Trick or Treat?? Trick- it's pouring!

Since our ward trunk-or-treat was on Friday, we decided to do a little bit of trick-or-treating on Saturday. Melinda and her family were kind enough to let us tag along and do a little trick-or-treating in their neighborhood.

When we got to Melinda's house she had her back backdrop all set up, so I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of the boys in their costumes. Don't they look great?

They just love wearing their costumes! The wings are definitely one of their very favorite parts! Joe was with me, so he helped me post the boys for these next two shots. Aren't they awesome?!

Look out! The Buzzes are shooting their lasers at you!

To infinity and beyond!

Joe and I were not up to dressing up yet again, so there are no further family Halloween photos. Joe was kind enough to go with Jason and take the kids trick-or-treating. Unfortunately it was pouring outside! We had our umbrellas ready, but at the last minute Melinda was inspired to put ponchos over the kids costumes so they wouldn't get so wet. Great idea!

So here is what the boys looked like as they headed out. Aren't they cute?

While the kids were out with the Daddies, Melinda and I got to hang out and chat. It was fabulous!

The kids were real troopers, and Melinda and I were surprised by how long they stayed out. They got cold and wet, but I think Jacob and Ephraim had a really fun time going from house to house and getting to say, "Trick-or-treat!". Here they are when they got back and trick-or-treated Melinda's house before coming inside.

The weather may have played a nasty trick, but the boys sure did get a lot of treats! They even came back with some full sized candy bars, granola bars, and play dough! It probably had something to do with the two cute Randall girls that they went trick-or-treating with... plus they are just so stinking cute themselves!

Thanks Randalls for letting us crash your trick-or-treating! We had a blast!

Trunk or Treat

Friday evening was our ward's annual trunk-or-treat. So right after we finished dinner we all got dressed to go over to the church. The boys had no problem with my costume, but when Joe put on his hood and mask Ephraim went screaming from the room! He was terrified of Daddy!


We had to tell Ephraim several times that it was just Daddy in there. He finally believed us, but for a while there he kept asking, "That's you Daddy?" and "You are nice Daddy?".  It was pretty funny.

This year they had a little carnival in the church before the trunk-or-treat. We got there late, which was fine because the number of activities was limited. The boys did the ring toss, had their pictures taken and did a cake walk for some prizes. Daddy had to stay outside because he was wearing a mask, but I don't think he really minded all that much.

After the carnival was over we headed out for the trunk-or-treat. Here is a picture of all of us dressed up in our costumes.

I did manage to re-use my Jesse costume so I could be part of the Toy Story gang. But if you look closely you can see that I am wearing a band under my shirt so that I could wear the pants unbuttoned. There was no way they would fit me with my little baby bump now that I am 19 weeks pregnant!

The boys had fun walking around with Daddy. It was funny to see all the kids react to the Zurg costume. It seems no one really remembers that he was Zurg last year, and they were pretty impressed with the whole get up. Here is a picture of Zurg and his two little Buzzes walking around the trunk-or-treat.

Jacob had a bit more fun than Ephraim did at the trunk-or-treat. It's not that Ephraim didn't enjoy getting candy, he was just more distracted by all the people in their costumes and the general confusion of the whole scene. He also didn't like the people that had dressed up in scary costumes and would try to avoid them. I think Ephraim will enjoy trick-or-treating a bit more than he did the trunk-or-treat.


The sun was just setting as the trunk or treat ended, and the clouds were awesome! So Joe let me drive the van up the hill so I could take a picture. Just check out these colors! So gorgeous.

I also managed a nice shot of the Mount Timpanogos temple with my zoom lens. We were pretty far away from the temple, and I was impressed with how nicely the photo turned out.

Hee Haw Farms Field Trip

This morning I had arranged for Jacob's preschool to visit Hee Haw Farms here in Pleasant Grove. They have a ton of fun activities for Halloween, and I knew the boys would love it!

The first thing you come across is the courtyard area, which has fun tractors that the kids could sit on. The girls were not really interested, but of course both of my boys wanted to sit on the big tractor.

Ephraim is a very convincing tractor driver. He turned the wheel, made engine noises and said, "beep, beep!". What a character! Of course he didn't really want to get off the tractor either.

In various locations around Hee Haws they had these little pedal cars. Jacob wanted to drive it but he was not quite big enough to reach the pedals. This one was up on a hay bale for the kids to look at at sit on anyway, so he couldn't really drive this one.

They also had various cutouts that the kids could put their heads into for pictures. This one was the one Jacob said he liked the best.

After checking out the courtyard we went up the big hill so we could go down the slide. They got to ride on a gunny sack, and it was a pretty steep slide. I was a little surprised that Jacob enjoyed it so much. As soon as he got to the bottom he headed right back up for another ride! Ephraim went once and told me that he was done!

Instead of going down the slide again, Ephraim spotted another tractor that he wanted to sit on, only this one was a bit bigger!

There were a few other slides that were on top of hay bales, and the kids had fun going up and down them. We finally pried them away and went over to the little petting zoo. They had pigs, goats, ducks, chicken and sheep. Jacob made friends with one little goat who ended up trying to give his jacket a little nibble!

Ephraim wasn't so sure about the animals that were walking around. They made him a little nervous. He mostly stayed next to me and petted the animals that were holding still, like these sleepy pigs.

After the petting zoo we headed to the other side of the courtyard. They had some fun tire swings that looked like tractors. The boys thought they were really fun to swing on!

After the swings Jacob and I took off our jackets because it had finally warmed up enough that the boys were telling me they were "too hot". Then we headed to the corn box. It was basically a sand box, but it was filled with dried corn instead of sand! The kids thought it was a lot of fun to play in there.

While we were there we took a picture of Jacob's preschool class. We had tried one earlier but the kids were all squinting because it was so bright outside. The lighting was a little better inside the corn box.

Of course it is impossible to get a nice picture of everyone, but this is the best one. There is Stephen, Jacob, Micah, Sofi, and Katelynn. They are a fun little class, and I enjoy helping to teach their preschool.

After playing in the corn it was time for our hay ride. Normally you take the hayride out to the pumpkin patch, but apparently that morning one of the tractors pulling the hay wagon had gotten stuck in the mud. Then the tractor sent to help get them out got stuck too!

Needless to say we didn't go out to the pumpkin patch. Instead we just took a hay ride around a field. Ephraim thought the loose hay was the weirdest stuff.

The kids all enjoyed the hay ride and afterward we got to pick a pumpkin. We were at Hee Haw Farms for 2 hours, which was much longer than I expected, but the kids were all having such a great time!

Just before we left, Karyn was kind enough to take this picture of me with the boys. What a fun field trip we had!

Snow in October!

This morning when I woke up I was shocked to find that there was about 3 inches of snow on the ground! We almost never get snow in October, so it was a bit strange to see the trees covered with colored leaves AND snow!

After breakfast I had to run outside and take some pictures of the snow on our trees because I knew that it wouldn't last the entire day! Here is our aspen tree, and as you can see, most of the leaves are actually still green!

The sky was still overcast and gray and Mount Timpanogos was nowhere to be seen!

The boys had preschool and playgroup today, so we got ready to go. When I left the house I took this picture from the van. Pretty surreal for October, isn't it? At least it is in Pleasant Grove!

Since the boys were in costume for their activities, I had to run and take their pictures in the snow! We went over to the bushes on the side of the cemetery and I stepped out and plopped both of the boys in the snow.

You can see that the snow is actually pretty deep! No little boy shoes to be seen! If you look closely you can actually see where I stepped into the snow to put the boys over by the bushes!

What good sports they are to let Mommy throw them in the snow for a photo-op! Aren't they cute in their Buzz Lightyear costumes and wings?

Jacob got to go to Preschool dressed up today, and he had a great time. Here are all the kids in his preschool class all dressed up.

There is Jacob, Micah, Stephen, Sofi, and Katelynne.

Ephraim and I got to go to Karyn's new house for preschool. We had a great time playing there, doing a craft, and oohing over her beautiful home. She lives WAY up on the mountainside. Just check out the view as I headed back down to get Jacob!

Buzz Boys

Yesterday after story time at the library I just had to take the boys out to get their pictures taken in their Buzz costumes. They both got to wear them, so I took advantage of it and got some really cute pictures of them! Here is the little story I posted on my public blog to go along with the photos (including two photos from earlier today):

Once upon a time there were two space rangers. They were courageous, strong and daring! Not to mention handsome! Meet Buzz Lightyear and....um, the other Buzz Lightyear! (Just don't ask who's the REAL Buzz Lightyear, or there will be trouble!)

The Buzzes had a mission directly from Star Command: Find the evil lord Zurg and foil his evil plot to destroy Halloween as we know it and steal all of the Halloween candy!

And so our intrepid explorers set off on their mission. Determined to find Zurg and perhaps enjoy a little bit of Halloween candy along the way.

They traveled to strange and distant planets and looked high and low. The Evil Zurg was nowhere to be found!

They questioned the local flora and the wall robot, but nobody seemed to know where to find Zurg!

But the space rangers would never give up their search! Determined to find Zurg and stop his plot, the two Buzzes decided to blast off into space. To infinity and beyond!

They landed on a most bizarre planet. The leaves on the trees were still changing colors to orange, red and yellow... and yet there was snow everywhere! What kind of a crazy, mixed-up world is this?!

Undaunted to Buzzes will continue their search.Will the Buzzes Lightyear find the evil lord Zurg? Will Halloween be saved? Can you doubt faces as cute at these?!

Stay tuned for next week's episode and the exciting conclusion to our saga!

Unbeleafable FHE!

What a wet weekend! It was cloudy every day and rained every day! We mostly stayed inside. Then on Monday it finally warmed up a little bit. For our family night activity we all went outside to help Daddy rake up some of the leaves that have fallen off the trees.

Just check out my leaf raking crew!

I would have helped, but we only have one big rake and two smaller ones. Oh well! So I was left to watch and take pictures.

Jacob is turning into quite the little helper! He understands the purpose of what we are doing and can even rake leaves into a pile by himself. He is even helpful enough to trade rakes with Ephraim when he wants to try out a different one.

It is a good thing we had enough rakes that Ephraim could have one too! He desperately wanted to help, although mostly his help amounted to following Jacob around and trying to copy him or walking through the piles of leaves Daddy had just raked up!

At least he wants to help, right? One day Joe will have quite the yard crew!

We Love Legos (Oct 17)

Somehow I momentarily "lost" these pictures from last weekend (Oct 17)! They were such great photos showing the boys getting creative, so I just had to post them.

When we came back from our Vegas trip, the boys brought back some more Legos that Grandpa Devereaux had brought for them. Ever since then the boys have been playing with their Legos more and getting pretty creative with them! Maybe they just needed some more bricks to be able to build bigger creations.

On this particular Sunday, Jacob decided that his train needed a pair of wings so it could fly.

He especially liked that we have more long blocks now so he can make the wings go out from the sides of the train pretty far. He had a great time building his flying train while Ephraim was asleep.

When Ephraim woke up he got into the action too! Jacob decided that his train needed even longer wings. Once we showed him how to connect the pieces and make them longer he had no trouble making this super-winged train!

So Ephraim got the Lego truck out and had me help him make it into an airplane too! Complete with a cactus and palm tree canopy!

It is fun to see the boys building with their toys and getting more creative with them, rather than just dumping the bucket out!

The Boys Say the Funniest Things!

Lately it seems that both of the boys have been saying the most hilarious things, either in conversation with one another or with Mommy or Daddy. Here are some of the ones that I have remembered to write down:

People often ask me now if we know whether we are having a boy or a girl. Here is how the rest of the conversation usually goes:
Me: "We get to find out what we are having the first part of November"
Jacob: "You're having a baby!"
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Jacob: "Ephraim, turn your siren off!"
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I was in the bathroom when Ephraim walked up to me and said:
"Mommy, what you doing here? Painting yours face?"

(actually Ephraim often asks us, "what you doing here?" and we think it's the cutest!)
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Jacob: "It's dark outside!"
Ephraim: "You better turn yours lights on!"
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Jacob: "I always have a hard day sometimes."
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Ephraim: "Cows live in barns. Cows say, 'Click, clack, moo!'"
(you can tell we read a lot. This is from a book called, Click, Clack, Moo by Doreen Cronin, which the boys love)
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Jacob: "Guess what Mommy?"
Me: "What?"
Jacob: When we went to Katelynn's house for Preschool today her mommy was already fixing dinner and it was stinky! We thought Cameron had a poopy diaper, but it was the dinner!"
Me (laughing): "Oh really?"
Jacob: "Yes! And the smell went into my nose. Then the smell went out of my nose. Then in... then out!"
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Me: "Darn. It looks like there is no story time today. I know, let's go on a photo safari instead!"
Jacob: "Wahoo! Ephraim, we are going on a photo Ferrari!"
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Ephraim is very curious and asks us what different things are all the time. The funny thing about it is the way he says it. Ephraim asks, "Who's this, Daddy?" when pointing at inanimate objects.
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At the dinner table we had the following conversation"
Me: "Honey, do you want any ranch dressing for your roast?"
Joe: "No, I'm good."
Me: "Ok. I was just asking because for some reason the boys seem to like to dip their meat."
Jacob: "Why do we like to dip our meat?"
Me: "Maybe it's because you are dips."
Jacob: "Yeah! I'm a dip!"
Ephraim: "I'm a dip too!"
(much laughter ensues)
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Ephraim is excited that he and Jacob get to be Buzz Lightyear this year for Halloween. He also knows that Daddy is going to dress up as Zurg. So randomly Ephraim will walk up to Daddy and say:
"Daddy, you be Jurg!" and Joe often replies, "What?!" because it sounds a lot like he's saying "Daddy, you be jerk!"
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As you know, we have been potty training Ephraim. It has actually been going well and we are at the point where he rarely has any accidents. The funny thing is that Ephraim refers to his male anatomy as a hose.  I am pretty sure he came up with that one on his own! Anyway, when he goes to the potty he will often say things like, "I hosing" or even, "My hose on. Now my hose off. It's on again!" What a silly boy!
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Now that it's close to Halloween we have been reading a lot of stories about witches, ghosts, bats, trick-or-treating, costumes, etc. One thing we see a lot of is jack-o-lanterns. Ephraim always gets me laughing because he refers to them as "junk-o-lanterns"!

Halloween Parties and the Ghost Shirt

This week Jacob and I have both been lucky enough to have some Halloween parties to attend. First I had a party on Wednesday evening at my friend Melinda's house. She threw the most fabulous Witch's Brew! All the ladies who came got to dress up like witches and decorate their own witches hat.

I finished my hat on Saturday after the boys went to sleep. I ran to the craft store, got inspired and used a whole bunch of leaves and hot glue. I think my hat turned out pretty well, don't you think?

I even dressed up for the occasion. I wore a black skirt and shirt. I was planning on wearing some stripey tights, but they didn't fit me! Hmmm... maybe it's the baby bump? Anyway, I think I looked pretty darn good.

Melinda was kind enough to take this picture for me. I also stole the rest of these photos from her. There were several ladies from my ward at the party, as well as Melinda's current ward and her family. We all mixed and mingled and had a great time... especially after Melinda had us mix ourselves up a bit.

Here is a picture of all there PG ladies that attended the brew. From left to right is Andrea Morrell, Andrea Brown, Karyn Esplin, Julie Stuart, me and the fabulous Melinda.

Doesn't our hats all look fabulous! I didn't end up winning a prize, but I sure did have fun making my hat! There is one other thing I forgot to mention! Melinda had the best food at the party! Yummy squash and tomato soups, bread bowls, scrumptious salad, and yummy punch! Check out the cute decor on the tables too!

I had a blast! It was a nice break from my house full of boys.

Then today Jacob got to go to a Halloween party at Alyssa's house. Jacob really wanted to wear his costume, but Alyssa is just getting comfortable with costumes and dressing up. So they requested no costumes for this party. Since Jacob desperately wanted to wear something "Halloween-y" I whipped up this shirt for him:

Not bad, huh? I cut out a ghost from white fabric using a template I found online. Then I took a dark colored shirt that he already had and basted the ghost onto it. I don't intend for the ghost to be a permanent feature, just for the next week or so. That way Jacob can still look festive, even when it isn't time to wear his costume yet!

Jacob loved his ghost shirt. As a matter of fact he told me that I am the best and nicest Mommy ever! So I guess it was worth it. He also had a great time at the party! He is so excited for Halloween, and I can't wait for all the fun activities we have up for next week!