Happy Halloween!

We have had many parties and Halloween activities.  It has been great!  Thanks to our friends and family for inviting us.

 The boys picked the faces for the pumpkin.  I had to convince Michael to do it outside.  He didn't want to at first because he told me it was too cold.  It was over 60 degrees.  I thought he was from Idaho.  ;)

 My very proud boys.

 Leah the fire house dog.

 Michael the fire chief and his fire fighters.  I am the victim that was rescued with the fire house dog.

 Uncle David invited us up for a carnival.  We had a great time.  The putting was Joshua's favorite.

 This is cousin Vivian she is fishing.  She is so great with my kids.

Joshua fishing.

My Cute Kids!

Busy Week

Joshua had to big firsts this week. He had his first cavity fixed. He did so great!! The dentist was so impressed that she allowed him to pick out two toys. He decided to pick out one for him and one for Dallin. He is such a sweet boy! I also had my first parent teacher conference. It kind of makes me feel old. He is doing really well. Joshua's teacher loves how he is so well behaved. It makes me feel like I got an A in parenting. ;)

Dallin is learning his letters. He pretty much just loves the letter D. He doesn't care much for any other letter. We took the kids to the carnival at Joshua's school. Dallin was so good all of the tosses. He is our little athlete. He has decided that he doesn't need to nap anymore. It has been working out okay so far. He needs one about once or twice a week, and usually will tell me.

Leah is crawling around and putting everything in her mouth. She will pull the electric outlet cover out and put it in her mouth. Silly.

We were invited to a costume Birthday party yesterday. We had a great time! The boys are being fire fighters for Halloween so they got to wear their costumes to the party. They have actually worn them quite a bit. They just like to play in them. They are big fans of fire fighters. Joshua will talk any fire fighters ear off if given the chance. Leah is going as the fire house dog. She is a cutie!

Michael took the Scouts camping this weekend, and had a good time. I think now that the weather is cooling off life is getting busier. :)

Bragging time!

We are so proud of Joshua. He won an award for perfect attendance for the first six weeks. He also won the citizenship award. They pick one girl and one boy for this award. Ms. De Guzman said from the very beginning Joshua listened and always asked before doing things. It just makes me so happy! He also got a perfect report card! Yeah Joshua!!!

Dallin and I have been working at home. He is supposed to be showing off his Halloween decorations that we made. He has grown up so much this last week or so. He got it in his head that he was going to go to school on Wednesday and I think that is why he was doing such a good job listening and controlling his emotions a little more. I felt so bad that when I realized what was going on. At least on Friday he got to go to the awards assembly, so he got to go to school.

Leah turned 8 months old. I can't believe how big she is getting. We know since she stole Dallin's peanut butter and honey sandwich that she doesn't have any allergies to those things. She loves crackers. She loves her brown puffed rice cereal. I am constantly sweeping and vacuuming the floor trying to keep her from putting things in her mouth that the boys may have left behind. She is doing great at sitting up now. She is finally enjoying it. She has even pulled herself up to standing. If she wants something bad enough she will do whatever she can to get it. She has forgotten how to sleep the last two weeks. It felt like I had a newborn all over again. I am hoping that she is getting a tooth or that there is a good reason for this madness. She is still happy during the day at least. The hat she is wearing below is the hat Elise made for her. It is so cute and fits my Leah bug perfectly!

The boys have said some funny things lately that I wanted to write down. We were watching women's steeple chase. It is the long distance run with hurdles. Joshua said "that doesn't look easy." I agreed and then he said "plus they have to run in their underwear!" We went to the playground yesterday and their were a few other people there. Dallin looked less than thrilled and said "I don't like people." At the dentist Dallin and Joshua got to pick a present. They both picked killer whales. The Dentist said "I am so glad that I don't have to be a dentist to a shark." Dallin glared and said "This is not a shark. This is a whale." It was warm one afternoon and we were outside. Joshua announces "It is so hot. We need to move to Idaho or Wyoming. Do you think Afton and Rayna would move with us?" This is the second time he has mentioned moving and both times he wanted his friend Afton and Rayna to move with him. Kids are so funny! Gotta love 'em!

Paul's Birthday and Wedding Pictures

It was Paul's birthday this weekend, or at least that is what Trixie and Brianna tell me. :)  It was really great Brianna called me up last Tuesday and asked if I wanted to fly out to visit them on his birthday.  It was really nice of her father to provide the free ticket. On Friday I flew out of Dallas to El Paso.  I was going to try and make it to Phoenix before Paul came home from school.  However I wasn't able to get a flight until latter at night.  Brianna was able to keep the secret though and they came and picked me up.  Paul and I ran into each others arms filled with overwhelming joy, oh who are we kidding this is Paul.  But I did get a smile so I know he was glad to see me.  It was a lot of fun to hang out with Paul, Brianna, and Susana.  They are a great family.  We watched conference, played video games, went to a museum, and watched transformers 3.  It was great!  Susana is really cute and Paul and Brianna are great parents.  I don't have the pictures yet so I will have to post them later.

On another note Jonathan sent us our wedding pictures.  It is amazing how young we look.  I guess kids make hair fall out, wrinkles everywhere, and bags under the eyes.  Anyway I thought I would share a few of my favorite photos.  We look pretty good back then, Trixie's says I look more distinguished now.(A nice way of saying, yes you look different but I still love you)

I love this picture, Trixie has a wonderful smile.  Of course she will get mad about me posting this stuff and remove it later, so hopefully you get to see this before it is deleted. :)

Pretty Flowers!

Me having to wash our car after Cameron and Page covered it with stuff.

Not the best picture of the cake, but it was pretty.

My little niece Willow.  She reminds me a lot of Dallin.

Trixie will hate this photo, but I love it.

I am the luckiest man ever.

Sick kids ;(

This video doesn't show it very well, but Leah is getting around lots better.  She is even say Momomom!  I love it!  My kids always say dadada first, but not Leah!  :)  She is growing fast.  

 I think it is funny how Leah will roll or scoot over to this picture and "visit"  with her Grandparents.

Michael went to the talent show.  He did balloon animals and then did the Haka dance with the young men.  From the videos it looked like a great night.  I stayed home so the babies could get rest.  They haven't seem quite 100% well.

We had a rough day at Church today.  Dallin wasn't feeling well apparently.  I got called out of Sunday school, which never happens.  Dallin is potty trained and really has had no accidents since deciding he didn't need diapers anymore.  Yep his belly really did hurt.  Poor baby and poor nursery leaders who had to clean it up.  I felt bad, but needed to get him home so I didn't help clean up.  He is doing much better now.  Joshua was crying when I took him home too, he wanted to stay.


  This week Joshua has his first field trip and dentist appointment to look forward too.  I know exciting stuff so stay tuned.  :)

This picture of my kids just makes me happy.  I just love them so much.  They are the best!

Monday's Ramblings

I always feel like I get behind during weekend and Monday I am playing catch up. Today is no exception. Last night was a rough night. Leah was up several times and so was Joshua. It made for a very short night, but Monday must go on and the routine is nice so here we go.

Joshua has been doing so good in school. He is so proud that he listens to his teacher. He has told me that he likes to make friends with other kids who listen as well. I also overheard him talking to Dallin in their bedroom. He told Dallin that they should pick up their room because it would impress me. It was so cute! He is getting so big. He likes making good choices most of the time. :) Now that being said this morning he said his first swear word. Is this something that is supposed to go in the baby book? ;) I feel like as soon as you know that there are words out their that are "forbidden" then you are now inducted into some secret club. You now have extra power to turn your parents and anyone else's heads. You have some secret that you want to share with other kids and laugh about these words you are not supposed to say. Anyway for those of you who are curious as to what went down here is the play by play:

me: Are you done with the blocks?
J: Yes
me: Well, then clean them up.
J: Dammit!
me: What did you say?
J: Dammit?
I then went on to explain that we don't use that word and it is not a nice word My next door neighbor who is twice Joshua's age says it sometimes and of course he has heard it here and there maybe on tv or when we are out in public. This is is first time trying to say it, and out of all the bad words, in my mind , is quite mild. He took my explanation really well, and didn't try saying it again so far.

After Leah wakes up from her afternoon nap this is how she greets me. Nothing beats that! I hope she is always so happy to see me. :) She hates to sit. I try and sit her down she will lay right down. I try and force her to sit she will stand. Weird baby. If I distract her with a new toy for a minute she will sit for a little bit, but then get back down to exploring. I try and walk Joshua to and from school and she is not a fan of sitting in the stroller. I try and distract her with toys. Dallin will sometimes help out and try and keep her happy. Today walking home from school Leah was crying much earlier than usual. I was a little worried this was going to be a long walk. Dallin turns around and starts trying to make her laugh. I am so relieved. I then look to see what he is doing that made this miraculous change. He was drinking up his water and then spitting it in her face. She was soaked and laughing with glee along with Dallin.

Dallin is my stubborn little boy. I have been wanting to trade car seats for a while now. Dallin's car seat is a convertible one, so I was going to move everyone up one car seat. Dallin refused and cried. I told him we wouldn't do it until he was ready. I asked him everyday for a week before he finally agreed to give up his car seat. He is happy and fine in Joshua's old car seat. Leah hates Dallin's seat (again hates sitting and she has to sit up a little more in this car seat), but she will have to get used to it. She is just too big for the other one now. Joshua is loving the booster seat. Dallin very much has a mind of his own. It will be interesting to see how he grows. He always keeps me on my toes. :)

My friend convinced me to run another race, so now I have 2 weeks before the race. I haven't been running like I should, which is why I do the races. It is the only way to force me to run. I hope I can get out their and run despite my exhaustion this Monday. :)

Michael has been running a little as well. I am going to see if he will run the 1 miles fun run with Joshua in November. It should be fun. He is working hard and keeping very busy.