Happy Halloween!

Scary and Happy Jack-o-Lanterns!  I helped the Boys carve the top pumpkins the night before we visited our families for the weekend.  They both had their own idea's about what they wanted and I tried hard to get it just right!  The bottom two they carved with their Dad and one of Matt's Nieces(I know I'm dumb and I should remember her name...and as soon as someone tells me I'll remember it.) the night before Halloween at their traditional family Halloween Party.  They were so nice to invite our family to join them this year.  The Boys had a lot of fun and Corbin pretty much carved his by himself...again they designed their own.  Thanks again to the Seager Family for letting us crash your party it was a lot of fun and we're glad to have you as such good friends.  Also thanks Grandma Haws for supplying us with pumpkins from your garden yet again....it's way fun to go pick our pumpkins from the patch.

We went home for Halloween Weekend and were able to spend time with all our Families!  Here the Boys are playing with some of their Cousins while we are raking leaves at Grandma "Grapes"(Great Grandma Packer).  They had a blast running through and throwing leaves all over.  They were pretty good little helpers too.   And yes, on Nates side of the family we have all grandsons and no granddaughters, so far.....

Here we are all dressed for Halloweening!  Yes, Nate and I dressed up too.  We realized we hadn't dressed up since before our Kids were born, like 5-6 years ago.  So we decided in the spirit of things we would join in and of course at the request of Aidan.  He insisted I be a Witch and Nate was suppose to be Frankenstien, but this is all we could find for a good wig  so we nicknamed him "Big Daddy".  It was fun and we got a lot of laughs.  I have to say though my little Soldier and Batman, which they both picked all by themselves were the very cutest of all!  Here we are with our Cousins again at one of the trunkertreats we went to.  By the end of the night we were able to spend time with all of our Cousins and Family on both sides and it was a ton of fun for all.

One little worn out tricker-treater.  Aidan took a short snooze inbetween Trunker-treats and the little drive from one Grandparents to the others.  He was so excited to be Batman and tried on his costume often before the big day.  He and Corbin both had a great time and it was fun too watch them be so excited and having a blast.   While out to see family I was able to take the Boys and meet up with my good friend Janae and her Kids.  We all had fun, but I think the kids ruled the rouste on this one, since we didn't get much catching up done but a lot of chasing kids instead.  It was still fun and I'm glad we got to see each other. We finished the weekend off by attending the Baby Blessing of my Niece Abbie, she is Jerry and Katie's new baby Girl and we had a lot of fun seeing all our family there too.  Then we took the long drive home to start a new week.

Soccer...Go #2!

Corbin decided to take a break from Tumbling and try out Soccer for awhile.  It is Indoor Soccer and that has thrown Corbin for a loop.  Every practice and game he asks when he gets to play outside.  We can't seem to convince him that is too cold to play outside until next Spring.  He is doing great and as with all sports he loves it!  We've enjoyed watching him grow, learn and develop new skill as he has been playing.  We still have to work on paying attention to what's happening in the game but what 5 year old doesn't have that problem?  He is a good little Kicker and has a lot of good hard kicks each game.  His enthusiasum matched with his excitement make it all the more fun to watch.  Since they don't keep score we really don't know who wins.....but so far Corbin's team usually has the most goals scored, but we don't focus on that.  We just encourage Corbin to do his best and have fun.  If you have never watched a indoor soccer game played by 5-6yr. olds you have to go see it....it's hilarous especially since there is no boundries and very few penities.  Lets just say lots of caous!  It's a lot of fun and laughs!

Just a little Scare!

Something I thought would be good to share so others are aware and can protect themselves the best we can.  The other day I got a call from the Fraud Department of my Credit Card asking if I could athorize a charge from some Gambling website in Texas for $100.  Of course I knew I didn't make the purchase and Nate didn't make the purchase, so I had him look up our account just to check.  He couldn't acess it because the Fraud Dep. had blocked it, but the phone # matched the one they gave me to call them back.  So long story short.  There were over 7 charges made for $100 or more all in one day.  How did this happen....somehow the people or person had gotten my account # electronically along with probably hundreds of others through a computer or credit card swiper box.  Scary thing is there is no way to protect yourselfs from this happening.  I'm grateful for my Credit Card company and them monitoring my account so closely.  I don't have to pay any of the bogus charges.  They will be wiped off my account completely.  They closed my account immediatly so nothing else would go through and they send out a new account # and cards with in a week.  That at least makes me feel a bit protected.  Also there is a fraud investigation going on to stop this and I guess they will be contacting me when there is information on that.  Anyway just a Beware and I hope no one else has this happen to them.  Lesson learned:  you can never be too careful, and you can't always protect yourself or garantee that you won't be scammed no matter how careful you are.  Good Luck to All!

Taste of Home Cooking School and Vegetable Creatures!

I had the opportunity to go to the annual Taste of Home Cooking School here in Vernal.  It comes around once a year around this time.  I love to cook and I love their cookbook magazines so it all goes hand in hand.  I had a great time even though I went by myself.  I had asked a friend who lives across the street from us, but she didn't get home from work in time.  I found out today that on her way to work she had gotten into a car accident she was o.k, not so sure about her car.   So sorry to hear, not fun for anyone.  I got lots of great new ideas and recipes and just enjoyed having a minute to breath and do something I enjoy so much.  Thanks Nate for taking the Boys and having a Guys Night.  They all enjoyed pizza, swimming, cookies and making Corbin's vegetable creation for his school project.  They had a blast and were sound asleep when I got home.  The vegetable creations turned out great of course Aidan wanted in on the action when he saw it was a craft project.  Both Boys love making and creating and building so this was the perfect project for them.  The assignment was to make a creation of some sort out of veggies and fruit then write a small story explaining it.  Corbin's zucchini zombie, Luke was a nice zombie that ate other veggies and fruit.  He also loves his plant Earth, so he protects it and everyone on it....sounds like a classic superhero story made up by none other than Corbin, himself.  Corbin and Aidan are both proud of their Creatures and have been caring them around like Babies all day.  Corbin could hardly wait till we went back to the School as a family to view all of them and rescue his to bring home to safety.  Pretty smart of the school to ask the Parents to come view them by 4:30p.m. the same day and then let the Kids take them home so there is no spoiled veggies left at school.  I'm glad they had such a fun time with their Dad and doing all those fun things....I have the best little Family! 

Corbin made a Zucchini Zombie named Luke.   Aidan made a Squash Monster named Ted.

School Days!...Yikes!

Yep, the day has arrived that Corbin started Kindergarten. He has been so excited to turn 5 yrs. old and be big enough to go to school. Me on the other hand, as his Mother, I could have waited a few more years for this day to come. I have to say he was so cute and he absolutely loved his first day! He loves everything about it and loves to tell me all the things he did each day. He loves, loves, loves that he is big enough to ride on the School Bus by himself. Today he jumped off the bus and scooped Aidan up in a big hug and said "Hi Aidan, did you miss me when I was at school?"...too cute! Corbin has to pick out in careful detail what he's going to wear the next day. For his first day he wore Transformer's everything right down to his new underpants....crazy kid! After he got dressed he said "How do I look?"..."Like a School Kid?" So the big question....did I cry on the first day like many Mom's do? Nope, but lets just say I was pretty close to it. I got emotional a lot the night before and all through out the first day as we were taking Corbin to school. How can you not though when you look back on the last 5 years of his little life and realize that you won't get to spend every day all day with him anymore, you finally have to share him and let him grow up. Aidan wasn't happy at all that we had to leave Corbin at school. We've had tears, fits and down right "I'm mad"'s. It's taken 3 days for him to finally be o.k. with it and to realize he likes having Mom all to himself. He gets up every morning with Corbin and follow's his routine like he's getting ready for school too. He is really excited when it's time for Corbin to get home. Through it all the only really bad part is it's been a nightmare trying to get the School on track and get the parents informed of all the changes, etc going on. A whole nother story. Let's just say I've been having a constant headache with it but have tried to keep Corbin from going crazy with not knowing what's going on. He's into his second week of school and because of the class sizes being so big they finally added another class. So he just got moved from one a.m. class to another and no one from our neighborhood is in his class anymore. Luckly there is a few kids from our ward. Anyway I don't have a lot of faith in his school right now, I hope it will change for the better. Luckly both Kindergarten Teachers are excellent and on the ball.

Aidan...My Big 3 Year Old!...Happy Birthday!

Aidan or Aidy as most of us call him turned 3 today! Happy Birthday, Aidan! We Love You! Aidan is amazing! He blows me away everyday with new things he's learned. He loves to build with blocks and loves to play outside. He is talking up a storm and has a new word to say everyday. He has already figured out how to tease us and has us laughing all the time! Aidan also loves, loves, loves Dinosaurs! He even has his Dinosaur growl down perfect. He also loves to follow Corbin around and play whatever he cooks up. They are the Best Buddies! I love Aidan's giggly laugh and his big smiles that light up his cheeks with dimples! He is such a Cutie and a very good cuddlier! Aidan loves to count, tell you his colors, and say his ABC's. His favorite letter is "W" and can point them out anywhere. He loves to color pictures and read books and can do these things for hours on end if you'll sit long enough with him. He is a very good helper and loves to help me water outside and pull weeds. He has been tending to a few flowers that he and Corbin planted by seed and checks them everyday. I can't believe, as I always say, how time has flown by and he is growing up so fast!

Here is Aidan at around 6 months old. I love his chubby little cheeks and still can't resist kissing them every chance I get! It's been so fun watching him grow and develop even if I'm a bit sad he's growing up so fast.

Aidan this morning first thing he did was find this Root beer bottle left over from the night before. Hoping to find some pop in it but only found water....he didn't care much, he just wanted a drink. Happy Birthday, Aidan!

Aidan chose a Dinosaur Birthday and so we had Dinosaur Cupcakes and a small Cake for him for later. Saturday we went to the Splash Park with our Family and Uncle Jon, Aunt Jer, and Cousin Liam; who were visiting, and had a Happy Meal lunch. Then we headed up to the Canyon to celebrate and have a cookout.

Aidan was all tuckered out by the time we made it up to the Canyon.

Here's the Birthday Day Boy checking out what Dad's up too.

Corbin and Liam playing and checking things out while they waited for Aidan to wake up and join them.
Jer trying to get the Boys to look long enough for a picture. We all gave up and just started snapping them doing whatever.
The Men....Nate and Jon getting things ready to cook. We are so glad Jon, Jer and Liam came out to visit. It was fun having Family out to celebrate with us and just to have some Company. Aidan playing with all his new toys and loving everything! He has been so excited all weekend. He keeps saying "Happy Birthday, Me?" anytime he saw his presents, cake or cupcakes. It's been so fun watching him get so excited.

Digging into his Birthday Cake today. Aidan chose strawberry cake and green frosting. Then we put Dinosaurs all over everything. He loved it and both my Boys had a hard time not snitching the Dinosaurs off everything and not eating the cupcakes until it was time. We are so happy to have our two Boys they are the highlight of everyday! We are also glad they are happy and healthy. Thank you to all that called and wished Aidan a Happy Birthday...it made his day and he was all smiles while listening and talking to you all. He even sent you a bunch of kisses through the phone, just so you knew. Again...We Love You, Aidan (apple dip) and we are so happy to have you in our family!

First Camping Trip of the Season!

We did just a 1 night overnighter camping trip up to Antelope Flat this last weekend. We had so much fun! Nate had the whole weekend off so we left in the afternoon Friday and stayed until Saturday afternoon. To get to Antelope Flats you go up over Flaming Gorge and around past Dutch John. It was a great campground for families and especially kids. And they had flush toliets and running water....yipee! We tried fishing again. I'm convinced we have a curse. There were fish swiming all around the banks of the lake and we caught nothing...and we stuck to it for like 2 hours. Nate and I could have probably stuck to it a little longer but it was getting later in the Morning and the Boys had had enough and had soaked themselves pretty good. Aidan especially since he landed himself in the lake a few times. He ventured down the boat dock into the water and slipped on the cemement pad that was all slimmey with lake goop and landed right into the water. It took him a few times to stay standing on his feet to scrabble out of the water...poor guy, he was soaked. Luckly it was pretty warm by then. Corbin just kept venturing into the edge of the lake just enough to get his pants wet. The weather was perfect, we keep getting cloud coverage but no storms. It was the perfect combination of warm with just a bit of cool winds every once in awhile to keep it just right.

After we set up camp we got our fire started and cooked us up some Hobo Dinners. We attempted a small fishing trip down to the lake but we didn't even last an hour. Then we got ready for bed and roasted some marshmallows then we had S'mores and Jiffy Pop popcorn. Also the Boys had checked the campsites over thoroughly for places to play shootout and all their other action packed games. Lets just say they sure know how to make their own exciting adventures.We got a bit of a wind in the later evening that made us a bit cold, but it only lasted a short while. It didn't stop Corbin and Aidan from any of their adventures. Yep, we brought our own little Monkey just for entertainment! This Kid can find anything to climb anywhere we go. And of course, little Brother thought it was so fun to watch Corbin that by the time we left he was climbing anything he could find too especially if Corbin was climbing it.This is what the Boys did most of the time, play good guys and bad guys. We were one of about 4 small camper groups up there. We were shocked that it wasn't busier on a weekend after school is out no less. Weird! Anyway the Boys used it to their advantage to play around in the nearby empty campsites. They had a blast and we were glad they had so much room to roam and that we could see them anywhere they went. The best part was they played so well together without fighting, yeah!Saturday morning grub....cereal. Both the Boys were using these barriers for their table but Aidan jetted before Nate could get both of them in the picture. We had so much fun and I loved watching our Boys playing so hard and being so creative in their play. We then took our fishing trip down to the lake and had no good luck. We ended up with two wet Boys and a bunch of scrapes and bruises(from them throwing rocks at each other) and a lot of lost fishing lines and bobers from getting caught on the rocks. But even though our fishing luck stunk we had a blast. We finished up with more playing around the campground and cooking hot dogs and brats on the fire. Then we packed up our stuff and two worn out little Angels and headed home. We enjoyed the rest of our weekend doing yard work together and Nate got our Air Conditioner working and I got ready for a Teachers Appreciation Sharing Time for Church. I'm glad we spent the weekend enjoying together time as a family we all said many times what fun we were having. Good Times...