Trick or Treat

I helped with the kindergarten Halloween party today and I had to post this picture of Wes and his teacher! She looks NOTHING like this Hill Billy! One of the little girls in his class would not go in the classroom without her mom today because she was afraid of their teacher! They have the best teacher there is. She cracks me up!


Wes is being a great leader for trick or treating tonight! Teaching Brooklyn all the ins and outs.

This is at one of our neighbors, Brooke is a trooper, she didn't want anybody's help. Miss Independent!

Her costume was so sparkly in the sun. I wish the picture showed it. Oh well. We live on a hillside, so we brought the stroller thinking she would get tired of walking. Nope! She wanted nothing to do with it. She walked all the way up the street and anytime you tried to touch her, she would FREAK!

At first Brooke would say "Trick Tree" before anyone would come to the door. But after about 6 or 7 houses she just started to stick her "Punkin" out and say "Nummy!" to them! At this house there was a little tiny puppy that she was trying to go inside to play with. Every house that had a dog she wanted to go inside to see it, even if they were barking like crazy. She is not afraid of any dog that I have seen.

Here is Wes and two of his friends on our street, they are brothers, Darrell and his other brother Darrell! Kyle (6) and Kade (5). And Wes towers over them!!! They are cute boys, they have the best manners. By the way, do you like how long the sleeves are on Wes? This would be the same costume as last year! He loves this costume. He has been a fireman 3 times! (9 months old and the past 2 years, he has also been a frog and Woody from Toy Story)

There are two fun things here to do that are free during Halloween. The first thing is a Haunted Train ride (www.stingtown.us). The kids and I went on Monday with Tracy's family and then tonight we went again with Dave and his sister Holly and her little girl Rylie (Wes & Brooke's cousin in the picture). We had to wait in the barn for about 30 minutes for our turn on the train. They were playing a movie and serving popcorn while we waited! It was pretty spooky in the dark. Dave had me record it on my little Canon camera. It isn't the best recording. I will try to post it later. Brooke watched it all and Wes buried his face in my back! Last time we went while it was still light outside so it wasn't as scary.

The second is a "Drive By Haunted House". Every year they decorate their house as a haunted house and write a scary story about it. Then they somehow broadcast it over a radio station so when you drive by you can listen to the scary story and watch different parts of the house light up. They always have such a huge turnout. Their street is packed every night.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Wes's Halloween Program

The afternoon kindergarten classes put on a Halloween Program for the parents. They sang songs and recited fun poems. It was a really fun program that lasted 30 minutes. I tried to post some video clips, it didn't work. I will try again for Gramea & Papa!

The group here on the left is Wes's class. He is on the top row, second from the left (the fireman).

Brooke was dressed up too! She was dancing and clapping and having a ball with all the kids!

Wes is a happy boy. Garrison is on his right and Savannah is on his left. She looks a bit evil with the red eyes!

I had to take this picture. I bet he thinks nobody is watching him play with Caleb's antenni (sp?!)! Now I can show him and try to teach him that we can see him!!!

Brooke is a witch. She likes these tights. Everytime I put them on her she stares at them and smiles! I like how her skirt is poofy in the stroller too!!!

Is there such thing as too much reality TV?

Dave and I like the reality TV! Maybe a bit obsessed with it! We tivo it and then watch it when the kids go to bed. We love when 8pm comes around and they are sound asleep! Here are our picks for the season. Some of the nights were hard to decide what to record. We can only record two shows and we don't watch anything live anymore! It isn't worth the time, you can watch The Office in like 18 minutes! Here are our picks, some of them are just mine thrown in too.

• Dancing with the Stars: I like Julianne and Helio. I really don't like Marie Osmond and Jonathan (I think that is who she is with).
• The Bachelor: He should choose Sheena!
• The Biggest Loser: Neil was funny drinking 2 gallons of water and gaining 17 pounds! We like him and David, Bill and Kae. We don't like Amy, Hollie and Julie.
• America's Next Top Model: I like Heather, she is autistic. But very beautiful!
• Survivor: China: We are so glad that Sherea is gone! We like James, Todd & Frosti if he sticks with the new tribe, and Denise. We don't like Courtney, Peih-Gee and Peih-Gee's friend.
• House: House makes me laugh how politically incorrect he is.
• Scrubs: Why does it have to be the last season?!
• The Office: Everyone should watch this! Some of the mannerisms remind me of one of my brothers. People at Dave's work say he is just like Andy, and our neighbor looks like Dwight!
• ER: It has been on forever, I just have to watch.
• Numb3rs: I like this show and now have Dave watching it! I like it because it uses math to solve crimes!!!

So you tell me...too much?!

Who are you?!

I want to hear from you!!! I know that there are lots of people that read my blog because you tell me, but I want to hear from you on here! Please leave me comments. You don't have to leave your name if you don't want, leave it as anonymous! Thanks for reading about my life with my kids...it is a fun life. No complaints! ;)

I can't get enough of my kids

I am trying to learn some of the features on my camera, like partial metering and flash exposure compensation. So I took the family back to Bicentennial Park for more pictures. At first I started to keep a log with each picture I took so I knew what settings I had, but that didn't last very long as Brooke's attention span is only about half a second! In this first picture I had already taken one that was posed and cute and by the time I put the flash up and wrote "flash" down she was turned and headed across the bridge, so I called her name and she turned back around and gave me this totally fake smile!
This oak is the same one as the last post that Wes couldn't believe how big it was. Dave thinks it was here when Pioneers came through.

My flash exposure compensation, I have no idea if it worked! I suppose it did, I was using my flash as a fill flash, but trying not to wash him out at the same time.

This tree is so cool in pictures. I like this one of Wes.

I like everything about this picture and the next one, I like the light, the colors, the tree, that Wes is looking away and Brooke is playing with a chunk of wood.

They are both in their own worlds playing with this old oak tree and loving it.

Way over exposed, but I like it. Wes really wanted to go for a walk on this board walk. So we did. The water was disgusting, but he had a great time and Brooke insisted on walking all by herself without any help. She tripped a few times, but didn't want any "hands". She is way too independent. Makes me nervous for the future!

Ah Wes....

"Ah Wes" is "Doing Great". It was chilly outside today, but I made him take a picture anyway, with his white ankle socks and crocks! This is at the Bicentennial Park in Provo. This tree is GIGANTIC! Wes asked me, "Mom, who in the world planted that tree? That is so old." He is a thinker, makes me wonder how old it is too!

Halloween Party

Saturday Dave and I were supposed to go to the football game, until it was snowing! So Dave decided to watch it at our friend, Carl's house instead. His wife was having their grandchildren over for a Halloween party and asked if Wes and Brooke wanted to come too.

First we had to stop by my friends house and we were talking about this little party and she mentioned that we could go in her back yard and pick out pumpkins back there! So Wes and I went back there with Cynthia picked them out. We thought that was pretty cool. They were the biggest pumpkins at the party.

Brooke didn't quite get painting her pumpkin, she kept putting the paint on her face. I guess she has watched me put make-up on one too many times! Every time I washed her face off, she would do it again. And if I tried to help her paint her pumpkin, I would get yelled at. So I left her painting her face.

Wes did a fantastic job painting his pumpkin. He painted a face first, it has green eyes and a smiley face, and then he drew lines and dots and things! He had a lot of fun painting, he was very proud of himself. He did it all by himself.

After decorating the pumpkins, all the kids put on their costumes and danced around the house and took pictures. Sue (Carl's wife) made goodie bags for the kids and had a pinata for them, they loved it. They had everything "orange" to eat. She was very creative in planning this party for them.

Here are all the pumpkins. Yep, my poor kids, are the only ones who didn't have their parents helping decorate the pumpkins. My kids probably had the most fun doing though! There was no way for them to mess it up or carve the eyes wrong or paint the hair the wrong way. Lucky kids...

Here are all the costumes. Wes was a police man and Brooke was a witch. We need to figure out Wes's real costume. We still aren't sure what he will be. The rest of the kids are Carl and Sue's grand children. I am glad we are their friends! We have been friends with Carl for so long. He is a funny guy.

Here is a silly story about him....a couple of weeks ago he really hurt his back and is having therapy on it now. Anyway, Carl was carrying Sue's luggage up the stairs and through his back out. The next night he was home alone while Sue was working late writing some contracts. Carl was in severe pain and taking pain meds that said 1-2 pills every 4-6 hours. Well he didn't think they were working well enough so he was taking them every hour. He kept calling Sue and she was very worried about him because he was making no sense to her, so she left work and was speeding home to him. Well, she got a speeding ticket on the way there. She finally gets there and takes him to the ER. The doctor tells her that his oxygen level was way down and puts him on O2. They take xrays, and he has a slipped disc. They were up all night long and very exhausted. As many women know, when a man doesn't feel well, it is the end of the world. Well, Sue knows this first hand!!! So the next day, she is finally taking a nap (Carl is settled in) and to doorbell rings. She is so groggy (she had been away on business the week before and just got home the day before this happened) and confused when she answered, it was a representative from a local funeral home. While she was writing contracts the night before he called the funeral home to come over and bring him information on their services!!! He forgot to mention it to Sue! Just another one of his funny jokes.....

Brooke's Friday with Mom

Since Dave told us that we couldn't go hiking with them, I thought we would go and take some pictures of Brooke! We went to a new place, the LDS Motion Picture Studio. There was a nice little park there with some cool trees. Brooke was more interested in the pebbles from the parking lot that she carried around with her.

You will notice that she didn't really want to have anything to do with me. Just her "yocks".

She heard a "Wo-wo", that would be an airplane. She still calls it that from out trip to Alaska. (I started to post some pictures from out vacations and something happened to that mid-post, so I will do it again, later.) This tree was so cool, it swooped down to make this sort of chair she could sit on.

I took this picture for you Papa! Recognize this face?! She was concentrating on a tiny "yock". I was on the ground looking up at her playing.

Please rise and sing with me to the tune of "Twilight Zone", Du-du-du-du! There is something about this picture that I really like.

Silly Seaka. I don't know what face she is making, but it makes Dave and I laugh when we look at it! She is leaning over a tree, the one that swoops down to make the chair and was picking at the bark, then she looked up at me and made this funny face. Before that she was kissing the tree!

After the park, we went to see Andy up at Rock Canyon where he was rock climbing with his friends. Brooke wanted to walk, so I thought I would take some pictures there too. I liked the winding trail with the trees. She seemed so small walking all alone, yet so old.

Andy, what are you wearing?! He has become our mountain man brother. He is up here every weekend climbing and loving every minute of it. Brooke was yelling up the canyon for him. "Nanny, are you?" It was cute.

Wesley vs Wild

On Friday Dave and Wes went on a hike to Stewart Falls. Wes has been wanting to go on a hike since out last trip to Alaska when he, Papa, Brooke, and I went along the Powerline Trail by Flat Top looking for the Girls Camp. We never actually made it to their camp. We ran into a bull moose first and then it started to really poor down rain on us along with some thunder and lightening right over head. So we turned back. It was a lot of fun.
This is Wes's favorite hiking stick and favorite crooked tree he found. He wanted to take a picture of it to show me! Brooke and I weren't allowed to go at the last minute. I guess Dave didn't think we could make it or something?! That is OK. We didn't have a baby backpack for her this time.

For some reason this picture makes me chuckle. Don't under-estimate Wes's sneakiness!

...Maybe he is dancing?.....That is sure to keep the animals away.

Cool rock for a cool kid. I think he had a lot of fun. Dave told him that it was a 2 hour hike. They had their water and some snacks for them.

Here they are at the falls. They made it! Wes could have kept going, he is like the Energizer bunny. Dave on the other hand had it. He had a blister that popped that was the size of a dime on his heal after their 4 miles. I didn't hear Wes complain once about it! Who works out and runs constantly? That's what I thought!!!

Dad went to Kindergarten!

In school Wes has been studying about the community. His teacher asked if any of the students parents had jobs in the community and of course Wes's dad has just about the coolest job out there. So he spent about 15 minutes visiting with Wes's kindergarten class. Right next to his school is a church that we parked at and the class came out so they could sit around the car and see everything, because coming into the class just isn't the same!

When the kids came out they first listened to Dave and got to ask questions to a real live police officer! Some of them couldn't believe how close they actually were standing to him. The boys were more interested than the girls were.

I just walked around taking pictures from different angles so I could scrapbook them. Only after putting them onto the computer did I notice Wes and the boy next to him! I was laughing! Brooke was running around everywhere.

Dave showed them inside of a police car. Here he is showing them where the "radar" is located. So when their parents are pulled over for speeding, they know what the officer is talking about!

He turned on the lights and sirens for the kids. It was loud and bright. They loved it. He also talked to them over the loud speaker.

At the end he gave them all Junior Patrol Officer Badges for them to wear and their teacher and I took a picture of them together. Later during the day, Dave was saying how much he liked the kindergarten aged kids. He thought they were a really cute class! And Wes's teacher thought he did a great job and wondered if he would come back again next year!

School Pictures

This was a week of new experiences for us. Wes also had his first time for school pictures. Along with that came my first time for choosing which stinkin' package to buy. What a pain is all I can say! Here is a little sneak preview of Wes for his school pictures, and of course Wes has his head tilted. I love the tilt! Brooke was saying "cheese", so I had to take a picture of her too.




Wes also tested for his next belt in karate, his yellow stripe and got it, I didn't have my camera at the test, oops. So this week I will take a picture of him in his gy and new belt and post it on Tuesday. Way to go Wes!!!

Who has the best BeDHEaD?

After breakfast this morning I was laughing at the kids hair. Brooke's is everywhere and Wes just needs another haircut!

When I get the camera out, Brooke makes the same "chheeeese" face and says it too, and Wes tilts his head. I love it.

This one is blurry, I was trying to get her silly hair and she was starting to jump on the table. Not a good idea while daddy is sleeping!!!

Wes wanted his picture taken too. I took Brooke's, so I had to take his to make things fair. You know how a 5 year old mind works. He didn't want to smile so we were trying to mix things up a bit. This picture is interesting to me, he will not look at you in the eyes, but somehow he is looking at the camera. Hmmmm.....

Kindergarten Fieldtrip to Pumpkinland

On Thursday Wes went to Pumpkinland (yes, the same place Lindsey Lohan went for her "field trip" from rehab earlier this week) for his kindergarten field trip. He was so excited. It was his first time to ride an actual SCHOOL BUS!!! He sat in the very last seat with his friends. Brooke and I went to help his teacher, along with some other moms.

These are his friends Nate and Caleb. They are in our ward and in his class at school. How do you like the holes in Wes's jeans?! In the next picture you will see why I let him wear these pants that day...

He spent a lot of time on the ground playing. There was a corn maze, a playground, a "dark alley" with Christmas lights to light the way for the kids, animals to look at, a train that went by just feet away that was pretty cool for the kids, and of course picking out your own pumpkin to take home! I still think the highlight was the school bus.

Brooke just sat in her stroller for most of the time. She is a good sport.