RIchard's 5th Birthday

We had 4 little friends over for Richard's Cars themed birthday party this last Friday afternoon. We colored some Lightening McQueen pictures as a time filler while waiting for everyone to arrive, then played "Don't Eat Pete" with their choice of Goldfish crackers or M&Ms. Everyone got a turn to find Pete. The gameboard is a 4 x 4 grid , and on each square you put one piece of something yummy to eat. One child leaves the room while the rest of the players decide quietly which piece is "Pete." Then the child returns and begins eating the pieces one by one. When he unknowingly picks up "Pete", everyone yells "Don't Eat Pete!" It always gets a good laugh. Then we played hot and cold to find a bottle of bubbles for everyone as a gift to take home. The best part perhaps was the race car Pinata that Ben rigged upstairs in our 3rd bedroom. It is the playroom for now, but will soon be occupied by Baby #3. Anyway, each child got a few turns to swipe at it with a golf club, but eventually Ben got to take a big whack at it. It busted open and even shattered a tootsie roll and lollipop. Garrett was quite upset that Daddy broke something. :) Very funny. Then we came down and had cake in the kitchen...the kids liked the Capri Suns more than the cake. Ben and I had a lot of fun decorating the cake. We are getting better each year at getting creative on the cake. I still like the Beach theme we had for Garrett's cake in August, as we had just returned from Hawaii. This picture is of Gavin, our next door neighbor playing "Don't Eat Pete" with Goldfish crackers.

Mall Birthday Dinner

Ben took the boys to the mall the day before Richard's 5th birthday for a special dinner at Red Robin, and of course while they were there they got to sit on Santa's lap. Ben said they were both very obliging and the Santa Claus was very patient and nice. Then they got to ride on the train which they both loved. I, of course, was at work...but my last day was this last Saturday, and with mixed feelings (but mostly happiness!) I don't have to work anymore!!! Hahahahahahah!

Selling our Car

I hope this is legal; to post an ad on my own blog. But, if anyone is interested, we are selling our 2006 Camry. It is in excellent condition, we are just in want/need of a van. We are taking the big family leap here. :) We have ads posted on craigslist.com and ksl.com. The car has almost 35000 miles, we've had it serviced at the manufacturer recommendation regularly, bought it brand new and absolutely love it! The kbb is about $13,000. It has some feature from the LE, like the radio controls in the steering wheel console (love that!) Drivers side lumbar support and the back seat folds down to make the trunk even bigger than it already is. Look at our ads on craigslist and ksl.com for more info. Thanks!

Special Day

At Richard's preschool each child has a 'special day' each month where they bring a favorite something. Last month he took his Titanic boat, and this month he took a Beanie Baby that I bought years ago when they were big, and he has since adopted as his sleeping companion. I think it's pretty cute that he likes this white, angel bear :) His classmates liked it too, but it's fun for me to see him in front of a crowd. He's usually quite timid, so this is good for him. :)

2008 Christmas Tree

Here is our Christmas tree...it's 4 years old and is still surviving. Maybe next year we'll get a real one. Richard keeps putting this big blue bow on his head, and then 'unwrapping' himself.

Mr. Goody

Very few people will appreciate this picture, but it has significance in my family...Mr. Goody was a tradition where he 'watches' the kids during the holiday to make sure they're being good. Then he reports back to Santa. Garrett found him and has since taken a great liking to him. Mainly Mr. Goody sits on the piano, but every once in a while I find him in other places. :)

Piano recital!

Here is a picture of our piano recital on Sunday evening! It's been a lot of fun teaching these girls and they finally got to perform for their families. Left to right in the back is me, Bethany, Mikayla, Crista, then in the front Lydia, Natalie, and Kalyana. Bethany, Lydia, and Natalie are sisters so they come altogether once a week.

Professional Halloween Photo

A family in our ward graciously took pictures of anyone who wanted one. Here we are. I'm not as Kang-ish as I would have liked, but oh well. The boys are cute anyway...:)

Halloween is over!

The day before Halloween, Ben took the boys to UVU campus where they had games and trick or treating. Here they are with no makeup, but you get the idea. If you click on the pictures they should get bigger.

At our ward Halloween party we had a soup and bread potluck, a cakewalk (here is Garrett eating his prize!), a coloring area, reading corner by a scary ol' witch, family photographs with a cute scenery, costume parade across the stage, and of course trunk or treating. Very fun and super busy for me and Ben. He and the scouts had a mystery drink bar....they had homemade rootbeer, some kind of smoothie and some other mystery drinks...We tried to get all the kids together for one big shot...but at least we found Eeyore! The family photos should be coming soon, so I'll definitely post those soon...

Sunday best!

Our Primary program was today so we dressed up extra nice. Garrett learned he loves to wear a tie like Daddy and they were both great all day!

Autumn Time!

You know it's autumn time when you can make leaf piles!!!!

Silverdale 1st Ward Reunion!

On October 18th Lisa Peterson was married in Salt Lake to Nick Stetich...we were able to go to their reception and met up with some kids from back home. It was a lot of fun to talk with them and catch up. Lisa was dazzling and my family had a nice time too. It was at the Joseph Smith Memorial Bldg in Salt Lake, a fully catered snakc bar, and dancing ended the night. Garrett and Abby, Lisa's niece stole the night away. :)

Saturday bowling

Today is Saturday...and we only had a few plans so we were able to make a trip to the bowling alley. Ben and Richard bowled while Garrett and I watched. I didn't want to risk bowling with my own bowling ball belly. We all had a good time and Richard has been asking to go all week, so it was great we finally had time.

Bus ride!

The boys love going on the city bus, and it gives them something to do in the evening. So here they are enjoying a night time ride.

I love these jackets, they completely match their eyes. When I asked Garrett if he is a bear in his jacket, he said "no, monkey!"

It's a baby

I put a post on several weeks ago (months really) about my research study I'm helping with at the hospital. They did an early ultrasound, and even then at 13 weeks, we learned we'd be having our 3rd boy. We were very excited, and it was confirmed at our regular 20 week ultrasound that the baby is 'still a boy.'. :) Our due date is the 20th of January; I am now 25 weeks, feeling pretty well, I can still do just about everything I want to, just a bit slower...I cleaned the tub this afternoon, and then went to work for 5 hours and for a while I regretted that. The baby moves a lot and it's so fun to 'see' him moving. Cool...:)

Cornbellys!

Tonight was so fun! For Family Home Evening we went to the Kids fair area, called Cornbellys up in Lehi (Thanksgiving Point). The Hunt family, with their 4 boys and brandnew baby Hannah, braved the trip with us. We had so much fun, enjoying all the attractions for the kids. The only thing we didn't have a lot of time for was the corn maze, which is what they're know for! There was a lot of other stuff to do and see, including pig races, the cow train, The Creature, and go-Karts. But the kids' favorite thing (ok, and Ben and Paul's too) was the jumping pillow area.

One of my favorite pictures is this one of Garrett and Jaxon. They are about

3 weeks apart in age, and they are so much alike!

Even I enjoyed the go-karts...

Can you tell who is having the most fun on the big slide?

New stuff

Ben's mother has been in Utah for the last several days helping with a new baby up in Midvale, our niece, Miriam. Yea Stephanie! Luckily, Grandma was able to find a day to take the boys to Ephraim to visit another of Ben's sisters, Sarah. Yea Sarah!, while she goes to Snow College. Anyway, Margot got to borrow her sister's Solara convertible and the boys thought that was pretty neat, especially Ben. :)

And here's me looking big and pregnant at 24 weeks (5 months-ish). I am happy, but I think my clothes are a bit baggy...hard to be fashionable right now!

"Good Morning" Ritual

For a long time the boys would come into our room when they woke up in the morning and insist on being in bed with us for some snuggle time. This cracks me up: check out the hair and the huge grins on these little boys' faces. Ben is pretty happy too. :)

This has never happened before: Garrett falling asleep during a meal! He didn't get a nap that day, and I warned Ben that I was afraid he'd need to go to bed extra early while I was at work. Garrett ended up sleeping in his chair for a few minutes and then Ben laid him on the couch for about a half hour. So funny! He actually almost fell asleep at the dinner table in Hawaii too...his naps were few and far between while we were there. We had to really watch him at that time because he could have just fallen right off the chair!

Birthday Party!

Today was Garrett's 2nd birthday. Yesterday afternoon I baked a simple 9x13 chocolate cake. I figure he's still young enough that I get to choose the kind of cake...:) He'll eat anything, but I felt bad because I know Richard prefers vanilla...but he did branch out and actually ate some of it!! After church we busted out the balloons, gift #1. He loves balloons. They were blue and green (and spongebob) to accentuate our 'ocean' theme. After his nap we opened presents; some books from my parents, a big garbage truck from me and Ben, and a nerf dart gun from Richard. The boys were enthralled with the garbage truck, which is accompanied by our dump truck that my Dad gave Richard several years ago. They both make truck noises and 'do things'. Very fun. Then we had tacos for dinner, I decorated the cake with chocolate frosting, blue icing and sugar candy ocean creatures. Different kind of birthday cake than I've ever made. It was so fun and so easy. We each had a piece (me quite a bit later beacuse I couldn't hold tacos and cake in the same hour) and then watched baby Garrett home movies. It was such a nice simple celebration, and everyone had a good time.

More Hawaii

On Saturday in Hawaii we went to the Dole Pinapple Plantation. We went on a train ride around the fields, had fresh pineapple, pineapple frozen yogurt and walked through the amazing gift shop. Ben and Richard also went through the maze. It was made like a corn maze, but of course, with pinapple plants. It was a hot, but fun day.

On Sunday went attended church in Honolulu at the Mormon Tabernacle. It was a huge white tabernacle with an open courtyard and fabulous plants and flowers, including plumeria. Those are my favorite. :) We took a scenic route through Waikiki on the way from the church.

On Monday we had lunch with my uncle who lives in Honolulu and I've only met him two other times in my life. Then we dropped Richard off with Grandma at the Honolulu Zoo while the rest of us (Gary, Garrett, Ben, and I) went to the International Market. It's like Pike Place Market in Seattle with tons of little stands and shops selling souveniers, clothing, and other paraphernalia.

This is the boys sitting at the base of the lagoon at Wiamea Falls. It was a pretty hike complete with ancient (some reconstructed) archelogical sites. Interesting. Garrett was placed in a cave by Grandpa. :)

Perhaps one of the most fun things we did was the Luau and Dance at the Polynesian Cultural Center. It is right down the street from the LDS Temple and BYU-Hawaii. During the dinner they asked if anyone was celebrating a honeymoon or anniversary, and since our 7th anniversary was last week we went up with several other people and got to be recognized. We also got a few pictures of the temple and lot's of the PCC. It was a fun and late night. Both boys stayed awake (to our dismay) during the show and slept in the car on the way back to the hotel; it was about 11pm when we got back. My camera is now dead, so I can't upload anymore pictures at the moment. :) Pooh, I'll try again later!