Fall

I love FALL!  I love the brisk air, I love that the Holidays are approaching, I love Gardner Village and the witches, and I love Halloween!  And all of that is magnified times ten since I've had kiddos of my own.  Everything is so exciting to them, I sometimes wish I could face life with the same outlook they do.  How much better the world would look and even things as silly as dancing around at Gardner Village would seem magical.  Here's a little glimpse of how we have been celebrating Fall!

Doing the Monster Mash (don't worry, they are the only ones dancing in the entire place)
Porter has been dancing for a week straight singing, "Dance Like It's Halloween!"

Porter, Bo and Moses

The Smile that makes it hard for you to stay mad even when he is naughty!

Porter, like his dad, loves to cook.  He's helping Nanny make treats.
Who can resist when he asks, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Oh the Pumpkin Patch, one of our favorite traditions.  It's funny how you pick one and
it just becomes the one you always go to no matter what.  We've run into my friend Jenna who lives
in Lehi for 3 years straight I believe at this pumpkin patch on this random day.

Jack's favorite person in the entire world (quite possibly even more favorite than daddy) is Papa!
Seriously, all this boy needs is his Papa to hold him and everything becomes right with the world.

Who wouldn't want to ride in the wheelbarrow?  

This pumpkin is perfect to carve a Super Hero On!

 Somehow I missed getting an actual picture of Porter in his costume so far.  Here he is doing donuts on a string.  He only made it through 3 bites and stopped, luckily because he looked like he was going to puke.  Now, on to 2 more parties, my mom's trick or treat at her office and Halloween itself.  A detox will be in order on November 1st!

Birthday Breakfast

So we actually have been celebrating Halloween around here but my camera cord is MIA so I cannot get the photos off the camera!  For now, I will leave you with this terrible quality picture from so needing to be retired iphone (first generation jailbroken iphone on t-mobile network here folks, you only wish you were so vintage!)  This is the amazing Birthday Breakfast in Bed Tom made me this morning.  Note the presentation.  Seriously have I ever dressed a plate with cilantro?  No, the answer is no.  Those little circle things were amazing egg, vegetable, laughing cow cheese pop-overs of delicious goodness.  It was a great birthday!  After breakfast in bed I took Porter to preschool and then hung out with my kids for the day.  My mom took us for frozen yogurt in the afternoon and sat in car with the kids while I ran in and did a little coupon magic at Smiths for super cheap diapers (i know I must be sick when I actually enjoy doing something like that on my birthday) and spent the evening with Jack while Tommy was at school (Porter went to play with Justin and Trent, yes play is the correct term even though they are 23 and 31).  And one day I will find my cord to post real pictures. 

Sorry. . . Late Update

So, in case I forgot to update since the last post. . . The MRI came back NORMAL.  HUGE sigh of relief.  His head is just, well, BIG.  I'm so grateful that we don't have to put this little guy through surgery.  The sleep battle rages on, but what doesn't kill ya makes you stronger, right?  And who doesn't like waking up at 5:30 every morning?  On the up side, at least my days are super long so I am able to accomplish a lot. (or at least I seem to think so)  Heck, I'm done exercising and dressed for the day by the time most of my friends are even awake.  That's a good thing right?  I may look like death and my baggy eyes have seen better days, but there are much harder things in life than this.  (in case you didn't realize I'm saying this more for my benefit than yours)  So thanks for your prayers, Jack's big head is just fine!

And the Giant Head Saga Continues!

So Jack had his 18 month check up today (slightly late), and we are now scheduled for a CT Scan on Monday.  His head is still measuring totally off the charts and veering slightly off the curve and the doctor wants to make sure nothing is wrong.  He may have extra fluid in his head that could possibly be causing headaches which might explain his crabbiness and trouble sleeping for more than 3 hours at a time.  Unfortunately if this is indeed true, then this may call for a shunt.  Oh the joys!  Well, keep Jack in your prayers!  So thankful for Tom's job and good insurance!

Jack at 12:00 am

Jennifer Conference

The anticipation for "Jennifer Conference" was huge for Porter this past week.  Is that weird for a 3 year old? We talked about it all week and I prepared a bunch of activities for him to do during conference and he could hardly wait!  Saturday morning he asked me if he needed to wear a tie to watch.  Here was one of his favorite activities:

His Prophet and Apostle Chain.  

We colored each apostle when they spoke and he was so happy when they were all colored and put together he  carried it everywhere!  Oh my child!  I went into conference thinking that if I put together a bunch of activities for him to do then I could listen more intently.  Maybe I got a little to into it?  Instead I was heavily engaged in helping him build a tent and construct King Benjamin's tower, coloring the apostles and playing the "did you hear that word" game.  We had jars of candy labeled with words like spirit, scripture, etc. and every time he heard that word he got a treat!  Wow, it got a bit out of control, I guess I should have been more careful with my word selection. But we even had Jack pretending to listen for candy so that is success in my book!

We had a wonderful conference weekend full of delicious food and all the uplifting messages Conference brings.