Halloween

I couldn't convince the kids to have a family theme this year. But that's ok, they were really happy with their costumes.

Darth Vader

This was the first time I decorated the car for trunk or treat, only because we had some decorations from Jayden's birthday. 

Sidney saw this butterfly costume on Pinterest, and it's what she really, really wanted. I think it's kind of funny because she's not super into butterflies or anything. She looked really cute. 

 

Tanner wore the baseball that Jayden wore at this age. 

Since the kids didn't want to match I made Josh be a hunter and a deer couple. 

After trunk or treat Tanner climbed into the trunk and started chowing down.

 

We went trick or treating with friends and when we got back they all dumped the candy on the floor. There was SO MUCH candy. We went home and weighed ours. 16 pounds! Crazy!

 



 

 

 

Jayden's 10th Birthday

Ten years have gone by since Jayden came into our family. It's hard to believe. With his birthday being on a weekday and his after school activities it didn't leave much time for partying. Tanner and I had lunch with him at school, and we went out for dinner.

 

Tanner was a riot at lunch. He is so social and goofy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were talking the other day about all the adventures Jayden has been on in his lifetime. It's a lot more than I did by the time I was his age. He has swam in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and the Gulf of Mexico, been to 29 states (by the time I was 10 I'd been to maybe 6, and I didn't see the Atlantic Ocean until I was 26), has run through Texas blue bonnet fields, eaten ice cream at the bluebell factory, ridden to the top of the St. Louis Arch, visited Yellowstone, the Tetons, and the Smoky Mountains, hiked in the Rockies, the Blueridge Parkway, and been to the highest peak in the Oregon Coastal Range above the clouds, visited the Alamo, Nauvoo, Palmyra, and Kirtland, experienced Niagara Falls, he crossed the Mississippi during a minor earthquake, toured the largest aquarium in the world, stomped on grapes with his bare feet at the Biltmore, been to Disney World and Disneyland, hugged a giraffe, played under cover in a hailstorm with golf ball size hail, visited NASA, ridden a 100 year old carousel, he's seen the Space Needle, Mt. Ranier, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Hood, has been to Temple Square and the Conference Center, and walked around the grounds of a dozen temples, and so so much more. I have loved experiencing it all with him, and it's still hard to wrap my mind around him getting older. Love this kid!



Fall Happenings

I've been taking Tanner to some little classes at the nature center a couple times a month. The last one was all about pumpkins.

I went to a witch party and Sidney wanted to take a picture with me. Love her face.

Cookie decorating with friends. 

Tanner had been asking for cookies all day, but I told him no. He was so excited to finally get them, but then he didn't eat any. Go figure. 

We left for school one morning to find that someone had carved the pumpkin we had bought at the pumpkin patch. Disgusting. And sad. 

Pumpkin Patch

The pumpkin patch was a hit with the kids. We love October.

We're lucky we didn't lose Tanner in the corn maze. 

Tanner loved the giant slide. He did it over and over. 

Jayden tried this out. 



Zoo Field Trip

I was able to go on a field trip with Jayden in October. I was supposed to go on one with him a couple of years ago, but he got sick, so we missed it. Then the zoo was scheduled for a day when Hurricane Joaquin came through so it was postponed to a day when my babysitter was out of town. I called a half a dozen people to babysit before I was able to find two people who were able to split up the day. It's not the biggest deal, it just felt like everything was working against us, so I was determined to make it work because Jayden really wanted me to go.

 

It turned out to be a really fun day. The class split up so we had 6 kids in our group. They were a great group of kids. The weather couldn't have been better. Jayden took lots of pictures.

 

 

There were lots of giraffes and they were really friendly. The kids got to pet them and Jayden even gave one a hug. 

 

 



Uptown With Tanner

Tanner and I took a spontaneous trip uptown one day. Josh needed me to bring him something, so we decided to stay for lunch. The day was beautiful. We parked a few blocks away and walked together, hand in hand the whole way. I couldn't believe he held my hand. Normally he refuses. He must have known it would keep him safe. He soaked in all the sights, loving all the tall buildings and cars and the man playing guitar on the corner. We didn't stop to listen, so he danced along while we crossed the road. 

 

We met Josh then walked another block to get lunch. Then on the way back to the car he lost his shoe. His shoes are too big for him, but I didn't change them because I thought it might slow him down if he tried to run from me. Some ladies walking behind us thought he was so cute, and got a kick out of him losing his shoe. After we crossed the road we started going downhill, and he took off running, still holding my hand. So we ran down the hill and his shoe fell off again. He laughed and laughed, and we ran back to get it. He started running again, and lost his shoe again. So we ran back to get it, all the while he was laughing. Now he turned it into a game, and he started losing his shoes on purpose. He didn't stop laughing. Every time we went back to get a shoe, I would say, "Let's put it back on." And he would breathlessly say while laughing, "Ok! Ok!" He lost his shoe about 15 times. Next to our car was this fountain, so he had to check it out. This memory will stay with me.