Halloween

Of course, when I asked Jack what he would like to be for Halloween this year, he replied, a LONGNECK DINOSAUR! Well great. How am I going to pull that one off?

I came up with a plan, and got to work. I drafted rough patterns for their costumes and then make little mittens and feet coverings for their shoes. I also made a long neck attachment for Jack's costume, but ended up not using it because I think it would just have been too uncomfortable for a two year old to wear all night. He didn't seem to mind though, being a dinosaur was good enough for him. 

Our ward Halloween party was our at Sandy Shoaf's farm. The boys looked so cute in their costumes. It was a cold evening, and I really layered the boys up underneath their dinosaur outfits. Their little arms and legs ended up looking like stuffed sausages.

Jack was so thrilled to be a dinosaur, and surprisingly, Charlie walked around the entire night yelling "RAWR!!" which is really out of character for my shy little guy. It was oh so cute though. 

I was also astonished that the boys kept their entire costumes on all night, feet, mittens, tails, and everything. Shocked really.

 

It was a fun night filled with dinner, bon fire, games, and trunk or treating. 

Moving back to Indiana

After Andy's blessing, we headed right back up to Salt Lake. We got the boys situated, loaded the car, and hit the road. It was so nice of our parents to take care of the boys for a few days so that we could drive all of our stuff back to Indiana. My parents waited a few days and then flew out with the boys so that we would be situated when they all got here. 

We saw some amazing sunsets and sunrises on our drive. It was fun to be able to spend a few days alone with just the two of us. 

Here's our little house! It looked just like this when we pulled up (minus the two cute boys, plus a pod with all of our stuff in the driveway. I was so thrilled to be here at our cute little house, and our street is just darling. There is even a little play ground!

Gordy and I unloaded the entire pod and unpacked the majority of the important boxes in the few hours we had before my parents and the boys landed. They got in late at night and we were all exhausted, but glad to be back together again. My parents had to leave by lunch time the next day. I wish they could have stayed longer, but we were so grateful for all of the help they gave us with the boys. It was incredible how much we were able to accomplish without having to stop and change diapers, resolve arguments, make snacks, refill sippys, and find missing toys. 

Our first piece of mail was a wedding invitation to my cousin Justin's wedding. 

We were settled in right before conference. 

...and we got started right away on some storage solutions because our bathroom cabinet situation in our cute little house is laughable. 

...and we drove around the city...

...and did some more sprucing up...

Andy's Blessing

So happy that we were able to be a part of my precious nephew's baby blessing before we left Utah. 

Jenn's 26th Birthday

I had the BEST 26th birthday EVER! It all started with making a cheesecake for the event... 

Then I met up with Whitney, Kristen, Jen, and Megan in Park City for an over night girls trip. We walked around downtown and finally picked a place to eat dinner at Main Street Pizza & Noodle. Then we did some shopping!

This little gem of a picture is when I realized that my phone was on rapid fire and I had just taken like 20 shots instead of just one picture. It was too good not to share. 

After we were done shopping and sufficiently cold, we headed over to our hotel. Kristen checked us in, and then we spent like thirty minutes walking around outside in the freezing cold, with all of our bags,  trying to find the entrance into our hotel room, only to get there and find out that they had given us the wrong key! So frustrating! 

Kristen had to walk all the way back and get the right key, then we were able to come in no problem.

The rooms were set up weird though. You had to use a key to get into a little hallway that was shared by two rooms. We thought that was pretty strange, but we opened up our door only to find that there was one bed. Oi. 

It was a good thing someone brought along an air mattress, because Kristen, Meg, and I ended up all sleeping on it while the two preggers got the bed. 

We spent the night eating cheesecake, chatting like girls do, facials, sparkling cider, Kristen even gave me a free head and neck massage, and being terrified of the man who shared our hallway with us. Kristen saw him through the peep hole standing in the hallway staring at our door. Kinda creepy, especially since the lock on the door was one of those crappy push locks. We might or might not have moved a heavy piece of furniture in front of the door. 

In the morning, we all got up and ready and headed out to breakfast. Then I had to head on home because my parents were landing in SLC and I wanted to be home to greet them when they landed. 

When my parents landed, and Adam and Amanda headed up to SLC, we went out to eat at the Cheesecake factory with my entire family. What a treat that was to be all together. Unfortunately, we didn't take a group shot, but we did get one of this little cutie who just HAD to wear mommy's hat.

How blessed am I that I had such an amazing day filled with so many people I love and care about?!

Family Pictures

Thanksgiving Point

We met up with Whitney and Jillian, Kristen and Bentlee, and Jen and Brynlee at Thanksgiving Point to do the farm area that they had there. It was a pretty cool set up they had going on. The kids loved it so much, and I loved being able to spend the day with some of my favorite friends. I seriously love them and miss hanging out with them...

Jack got to go on a pony ride. He named his pony "Big One" and said "YEEHAW COWBOY! The entire time we rode on it. He's such a funny guy. 

When we got home, the boys were all tuckered out and wanted to do nothing but cuddle. I didn't mind at all.