Halloween!!!

 I love this picture of Van trick-or-treating at my dad's office.  

Van had no problem allowing me to apply guyliner and a mustache and goatee.  Thanks Captain Jack Sparrow for the make-up tips. and Lyza loved being a cute little pumkin.

Our pumpkins at night!  I carved these 3 myself, because for some reason i just felt like we needed to have them for halloween.

And Lyza crawls :)  I have to admit it is pretty cute to see her make her way across the floor in pursuit of whatever she has her sights set on.  She is the best smiler ever.

Why did Halloween seem so long this year?  Why am i complaining...it's the first i've  really had to make an effort in a while.  It was fun getting the kids dressed to go out.  We made trick or treat visits to both  my parents places of business, and to Abe's parents house on Halloween and we definitely brought home way too much candy. Until next year!

Fountain Green

 If you haven't ever been to Fountain Green, Utah you are missing out.  It is about 20 minutes east of Nephi and home of lots of open land and also Maple Canyon.  In September we went down there with Abe's brother's family in search of a deer.  They had a tag to hunt a deer on some private property which turned out to be a field the size of a football field.  But if any deer set it's hooves on that land it was, it was as good as dead.  We arrived to our destination with a little time on our hands until dusk, which was the most likely time the deer would come, so my sister-in-law and I headed into town to find a park or playground of some kind to entertain our kids while our husbands waited out the daylight. Playing in the dirt along side the road near the field was losing it's luster.

 We probably found the best park in the western united states.  It was on it's own block, and was surrounded by grass, and had pavillions and picnic tables right next door.  There was everything at this park to keep wee little ones, and big kids having a great time.  And it wasn't even crowded.

The kids had a great time playing with their cousins and exploring Fountain Green.  We even headed up into Maple Canyon and let the kids climb up the rocks.  If we hadn't stopped Van i'm not sure how far he would have climbed.  He still doesn't quite sense danger.  

This was a nice way to spend half a day.  Unfortunately no deer crossed into the field the boys were staking out.  Lucky deer.

Turning 2!

It was Van's birthday last week.  I am so happy we had a little party because it was so much fun.  He was so excited  just about his cake(which i chose not to make).  Abe had bought it the night before at Costco and Van was with him.  All night he kept wanting to eat "Happy Cake".

So the next morning, his actual birthday, I let him have 'happy cake' for breakfast.  Once he saw it in the fridge that morning there was no convincing him otherwise to eat real food for breakfast.  And i thought- 'sure, it's your birthday.'  (documenting the corner he had previously eaten at breakfast.)

This kid successfully blew out his candles.

Van's cousins were super excited to help him enjoy his birthday.

We had a great time!  We love our Vannie.  

August

Oh let me think....what did we do in August. That's right, we didn't do much. But we took a lot of pictures...

Lyza is really catching on to the food thing.  I wish Van would follow her example.  One night we let her go crazy on a tomato.  She couldn't get enough.  Another evening we went to Costco and toward the end the kids were getting pretty restless so i gave them strawberries to hold them over until we got home.  They were in heaven.  So we sat out on the trampoline and ate some more and bounced.  It was a good evening.

Lyza is catching up to Van weight wise quickly.  On sept 22 we took them in for Lyza's 9 month and she weighed 19 lbs 9 0z and was 26 inches long.  She is in the 50% for height, 75%  for weight and Van weighed  20 lbs 12 oz and i don't remember his heighth but he is off the charts small.  We need a growth spurt!  Or he just needs to eat more.  I'm thinking of just pureeing everything because he has no problems drinking anything (we don't let him touch the hard stuff).

One night out in front yard Abe had no idea Van layed down exactly like him so i took a picture.  Van mimmicks everything we say and do.  And he likes to dance. 

We also spent a couple days at Bear Lake but i don't have pictures yet so stay tuned......