Whatever Have We Been Up To Lately?...

First off we took a trip to Escalante over UEA weekend with my Parents to close the house down for the Winter. My Boys love it down there and I have lots of fun memories of family time down there too. Corbin and Aidan also don't mind getting spoiled-rotten by Grandpa and Grandma the whole time they were there.One of their favorite things to do when we go to the Escalante House is to play in the dirt and the yard is full of fun places to dig and build in the dirt! We recked about 3 huge ant hills before they were done digging! This trip we didn't venture out very far to explore the many fun activities Escalante and the surrounding areas have to offer. We did go to the Elementary School playground for a few hours one day, played in the dirt at the house, and went "crazy" with Grandpa a lot. Going "crazy" is a tradition my parents have done with us kids since we were born. When you "go crazy" with Grandpa or Dad you get to go get a treat usually at the local Gas Station or Grocery Store. Thanks Mom and Dad for loving us so much and taking good care of us!
Another fun thing we did after our trip to Escalante we went home with my Parents and Nate met up with us for a School class he had in SLC. So while we were in town we made a trip up to Logan to Jensen Farm and met Katie and Chloe. It was so much fun and so cold! Not once did I hear any of the kids complain, they were so busy seeing everything and running from place to place to care about the cold! During the Month of October Jensen Farm has a huge Corn Maze, and all sorts of other fun Halloween activities for the family. Also my Aunt LeAnn and Uncle Sonny who do the Light Parks decorated the whole farm with spooky lighted scenes and characters, it is really a sight to go see!
One of the many things to do! Chloe and Corbin had a ball posing for the camera.
Aidan had fun riding the horse!

What a cutie! He was so curious about what was going on on the other side of this sign. He loved Wilbur when he walked around to see it!
Straw Jump! Corbin and Chloe when off this with a parent of course! But I think they both took some extra jumps by themselves too! They loved it! One of my favorite pictures! These cute and silly Kids sticking their tongues out with these cute little trick-or-treaters! These are some of the lighted things my Aunt and Uncle do. It's amazing the detail they get into them. The Kids just loved the lights and kept going up to the really scary ones and yelling "Boo" in hopes of scaring them. Unfortunately none yelled back. Both my Aunts LeAnn and Ellen were there also in the Cook Shack. By the time we left we were so full of good, good food and treats too! It was a Great night! We had a lot of fun and it was great to watch the kids having so much fun too and being so excited for Halloween!

Yep, Aidan finally got his cast off last Thursday! Yeah!!! As you can see as of the evening of, he was still babying it a bit. But he uses both arms and hands for everything now and there doesn't seem to be any problems! What a blessing! For all the scare and pain, it sure could have been worse and we are so blessed and happy it wasn't! He was beaming with a grin all the way home from the Doctor office in relief of having that big clunky and heavy cast off....finally! He has one more check-up to make sure all is still well and then we are home free until....I hate to even think it...probably the next big ouch! Yes, my Cute Boys are very active and we all keep saying we're so lucky we haven't had any more big owies for how active they are! I'm counting our blessings everyday!
Last Sunday we had our Dad home! It's rare, because he is one of the few that has to usually work at Holiday Inn on Sundays. So we cherish the few Sunday nights we get with him! So we decided to carve our pumpkins and the Boys went wild! They were so excited all day to get to do this! Nate and Corbin carved Corbin's and Aidan and I carved Aidan's.
We had a lot of fun and a good night being together! The Jack-o-Lanterns turned out great! Corbin and Aidan have checked them out everyday since to make sure they are doing o.k. and nothing is wrong with them. It's cute, they go out and take the tops off and check inside for the candles then put the tops back and tell me who's pumpkin is who's. I'm glad to see they enjoy this Holiday as they should having fun and loving all the spookiness about it!

On Monday night we made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and delivered them to our neighbors for Family night. Yes we actually had Nate home 2 nights in a row and on 2 very rare nights! We were so happy to have that time to spend together! The Boys thought it was so neat to ride in the wagon and go knock on our neighbors doors and yell "Happy Halloween"! One funny thing was Corbin forgot what he was suppose to say at one house because it took a while of knocking before they actually answered the door and said "Trick or Treat" instead. We all got a good laugh!

We also went on a Halloween Parade today put on by the City Library and it went through the City building were we have a lot of offices and businesses. It was great and I was pretty proud of my Boys for remembering to say "thank you" without being reminded every time, to all the nice people who were passing out candy. It was another fun adventure and Corbin and Aidan loved getting to wear their costumes and of course all the attention and candy! Well, HAPPY HALLOWEEN to you, all! I hope you all have lots of fun and make great memories!

Trip to Idaho while Kids vacation at Grandma's.

First off here is what kept my Boys entertained during Conference. I made edible playdough and they loved it, ate it, and were quiet for a while. It helped so we could all listen to the speakers or at least try!

This weekend we went to Idaho to attend Nate's, Grandma Jo's Funeral. We left Corbin and Aidan with Grandma and Grandpa Haws(my parents) this time because it was such a long trip for them. We took them to Grandpa Jo's Funeral and they did pretty good, but we thought they would have a bit better time at my parents this time.

Grandma Jo was a neat Lady! It was nice to hear of her younger years and what a good Mom and Wife she was. It let us see a different side of her that most of us maybe didn't know as well. Grandma Jo was 93 years old and not in great health. It's comforting to know she is now probably a lot happier and healthier. It was also nice to drive up with family and spend time with Nate's family while we were there. We don't get to see a lot of his cousins very often, so it was nice to see everyone!

Here is Aidan with his new found friend Pooh Bear riding on "his" horse(he doesn't like to share toys at Grandma's house)! He wouldn't let it go the whole time he was at Grandma's house and he took it everywhere even home with him! He is also wearing one of my old Halloween costumes that my wonderful Mother made for me when I was younger.

My Mom grows pumpkins every year mostly for the Grandkids to come and pick for Halloween! She is pretty generous with them and gives any extra's to anyone that visits her house. She also send home extras just incase you want extras. By the time Halloween comes she hardly has any left to decorate her own house. Thanks Mom! This is how the Boys claimed theirs they just sat on the pumpkin they chose until Nate came and cut it off the vine. By the time we were done they had tried them all out.

Aidan was having a blast pumpkin sitting! He just hopped from one to the next and ran all over the patch. He was the one that thought they made such a nice stool first. He's a cutie and looked so cute sitting on his pumpkin kickin' back taking a rest!

Corbin was loving the pumpkins but thought the near by field with dirt clods was even better! He did try out the pumpkin stools for a minute before returning to throw dirt! I love it when he gives us a real smile and you know he's having fun!

We couldn't resist posing for a Family picture since we hardly get any good participation when we try, we try all we can! We were all having such a good time out there and it was so blasted cold! Corbin and Nate were making scary faces and loving the attention! Aidan was just bothered he had to sit still when he wanted to run and play! It was just plain fun! Thanks again Mom for the pumpkins, and Mom and Dad for taking good care of our Boys! They love to go to Grandma's and Grandpa's house because they know what fun they will have! Love you!

Oops!....Cheesy mistake!

Have you ever grabbed a product at the store that you were thinking you got a really good deal 'cause it was quite a bit cheaper than the rest. Then later you discovered it wasn't exactily what you thought? Maybe not as good of a deal or just something nasty not the real thing? Warning: Don't ever mistake this crap for real cheese! It's not even close!

So here's the story on how we ended up with this crap. And believe me it doesn't taste anything like real cheese, it's salty, mushy and just plain gross. We mixed it with mozzarella cheese and it made it edible, sort of. Anyway, I went to the store to get a few groceries and some things for dinner. My dinner idea was for French Bread Pizza and Green Bread(I'll explain later). They both require cheese. So as I'm looking at the cheese I notice that the 2 lb. bag of shredded cheeses are the same price as the 2 lb. blocks of cheese. I'm then thinking well that will save me some time, but they are so expensive for either type! Of course at this point Corbin is going crazy and getting Aidan going too. Corbin was being a "Rough and Tumblin' Cowboy" all through the store. Then Corbin saw a bucket of store tags an employee must of left to come back to and he dumps them and starts playing with them. By then I'm pretty frazzled as always after a few minutes in any store with my Boys. Then I spot it....a 2lb. bag of cheese for 2 dollars cheaper than any of the rest, so I grab it thinking I got a deal and we're off to finish our shopping and get out of there fast before I really go crazy! Well later at home while making dinner we discovered I'd bought lactose free, cholesterol free, 0 trans fats, but melt able alternative cheese! Yuck! So I'm an idiot and didn't really read much of the package before I grabbed it. All I saw was Cheddar/Jack Cheese. Anyway we laughed about it and will read the labels more closely next time I dare to buy shredded cheese.

Green bread is garlic bread with spinach mixed into the garlic bread spread. It makes it healthier and my kids will eat it so hey why not! It really does taste good! You just mix 1 cube butter, couple cloves garlic, a handful or couple sprinkles of mozzarella and/or Parmesan cheese, 1 pkg. baby spinach, dash of oregano, basil, and parsley, then pulse together in a food processor until blended together and spread onto of 2 french bread halves and bake @ 350 degrees for about 10-15 Min's. I got this off of an episode of Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals for a healthy Halloween meal.