Carving Pumpkins

The kids had a lot of fun carving their pumpkins. This was the first year that Maya really did anything with hers. She wasn't sure at first about the whole thing, but by the end she kept saying how much she loved doing it. Alex and Ethan are always so creative with theirs, and everyone loves looking at them lit up on the front steps.

Crazy Hair Day

Today was Crazy Hair Day at Park Elementary. Ethan went with green, spiky hair. He had anxiously awaited this day for a few weeks, and had a fun day.

Maya's "School"

Maya would love to go to school, but Mom isn't quite ready for that. She has to settle for learning at home for now. She does a great job of tracing the letters and knows all of the letters and most of their sounds. She can write the M and the A in her name really well. She is working on the Y.

As Maya grows up, and goes through all of the changes that kids do, I am realizing that this is it. I won't get to experience these changes and moments with anyone else. I'm just trying to cherish and take in all that I can every day.

Only From Maya

This morning, when Maya and I were in my bed trying to wake up, Maya wanted to go in the kitchen and get her milk to drink. She went in and Alex was in there eating breakfast. When she came back to bed I asked her if she had asked Alex if Dad was still home. This is what she said:

"No, I didn't speak to him. I'm pretty shy in the mornings."



After I had spent the day cleaning, rearranging, and dejunking the office Maya looked at it and said:

"That office looks awesome Mom! The whole house looks awesome. You do a really good job. Next time we go to Scouts that Scout guy will give you a badge."

Ethan's Beautiful Mind

One of the things that Ethan bought with his birthday money was a K'Nex roller coaster set. He had it put together in no time and had it working (with some help from Alex on the final touches). After that he proceeded to make inventions combining this K'Nex set and others he has. I know that Moms always think their children are brilliant, but Ethan's mind really does amaze me. He is always thinking, ALWAYS! He creates things that are way beyond my realm of thinking. He will tell me his theories on the universe, and has even wanted to contact NASA a time or two because he is sure he has the answers to some of the mysteries of space. I cannot wait to see what he does with his beautiful mind.

Conference Crepes

We have a tradition of making crepes for breakfast on General Conference Sundays. The kids love it because it pretty much translates into straight sugar for breakfast. Alex, Ethan, and Maya love to put chocolate pudding with whipped cream inside of theirs, and then eat and eat until they are stuffed. At least Maya will add a strawberry or two every once in awhile. Dad and Mom's favorite is peaches, whipped cream, and a little brown sugar. They taste just like peach cobbler.

We love conference weekends. Church in pajamas is the best, and we really need the lift that listening to the Prophet and other leaders gives us.

A Little Getaway

The Friday after Ethan's birthday we headed to Salt Lake to spend a few days. We planned on going to the Lion House Restaurant for lunch on Friday. When we got into downtown Salt Lake the traffic was unbelievable. We couldn't even get to the restaurant. We decided to just head towards the zoo and find a place to eat along the way. When we got to the zoo, we couldn't believe how many people there were! I have never seen it so busy. We ended up staying until they closed and the kids had a good time. We spent the night in a hotel in Midvale and the favorite thing there was the swimming pool. The next morning we went to the Utah Museum of Natural History, where the boys got to touch actual dinosaur bones and watch some workers doing work on them. There were a lot of interesting things in the museum. Next, we headed to This is the Place State Park. We had planned on just staying for an hour or so, kind of something to fill the time. We ended up staying for almost 5 hours and could have stayed longer. This was probably the funnest place for all of us. There were so many things to see and do there. The pictures on this post are of Ethan pressing apple cider and Maya riding a horse at the park. The weather was perfect, and there weren't alot of people. To end our day we went to The Living Aquarium. Alex was excited for this because the last time we went he didn't dare to touch the stingrays they have swimming in the open pool. This time he was determined, and he did it, over and over again. We had to put a little pressure on him to keep moving through the aquarium. We had a good weekend, but the combination of not getting enough sleep and eating a lot of junk food makes Ethan and Maya CRAZY!!! Which in turn makes Mom and Dad CRAZY!!! We were all glad to get home.

Ethan's Birthday

Ethan turned 9 today! We had a family party with all of his grandparents and the Andrus family. A few weeks before his birthday he spent a lot of time on lego.com, choosing the perfect sets for his presents. He also received a lot of money, Nintendo DS games, and a special date with Grandma Pam. We love Ethan so much!

He asked for a Lego cake. My plan for making it didn't quite work out and we had to make some quick changes. I told him to hop in the car and we would go to the store and he could choose a cake. He would not even consider it, he wanted a homemade cake. We compromised by using M&M's to spell out his name.