so much for coming with us! She really is a wonderful grandma to my kids and an awesome second Mom to me and I am so grateful for her. I love the fall so this was a perfect outing.

Maren holding the bat and skeleton on our carriage ride with the witch!

Happy Birthday Matthew!!!

Matthew turned 8 this last weekend. Matthew is totally enthusiastic about everything so it makes everything fun! He got to have a birthday party with some friends at Boondocks where we miniature golfed in 40 degree weather and played laser tag and video games. It was a little boys dream. But note to self, taking 11 boys to a place that isn't self contained is maybe not the best idea. We had a fun day though and Matthew got lots of fun toys. His favorite so far is a Pirates of the Carribean Monopoly game. He asks to play it with me pretty much all day. And games with Matthew take at least 3 hours! :-) Don't tell him I went backrupt on purpose the other night just so I could go do the dishes. Matthew is really looking forward to his baptism coming up next month. I still remember the day that I had Matthew. After years of infertility treatments we were so thrilled. Everyday Matthew has been alive has been happy one! He is SUCH a good boy, good helper and big brother. He is a rule follower and sometimes is almost too good. He is smart and funny and has an awesome vocabulary. How lucky I am to get to be his mom!!

Matthew got this awesome Star Wars trooper helmet. I thought it was too funny when Mimi (Dave's Mom)asked to try it on. She is always up for some adventure!

I just love Will's hair here because had been running everywhere and it's a major afro!

Humanity

Please go watch this news clip from Chicago. It really touched me and gave me renewed faith in humanity. Everytime I watch it I still cry. Awesome!
http://www.myfoxchicago.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=00EB85BCBBB5A572B34E24FF9B74BAF9?contentId=7631071&version=6&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1