Blogger Improvements!

Wow, they've made some improvements to blogger!  It's so much easier to download photos, move them, edit text, etc.  I may have to blog more regularly now.  Maybe I'll try my luck at downloading a video again.

For some reason, blogger does not like videos that I've downloaded from my phone.  I'll have to keep working on this...

Beautiful Nov Weather

We have so many beautiful parks in Orem! This is one of the kids' favorites.  It's called Nielsen's Grove, but we refer to it as the "duck park."  The kids LOVE feeding the ducks.  So do I for that matter.  :)

 We've had such a beautiful start to November (which will all change tomorrow).  It's been nice to be able to rake leaves without a coat, scarf, and gloves on. 

Halloween 2012

Our front doorstep.  I remembered to get out our decorations!

I got to go to Pumpkinland with Logan's preschool class.

We carved pumpkins for FHE and Logan really got into it.  He didn't want to get all yucky digging out the seeds, but he carved away with a little pumpkin carving tool.  Sadly, I didn't get a picture of his pumpkin.

Garrick's pumpkin.

 Deyce's pumpkin.

 Logan all dressed up for pre-school.

Ready to go trick-or-treating.  We had a lot of fun this year.  The kids didn't wear down too quickly (which means I am still eating Halloween candy every day.  Not really a good thing.)

Too bad I didn't get a picture of Lexi where you could actually see the hood of her elephant costume.  It was pretty cute.  She was quite the trick-or-treater.  She could say trick or treat (kind of).  If they held out the bowl for the kids to pick out a candy, she'd go for a whole handful.  She was pretty good at saying thank you (in sign language), too.

It's Video Time!

Lexi displaying her jumping skills

Sadly, this is the only video that I could upload.  The others all had some sort of error.  Hmmm....

First Day of Fall

We got really brave and decided to take the kids on a hike.  Logan loves to hike, but all we've really ever done (and called "hiking") is take him on the bike path up the canyon and wander off on some short trails off the path.  This was different.  This was a full-fledged hike - 2 miles in each direction.  We borrowed a kid-riding backpack from a neighbor and set off.  We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day or a more perfect time of year.  The colors were absolutely stunning.  My pictures don't really capture the beauty...at all.

This girl loved being out and getting dirty.  She was FIL-THY!  She has learned how to say "cheese," and this is her cheesy smile.

Hiking...early on.

Breathtaking views.

Hiking...a little later.  Yes, Garrick carried both of the kiddos for a while.

 Logan was playing with Lexi (give me five, on the side, etc) while Garrick carried them.

Logan and Lexi LOVED exploring the water, rocks, and sticks.

A pretty classic Lexi look.

 
 Stewart Falls.

These two could have spent all day sitting by the water and throwing rocks in.

On the way back.  Garrick carried 40-lb Logan the entire way.  Both kids fell asleep before we were finished.

Fun with Family in Florida

 We were able to take a trip to Florida to see Garrick's sister and her family over spring break.  We love visiting FL, but we sure wish they lived closer!  Logan and Lexi had a lot of fun playing with Jake and Sydney.  We thought Lexi and Buddy (the dog) would clash a bit since they would be in each other's territories, but they got along great.  Lexi loves dogs! 

Here are some pictures of some of the things we did on our visit:

It happened to be Easter weekend, so we found a local Easter egg hunt.  They had lots of fun activities, but the hunt itself turned out to be pretty lame.  (They threw eggs on the grass, and each kid could pick up 3 empty eggs.  Then they waited in line and turned the eggs in for 3 pieces of candy.)  Logan loved it anyway.

I think Logan snuck in a little early.

"Whatcha got in that basket?" - Lexi

Decorating eggs with his cousins.

In addition to the regular Easter bunny stuff, the neighbor family across the street came over and left eggs and baskets for the kids outside.  They even left baskets for Logan and Lexi, too.  Pretty nice neighbors, eh?  Well, that wasn't all.  They also brought us two pans of yummy baked French toast for breakfast. 

The kids showing off their Easter bunny stashes.  They scored!

Lexi and her buddy, Buddy.

We spent one day at Disneyworld's Animal Kingdom.  I didn't take many pictures there.  Here's the crew, minus Kendra, with the cool tree in the background.  It's got tons of different animals carved into it.  Unfortunately, you can't see it well enough in this picture.

Logan sitting on a dinosaur in the dinosaur play area of Animal Kingdom.

All tuckered out after Disney World.

"Sand is my friend." - Lexi

Caught eating a snack.  He must've been on a growth spurt there.  He was constantly hungry!

Sydney, Kendra, and Jake

Jake and Syd in a huge hole someone dug on the beach.

At the local zoo

Feeding the giraffes at the zoo

One of Logan's favorite things was to play on this boat trailer parked alongside the house.

Petting some sort of lizard at the zoo.  I was impressed that he would do it.

Taking care of the animals in a fun children's part of the zoo.