Pumpkin Fun!

We had a blast decorating our pumpkins! The boys thought it was hilarious to wear the mouths.

We are having so much fun with our boys!

The Aclarium

Jeff had the day off work, so we went to the Living Planet Aquarium!
(aka the Aclarium to West)

It was awesome to be able to take our time and just follow the boys to what they were most interested in.
Our favorite things:
Tave: walking. Doesn't matter what he sees. Just walking.
Weston: the octopus
Nicole: petting the stingrays
Jeff: the jellyfish & stingrays

Perfect family day.

Getting Dressed

Weston gets himself dressed pretty much every day now.

He thinks it's great that he can put his shirt and pants on all by himself.

And most days, his outfits look something like this:

I just love how excited he gets and that I never know what he may come out in.

I sure love this kid.

(ps. the pillow was his idea too. He thought it would be a fabulous photo prop!)

Pumpkin Patch!

For family night we took a trip to the local pumpkin patch!
We had so much fun riding the wagon:



choosing our pumpkins:

and playing in the dirt:

My handsome pumpkins.
We love the fall!

Bijou Market

Me and my hats are going to be at the Bijou Market on November 7th!
I posted about it on my personal blog because it's more my thing than my family's.
But I am so excited.... I thought I'd share with anyone who doesn't read that blog as well.
I have grown up going to craft fairs and boutiques with my mom and have always wanted to be on the making end of it. Now I get to be! If you're in the Utah County area, you should check it out.
Lots of cool stuff, get your Christmas shopping done early, and it's all handmade!

Shar's friend, Aimee, is a wonderful photographer who worked with me on a product shoot!

The girls were so awesome and Aimee did a great job catching their adorable personalities.

Thanks to Aimee White Photography for the wonderful photo session.

We had a blast!

A family walk

Last week when we were all so sick, we didn't hang out with anyone but ourselves.

We had to get out of the house sometimes, so we went on a lot of walks.

It was so refreshing and nice just to be together as a family and to let the boys explore.

Tave was thrilled to be outside. It is his favorite, favorite place to be.

He can say 'outside' now so guess what we hear all day long! ;)

Weston wanted to wear this hat and jacket so he could look like a pumpkin. (the jacket is Tave's...so it's a little small.) He also loves to do crazy poses and be silly. He sure is our little comedian!

ps can you tell I've been having some fun editing in Picnik. It's cool...you should try it out!

Grandpa Joe & Grandma Dean!

We were so excited when Grandpa & Grandma Dean told us they would be in Utah!

They drove down with Bob & Susie to hang out and go to dinner.

When I told Weston they were coming his exact words were:

"Yayayayay!!! I love my grandparents and they love me!"

They came and visited at our house for awhile and then we headed to Red Robin. Mmmm...so delicious!

Jonathan and Weston jammed on the guitars while we waited:

In the past Weston has taken a little bit to warm up. But this time he was so adorable with them. He loved talking and playing with them and just had to sit by Grandma Dean at the table. Then they colored together. So sweet. It was great to see them having so much fun!

Thanks for a wonderful visit! We love and miss you!!

Mixed

We've started doing play-doh a lot more often. I had kind of forgotten about it and decided we needed to do more manipulatives.


The boys have had so much fun and Tave does surprisingly well! He likes the containers and toys more than the play-doh, but it works. He put this lid on and off for about 15 minutes!

Weston is really into cutting and we've also been working on rolling it like a snake. That's kind of a hard one.

We usually keep the colors separated.
I have been a stickler abou this.
Until today.
Weston asked to have more than one color out and I thought we would do okay keeping them apart.
When he started smashing them together my first inclination was to say No!
But then I realized it really didn't matter.
So what if the colors mix?
They actually look super cool and it was a good chance to teach him that
yellow+red=orange and yellow+blue = green.
I had to pat myself on the back- I'm gettin over some of my perfectionism.

Play-doh time = success

Conference Weekend!

Our church has a semi-annual conference where our wonderful leaders give us spiritual guidance. It is a weekend that often comes right when I need it. When I've become complacent and could use the extra spiritual boost to get on the right track, become better, and grow in my faith.

We LOVE conference weekend!

With little kids it can be a bit difficult to get everything we want to out of the talks. It has been fun, though, to start some traditions that will grow with our little family over the years.

Saturday Morning

We made our traditional Monkey Bread for breakfast. (James & Amy, it just wasn't the same without you!)

And we had to put up the tent to watch. Weston insisted on his tent from Nonny & Papa...we were a little sad to find that a few poles were missing (due to someone doing a little sword fighting...) but it worked and did the job:

This is the boys version of note-taking. Works for us, it kept them occupied quite awhile:

And puzzles always make things a interesting:

Tave's favorite part was the box:

We switch off entertaining the boys and actually getting to listen. Jeff was wonderful and let me switch with him as soon as Elder Bednar started speaking. I was able to listen to his and President Uchtdorf's talks and they were by far my favorite talks of Sat. I learned so much and have so many things to work on, but I love how they make becoming better seem possible. Because it is.

Sunday Morning

We made the tent like we usually do. Jeff did an awesome job making it particularly cozy and the boys absolutely LOVED it!

Both afternoon sessions we were able to sit back and listen the entire time because the boys were napping. Ahhh, heaven!

It was an incredible conference and we both feel renewed and edified. We will definitely be studying these messages throughout the next six months so we can become better spouses, parents, siblings, children, and friends.

Sunday night Shawn & Abby came over for dinner. It was awesome to spend some time with them and the boys absolutely LOVED having them over. They were all over them the entire time. What a great way to end the weekend!

Two things

Conversation while laying Weston down for his nap

Me: Okay, bud, you have a good nap.
West: Why do I have to take a nap?
Me: Because you need your rest. You'll feel better after.
West: Why do I need my wrist, it's right here. (showing me his wrist)
Me: Well, that is your wriiiist (enunciating) and reeeesting is like sleeping.
West: I don't know why I need to wrist when it is right here. But I will sleep.
Me: Okay, you do that.

And item 2: the Renegade hat is now up in the shop.
Don't you just love the colors?!
Weston has told me this is the one he MUST have. So he'll be getting one soon.

Girly

We hung out at Shar & Trav's last night while Jeff was in class.
The boys were super excited to take a bath at Kapria's house.
But I failed to bring pjs, so this is the result:


hahahahahahahahahahaha
I couldn't stop laughing.
Weston thought it was great; Tave was so mad I put them on. (Do you really think he knows??)
Jeff just about died when he saw them.
And I just laughed some more.

This morning, however, the first thing Weston said to me was
"Mom, I want to put on boy clothes right now."
Your dad would be proud.

Band-aids

We are loving them at our house.

"Superman & Batman got in a fight but now they're all better because they have bandaids" --Weston

Getting Ready

I have finally sort of mastered the art of getting ready with kiddos.
(Getting up and ready before they wake up is always the best...but that doesn't always happen)

Here is my recipe for success:
2 boys + 2 blankies (a must) + 1 big bed + lots of pillows = a grand ol' time & a 'ready' momma.
Throw in something crazy like a pack of wipes and they have a blast.

Seriously. It works every time.

I love how much fun they have together!

Newsboy/Newsgirl Beanies

Fall is the perfect season for these cute newsboy caps.

www.bloomingbutton.etsy.com

I'm also working on changing up the flowers a bit and getting some new colors.
So check back often and feel free to convo me if you are looking for specific color combos!